The Entry of NGO Schools and Girls’ Educational Outcomes in Bangladesh Pataporn Sukontamarn London School of Economics November 29, 2004

Outline Research question and motivation Theoretical framework Background and data Empirical analysis Conclusions

Research Question How does the entry of NGO schools affect the educational outcomes of girls in Bangladesh?  Does the entry of NGO schools increase girls’ enrollment relative to boys?  Characteristics of NGO and state schools that affect girls’ enrollment  How does attending an NGO school affect test scores?

Motivation 1. Rapid increase in girls’ enrollment rates in recent years => Gender equity in primary enrollment 2. Heavy involvement of NGOs in the provision of non-formal primary schools  1.4 million children  Aim: poorest children (non-enrolled or dropout)  Many different characteristics

Theoretical framework Show how NGO schools might affect girls’ enrollment as compared to boys’ Schooling decision in cost-benefit framework Main assumption: disutility of sending a child to school, which differs by gender and by school type

Max B(x s ) – p sjk + U(Y-c kj -x s ) (1) {x s } B() = benefits of education U() = utility from consumption s = male (m), female (f) k = no school (0), gov. sch. (g), NGO sch. (n) j = village j x s = expenditure on education of child s p sjk = disutility of sending child s to school k in village j Y = income c kj = opportunity cost of time of going to school k

Assumptions: B() increasing & concave in x s U() increasing & concave in Y p fgj > p mgj = p mnj = p fnj c gj > c nj Let x j *(Y) be solution to (1) and V(Y) be maximum value function Enrol a child if: V(Y) - U(Y) > 0

Results: Enrollment ↓ in p jk and c j and  in Y Let Y jk * be threshold level Y above which a household will enrol child j in school k, then Y mnj * = Y fnj * < Y mgj * < Y fgj * NGOs contribute to increase in enrollment of boys and girls, with stronger effects for girls Assume NGOs target households Y < Y tg Suppose Y mn * = Y fn * < Y mg * < Y tg < Y fg * Gender gap disappears for the poor, but exists for the rich

Background BRAC : largest NGO (1.2 million out of 1.4) BRAC schools:  One-room school built inside village  33 children & 1 teacher  Over 90% of teachers: female  Class time: decided by parents & teacher  3-year cycle covering 3 years of gov. school curriculum

Data Education Watch survey instruments: (1.) Household Survey Questionnaire (42,584 households, 31,092 children) (2.) Assessment of Basic Competencies (ABC) (3360 children) (3.) School Observation Checklist (885 schools)

Empirical analysis (1.) Entry of NGO schools and girls’ enrollment (2.) School characteristics that affect girls’ enrollment (3.) Test scores

(1)Entry of NGO schools and girls’ enrollment: an overview

(1.1) Exposure to NGO schools and enrollment (11-20 years old) Pr(S ij = 1) = α 0 + α 1 EXP ij + α 2 Girl*EXP ij + α 3 C ij + α 4 Girl*C ij + α 5 Girl + α 6 V j + error term where, S ij = 1 if individual i in village j was enrolled at time of survey, and 0 otherwise EXP ij = 1 if individual i in village j was exposed to an NGO school in the village Girl = the dummy variable for being a girl C ij = a vector of child and family characteristics V j = village fixed effects

(1.2) Involvement of NGO schools and enrollment (6-10 years old) For each child, define: ‘the involvement of non-formal schools in a village’ number 6-10 yrs old in NGO schools number 6-10 yrs old enrolled in school excluding the child from the sample ‘ the involvement of government schools in a village’ is similarly defined

Pr(Sij=1) = α 0 + α 1 N ij + α 2 Girl*N ij + α 3 G ij + α 4 Girl*G ij +α 5 C ij + α 6 Girl*C ij + α 7 Girl+ α 8 Aj + α 9 Vc j + error term where, Girl = dummy variable for being a girl Girl*N j shows the difference in the effects that the involvement of NGO schools has on the enrollment of girls as compared to boys

- Rural versus Urban - BRAC target versus non-target Definition: BRAC target: households with less than 0.5 acre of land and at least one person engaged in manual labor for at least 100 days per year (1.3) Extensions:

(2) School characteristics that affect girls’ enrollment Pr(S ij = 1) = α 0 + α 1 Nc j + α 2 Girl*Nc j + α 3 Gc j + α 4 Girl*Gc j + α 5 C ij + α 6 Girl*C ij + α 7 Girl + α 8 A j + α 9 Vc j + error term where, Ncj = a vector of aggregate village-level characteristics of NGO schools in village j Gcj = a vector of aggregate village-level characteristics of government schools in village j

(4) Test scores Y ij = α 0 + α 1 T ij + α 2 Girl*T ij + α 3 C ij + α 4 Girl*C ij + α 5 V j + error term where, Y ij represents (i) whether a child passed the ABC test or not, and (ii) test scores of life-skills, reading, writing, and numeracy sections T ij = dummy variable for the type of school that the child was attending at the time of survey

Conclusions The entry of NGO schools significantly increases girls’ enrollment relative to boys. It is mainly in the rural areas that NGO schools appear to have strong effects. The effects of NGO schools are stronger for BRAC target households compared to non-target households.

The main characteristics of NGO schools that appear to encourage girls’ enrollment: high percentage of female teachers and having PTAs Attending NGO schools shows significant effects on ABC test scores.