School Facilities, Spending,
and Learning Levels: Evidence
from ASER Pakistan
Chengbin Hu & Xiaotao Ran
August 2013
S
Research Questions
• How do school facilities affect students’
learning outcomes?
• How do school spending activities affect
students’ learning outcomes?
Expected Results
More
Spending
Activities
Better School
Facilities
Higher
Enrollment Rate
Better Learning
Outcomes
Better
Student
Outcomes
Empirical Strategy
Children &
Household
Characteristics
X
School
Characteristics
SF
Community
Characteristics
V
Student
outcome
Y
Results – School Facility
School Facilities by Sector
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Water
Boundary
Toilet
Library
Playground
Sports teacher
Computer
Internet
Government
Private
Results – School Facility cont.
Results – School Facility cont.
School Facilities Vary Greatly by Region
Technology
Physic Facility
Book Related
Basic Facility
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00% 100.00%
Urban
Islamabad
Balochistan
Results – School Facility cont.
S Affluent areas have better schools
S Islamabad – ICT includes the capital city area, has the highest
literacy rate in the country
S Balochistan – at eastern board (by Afghanistan & Iran) with
low population
S School technology facilities are highly correlated with
community level
S In the village with computer center available, the percentage for
the school to have computer lab and internet is twice as high.
Results – School Facility &
Learning Outcomes
Gov. School Spending Surveyed
On New Classrooms
Repair Classroom
On New Verandah
Repair Building
On New Toilets
Repair Toilets
On New Main gate
Repair Furniture
On New Learning Material
On Para Teacher Salary
On New Stationery
On Uniforms
On New Library Books
Other 1
On White Wash
Other 2
One Single spending activity will not tell much
On Boundary Wall
 Repair Water Facility
On New
Furniture
Repair
Computers
Create
“ Government Fund
Spending
Index”
Government Fund Spending Index
Frequency
Index No.
2011
2012
20
19
18
1
1
6
0
2
4
17
1
1
16
1
2
15
3
1
14
13
12
3
6
15
1
3
5
11
12
6
10
27
10
9
52
23
8
7
6
73
104
154
28
35
69
5
164
97
4
219
134
3
293
160
2
1
0
293
240
2449
188
201
3147
Total
4117
4117
Association between current status of the
Input Facility and the funding for the
input facility in the school
Current Input Facility Status
Toilet Not
available
1600
Government Spending
2011
2012
On new toilet
30(1.9%)
16(1%)
Repair toilet
76(4.8%)
39(4.2%)
Water Not
available
1273
Repair water
61(4.8%)
36(2.8%)
Boundary wall
Not available
1292
On boundary
wall
33(2.6%)
22(1.7%)
Library doesnot
have books
2895
On New Books
48(1.7%)
22(0.8%)
Books are
available
Computer lab
Not available
3393
Repair
Computers
23(0.8%)
54(1.6%)
41(1.2%)
School year in
Pakistan
•
1st Semester Begins: April 1st
Length: 3 months
•
2nd Semester Begins: Sep. 1st
Length: 4 months
•
3rd Semester:
Mid Jan. ~ Early March
Source: http://hoshyar.org/students/the-school-year/
Student Learning
Reading
Math
English
Beginner
Beginner
Beginner
Letter
1-9
Capital Letter
Word
11-99
Small Letter
Sentence
Subtraction
Word
Story
Division
Sentence
Student learning in Three Levels
Reading
Math
Level 1:
• Beginner ,Letter
Level 1:
• Beginner, 1-9
Level 2:
• Word, Sentence
Level 2:
• 11-99
Level 3:
• Subtraction,
Division
Level 3:
• Story
English
Level 1:
• Beginner,
Capital Letter,
Small Letter
Level 2:
• Word
Level 3:
• Sentence
Student Learning In Level 3
vs. National Average
In Each Subject
Student Learning by
Gov. Fund Index
Limitation
S Unlikely to find out if Schools, which have available
facilities, spend their government funding In good Strategies.
S Difficult to control Household’s Social Economic Status
because current survey only asked Yes/No Question.
Recommendations
S government funding should be strategically spent to improve
on inputs that have shown to have linkages to student
learning“
S including a variable on ranges of funds spent in the input
category
S There is a discrepancy between the status of the facility at
the school and the funding source related to that facility
Discussion
S School facilities vary a lot by sector and region
S Basic and book related facilities are the most important for
learning outcomes, even after control for children, household, and
community variables
S There are a few schools which did not spend Money in good
strategies.
S More Government Spending Activities result in better students
learning ; Overly funding(Index >20) may not necessarily increase
their competencies..