Thesis Defense Summary

Name:	Asankha Pallegedara
Degree Title:	Ph.D. in Development Economics
Date of Conferment:	September 7, 2011
Title of Dissertation:	ESSAYS ON THE ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Chief Examiner:	山野峰
Committee:	大山達雄 Roberto Leon-Gonzalez 鈴木綾 西村幹子（ICU）

Ⅰ．

In Chapter 1, Mr. Pallegedara explains who he attempts to study several dimensions of education policy in developing countries. First, in order to assess the quantity of education level in developing countries, this study evaluates the impact of universal secondary education policy in Uganda. The results of this Ugandan case study show that free secondary education policies may be an effective way to improve secondary education in African countries. Apparently, universal secondary education policies contribute to income and gender equity of education because girls from relatively poor households seem to have benefited the most from this policy. However, supply side policy interventions such as construction of new public secondary schools near the villages, development of infrastructure facilities in rural areas are further needed to improve the efficacy of the policy.

Second, in order to assess issues in the quality of education under the free education policies in developing countries, this study investigates the demand for private tuition classes under the free education policy in Sri Lanka. The results of this Sri Lankan case study demonstrate that the demand for private tuition classes has increased over time. Household private tuition expenditure seem to have changed from a luxury good to a necessity good for many Sri Lankan households over time. Although the gap between the rich and the poor in terms of spending on children’s private tuition classes has been narrowing over time, higher educated parents are more likely to spend money on children’s private tuition classes. Apparently, no gender differences on allocation of private tuition expenditure between boys-only households and girls-only households. The results further reveal that household economic burden of private tuition classes increases over time especially among households reside in urban areas and majority Sinhalese households. It appears that Sri Lankan students are not satisfied with the quality of education that receives from public schools under the free education policy. Therefore, Sri Lankan policy makers may need to re-consider the free education policy.

 

Chapter 2 reviews the literature related to the economics of education in developing countries. It begins with an introduction and a brief summary of the important issues in the economics of education, primarily in developing countries. Second, it reviews the literature related to the quantity of education in developing countries. This includes recent trends and policies related to the quantity of education in developing countries. Third, it discusses the related literature on the quality of education issues in developing countries in detail. This section reviews important policies that some developing countries have introduced to improve the quality of education. Fourth, it discusses the factors that improve the quantity of education available in developing countries and describes some of the measurement problems related to the quantity of education level. Various empirical research outcomes are discussed in detail. Fifth, it reviews the literature related to factors that affect the quality of education obtained in developing countries and discusses the empirical results of retrospective studies related to the quality of education. It also examines recent approaches of studies related to the quality of education. Finally, it reviews the literature on importance of the quality of education, along with the educational quantity in developing countries.

 

Chapter 3 examines the impact of the universal secondary education (USE) policy in Uganda. I use two household panel survey data sets from rural Uganda that surveyed two years before and two years after the new policy was enacted. I conduct both descriptive and econometric estimation analysis. First, I estimate the impact of USE policy on school enrollments. Second, I estimate the impact of USE policy on delayed enrollments to secondary schools. Third, I estimate the impact of USE policy on household education expenditure. The results suggest that girls’ enrollment to public secondary schools has increased after the new free education policy was enacted. Apparently, girls from relatively poor households have benefited from this new policy. However, results indicate that among girls, delayed enrollment to secondary schools may have increased owing to the new policy. In addition, positive correlation of household education expenditure and household wealth may have declined after the new policy was enacted.

 

Chapter 4 investigates the demand for private tuition classes in Sri Lanka, where education is provided free up to the university level. I use two nationwide household cross-sectional survey data sets from Sri Lanka in order to analyze the demand for private tuition classes. Using both descriptive and econometric estimation, I explore the determinants of private tuition class expenditure and economic burden of private tuition classes at the household level. The results indicate that household private tuition expenditure has changed from a luxury to a necessity over time. Apparently, rural households have low demand for private tuition classes compare with urban households. In addition, demand for private tuition classes seems to increase with education level of the parents. Moreover, results imply that demand for private tuition classes increases due to the lack of supply of public school teachers at the district level. Finally, household economic burden of private tuition classes appears to increase over time.

 

Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation by presenting a summary of findings in this study, a discussion on the importance of the quality of education along with the quantity of education in developing countries, and the limitations of the findings in this dissertation.