Does private schooling narrow wealth inequalities in learning outcomes? Evidence from East Africa

Abstract

In many low-and lower-middle-income countries, private schools are often considered to offer better quality of education than government schools. Yet, there is a lack of evidence to date on their role in reducing inequalities: namely, the extent to which private schooling improves learning among the most disadvantaged children. Our paper uses household survey data from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to identify whether any observed impact of private schooling on core literacy and numeracy skills differs according to children's household wealth. We demonstrate wealth gaps in access to private schooling, and use inferential models to account for observable differences between those who do and do not enrol in private schools. In Kenya and Uganda, we find that private schooling appears to improve the chances of children learning relative to their peers in government schools, but the chances of the poorest children learning in private schools remains low and is at best equivalent to the richest learning in government schools. In Tanzania, private schooling does not seem to improve poorer children's learning, whereas it does for richer children. These findings raise a caution about the extent to which private provision can help narrow learning inequalities.

Are Low-Cost Private Schools Worth the Investment? Evidence on Literacy and Mathematics Gains in Nairobi Primary Schools

“…In the absence of effective interventions focused on improving learning, such as PRIMR, there appear to be no additional impacts on learning if a child is sent to an LCPS, despite parental perceptions of higher quality in those schools (Zuilkowski et al, 2018). Our analytic approach, using residual student gains over time rather than cross-sectional scores, led us to overall findings that contrasted with much of the recent literature on LCPSs in Kenya, which has suggested that LCPSs are intrinsically higher-quality schools (Alcott & Rose, 2016;Ejakait et al, 2011) rather than schools that have higher outcomes because of selection bias. It also contrasts with the recent push in England to create a set of LCPSs (Tooley, 2018).…”

“…Although LCPSs may have lower student-teacher ratios and different disciplinary practices, their effects on academic performance are less clear. In their study of LCPSs and government schools in India, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya, found, on average, better student performance in LCPSs compared to government schools, a finding echoed by other studies conducted in Kenya (Alcott & Rose, 2016;Ejakait, Mutisya, Ezeh, Oketch, & Ngware, 2011;Ngware et al, 2013;Piper, King, & Mugenda, 2016;Piper & Mugenda, 2012). However, there is a lack of causal evidence of the effects of LCPS attendance on student performance.…”

The Role of Low-cost Private Secondary Schools in Rural Kenya Under the ‘Free Secondary Education Policy’

“…Exemplifying the latter, a comparative study in the three East African countries, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, indicates that although private schooling improves children's chances of learning the basics, it does not bridge the gap in learning inequalities between the wealthy and the underprivileged. The underprivileged are much less likely to be enrolled in private schools in each of the three countries (Alcott & Rose, 2016). Another study from Nepal highlights inequality, whereby middle-income households abandon public schools in favour of private ones (Bhatta, 2014).…”

Low-fee private schools, the state, and globalization: A market analysis within the political sociology of education and development

“…However, an extensive review of the literature arrives at the conclusion that the evidence is ambiguous at best because of the inability to control for student background characteristics (Ashley et al, 2014). Controlling for student backgrounds is essential, since even among the poor it is typically the relatively more well-off who are able to afford to send their children to school in LFPSs (Alcott & Rose, 2016;Fennell & Malik, 2012;Harma, 2011;Languille, 2016;Singh & Bangay, 2014). The point here is that, despite the best efforts of researchers, it is very difficult to attain control and treatment samples that are comparable due to the fact that parents with relatively more resources, social capital, etc.…”