Interactions between students, teachers and pedagogical contents, and therefore, education, take place within school’s physical infrastructure. Physical infrastructure has significant impact on children’s enrolment, attendance, completion rates and even on learning achievements. See more…
School distance can be a major factor in preventing children from enrolling in primary school or causing them to drop out. Schools that are long distances from children’s homes increase the opportunity costs of schooling and can pose safety and security hazards, particularly for girls who may risk being attacked on their way to and from school. Schools may be located too far away due to difficulties in school construction; deficiencies in the planning that determines the location of schools; the existence of small dispersed communities; or may be due to migration challenges among certain populations, such as for nomadic communities. See more…
Teacher’s salaries constitute the majority of national education budgets. But with the expansion of primary schooling, many countries face financial constraints and are unable to adequately pay salaries for the increased required number of teachers. Governments may respond to salary constraints by increasing pupil-teacher ratios or reducing spending on other items affecting overall schooling quality. See more…
The surge in primary school enrolment and the push for improved quality has resulted in an acute shortage of teachers. This situation is exacerbated by high teacher attrition rates, which in some countries are surpassing recruitment rates. Education policies need to ensure that there is an environment created for teachers that motivates them, to continue in the teaching profession, and that deploys them to teaching posts adequately, so a sufficient supply of teachers can be maintained. See more…
The surge in primary school enrolment and the push for improved quality has resulted in an acute shortage of teachers. There may be a lack of appropriate teaching candidates to recruit from due to limited number of school leavers, the poor status of teaching, and low salaries. The overall supply of teacher candidates depends on factors including salaries, working conditions, entry requirements. See more…
Teachers’ salary is the amount of money a teacher is earning from the activity of teaching in a school. The average level of teacher salaries is both politically sensitive and crucially important for education results: On the one hand, in every ministry of education, teachers’ salaries are the most important part of the educational budget (around three-fourths of the budget); on the other hand, salaries affect the attraction, retention and motivation of good teachers. These two factors must be combined and balanced in order to implement a sustainable teacher salary policy. See more…
Socio-cultural barriers constitute some of the factors why children fail to attend primary school. Socio-cultural barriers impeding children schooling are generally not only prevalent among parents of the affected children, but also among teachers, school authorities, and the community overall. Therefore, it is not only important to mitigate negative beliefs regarding the importance of enrolling children to school, it is also essential to create an inclusive school environment which welcomes and appreciates diversity. See more…
Participation of communities in the operation of schools helps increase access of children to school. Relations with the community exist at two levels, at a formal and legal level and an informal and voluntary one. Community’s participation in the school can be enhanced by promoting an environment where community members feel welcomed, respected, trusted, heard and needed. See more…
The opportunity costs of primary education consist not only of the loss of returns from the income of child labour, but also loss of the child’s informal contribution to the household such as taking care of younger siblings, performing household chores, and caring for livestock. The immediate need for the income from child labour and for children’s non-economic contributions can be a significant barrier preventing children from attending school. Strategies include policies that aim to minimize these opportunity costs, and those that aim to accommodate the need for children’s contributions to the household. See more…
Direct schooling costs, or private costs taken on by families for their children’s schooling, are one of the greatest barriers to primary enrolment and completion. Although many countries have fee abolition policies, they are not always effectively implemented, and the unofficial return of school fees is increasingly common. Poorly executed fee abolition can also result in other unintended negative consequences, such as the erosion of educational quality. Other direct costs outside of school fees include uniforms, textbooks, school supplies, PTA fees and exam fees. See more…
