the surprisingly dire situation of children's education in rural west africa

8/13/2019 The Surprisingly Dire Situation of Children's Education in Rural West Africa

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NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES

THE SURPRISINGLY DIRE SITUATION OF CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

WEST AFRICA

RESULTS FROM THE CREO STUDY IN GUINEA-BISSAU

Peter Boone

Ila Fazzio

Kameshwari Jandhyala

Chitra Jayanty

Gangadhar Jayanty

Simon JohnsonVimala Ramachandrin

Filipa Silva

Zhaoguo Zhan

Working Paper 18971

http://www.nber.org/papers/w18971

NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

1050 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, MA 02138April 2013

We are grateful to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Cambridge, MA, USA, and

Effective Intervention, a UK charity, for financial support. Pratham, an Indian charity, kindly provided

assistance with test design. Participants at the NBER "African Successes" conference in Accra, Ghana,

and the "CREO Study Report Conference" in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, provided helpful comments.

Alex Eble advised on early study design. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do

not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Corresponding author:

Ila Fazzio.

At least one co-author has disclosed a financial relationship of potential relevance for this research.

Further information is available online at http://www.nber.org/papers/w18971.ack

NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-

reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official

NBER publications.

2013 by Peter Boone, Ila Fazzio, Kameshwari Jandhyala, Chitra Jayanty, Gangadhar Jayanty, Simon

Johnson, Vimala Ramachandrin, Filipa Silva, and Zhaoguo Zhan. All rights reserved. Short sections

of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full

credit, including notice, is given to the source.


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The Surprisingly Dire Situation of Children's Education in Rural West Africa: Results from

the CREO Study in Guinea-Bissau (Comprehensive Review of Education Outcomes)

Peter Boone, Ila Fazzio, Kameshwari Jandhyala, Chitra Jayanty, Gangadhar Jayanty, Simon

Johnson, Vimala Ramachandrin, Filipa Silva, and Zhaoguo Zhan

NBER Working Paper No. 18971

April 2013

JEL No. F35,H43,I2,O1,O55

ABSTRACT

We conducted a survey covering 20% of villages with 200-1000 population in rural Guinea-Bissau.

We interviewed household heads, care-givers of children, and their teachers and schools. We analysed

results from 9,947 children, aged 7-17, tested for literacy and numeracy competency. Only 27% of

children were able to add two single digits, and just 19% were able to read and comprehend a simple

word. Our unannounced school checks found 72% of enrolled children in grades 1-4 attending their

schools, but the schools were poorly equipped. Teachers were present at 86% of schools visited. Despite

surveying 351 schools, we found no examples of successful schools where children reached reasonable

levels of literacy and numeracy for age. Our evidence suggests that interventions that raise school

quality in these villages, rather than those which target enrollment, may be most important to generate

very sharp improvements in children's educational outcomes.

Peter Boone

London School of Economics

[email protected]

Ila FazzioMadrid, Spain

[email protected]

Kameshwari Jandhyala

Delhi, India

[email protected]

Chitra Jayanty

Bissau

Guinea Bissau

[email protected]

Gangadhar Jayanty

Bissau, Guinea Bissau

[email protected]

Simon Johnson

MIT Sloan School of Management

100 Main Street, E52-562

Cambridge, MA 02142

and [email protected]

Vimala Ramachandrin

Delhi, India

[email protected]

Filipa Silva

Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

[email protected]

Zhaoguo ZhanBeijing, China

[email protected]


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Authorsroles:

PeterBoone: Conceivedthestudy,participatedinthedesignofthesurvey,analysedresults,co

authoredthispaper,andraisedthefinancingforthesurvey.

IlaFazzio: Conceivedthestudy,leadthedesignofthesurvey,leadthetrainingandmanagementof

fieldworkteams,analysedresultsandcoauthoredthispaper.

KameshwariJandhyala: Advisedonstudydesign,surveys andimplementation,andcoauthoredthis

paper.

ChitraJayanty: Conceivedthestudy,participatedinthedesignofthesurvey,supervisedthe

implementationoftheproject,andcoauthoredthispaper.

GangadharJayanty: Conceivedthestudy,participatedinimplementation oftheproject,andco

authoredthispaper.

FilipaSilva: Participatedinthedesignofthesurvey,trainedandsupervisedthefieldworkteams,

andcoauthoredthispaper.

SimonJohnson: Conceivedthestudy,analysedresults,coauthoredthispaper,andraisedfinancing

forthesurvey.

VimalaRamachandrin: Advisedonstudydesign,surveysandimplementation,coauthoredthis

paper.

Zhan Zhaoguo : Carriedoutstatisticalanalysisandcoauthoredthispaper.


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1. IntroductionDespitedecliningglobalpoverty,therearemanyregionsoftheworldwherepovertyremains

widespreadandchronic(Young2012). Childrengrowupintheseregionswithpoorhealth,andtheir

prospectsareharmedbypooreducation(BooneandJohnson2009). Therightofeverychildto

primaryschooleducationisoneoftheMillenniumDevelopmentGoalsfor2015,yetinmanyofthe

mostextremepocketsofpovertylittleisbeingdonetoaddresstheseissues.

However,inordertounderstandtheextentofproblemsandpotentialsolutions,weneeda

goodunderstandingofthecurrentconditions. Statisticsfromverypoorregionsaregenerally

unsatisfactoryforthispurpose(Jerven2013). Oftenstatisticsarebiasedormissingbecause

authoritieshaveincentivestopaintarosypicture,ortheysimplydontmaketheeffortorallocate

resourcestomeasure. Evenwhengoodstatisticsareavailable,themeasuresusuallycoverservice

provision

(such

as

the

level

of

school

enrolment),

rather

than

the

desired

outcome

(indicators

of

educationalandskillslevelsachieved).

Inthispaper,wereportonauniquesurveythatwasconductedin2010inruralvillagesand

schoolsofGuineaBissau,inWestAfrica. GuineaBissauisoneofthepoorestnationsoftheworld,

ranking192onincomepercapita,at$600perperson(Bank2012). TheUnitedNationsEducation,

ScientificandCulturalOrganization(UNESCO)reportsthenationaladultliteracyrateis54.2%,while

72%ofGuineaBissausyouthaged1524areliterate. Thenetprimaryschoolenrolmentratiois

73%. Thesefiguresrepresentnationalaverages,butourworksuggeststheymaskextremelypoor

educationaloutcomesinruralregions.2

OnegoaloftheCREO(ComprehensiveReviewofEducationOutcomes)surveywastoprovidean

accurate,comprehensiveoverviewofchildrenslearningoutcomesandtherelationoftheseto

schoolquality,parentalcareandsocioeconomicvariables. Wearenotawareofanyothersimilarly

comprehensive,integratedsurveysofschools,households,caregiversandchildreninsuchpoor

regionsofWestAfrica.3 Ouranalysisisbasedonsurveysfrom202villages(approximately20%of

thepopulation)withinterviewsfrom3,968households. Weinterviewed8,782parents,and

2UNESCOdefinesliteracyasTheabilitytoreadandwritewithunderstanding asimplestatementrelatedto

onesdailylife.Itincludesacontinuumofreadingandwritingskills,andoftenincludesbasicarithmeticskills.

Oursurveypopulationrepresentsapproximately25%ofthecountryspopulation. Ifyouthliteracyratesin

urbanareaswereapproximately90%,thentheUNESCOdatacouldbeconsistentwithourdata. Wehavenot

surveyedurbanareas,howeverourexperiencesuggestsliteracyrateswouldbesubstantially lowerthan90%

butwellabovetheruralratesreportedhere.3DemographicandHealthSurveys(DHS)coverimportantsocioeconomicvariables. Thissurveyallowsusto

identifychildrensoutcomeswiththeirrespectiveschools,villagesandparents,thuspermittingustoexamine

richercorrelations. Sincethisisasurvey,wecannotmakecausalinterpretations basedonthesecorrelations.


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analysednumeracyandliteracytestsfor9,947childrenaged7to17. Weaskedchildrenwhich

schoolstheyattended,andthenvisited351schoolsandinterviewed781teachers. Wechecked

whetherschoolswereoperating,measuredattendancecomparedtoenrolment,andsurveyed

schoolmaterials.

Theresultsofthesurveypresentableakpictureofeducationalresourcesandoutcomesinrural

GuineaBissau. Accordingtothenationalcurriculum,bythirdgrade(childrenaged9),children

shouldbeabletoreadandcomprehendastory,andcompletethesimplemathstestweused(see

section3.3). Wefoundthat81%oftenyearoldscouldnotsumtwosingledigitnumbers,and91%

couldnotreadsinglewords. Amongthe1,169tenyearoldswithtestresults,wefoundonlyone

childwhowascapableofcompletingboththenumeracyandliteracytests.

Whyaretheseresultssopoor? Whilesurveyresponsesshouldbetakenwithcautionsincethey

may

not

reflect

actions,

our

demand

indicators

suggest

parents

have

a

strong

desire

to

send

their

childrentogoodschools. Over98%ofhouseholdheadsreportedtheywouldbewillingtopayan

average20%ofmonthlyincomeforschoolfeesforeachoftheirschoolagedchildrenifgood

schoolingwouldbeprovided. Inourspotchecksofschools,wefound72%ofenrolledchildrenat

theschool. Attendanceratesareprobablyboostedbyfunctioningschoollunchprograms. Thefact

thatchildrenattendschoolsdespitepooroutcomes,andthereportedwillingnesstopayfor

schooling,suggestadditionalinterventionsthattargetattendance,suchasconditionaltransfers

implementedinMexico,areprobablynotofprimaryimportancetoimproveeducationaloutcomes

(Kremer2003,PaulSchultz2004).

Onthesupplyside,giventhepoortestresults,itissurprisingtolearnthat86%ofschoolswere

openandroughlythreequartersofenrolledchildrenwereattendingwhenweconductedspot

checks. Theteachersreportedsubstantialexperienceandsometraining. However,veryfew

schoolshaveadequatetextbooks,andmanyteachershadapoorgraspofspokenPortuguese.

GuineaBissauhasmanylocallanguages. Themostwidelyspokenlanguageisamixof

Portuguese,thenationallanguage,andlocaldialectscalledKriol. Theonlyspokenlanguagewitha

writtenscriptisPortuguese. Ournumeracytests(apartfromnumberrecognition)weresimplemath

questionswrittenonpaper,andinstructionsweregivenverballyinthelocallanguage,sochildren

didnotneedtoknowPortugueseinordertosucceedinthetest. Instructionsforliteracytestswere

giveninthechildslocallanguage,butchildrenweretestedonreadingandcomprehensionof

Portuguese.


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Animportantgoalofourprojectwastofindexamplesofsuccesswiththeaimofusingthese

tobetterunderstandhowprojectstoimproveeducationcanbedeveloped. Weanticipatedthatwe

couldfindindividualschoolsorvillageswhereeducationlevelswerehigh,andlessonscouldbe

learnedfromthese. Unfortunately,wefoundonlysixschools(withgreaterthan10pupils)where

averagescoresimpliedstudentscouldreadaparagraph. Forthenumeracytests,therewereno

schoolswheretheaveragestudentcouldmultiplyordivide.

Thesesurveyresultsprovideacomprehensivepictureofadysfunctionalschoolsystem. The

reasonsforthepoorfunctioningarenumerous.However,webelievetheevidencepointstoastrong

latentdemandforeducationinthesevillageswhichremainsunsatisfiedduetotheverypoorquality

ofexistingteachingandschoolsorganization.Whiletherearemanystepsthatcouldbetakento

makeschoolsfunctionbetter (Ramachandran2003,KremerandHolla2009),itisimportantto

understandwhichshouldbeprioritizedinregionssuchasGuineaBissau.

Thepublicsectorcannotbereliedontoprovideregularservicesduetopoliticalinstability,

institutionalcapacityandapoliticalsystemwhichdoesnotservetheverypoor. Privatesector

provisionofschoolinginthesevillagesisnotprofitableenoughtogenerateactivitiesduetolow

incomelevels. Thedifficultlogisticsoffindingtrainedteachers,gainingfinances,securingmaterials

andsupervisingperformancemakesitdauntingforindividualvillagestoimproveschoolsontheir

ownforasustainedperiod. SimilarproblemsplagueNGOsandforeigndonorswhoattemptto

improveschooloutcomes. Tosomeextent,whenfacedwiththechoiceofattemptingtobuildand

maintaineffectiveschools,orwaitingtolearnwhethertheexistingpublicschoolsmightgetbetter,

manyvillageschoosetowaitandhope.

Theresultisthatonemoregenerationofchildrenisgrowingupwithoutevenbasicnumeracy

andliteracyskills.

2. Methods

2.1Surveylocationandeligiblepopulation

Whenthesurveywasconducted,thelastpublishedcensusinGuineaBissaudatedfrom

1991. Wecompiledalistof913potentiallyeligiblevillagesfromthecensusbasedondemographic

estimatesofwhethertheywerelikelytohaveapopulationbetween200and1000in2010. Wethen

randomlyorderedthesevillagesnumberingthemfrom1to913.4 Fieldworkersthenvisitedeach

4Therandomization wasconductedinACCESS,assigningeachvillageauniquenumberusingarandom

numbergenerator. Villageswerethenorderedsequentiallyaccordingtoassignednumbers. Thefirst202

eligiblevillagesfromthisorderingarereportedhere.


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villageandinterviewedvillageleaderstolearntheestimatedtruepopulationofthevillage. Village

andhouseholdlevelsurveyswerecompletedfromDecember2009untiltheendoftheacademic

yearin2010. Somedelaysinimplementationanddatacheckingwerecausedbysecurityconcerns

duringandafterthesurveywascompleted.

Avillagewaseligibleforthesurveyifthevillageleadersagreedtotheinterviewandsurvey,

andifthepopulationwasestimatedtobebetween200and1000duringthefieldworkersvisitwith

aminimumof20households,anditwasaccessiblebylandduringthedryseason. Fromthelistof

913villages,wevisitedvillagessequentiallywithatargetof200villages. Theteamsvisited411

villages;however209ofthesewereineligibleduetothenumberofhouseholds,orpopulation,

beingaboveorbeloweligibilitythresholds. Ultimatelysurveyscovering202villageswerecompleted

andreportedhereintheanalysis.5 Villageelderswereinterviewedtocompletebaselinedataon

villages.

Therearenomapsofhouseholdsinvillages. Weselectedhouseholdsforinterviews

accordingtosystematicsampling(Luman,Workuetal.2007). Thissamplingmethodologygenerates

anaverage20householdspervillage,independentofthesizeofthevillage. 6

Ahouseholdwaseligibleforinclusioniftheywereinaneligiblevillage,theywereselected

bysystematicsampling,theyhadatleastoneeligiblechild,andthehouseholdheadagreedtobe

interviewed. Weconductedaninitialinterviewwithahouseholdheadtodeterminecharacteristics

ofthehousehold,andtheeligiblechildreninthehousehold.

Achildwaseligibleifshelivedinaneligiblehouse,andshewasagedfrom7to17years,she

wasavailableonthedayofvisitofthesurvey,andshehadatleastoneeligiblecaregiverwhowas

availabletointerviewonthedayofvisit. Weinterviewedeachchildandconductedliteracyand

numeracytests. Wealsointerviewedallthechildsavailablecaregivers.

5Weplannedtocomplete200villagesbeforetheendofthe2009/10schoolyear. Theteamskeptworkingto

completetheirlastvillageoncethe200totalhadbeenachieved.6ThesystemusedtoselecthouseswasderivedfromtheSystRSmethodologywhichwasdevelopedtobean

easybutrepresentativewayofrandomlyselectinghouseholdswhenthereisnosamplingframe.Anestimate

ofthenumberofhouseholdsinthevillageismade,andthenaskippingintervaliscalculatedbydividingthe

totalhousesby20. Toestablishthestartingpointoftherandomwalksupervisorsaskedaseniormemberof

thecommunitytotakethemtotwooppositeedgesofthevillage,preferablyalongthelongestaxisinthe

village(i.e.thetwomostdistanthousesinthevillage).Thesewerethestartingpointsfortwointerviewers.

Theinterviewersthenpickedarandomnumberbetween0andtheskippingintervaltodeterminethefirst

housetovisit. Theythenwalkedinalinecountinghousesuntiltheyreachedthisstartingnumber. Thatwould

bethefirsthousetointerview. Theythenwalkedtowardsthevillagecenterinaserpentinewayenumerating

housesaccordingtothecalculatedskippinginterval. Iftheydidn'tenumerateaminimumof20housesusing

theintervalsystem,theywouldwalkbacktowardstheedgeandenumeratehousesthathadnotbeen

enumerateduntiltheyreached20.


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Whenwesurveyedvillages,welistedallPortugueselanguageschoolsintheregion. There

areKoranicschoolsintheseregions,wherePortugueseisnottaught,howeverwedidnotvisitthese

astheydonotteachthenationalcurriculum,andnearlyallsuchchildrenwerealsoenrolledina

Portugueselanguageschool. Wethenvisitedallschoolsthatchildrenreportedtheywereenrolled

at(duringourchildinterviews). Wesoughtpermissionfromheadteacherstosurveyschoolsand

conductteacherinterviews. Weinterviewedeveryteacherwhowasavailableonthedayof

interviewiftheytaughtanygrades1to4.

Wesoughtpermissiontointerviewfromvillageleaders,headteachers,householdheads,

andeachparticipant. Allvillagesandschoolsagreedtobeincludedinthestudy. Onlyone

householdheadrefusedtopermitinterviews. Intheremaininghouseholds,allchildrenandcare

giversagreedtobeinterviewed.

2.2

Main

outcome:

Test

scores

Theprimaryoutcomemeasureforthesurveyistestscoreresultsfromliteracyand

numeracytestsgiventoeligiblechildren. Inourinitialfieldworkwerecognizedthatawiderangeof

outcomeswaspossible,butthatasubstantialfractionofthepopulationwouldlikelyscorepoorlyon

commoninternationaltests,soweneededatestthatwasmoresensitiveatdiscriminatingatpoorer

levelsofeducation. WechosetomodifytestsdevelopedbyPratham,alargeIndianNGOthat

specializesineducationaloutcometestsinIndia,tosuittheenvironmentinGuineaBissau. We

conductedmultiplefieldtestsinvillagespriortothesurvey.

Theliteracytestwasimplementedasfollows:Theteststartsatamediumleveltaskwhere

childrenareaskedtoreadasentence. Iftheywereabletoreadatleast2ofthe4sentencesoffered,

theywouldbeaskedaboutthemeaningofsomeunderlinedwordsandalsoasked(inlocallanguage)

twoquestionsaboutthecomprehensionofthesesentences.Ifachildwasabletoreadsentences

theywouldbeofferedtoreadastory,andtestedoncomprehensionofthestory.Achildwhowas

notabletoreadasentencewouldbeofferedmonoanddissyllabicwordstoread.Childrenwho

werenotabletocorrectlyread4outof5wordswerethenaskedtorecognizeletters. Achildgot

thehighestpossiblemark(ascoreofeight)iftheycouldreadandcomprehendashortstory,while

theyreceivedzeroiftheycouldnotreadmonosyllabicwords.

Thenumeracytestsaredesignedsimilarly,startingwithadditionoftwosingledigitnumbers

withoutcarryforward.Ifachildwasabletosolvecorrectlyatleastonesum,theywouldbeoffered

tosolvesubtractionwithborrowing,followedbymultiplication,simpledivisionandinexactdivision.

Achildgotthehighestpossiblemarkiftheycouldanswerallquestionscorrectly. Iftheycouldnot


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completetheinitialadditionquestions,theywereaskediftheycouldrecognizetwodigitandsingle

digitnumbers. Achildscoredzeroiftheycouldnotrecognizesingledigitnumbers.

Theinterviewersconductedthetestsinlanguagesthatwereconvenientforthechild.

However,sincelocallanguagesarenotwritten,andthenationalcurriculumteacheschildrentoread

inPortuguese,wetestedchildrensabilitytoreadandcomprehendPortuguese.

Wealsoconductedbackgroundsurveystohelpinterpretthereasonsbehindtestscore

results. Weinterviewedcaregiverstolearntheirsocioeconomicstatusaswellasattitudestowards

schoolingfortheirchildren. Wealsoconductedasurveytomeasurethequalityofschoolfacilities,

andweinterviewedteacherstolearntheiroveralltrainingandworkconditions.Ourschool

interviewsalsoprovidedspotcheckstolearnifschoolswerefunctioningandtheymeasured

attendance.

2.3DatacollectionandmanagementAninitialteamof10peopleand10vehiclestravelledandlocatedeligiblevillagesbasedonthe

1991census. Theysoughtconsentfromvillageleaders,recordedtheGPSlocationofthevillage,and

determinedtheestimatedcurrentsizeofthevillage,andrecordedtheschoolsthatchildrenresident

inthevillageattended.

Theremainingsurveydatacollectionwasmanagedby5teamsof3people,includingone

supervisorforeachteam. Theseteamscompletedthehouseholdandchildsurveys,aswellas

implementingchildnumeracyandliteracytests. Theyfirstsoughtpermissiontoconductthesurvey

fromtheheadofthehousehold. Ifpermissionwasgranted,andiftherewasaneligiblechild,they

proceededtocompletethesurvey. Theysoughtinterviewswithallcaregiversforeligiblechildrenin

thehousehold. Thefieldworkerswouldtypicallystayinavillage3days,andtheyweretrainedto

repeatedlyseekoutinterviewswithcaregiversandchildrenuntilalleligiblechildrenandcaregivers

hadbeenreached. Whenconductingtests,childrenwereaskedtostepawayfromtheirfriendsand

otheronlookerstocompletethetest. Allsurveysanddiscussionwerecompletedinalocal

language. Forthenumeracytests,childrenwereaskedtoanswerwrittenquestions. Ifthechild

couldsumtwodigitscorrectly,weproceededtoharderquestions.Hence,topassthenumeracy

tests,childrendidnotneedtospeakanyPortuguese.7 Instructionsforliteracywerestatedinlocal

languages,however,thewordsandstoriesusedinthetestwereinPortuguese.

7Ifachildcouldnotaddtwosingledigitnumbers,thenthetestrevertedtocheckingiftheycouldrecognize

singleanddoubledigitnumbers. TheywererequiredtorespondverballyinPortuguesetothisnumber

recognitiontest. So,achildthatspokenoPortuguese,andcouldnotaddtwosingledigitsinawrittentest,


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Theschoolssurveywascompletedbyoursurveysupervisorsduringthevillagevisits.

Supervisorsmadeseveralattemptstovisitschoolsduringhourswhentheyshouldbeopen,andif

schoolswerefunctioning,theysoughttheheadteachersapprovaltoconductthesurvey. They

examinedtheofficialenrolmentdataattheschool,andtheyvisitedclassroomstocountthenumber

ofchildrenactuallyattendingalongwithtextbooksavailable.

Duringeachvillagesurvey,supervisorsdoublecheckedsurveyformsanderrorswerecorrected

atthattime. Fourdataentrypersonnelconducteddoubleblinddataentry. Asupervisorwas

responsibleforcorrectingerrorsfoundwhencheckingdoubleblindentry. Ifneeded,weattempted

torevisitintervieweestocorrectanyerrorsfoundduringdataentry. Duetopoliticaluncertainty

beforeandafterthesurvey,somedatacorrectionhadtobedelayedforsecurityreasonsandthis

slowedthecompletionofdataanalysis,howeversuchcorrectionswereveryminor.

2.4Sample

Size

Thesurveywasdesignedtocoveranationalfootprintandprovideadequatepowertolearn

theimportanceofcovariates. Wewerelimitedbyaccesstogoodqualityvehiclesandneededto

completethestudywithinaschoolyear. Wewerealsolimitedbypoliticalupheavalwhichdelayed

implementationofthesurveyduetosecurityconcerns. Bysurveyingapproximately200villages

with10,000childrentested,wehaveawellpowereddatasettoexaminecorrelations betweentest

outcomesandothervariables.

3.0Results3.1PopulationCovered

Theanalysisisbasedonoutcomesforthe202surveyedvillages,including3,968household

surveys,4,907femalecaregiversurveys,3,875malecaregiversurveys. Intotalwefound19,776

childrenaged017livinginthesehouseholds,ofwhich10,014wereaged717andeligibleforour

literacyandnumeracytests. Wemanagedtocompletesurveysaswellasnumeracyandliteracy

tests,andsobasetheanalysis,on9,947ofthesechildren(Table1).

3.2.Characteristics

of

Villages

and

Households

Table2showsaveragepopulationofvillagesis457people. Theaveragehouseholdsizeisten

persons. Oursurveyoftwentyhouseholdscovers40%ofanaveragevillage. Fiftyfourpercentof

thevillageshadaschoolinthevillage,andwhentherewasnoschool,theaveragewalkingtimeto

wouldscorezero. Achildthatcouldaddsingledigitsinawrittentestwaspresumedtobeabletorecognize

numbersandreceivednoverbaltest.


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thenearestschoolusedbyvillagerswas30minutes. Onaveragevillageswere97minutesfromthe

nearestroadwithregulartransport,andsixhourswalkingdistancefromavillagewithasecondary

school. TheWorldFoodProgramprovidesschoollunchesacrossthenation,and46%ofthevillages

inoursurveyreportedchildrenhadaccesstothesemealswithinthevillage.

Noneofthevillagesinthesurveyhadaccesstopubliclyprovidedelectricity. Sevenpercentof

householdsreporttheyhavetheirowngenerator,andsixpercenthavetelevisions. Battery

operatedradiosarecommon,withthreequartersofhouseholdsreportingtheyhaveone. For

transportation,twothirdsofhouseholdshadbicycles,andonly7%havemotorbikes. Theself

reportedtotalmonthlyincomewas44,292CFA($88.11attheaverageexchangerateof502.71

CFA/USDduringthesurvey),equallingroughly$9perpersoninthehousehold.

InTable3wereportquestionsrelatedtoattitudesofthehouseholdleadertoeducation. Nearly

100%

of

respondents

said

they

would

be

willing

to

pay

extra

money

to

add

and

improve

education

fortheirboysandgirls. Therewasnoindicationofgenderbias. Theyreportedtheywouldbewilling

tospend18%oftheirmonthlyincome.8

Whenaskedthereasonsforwhychildrenstopgoingtoschool,themostcommonreported

reasonforgirlswasmarriage(73%ofrespondents),pregnancy(53%),andlackofanearbyschool

(37%). Sincegirlsinthesevillagestendtomarrysoonafterpuberty,thefindingssuggestgirlswould

stayatschooluntiltheirearlyteens. Forboys,themostcommonreasontostopschoolwasthatthe

familycannotaffordit(47%),followedbygettingmarried,needingtohelpathome,andlackofa

nearbyschool(3739%). Veryfewrespondentsreportedmoralconcernsregardingtheschoolingof

girlsorboys.

3.3.CharacteristicsofCareGiversandChildren

Tables4and5presentfindingsforcaregiversandchildren. Thetribalandreligiousbreakdown

ofwomenandmen(notshown)wassimilarandmatchesnationalfigures,withapproximately3/5of

thepopulationreportedasMuslim,and30%animist.

Sixpercentoffemalecaregiversreportedtheycouldread,butlessthanhalfofthesewereable

toreadasimplesentencewhenpresentedwithaliteracytest. Thirtysixpercentofmenclaimedto

beabletoread,butwefound1/3ofthesecouldnotreadasimplesentence,leaving24%of

interviewedmenwhoclaimedtheycouldread,andthenprovedabletoreadasentence.

8TheIMFestimatesGDPpercapitain2010was$42permonth,whichwouldincludehouseholdincomeand

otherfactorincomes. Theseruralvillagesshouldbesubstantiallypoorerthantheaveragepopulationasour

dataimplies.


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Nearlyallschoolshadblackboards,andtherewaschalkvisiblyavailableinalmostallclasses.

However,therewereveryfewtextbooksforanycourseorgrade. Forexample,onaveragethere

were29enrolledchildrenforeverygrade2mathtextbookvisible.

4.TestScoreResults

4.1NumeracyTestResults

Table8presentsresultsfromthenumeracytestsforallchildren. Thetotalnumberofchildren

testeddeclinesfrom1,527atage7,to1,018atage12,andthenfallssharplyto406byage17. We

haveroughly7%moremalesthanfemales,withthebiasincreasingwithage. Thesepatternsare

probablyduetochildrendroppingoutofschoolandmovingoutsidetheirvillageastheygetolder.

Asreportedfromthehouseholdsurvey,womentendtoleaveschoolearlierthanmendueto

marriageandpregnancy,whilemenleavewhentheyneedtoearnanincome.

Thenumeracytestresultsshoweducationallevelsareextremelypoor. Forexample,byage10

accordingtothenationalcurriculumofGuineaBissau,achildshouldbeinGrade3orGrade4,and

theyshouldbeabletopassallaspectsofthistest. Instead,wefindthat36%oftenyearoldscannot

evenrecognizeanumber. Afurther31%canrecognizesingledigitsbutcannotrecognizetwodigit

numbers. Thisisdespitethefactthat74%oftenyearoldsreportedthattheywerecurrently

attendingschool. Inthissurvey,thereisonechildwho,atage10,wasabletocompleteallquestions

fromthetest.

4.2Literacy

Test

Score

Results

Table9presentsresultsfromliteracytests. Thematerialsforthesetestswereconductedin

Portuguese;howeverchildrenwereabletorespondintheirlocallanguageorCreoleiftheychoseto.

Theseotherlanguagesdonothaveawrittenscript,soschoolsteachreadingandwritingin

Portuguese,andchildrenwhoattendschoolshouldbefamiliarwiththematerials.

Theliteracytestshowsimilaroutcomestonumeracytests. Underthenationalcurriculum,by

theendofGrade2achildshouldbeabletoreadandcomprehendasimplesentence. However,we

found62%oftenyearoldchildrenwerenotevenabletorecognizeletters,while91%wereunable

toreadsimplewords. Onlyonetenyearoldinthewholesamplewasabletosuccessfullycomplete

thenumeracyandliteracyinfull.

Figures2and3illustrateaverageliteracyandnumeracytestscoresbyage. Thosechildren,who

doeventuallylearntoread,orlearnsimplemaths,tendtodosofarlaterthantheschoolcurriculum

callsfor. Wesuspectlearningoccursaccordingtoneedwithsomechildrenmoreexposedto


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14

moneyandeconomicandsocialactivities,suchassmallscaletrading,wherelimitedliteracyand

numeracyisrequired.

4.3MultivariateAnalysis

Weexaminedmultivariateoutcomesatthelevelofthechildandschool. Theschoolbased

resultsareshowninTable10whereweregressaveragestudentscoresbyschoolagainstanumber

ofcontrolvariables.10 Thegeneralpicturefromtheseresultscorrelationsonly isthatchildrenat

privateschoolshaveslightly(0.7)higherscoresthanchildrenatotherschools(resultsnormalized

againstcommunityschools). Thenumberofteachersattheschoolisstatisticallysignificant;

howevertheteacherstudentratioisnotimportant. Wesuspectthisreflectsthesizeoftheschool,

withlargerschoolsbeingclosertourbanareas,andinregionswherewrittenlanguageisprobably

morecommonlyseen. TheabilityoftheteachertospeakPortugueseisstatisticallysignificant.

However,

other

variables

measuring

school

and

teacher

quality

(such

as

training,

an

indicator

of

equipmentincludingchalkandblackboards,aswellasbooks)donotentertheregressions.

Giventhegenerallylowlevelofoutcomes,andthelimitedvarianceacrossvillagesand

schools(seesection4.3),theempiricalimportanceoftherighthandsidevariablesissmall. For

example,aprivateschoolwithfluentPortuguesespeakingteachersispredictedtohavean

improvementof1.2ontheaverageliteracytestcomparedtothesamesizedpublicschoolwith

teacherswhospeakverylittlePortuguese. Animprovementof1.2isaminorchangecomparedto

thelargelearninggaprevealedhere(seeFigure2).

Wedonotreporttheoutcomesfromchildlevelregressionsinthispaperasthereislittle

additionalcontributionfromthefindings. Theimpliedimpactsofrealisticchangesinthe

statisticallysignificantrighthandsidevariableswerenotempiricallyrelevantcomparedtothe

learninggap. Wedidfindstatisticallysignificantcorrelationsbetweentestscoresandabilityto

speakcreole(+ve: positivecorrelation),ahouseholdwealthindicator(+ve),motherandfathers

abilitytoread(+ve),andwalkingdistancetonearestroad(ve).

4.4SearchingforExcellenceFigure4illustratestheproportionofstudentsateachschoolwhometnationalcurriculum

standardsforliteracyandnumeracy. Nationalstandardsarenotdemanding. Childrenentergrade1

10WereportlinearOLSregressionresultsinordertosimplifytheinterpretation ofcoefficients. Logistic

regressionsprovidedsimilarresultsandarenotreported.


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15

aftertheirsixthorseventhbirthday.11Afterfirstgradeachildisexpectedtobeabletounderstand

lettersandnumbers,andreadandwritesimplesentences. Attheendofsecondgradetheyshould

beabletoreadandwriteshorttexts,add,andsubtract. Bygrade3theyshouldbeabletoreadand

writetexts,understandbasicgrammar, andadd, subtract,multiplyanddivide.

Weusedtestscorestocalculatewhetherachildmettheagespecificstandardimpliedby

thenationalcurriculum(assumingachilddidnotfailagrade). Ifachildfollowedthenational

curriculum,bytheageoften,achildshouldhavebeenabletoeasilycompletetheliteracyand

numeracytests.12 Weassumedthatachildofsevencouldscorezeroontestastheymayhavejust

enteredschoolrecently,whileachildbyage8shouldhavecompletedonlythematerialofgrade

one,andachildagednineshouldhavecompletedgradetwo. Wethencomparedchildrensactual

scorestowhatcouldhavebeenexpectediftheyfollowedthenationalstandard. Weusedthisdata

toexaminewhetheranyspecificschoolsorvillageswereoutlierswithverygoodresultscompared

tothepoornationalaverages.

Figure4showsthattherearenogoodoutliersamongstschools.Wefoundsimilarresults

whenexaminingvillageleveloutcomes(notreported). Therearenoschoolswhere50%ofchildren

couldmeettheirstandardsfornumeracyscores,andonlysixschoolswheremorethanhalfthe

childrenmetnationalstandardsforliteracy.

WealsoexaminedwhetherschoolsfinancedbyNGOsshowedimprovedtestresults. There

were35schoolswhichreportedsignificantNGOfinancingfromtwoforeignNGOsthathave

operatedformanyyearsintheregion. Only17%and10%ofchildrenintheseschoolsmetnational

literacyandnumeracystandardsrespectively.

5 DiscussionWeconductedarepresentativesurveyofeducationaloutcomesinsmallandmediumsized

villagesinGuineaBissau. Theresultsillustrateextremelypoorliteracyandnumeracyoutcomefor

children,regardlessofwhethertheyattendschool.

5.1StudyLimitations

11Atthetimeofthesurveywhenachildpassedtheirseventhbirthdaytheywererequiredtoenrolatschool,

howeveroftenparentsenrolledchildrenatagesix. Subsequenttothissurvey,theentryageforgradeonewas

changedtosixyears.12Oursurveywasconductedinthelasttrimesteroftheschoolyear,soatenyearoldchildwouldbenearing

completionofeithergrade3orgrade4iftheyhadbegunschoolatagesevenandpassedeachschoolyear

successfully.


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16

Thereareseverallimitationstothissurvey. Wehaveprovidedasnapshotoftheconditionsin

thespringandearlysummerof2010. Thiswasaperiodofpoliticaluncertainty,butduringthis

periodthegovernmenthadmadeeffortstopayteacherssalariesontime. Althoughthiswouldnot

haveimpactedtestscoresquickly,thereportedattendancelevelsandschoolopeningsmayhave

beenmodestlybetterthanotheryears.

OurliteracytestswereinPortuguese,andchildreninruralvillagesaregenerallyonlyexposedto

Portugueseatschool. Wemanagedtheinterviewsinthelocallanguagesinordertobeableto

improvecompliance,andgivechildrentheirbestchanceatcommunicatingcorrectanswers.

However,thelanguagebarrierwouldnaturallyreduceliteracyscores. Wedonotseeareasonfor

languagebarrierstodirectlyimpactnumeracyscores.

Giventhisisasurvey,thecorrelationsreportedshouldnotbetreatedasdescribingcausality.

5.2General

Discussion

Onegoalofthisstudywastousetheuniquecombinationofinterviewswithparents,children,

teachersandschoolsinordertobetterunderstandthekeyfactorsdeterminingeducational

outcomesinthenation. Thiscouldprovideabackgroundforinterventionsaimedatimproving

outcomesinthefuture.

Theresultsprovidesomeevidencethatcommunitydemandforeducationissubstantial. Nearly

100%ofheadsofhouseholdsreportedtheywerepreparedtopaymoneyinordertoimprovethe

educationofbothboysandgirls. Onaverage,theywerewillingtospendapproximately20%of

incomeonchildrenseducation. Wefoundthat24%ofchildrenattendedcommunityschools. Many

ofthesewerecreatedandpartiallyfinancedbylocalcommunities.

Thereasonsfordroppingoutofschoolalsopointedtohealthydesireforeducation. Girlswere

reportedtomainlydropoutwhentheybecamepregnantorgotmarried,meaningthattheywould

remainatschooluntilafterpuberty. Boysweremorelikelytodropoutinordertogainincome,but

thismayalsohavebeenassociatedwithfatherhoodandmarriage.

Wedidnotconductanysurveysonthereturnstoeducation,butthereisnoreasontothinkthe

patterninGuineaBissaudiffersfromelsewhereinAfrica(Kuepie,Nordmanetal.2009). Wedidfind

thattheirparentsreportedawillingnesstopayforthiseducation,andfortheyoungerchildrenin

thisstudy,parentsviewsofperceivedreturnsmaybemostimportant(Jensen2010). Aliterateand

numeratechildwouldprobablymovetothecapital,oranothermajorcity,wheredemandforskilled

labourisstrong.


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17

However,ifdemandforeducationweretrulystrong,weshouldexpectcommunitiesand

householdstofindmeanstoimprovethequalityandextentofschooling. Therearesomegood

reasonstothinkthatbarrierstothisarelarge. Theextremelyloweducationlevelssuggestsome

communitieswillnothaveactivememberswiththeinformationandknowledgeneededto

intervenesuccessfullyinschools. Privateschoolsdoexistinurbanareas,buttheyarerareinsmall

villages. Thisisprobablyduetothelargecostsandlogisticeffortsneededtocreate,supervise,and

maintainschoolsintheseisolatedvillages. Giventhespendingpowerofhouseholdsissmall(with

$88averagemonthlyhouseholdincome),revenueswouldbemodest.

Communitiescananddoformschoolsontheirown,buttomaintaintheseschoolsconcerted

effortandfinancingisneeded. Wefoundstudentsatcommunityschoolsdidnotperformbetter

thanthoseatstateschools. Anecdotally,weweretoldinmanyvillagesthatitisdifficultforthemto

attractgoodteacherswhoarewillingtostayforlongperiods. Bothseasonalandpermanent

migrationinterfereswiththesustainabilityofschools. Further,sincefamilieswithschoolaged

childrenchangeaschildrengrowup,thereneedstobeameanstoensureregularfinancingas

householdswhousetheschoolschange. Someethniccommunities, suchastheFula,areknownto

havestrongercommunitystructuresthanotherssuchasBalanta,howeverethnicbackgrounddid

notcorrelatestronglywithtestoutcomes(Einarsdr2004).

ThefactthatNGOfinancedschools,withbetterinfrastructureandequipment,didnot

demonstrategoodtestscoressuggeststhatitistheoperationsintheclassroom,suchasteacher

activitiesandsupervisionoftheoutcomesoftheschool,whichmaybeneededtogeneratebetter

outcomes.1314 Onecommonbarriertoallschoolsislanguage. Childrenandteachershavelittle

opportunitytouseorimprovePortugueseoutsidetheclassroom,andwhileteacherscanteachusing

locallanguages,thecommunicationbarrierwhenbooksareused,orliteracyistaught,canbelarge.

Itishardtounderestimatethedifficulttaskateacherfaces. Theyworkincommunitieswherefew

adultsreadandwrite,thereareveryfewbooksandwrittenlanguagetobeseen,childrenmaynot

havenotebooksorpensandpaper,andthereisnogoodlightingatnight.

13Inastudycomparingchildrenstestresultsin21subSaharanAfricannations,equipmentandthenumberof

schoolshiftsofteacherswerehighlycorrelatedwithtestscoreoutcomes. Wedidnotfindsimilarresultshere.

Itispossiblethatreportedcorrelationsinourstudy,aswellasthisotherstudy,effectivelycaptureindicators

oftheschoolingregime,ratherthancausality.Sincenoregimesappeartoworkacrossourpopulations,there

areonlyweakcorrelationsbetweenindicatorvariablesandtestscores. Fehrler,S.,K.MichaelowaandA.

Wechtler(2009)."Theeffectivenessofinputsinprimaryeducation:insightsfromrecentstudentsurveysfor

SubSaharanAfrica."JournalofDevelopmentStudies(UK)45,No.9:15451578.14ArandomizedevaluationofprovidingtextbookstochildreninKenyafoundnoimpactontestscoresfor

childrenreceivingtextbooksGlewwe,P.,M.KremerandS.Moulin(2009)."ManyChildrenLeftBehind?

TextbooksandTestScoresinKenya."AmericanEconomicJournal:AppliedEconomics1(1):112135.


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18

Theresultsfromoursurveysuggestthereislittlepressurecomingfromteachers,ortheir

supervisors,toimproveoutcomesatschools. Wearenotawareofanyattemptstoincentivize

teacherstoimprovechildrenseducationaloutcomes(Glewwe,Iliasetal.2010). Nearlyallteachers

reportedtheyweretestingchildrenregularly,andclassesappearedtobefunctioninginmost

schools. Hence,teachersmusthavebeenawarethatchildrenwerefaringextremelypoorlyat

schoolscomparedtonationalstandards.

Ifdemandforeducationservicesissubstantial,whilecollectiveactionproblemspreventthe

formationoffunctioningschools,thenweshouldobservethataprovisionofhighqualityservices

wouldleadtosubstantialimprovementinlearningoutcomes,especiallycomparedtothelowlevels

observedinthesevillagesin2010. Aclusterrandomizedcontrolledtrialhasrecentlybeen

completedintribalregionsofAndhraPradesh,wherepublicschoolqualityisconsideredtobevery

low,tolearnwhetheraveragetestscoresofallchildreninvillagescanberaisedifthechildrenare

offeredadditional,highquality,afterschooltrainingfortheirchildren. Suchresearchwillhelp

discernwhethersupply,ratherthanissuesrelatedtothedemandforschooling,drivesthepoor

resultsinthatregion(Eble,Mannetal.2010).

Therearenorandomizedschoolallocationsornaturalexperimentswhichcouldpermitusto

examinewhetherimprovedsupplyofqualityschoolinghasacausalimpactonoutcomesinour

surveypopulation. Wecouldonlydetermineindicatorsofqualitythroughvariablessuchasthe

availabilityoftextbooks,chalkboards,andsomebasiccharacteristicsofteachers. Theresultsfrom

thisanalysisweremixed,butgenerallysuggestedthatimprovementsintheseindicatorsdonot

correlatewithlargechangesineducationaloutcomes.

6 ConclusionGuineaBissauisanextremelypoornationwithfrequentpoliticalinstabilityandpoorschooling,

health,andeducationalinfrastructure. Aswepreparedoursurveyin2009,thePresidentwas

assassinated. InthemidstofoursurveyinApril2010,thePrimeMinisterandArmyChiefofStaff

wereimprisonedduringanattemptedcoup. WhileotherpartsofAfricaarereportedtobe

improvingrapidlyonsocioeconomicindicators,GuineaBissauisanexampleofacountrywhich

appearstrappedinpovertydespiteofficialdatawhichclaimsimprovements. Oursurveysuggests

nearlytheentirecurrentgenerationofchildreninruralvillagesisgrowingupinnumerateand

illiterate.

Oursurveyindicatedsubstantialdesirebyparentsandhouseholdchiefsforimprovededucation

invillages. Childrencontinuetoattendschoolsdespitelearningverylittle,andamongstschoolsthat


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19

wereopen,teacherswereusuallyintheclassrooms. Despitethis,littlelearningisoccurring. We

believeamainfactordrivingthesepoorresultsispoorqualityofteachingwithintheschools.

Teachersareisolated,underequipped,receivesalariesafterlongdelays,andhavelittletraining. A

programthatsubstantiallyimprovedconditionsforteaching,whileintroducingstrongsupervisionof

teachersandmonitoringofstudentprogress,mayaddresssomeofthekeyreasonsthatchildrenare

learninglittledespiteattendingschools.

However,furtherresearchisneededtolearnwhichfactorsareattheheartofGuineaBissaus

pooroutcomes,andtounderstandwhichinterventionsmaybeabletochangethese. Ifleft

unattended,educationaloutcomesofyoungchildreninruralGuineaBissauarelikelytoremaindire

wellintothefuture.


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20

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Boone,P.andS.Johnson(2009).BreakingoutofthePocket: DoHealthInterventionsWork?What

WorksinDevelopment: ThinkingBigandThinkingSmall.J.CohenandW.Easterly.Washington,D.C.,

BrookingsInstitutionPress:5590.

Eble,A.,V.Mann,P.Bhakta,R.Lakshminarayana,C.Frost,D.ElbourneandP.Boone(2010)."The

STRIPEStrialsupporttoruralIndia'spubliceducationsystem."Trials11:10.

Einarsdr,J.n.n.(2004).Tiredofweeping:motherlove,childdeath,andpovertyinGuinea

Bissau.Madison,UniversityofWisconsinPress.

Fehrler,S.,K.MichaelowaandA.Wechtler(2009)."Theeffectivenessofinputsinprimaryeducation:

insightsfromrecentstudentsurveysforSubSaharanAfrica."JournalofDevelopmentStudies(UK)

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P.,

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Ilias

and

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ScoresinKenya."AmericanEconomicJournal:AppliedEconomics1(1):112135.

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Table 1: Population Surveyed and Analysed

Persons or

units

Eligible Villages 913

Randomly Selected Villages 202

Households 3968

Female Care Givers 4907

Male Care Giver 3875

Children in households: 19776

of which age 7-17 10014

of which fully completed interviewsand tests 9947

Schools used by the children 351

of which: were open to be assessed 303

Teachers present and interviewed 781

Table 2: Characteristics of Villages

Units

Average of

Sample

Standard

Deviation Min Max

Average Population N 458 230 200 1000

Walking distance to nearest school Minutes

Is there a school in the village 1=Yes, 0=No

Is there a meals program in the village 1=Yes, 0=No 0.460 0.50 0 1

Walking distance to nearest road with

regular transport Minutes 97 80 3 600Walking distance to nearest village with

secondary school Minutes 363 483 0 2880

Note: Observations are excluded where data is missing or not answered unless otherwise reported.


22/32

Table 3: Characteristics of Households

Units

Average of

Sample

Standard

Deviation Min Max

How many people in household N 9.68 5.17 2 47

How many rooms in the house N 4.71 2.25 1 14

Does your house have? 1=Yes, 0=No 0 1

Generator 0.07 0.255 0 1

Television 0.061 0.24 0 1

Radio 0.749 0.433 0 1

Mobile 0.04 0.197 0 1

Table 0.282 0.451 0 1

Motorbike 0.067 0.25 0 1

Bicycle 0.677 0.468 0 1

Watch/Clock 0.618 0.486 0 1

Total monthly income of all

members FCF 44,292 34,053 0 420,000

Any person in the house who can

read or write? 1=Yes, 0=No 0.614 0.487 0 1

Would you be willing to pay extra

to have a son get schooling? 1=Yes, 0=No 0.995 0.069 0 1

if so, how much per year? FCF 8308 7892 0 180,000

Would you be willing to pay extra

to have a daughter get schooling? 1=Yes, 0=No 0.994 0.079 0 1if so, how much per year? FCF 8,171 7,814 0 180,000

Main reasons that boys stop

Schooling 1=Yes, 0=No

School isn't available nearby 0.371 0.483 0 1

Needs to earn money 0.27 0.444 0 1

Gets Married 0.389 0.487 0 1

Help at Home 0.382 0.486 0 1

Avoid enticement away from

family morals 0.091 0.288 0 1

Family can't afford it 0.471 0.499 0 1Main reasons that girls stop

schooling 1=Yes, 0=No

School isn't available nearby 0.314 0.464 0 1

Needs to earn money 0.069 0.254 0 1

Gets Married 0.731 0.444 0 1

Help at Home 0.217 0.412 0 1

Avoid enticement away from

family morals 0.121 0.326 0 1

Family can't afford it 0.318 0.466 0 1

She becomes pregnant 0.527 0.499 0 1Note: Observations are excluded where data is missing or not answered unless otherwise reported.


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Table 4: Characteristics of Parents/Care-Givers

Units

Average

of Sample

Standard

Deviation Min Max

Female Care Giver (4907 respondents)

Age Years 38.51 12.1 15 90

Ethnic Background 1=Yes, 0=No

Balanta 0.258 0.438 0 1

Fula 0.414 0.493 0 1

Mandinga 0.151 0.358 0 1

Other 0.177 0.381 0 1

Religion

Animist 0.301 0.459 0 1

Muslim 0.619 0.486 0 1Christian 0.046 0.209 0 1

Other 0.034 0.181 0 1

Claims knows how to read and write 1=Yes, 0=No 0.0569 0.232 0 1

and was able to pass a literacy test 0.0273 0.163 0 1

Attained a school level of at least grade 1 1=Yes, 0=No 0.0913 0.288 0 1

Male Care Giver (3875 respondents)

Age 47.50 14.1 17 100

Claims knows how to read and write 1=Yes, 0=No 0.358 0.517 0 1

and was able to pass a literacy test 0.239 0.427 0 1

Attained a school level of at least grade 1 1=Yes, 0=No 0.404 0.491 0 1



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Table 5: Characteristics of Children

Units

Average of

Sample

Standard

Deviation Min Max

Age

Sex

1=Girl,

0=Boy 0.526 0 1

Languages at home

Kriol 0.577 0.491 0 1

Portuguese 0.001 0.041 0 1

Other 0.421 0.497 0 1

Does she speak/understand Kriol a little or

fluently at interview

1=Yes,

0=No 0.748 0 1

Ever attended pre-school

1=Yes,

0=No 0.057 0.231 0 1

Ever attended a school

1=Yes,

0=No 0.845 0.362 0 1

Attending a school at time of interview?

1=Yes,

0=No 0.703 0.457 0 1

What type of school does she attend? (can

be none, or more than one for each child)

1=Yes,

0=No 0 1

Public 0.413 0.492 0 1

Community 0.238 0.425 0 1

Private 0.026 0.158 0 1

Missionary 0.027 0.163 0 1Koranic 0.217 0.163 0 1

What languages do they speak at school

Portuguese 0.752 0.432 0 1

Creole 0.899 0.301 0 1



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*Teachers teach an average 1.67 classes, so pupils per class will be lower.

Table 6: Characteristics of Schools

Units

Average

of

Sample

Standard

Deviation Min Max

Schools (303 respondents)

School Type 1=Yes, 0=No

Public 0.591 0.493 0 1

Community 0.314 0.465 0 1

Private 0.059 0.237 0 1

Missionary 0.036 0.187 0 1

Does the School Receive Support from the

Community? 1=Yes, 0=No

Cleaning 0.538 0.499 0 1

for Teachers 0.277 0.448 0 1

Food 0.185 0.389 0 1

Water 0.092 0.29 0 1

Infrastructure 0.469 0.5 0 1

How many teachers for Grades 1-4 work

in the school

Male N 2.38 1.55 0 11

Female N 0.611 1.31 0 8

How many children are enrolled in Grades

1-4

Grade 1 N 60.7 39.1 7 252

Grade 2 N 45.7 33.7 6 221

Grade 3 N 39.7 294 6 184

Grade 4 N 42.7 34.5 4 210

Average pupil per teacher ratio for

combined grades 1-4* N 63.4 24.4 7.2 17.8

Attendance ratio at time of visit (amongst

schools that were operating when visited)

Grade 1 Proportion 0.772 0.223 0.139 1.72



Grade 4 Proportion 0.744 0.233 0.067 1.92Average number of math text books per

enrolled child at the school

Grade 1 Proportion 0.033 0.135 0 1

Grade 2 Proportion 0.035 0.102 0 0.96

Grade 3 Proportion 0.036 0.123 0 1

Grade 4 Proportion 0.041 0.112 0 0.88

Does the school have a toilet? 1=Yes, 0=No 0.452 0.499 0 1

Does the school have drinking water

available? 1=Yes, 0=No 0.274 0.447 0 1


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Table 7: Characteristics of Teachers

Units

Average

ofSample

StandardDeviation Min Max

Gender 1=Female,0=Male 0.19 0.392 0 1

Age Years 38.5 10.7 18 61

Highest grade achieved Grade level 9.41 1.74 4 12

Did she receive training before teaching? 0.595 1.23 0 8

How many years has she been teaching? Years 12.6 11.6 0 46

How many years has she been teaching at

this school? Years 6.51 6.48 0 35

Does she use a textbook when teaching? 1=Yes, 0=No 0.739 0.44 0 1

Does she test students regularly? 1=Yes, 0=No .986 .118 0 1


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Note: Tests were conducted sequentially. For example, if a child was unable to a sentence. Based on 9,947 test scores.

Table 8: Results from Numeracy Tests by Age and Standard Achieved

Percentage of Children, by Age, at Specific Standards

Age: 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Standard

Test

Score:

Not able to recognize single digits 0 78.13 61.24 44.57 36.36 26.27 21.02 15.92 14.71 17.57 13.64 14.04

Can recognize single digit numbers 1 18.66 28.45 34.63 31.22 33.05 25.34 21.46 19.33 15.34 15.29 7.88

Can recognize two digit numbers 2 1.77 5.96 9.73 13.43 14.16 16.4 17.33 16.46 13.81 14.67 16.01

Can add two single digit numbers 3 0.52 1.45 4 5.47 5.21 8.25 9.43 7.23 8.37 5.58 4.93

Can add a single and two digit number 4 0.59 1.87 5.43 7.44 12.59 16.01 19.93 20.7 19.67 20.45 18.97

5 0.33 0.68 0.92 3.34 4.84 7.37 5.31 7.61 10.04 7.23 8.62

Can subtract one two digit number from another 6 0 0.17 0.31 1.45 1.57 2.06 3.42 5.49 4.74 7.64 8.13

7 0 0 0.2 0.68 0.97 1.08 3.42 3.49 3.35 7.23 6.4

Can multiply a two digit number by a single digit

number 8 0 0.17 0.2 0.34 0.85 1.18 1.18 2.62 2.09 2.48 5.91

9 0 0 0 0.17 0.24 0.79 1.18 0.75 1.26 2.07 2.71

Can divide a single digit into a two digit number 10 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 0.59 0.25 1.12 1.24 1.72

11 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 0.24 0.62 1.53 1.45 1.97

Inexact division, a single digit into a two digit number 12 0 0 0 0.09 0.24 0.2 0.59 0.75 1.12 1.03 2.71

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Number 1,527 1,174 976 1,169 826 1,018 848 802 717 484 406


28/32

Table 9: Results from Literacy Tests by Age and Standard Achieved

Percentage of Children by Age at Specific Standards

Age: 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Standard Test Score:

Cannot recognize letters 0 92.67 81.26 71.11 62.28 52.42 44.2 35.5 33.17 31.94 29.34 25.12

Can recognize letters but not words 1 7.14 16.87 23.67 28.83 31.36 30.26 32.31 29.55 26.22 21.69 17

2 0 0.09 0 0.09 0.12 0.29 0.12 0.12 0.14 0.41 0.25

Can recognize and comprehend

words, but cannot read a simple

paragraph 3 0.2 1.53 4.3 5.73 9.32 14.34 16.51 15.59 16.18 15.08 16.01

4 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 0.12 0.12 0 0.21 0

Can read paragraph but cannot

answer simple comprehension

questions 5 0 0 0.2 0.34 1.33 1.57 1.89 3.37 1.67 2.69 3.69

Can read and comprehend a simple

paragraph but not a story 6 0 0.09 0.61 1.54 3.39 4.22 4.72 6.23 8.65 10.12 9.36

7 0 0 0 0.34 0.12 0.79 0.94 0.87 1.67 1.03 1.97

Can read and comprehend a story 8 0 0.17 0.1 0.86 1.94 4.13 7.9 10.97 13.53 19.42 26.6

Total (%) 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Number of Children Assessed 1,527 1,174 976 1,169 826 1,018 848 802 717 484 406

Note: Tests were conducted sequentially. For example, if a child could not add two single digits, we did not ask that they multiply. Based on 9,947 test

scores.


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Table 10: School-based Regression Results

Dependent Variable: Literacy Numeracy

Score Score

RHS Variable: Coef. Coef.

(se) (se)

Average Student Age 0.463***

0.526***

(0.049) (0.062)

Public School -0.040 -0.134

(0.188) (0.211)

Private School 0.669**

0.741*

(0.285) (0.383)

Missionary School 0.095 0.412

(0.530) (0.717)

Student to Teacher Ratio -0.002 -0.001(-0.003) (0.004)

Equipment -0.006 -0.018

(0.020) (0.023)

Number of Primary School Teachers 0.727***

1.121***

(0.16) (0.220)

Average years of teacher training -0.086 -0.121

(0.082) (0.118)

Average years teaching -0.002 -0.001

(0.009) (0.012)

Teacher's walking distance from school(minutes) 0.001 0.001

(0.001) (0.001)

Teacher teaches more than one grade (1=Yes) -0.300*

-0.221

(0.162) (0.188)

Number of shifts the teacher teaches -0.231 -0.703

(0.185) (0.260)

Teacher speaks local language 0.064 0.082

(0.115) (0.145)

Teacher speaks Portuguese (rank 0, 1, 2) 0.237*

0.425**

(0.137) (0.199)

Average Monthly Salary (000 CFA) 0.008 0.006

(.0073) (0.00936)

Constant -4.235***

-5.571***

(0.656) (0.880)

N 280 280

R2 0.591 0.612

RMSE 1.127 1.322

Note: Regressions based on average variables for schools. Due to missing

variables 23 schools were excluded.


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Figure 1: Map of Guinea-Bissau
http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=map+guinea+bissau&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=wFXinGVnIWJnzM&tbnid=UFfALeD1d_MGfM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://paradiseintheworld.com/guinea-bissau-africa/&ei=cBQyUZ0jgs_RBZWdgIAP&psig=AFQjCNHkem0ItwA0okJ3pLC_H1H8lsfSvg&ust=1362322883049513


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Figure 2: Literacy Scores by Age

Figure 3: Numeracy Scores by Age

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

LiteracyTestScore

Age of Child (years)

An average 11 year old

can recognize letters

but not words

Less than half of nine year

olds can recognize letters

of the alphabet

An average sixteen year

old can recognize andcomprehend words, but

cannot read a paragraph

An average 14 year old can

recognize words, but has

trouble comprehending them

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

NumeracyTestScore

Age of Child (years)

An average 11 year old

can't add two single

digits

Only half

of eight year olds

can recognize single

digits

An average sixteen year

old can't subtract a single

digit from a two digit

number

An average 14 year old can add two

single digits but cannot addd

two digit numbers to a single

digit number


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the surprisingly dire situation of children's education in rural west africa

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