Education in West Africa
type: CreativeWork
description: The dissertation explores various aspects of education and its impact on societal dynamics. Chapter 1 delves into the challenges faced in secondary education in developing countries, particularly focusing on low completion rates. Primary education enrollment rates in developing countries have increased significantly over the past few decades, but secondary school completion rates have remained low and unequal. This study presents the findings of a randomized controlled trial I conducted in Benin investigating the effects of providing parents with information on how to manage their child’s time and effort on educational production through weekly phone calls. Across 2,094 8th-grade students in 20 secondary schools, the intervention led to a substantial 6 percent increase in grade completion. This stems from a statistically significant 0.11 standard deviation increase in year-end GPA, driven by STEM subjects. The intervention benefits academically weaker students, elevating their likelihood of progression by 37 percent. Educational improvements are due to parents improving their management of the household, reducing children’s chores, and becoming more involved and informed about what is going on at school. These results offer a promising and extremely cost-effective strategy for sub-Saharan Africa to improve educational outcomes and highlight the importance of parental management in the education production function. These results also highlight the crucial role parents with little to no education can play in improving their child’s performance if given the appropriate information. Chapter 2 addresses the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on global education, with a focus on learning losses and enrollment issues, particularly in developing countries. About 2 billion children were affected by school closures globally at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to documented learning losses while children were out of school and an especially precarious futur…
abstract: The dissertation explores various aspects of education and its impact on societal dynamics. Chapter 1 delves into the challenges faced in secondary education in developing countries, particularly focusing on low completion rates. Primary education enrollment rates in developing countries have increased significantly over the past few decades, but secondary school completion rates have remained low and unequal. This study presents the findings of a randomized controlled trial I conducted in Benin investigating the effects of providing parents with information on how to manage their child’s time and effort on educational production through weekly phone calls. Across 2,094 8th-grade students in 20 secondary schools, the intervention led to a substantial 6 percent increase in grade completion. This stems from a statistically significant 0.11 standard deviation increase in year-end GPA, driven by STEM subjects. The intervention benefits academically weaker students, elevating their likelihood of progression by 37 percent. Educational improvements are due to parents improving their management of the household, reducing children’s chores, and becoming more involved and informed about what is going on at school. These results offer a promising and extremely cost-effective strategy for sub-Saharan Africa to improve educational outcomes and highlight the importance of parental management in the education production function. These results also highlight the crucial role parents with little to no education can play in improving their child’s performance if given the appropriate information. Chapter 2 addresses the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on global education, with a focus on learning losses and enrollment issues, particularly in developing countries. About 2 billion children were affected by school closures globally at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to documented learning losses while children were out of school and an especially precarious futur…
author: Yedomiffi, Mahounan Patrice
language: eng
language: en
keywords: Africa, Education, Field Experiment
date published: 2024-04-05
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:00Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124166