ERIC ED508747: Human Capital, Poverty, Educational Access and Exclusion: The Case of Ghana 1991-2006. CREATE Pathways to Access. Research Monograph No. 22

1.2 MB·English

by  ERIC

Consortium for Research on
Educational Access,
Transitions and Equity
Human Capital, Poverty, Educational Access and Exclusion:
The Case of Ghana 1991-2006
Caine Rolleston
CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS
Research Monograph No. 22
January 2009
Institute of Education
University of London
The Consortium for Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE) is a Research Programme
Consortium supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Its purpose is to
undertake research designed to improve access to basic education in developing countries. It seeks to achieve
this through generating new knowledge and encouraging its application through effective communication and
dissemination to national and international development agencies, national governments, education and
developmentprofessionals,non-governmentorganisationsandotherinterestedstakeholders.
Access to basic education lies at the heart of development. Lack of educational access, and securely acquired
knowledgeandskill,isbothapartofthedefinitionofpoverty,andameansforitsdiminution.Sustainedaccess
to meaningful learning that has value is critical to long term improvements in productivity, the reduction of
inter-generational cycles of poverty, demographic transition, preventive health care, the empowerment of
women,andreductionsininequality.
TheCREATEpartners
CREATEisdevelopingitsresearchcollaborativelywithpartnersinSub-SaharanAfricaandSouthAsia.The
leadpartnerofCREATEistheCentreforInternationalEducationattheUniversityofSussex.Thepartnersare:
TheCentreforInternationalEducation,UniversityofSussex:ProfessorKeithMLewin(Director)
TheInstituteofEducationandDevelopment,BRACUniversity,Dhaka,Bangladesh:DrManzoorAhmed
TheNationalUniversityofEducationalPlanningandAdministration,Delhi,India:ProfessorRGovinda
TheEducationPolicyUnit,UniversityoftheWitwatersrand,SouthAfrica:DrShireenMotala
TheUniversitiesofEducationatWinnebaandCapeCoast,Ghana:ProfessorJeromeDjangmah
TheInstituteofEducation,UniversityofLondon:ProfessorAngelaWLittle
Disclaimer
The researchon whichthispaper isbased wascommissioned bythe Consortiumfor ResearchonEducational
Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE http://www.create-rpc.org). CREATE is funded by the UK
Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries and is coordinated
from the Centre for International Education, University of Sussex. The views expressed are those of the
author(s)andnotnecessarilythoseofDFID,theInstituteofEducationortheCREATETeam.
Copyright©CREATE2009
ISBN:0-901881-28-7
Addressforcorrespondence:
CREATE,
CentreforInternationalEducation,SussexSchoolofEducation,
UniversityofSussex,Falmer,BrightonBN19QQ,
UnitedKingdom
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Authoremail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.create-rpc.org
Email [email protected]
PleasecontactCREATEusingthedetailsaboveifyourequireahardcopyofthispublication.
Human Capital, Poverty, Educational Access and Exclusion:
The Case of Ghana 1991-2006
Caine Rolleston
CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS
Research Monograph No. 22
January 2009
Contents
Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................vi
Preface......................................................................................................................................vii
Summary.................................................................................................................................viii
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................1
1.1TheData......................................................................................................................2
1.2Structureofthestudy..................................................................................................3
2.HumanCapital,Povertyand HouseholdWelfareinGhanainthe1990s..............................4
2.1Conceptual frameworkandliterature review..............................................................4
2.2Modellingapproach andprocedure............................................................................7
2.3Descriptiveresults.......................................................................................................8
2.4Regressionmodellingresults......................................................................................9
2.5Discussion.................................................................................................................11
3.TheDeterminationofExclusion: Evidencefrom theGhana LivingStandards Surveys 1991
-2006........................................................................................................................................12
3.1Conceptual Frameworkand LiteratureReview........................................................12
3.2ModellingApproach andProcedure........................................................................14
3.3DescriptiveResults...................................................................................................15
3.3.1BasicEducationAttendance andCompletion1991-2006............................15
3.4RegressionModellingResults..................................................................................19
3.4.1 Initial access.................................................................................................19
3.4.2Current Attendance andDrop-Out...............................................................20
3.4.3ExclusioninGLSS 5....................................................................................21
3.4.4Alternativemodels.......................................................................................23
3.5Discussion.................................................................................................................23
4.Conclusion............................................................................................................................25
References................................................................................................................................26
Appendix..................................................................................................................................30
ii
Listof Tables
Table1 Descriptionofexplanatoryvariables (householdwelfareequation)…….8
Table2 Descriptivestatistics (householdwelfareequation)…………………….30
Table3 Results ofregressionofhouseholdwelfareoneducational
qualifications ofthehouseholdhead(partial correlations)……………..31
Table4 Results ofregressionofhouseholdwelfareequationwithcontrols…....32
Table5 Descriptionofexplanatoryvariables (school attendance equations)…..15
Table6 Proportions ofchildrenaged5-17whowere currentlyattending
school byregionandsurveyround……………………………………..17
Table7 Educational access (ages 5-17): Estimatedpopulationfigures
usingGLSS 3-5(millions)……………………………………………...18
Table8 Proportions ofchildrenaged5-17whohad ‘dropped-out’
ofbasiceducationbyregionandsurveyround………………………..33
Table9 Proportions ofchildren whohadcompletedprimaryschool
byage,region andsurveyround………………………………..……....33
Table10 Proportions ofchildren whohadcompletedJSSbyage,
regionandsurveyround………………………………………………...33
Table11 DescriptiveStatistics (school attendance age5to 19)………………….34
Table12 Children’s workandschool attendance GLSS 3-5……………………..35
Table13 Results ofprobit regression: Dependent variable everattendance
at school (age5to19)…………………………………………………..36
Table14 Results ofprobit regression: Dependent variable current
attendanceat school (age 5to19)……………………………………....37
Table15 Results ofmultinomial logisticregression: Dependent
variableaccess outcome (Age5to19)…………………………………38
iii
Listof Figures
Figure1 Examples oflinkages betweeneducationand economicwelfare………..2
Figure2 IllustrationofdatastructureinGLSS……………………………………3
Figure3 Occupation ofhouseholdheads (2005-6)………………………………..9
Figure4 Adults householdmembers withnoeducation ……………………….....9
Figure5 Adults 18-35with seniorsecondaryorhigherqualifications……………9
Figure6 Averagehouseholdwelfarebyexpenditurequintile
andsurveyround........................................................................................9
Figure7 Rates ofever-attendance at school age5-17…………………………....16
Figure8 Enrolment inprimarygrade1byage(GLSS 5)………………………...17
Figure9 Current attendanceat school bygenderand age………………………..21
iv
Listof Acronyms
CREATE Consortium forResearch onEducational Access, Transitions andEquity
EA EnumerationArea
EFA EducationforAll
GLSS Ghana LivingStandards Survey
GoG Government ofGhana
ICCC Intra-ClusterCorrelationCoefficient
GSS GhanaStatistical Service
HHH HouseholdHead
JSS JuniorSecondarySchool
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
OLS OrdinaryLeast Squares
PSU PrimarySamplingUnit
SSS SeniorSecondarySchool
UNESCO UnitedNations Educational,ScientificandCultural Organisation
v
Acknowledgements
Iam grateful toAngela Little,GeetaKingdon,KwameAkyeampong, AbenaOduroand Keith
Lewinfortheirinstructivecomments onearlierdrafts ofthis monograph.
vi
Preface
Education and poverty are closely inter-connected. Caine Rolleston’s analysis employs
national level data from three rounds of the Ghanaian Living Standards Surveys (GLSSs) to
explorethereciprocal relationships between educationandhouseholdwelfare.Rarelyareboth
relations - the role of education in determining household welfare and the role of household
welfare in determining school attendance and progression - explored together within the same
analysis. This study demonstrates how this can be done. Additionally, by employing three
surveys, trends in educational participation and welfare are explored over time and related to
more general shifts insocietyandeconomy.The ‘Zones ofExclusion’model whichunderpins
the work of the CREATE research consortium and this monograph series has been applied to
these secondary data sets wherever possible, enabling the author to deepen our understanding
of the combinations of factors at work at different stages of access to and progression through
education.This is anexemplarystudyand will be ofvalue toGhana’s educationpolicymakers
and education research community. Its methodological approach will also be of value to those
whoanalyselivingstandards surveys from elsewhere.
ProfessorAngelaW. Little
InstituteofEducation, London
CREATEPartner InstituteConvenor
vii
Summary
The period since 1991 has seen a general improvement both in terms of household welfare
and schooling participation in Ghana. This monograph explores the patterns among
descriptive indicators and uses regression analysis to examine possible causal relationships
with special reference to the role of education in determining welfare and its reciprocal, the
role of welfare and other aspects of economic privilege in the determination of school
attendance and progression. It reviews the literature on modelling of the household
consumption function as well as on modelling schooling decisions based on the household
production function. Two groups of models are then fitted using data from the Ghana Living
Standards Surveys. The results suggest that education levels play an important role in
determining household welfare and that, for higher levels of education, these effects may be
strengthening. Educational expansion has, however, meant that access to the benefits from
these effects has widened somewhat. Demographic change has also played an important role
in welfare improvements. In terms of absolute numbers, access to schooling in Ghana has
expanded dramatically. Rates of completion and of drop-out have not improved, however,
and there appears to be a worsening of age-appropriate completion rates. Nonetheless, the
first half of the period since 1991 saw substantial increases in rates of ever-attendance and of
current-attendance at the basic education level. This growth appears to have been driven by
narrowing regional differentials, increasing welfare, urbanisation, improving gender equity,
smaller and less dependent households and a reduction in the number of children involved in
child labour. It is in relation to progression towards higher levels of education that more
significant inequity emerges and in 2006 completion of lower secondary education in Ghana
remains thepreserveofchildreninareas andhouseholds ofrelative economicprivilege.
viii