The Equity Implications of Household Contributions to Education Evidence from Nigeria’s Education Household Survey 2015 Alastair Rodd

IMPACT OF UBE POLICY ON BASIC EDUCATION PARTICIPATION 2% of Consolidated Revenue Fund (in 2016 approximately $200 million) Classroom construction (50% of the pool as matching funds to States); Learning materials(15%); Teacher training(10%); Special activities for out of school youth (imbalance fund – 14%) Other (11%) UBE is a federal Intervention Fund that has been in place since 2004. It was expected to be used to support States in the delivery of basic education. Note constitutionally, LG are responsible for primary education and states are responsible mostly for secondary education. UBE added lower secondary to primary and created some confusion in financing. A KEY POINT TO NOTE IS THAT AMOUNT IS DIVIDED EQUALLY AMONG STATES AND IS MATCHING. States opt out. Special needs 2% Good performance 5% Monitoring and implementation 4%

Has the provision of UBE funds improved educational access in Nigeria? Has any improvement in access been distributed equally among wealth quintiles? How have household contributions to public education changed as a result of public investment? Not adding anything we don’t already know. Just reconfirming the obvious: the poorest are being left behind. NEDS 2010 and 2015 are extremely rich datasets that complement existing Living Standards Measurement Surveys or DHS HH data Start by taking a look at schooling participation, by quintile and over time. Then look at patterns of costs of schooling and school choice. Conclusion: the poor suffer and the rich opt out – so any benefits of increased Government expenditure are accruing to the middle income quintiles. This is not in and of itself bad, but a look at where income is distributed in Nigeria suggests that this national policy

Nigeria Education Data Survey - NEDS NEDS is a sample-based household survey to collect information on demand for schooling 18,451 households and 50,883 children between the age of 4 and 16 Four questionnaires: Eligible child, Household, Independent child and Parent/Guardian 2010 and 2015 Datasets are comparable – use similar sample frame and sample size

Schooling Status

Primary NAR and GAR over time Some improvement in Primary NAR over time.

Percent of children never attended school by wealth quintile Two things from this graph: most of the never-attended are coming from the poorest quintile. The gains in attendance from the previous slide accrued mostly to the second and middle quintiles.

UBE and ACCESS So has all the spending on school construction been effective? Briefly look at distance walking to school.

Mean reported walking time to primary school 2010 and (minutes) Walking time to school has dropped, particularly for the poorest (note this includes those not going to school)

Mean Reported Walking Distance to School Note there is even regional parity, with significant improvements in the north

Expenditures

Per-pupil household expenditures on primary schooling for pupils Everyone is spending more; but the highest quintile is spending 7 times as much per pupil as the lowest

Percentage of primary school pupils whose households spent money on various costs of schooling (wealth quintile) What specifically are parents spending their money on? Everyone spends money on books and uniforms. The wealthiest in general spend on more things than the poor, including tuition, school development levies and extra lessons

Average annual per pupil household expenditure (Naira) on primary schooling by wealth quintile So the wealthiest are spending much more. But what percent of total spending goes to each item? Ie relatively speaking where are households spending their money

Percent of Total per pupil household expenditure on primary education by type of expenditure Remember Food and transport were only reported by less than half of poor households. Uniforms and books/supplies are cited by everyone. UBE allocates 15% to learning materials. Maybe look at policy to provide food and to subsidize the cost of uniforms rather than building more schools

Public- Private Schooling So what is really going on? Rich are opting out and going to private school.

Distribution of Children in Primary school by School Type over Time Participation has remained constant

Percent of children attending private primary school by wealth quintile (2015) Wealthy are spending more because they opt out. What is impact on learning?

Reasons for School Selection The poor go to the closest school; the rich go to the better school. Choice. But has UBE improved access

Reasons for Non-Attendance (Lowest Quintile 2015) UBEC funds have brought public schooling closer to poorer households But it still remains a factor that is reported as preventing access Not enough information on the opportunity cost of schooling – but this remains an issue Other costs to schooling may still be prohibitive: uniforms and books

Literacy

Percent literate by grade and by wealth quintile Literacy here is defined as the ability to read three Pre-school level words. So it should be no surprise that most child at JSS level are literate. It takes until Primary 5 for the half of the lowest SES children to be literate, a full 5 years behind the highest SES

Conclusions Time to rethink the use of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and consider: Funding items other than school construction Equitable rather than equal allocations

Average Household Wealth by State (Northern and Central region states highlighted) Finish with this slide: Red bars are States in the North west, North east and North Central. These States continue to fall behind with potentially serious long term political considerations. Average household wealth by state from the wealth index – out of 4

More Information Alastair Rodd Senior Education Advisor 919 541 7091 arodd@rti.org