Education and Social Policy in Central Asia: The Next Stage of the Transition

Abstract

This paper discusses the challenges facing the education system of Central Asia and evaluates how these have been addressed in the market economy. We first review the evidence on the economic return to education and determine how the rewards to different levels of education changed during the transition. We then examine the trends in school enrolment and evaluate whether changes in supply or demand explain the enrolment trends we observe. Finally, we evaluate the efficiency of the delivery of education and whether market forces have improved the management of schools. We conclude with a summary of the economic and policy lessons derived thus far from the educational transition. The paper uses aggregate administrative data supplemented with survey data, primarily from the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan, on enrolment, completion, and expenditures.

Post-Socialist Transition and the Intergenerational Transmission of Education in Kyrgyzstan

“…However, as previous studies document, a growing number of students were not completing secondary schooling (Anderson andHeyneman, 2005, Micklewright, 1999). The differences in opportunities became more evident at the post-secondary level, where equalizing institutions of the socialist system were no longer in place and the sector is dominated by private 10 In our study, years of parental schooling of the oldest age cohort (in children group) were respectively 1.…”

“…Returns to university education in Kyrgyzstan were, in fact, relatively high in mid-1990s. In particular, Anderson and Heyneman (2005) document that college educated individuals in Kyrgyzstan would expect to earn 17-21 percent higher wages compared to individuals with only basic or lower education. However, given an increased number of university educated individuals in the 2000s, it is relevant to determine whether the wage gap has been maintained; we hypothesize that this return may have been driven down by the increased supply of labor.…”

“…Contrary to experiences of some transition countries, the Kyrgyz government was able to maintain a pre-transition share of public spending on education (World Bank, 2004). This prevented the closure of schools and decline in enrollment; except at the pre-school level (Anderson and Heyneman, 2005, Falkingham, 2005, Mogilevsky, 2011. However, public expenditures on education mainly covered wages of teachers, while other important components of learning, such as textbooks, school infrastructure and teacher training, were underfinanced (Mertaugh, 2004).…”

What is the effect of university education on chances to be self-employed in transitional countries?: Instrumental variable analysis of cross-sectional sample of 29 nations

“…The one reason is the lack of reliable high-quality data that would allow studying the effects of education on selfemployment on a diverse sample of transitional countries (Nikolova et al 2012). The specificities of transitional economics, such as under-reformed educational systems, lack of trust in people and institutions, and economic and political instability suggest that the findings about the effect of education on self-employment choice made in more developed established democracies may not be automatically apply to transitional countries (Anderson and Heyneman 2005;George et al 2012).…”

Markets in Education

“…See e.g. Brewer and Smith (2008) for a general overview; Anderson and Heyneman (2005) for Central Asia, particularly Kazachstan; Johannesson et al (2002) for Finland, Iceland and Sweden; Klitgaard (2007) for a comparison between the United States, Sweden and Germany; Mok et al (2009) for China; Piwowarski (2006) for Poland; see list of references for other contributions.…”