World Bank Document

in the plains; and attracting quali- less education than boys (see boxfied teachers to remote areas has Big is not necessarily bad on page 50). Since the mere exisprovedto be extremely difficult. Class sizes vary widely in the developing tence of a school does not auto-There is often much that can be world-at elementary schools, from matically mean it is used by allaccomplished by administrative more than 60 in four countries (Chad, those eligible to attend, specialaction with relatively little capital Malawi, Congo-Brazzaville and Central measures may be needed to eninvestment.Repetition of classes African Republic) to less than 25 inseven (Iraq, Barbados, Bolivia, Uruguay, sure that the education offered isand early dropout may be the Romania, Mauritania and Mauritius). attractive to the families for whomresult of excessively high promo- Yet once classes have more than 40 it is intended (see pages 78-79).tion standards. In these circum- students, varying their size has almoststances, the flow of students can no effect on student learning (though QUALITY OF EDUCATION. This isbe accelerated by more automatic larger classes may weaken discipline QUalIy oF developing counandteacher morale). Between 15 andpromotion-while maintaining 40, students learn more in smaller tries, and has been found (forquality by correcting some of the classes (and still more in even smaller example, in studies undertaken incauses of repetition or dropout. classes), but the benefits are slight. For Thailand, Malaysia and the Philip-In many situations, resources can example, reducing an elementary-school pines) to be lower still for poorbe freed for extending educationexpectedclass fromto improve40 pupilsaverageto 15achievebyraising student-teacher ratios, ment (in a standard test) by only about public schools may lead the well-can be and rural pupils. Poor qualitywhich are the main determinant 5 percentage points. By the same token, to-do to choose private schoolsof unit costs (given teacher salaries) amodestincrease-from35to40pupils, for their children, reinforcingand are largely determined by say-might reduce achievement by only social and economic inequality.a single percentage point. While thereclass size. Extensive research shows are obvious practical limits to increasing Casual observation and smallthatclass size has surprisingly little classes much above 50, the research scale studies have long suggestedeffect on learning (see box). It is does suggest that, for classes initially that poor training of teachers, lackimportant to maximize the use of below 50, little will be lost if they are of textbooks, and inadequate schoolavailable facilities-by rotating increased. facilities lead to poor educationalclasses, with staggered scheduling In sparsely populated areas, larger results and provide a weak basisclasses-if that means fewer schoolsanddouble shifts in areas of high may increase the time it takes children for subsequent training. But broadpopulationdensity. If there are to get to school. That could be a genuine based evidence to demonstratenot enough pupils within an discouragement, though in most places the extent of the resulting learningacceptable distance from school to population density is high enough not losses has only recently becomefill individual classes, student- to make it so. available-from a large researchteacher ratios and the use of spaceproject, the International Evaluationcan be significantly improved by of Educational Achievement. Buttaking new students only in alter- only four developing countriesnate years (as has been done suc- to their traditional way of life; or (Chile, India, Iran and Thailand)cessfully in a project financed by the they may simply believe that social were among the 19 countriesWorld Bank in Malaysia) and by or ethnic barriers are too great, or covered.teaching more than one grade in a the quality of the available school- While international comparclass,as in another World Bank- ing too low, to make education isons of student achievement mustfinanced project in El Salvador. worth its costs. For poor families, be approached gingerly, particuthehelp of children at home-in larly when different languages orUSE. Since most poor parents animal care, fetching fuel and testing styles can affect the results,believe that education would water, taking care of young chil- a clear pattern nonetheless emergesbenefit their children-in terms of dren while adults work, and in from the study. Differences instatus and the ability to stand up agricultural work during busy average performance of studentsto officials and merchants, as well seasons-may conflict with a fixed from the 15 developed countriesas in a more narrowly economic school schedule. For some families, varied somewhat from subject tosense-they must have strong rea- malnutrition and poor health of subject and country to country;sons for not sending their children children may lead to poor atten- but the differences by and largeto school if they have the chance. dance, inattention while in school, were small. The developing coun-They may question whether they repetition of grades and, even- tries, however, did far less wellwillbenefit themselves; they may tually, dropping out. And there are in all subjects tested, and at eacheven regard the school as a threat particular reasons that girls receive of the three age levels examined.52