Effectiveness of access policies in addressing inequalities of access and quality of learning in East Africa

• In Event: Education access and inequality around the globe

Proposal

Purpose
At the global level, policies aimed at ensuring educational equity have focused on increasing access. Such policies have aimed at universalizing primary school education since the world conferences on Education for All (EFA) at Jomtien in 1990. Similarly, in 2000, world leaders endorsed two landmark commitments to primary education: the six goals of Education for All by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Universal Primary Education (UPE) objective of the broader Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by World Bank that committed to ensuring all children complete primary schooling by 2015 (UNESCO, 2014; World Bank, 2016). Many sub-Saharan countries worked with international organizations to increase education access by eliminating school fees and other compulsory contributions. In East Africa, Uganda abolished user fees in 1997, Tanzania in 2001, and Kenya in 2003 (Bold et al., 2013). The logic for such a change was clear: if the cost of schooling were too high, poor parents would not send their children to school. Post Education for All by 2015, global educational discourses have shifted to include both access and learning outcomes under sustainable goal 4 (UNESCO, 2016).
Since governments implemented Free Primary Education (FPE) policies to provide education to all school-going age children, the policies can also be viewed as a tool to address schooling imbalance in society, such as by SES, gender, and place of residence. The assumption is that FPE gives equal opportunity to all children to access school. However, empirical studies on this topic indicate a trade-off between access and the quality of education (Deininger, 2003; Hoogeven & Rossi, 2003; Grogan, 2008), implying that equality in schooling does not necessarily mean equality in learning outcomes. In this regard, this study investigates the influence of FPE policies on the relationship between access and the quality of learning in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Specifically, I seek to understand how the access policies influenced the inequalities in access to schooling (by gender, socioeconomic status, and rural/urban divide) and what that access meant for the quality of learning as measured by test scores.

Theoretical framework
In this study, the theorization of inequalities of access and quality of learning is guided by critical theory. The theory is oriented towards not only giving an account of behavior but also realizing “that society is based on equality and democracy for all its members” (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2011:p.31). It also seeks to redress any inequalities placed on individuals by race, class, or gender (Creswell and Poth, 2017). Through critical theory, I explore the disparities of access and quality of learning by socio-economic status, gender, and place of residence and whether governments’ access policies reduce such inequalities.

Methods
To investigate the equity implications of FPE policies on actual access, I ran descriptive statistics, t-test, and analysis of variance to estimate differences in access within and across groups. To investigate the equity implications of FPE policies on quality of learning, I calculated the mean and standard deviation for the overall reading and mathematics test scores in each of the countries over time. In addition to descriptive statistics, I ran crosstabs between test scores and each variable of interest (SES, gender, and urbanicity). I also conducted Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression with standard errors clustered at the school level to test the variations on mathematics and reading test scores by SES, gender, and rural/urban divide. Using clustered standard errors controls for the fact that students are clustered in classrooms within schools and ensures that the estimated standard error is robust.

Data sources
I explore these issues by taking advantage of different rounds of the Southern and Eastern Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) data in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. SACMEQ is an international learning assessment across 15 African countries, which assesses grade six pupils in reading and mathematics. It includes both school factors and family factors. The East African countries are similar in many ways, but they abolished fees at different times. The SACMEQ data I use was collected in 2000 and 2007, and provides a unique glimpse into each of these countries at different stages before and after the fee abolition.

Preliminary results
Since the East African countries introduced access policies at different times, we would expect differential effects on school demographics and learning outcomes. Uganda waived school fees three years before the SACMEQ II surveys in 2000. We would expect Uganda to have more heterogeneous student demographics and maybe more variation in students’ education outcomes compared to Kenya and Tanzania. During the 2007 SACMEQ surveys, Uganda was ten years into the free fee primary school education, while Kenya and Tanzania were four and six years, respectively. Preliminary results show that the average SES score declined between 2000 and 2007 in Kenya (by 4 points) and Tanzania (by 16 points), but the change in Uganda was not statistically significant. This implies that there are more students from low-income families in Kenya and Tanzania in 2007 enrolled in school after the countries implemented FPE policies in 2003 and 200,1 respectively. Uganda had implemented its policy before the first SACMEQ data 2000, which could explain why there is no change in average SES overtime. Further analysis will look at how these changes in access to schooling compare by gender and urbanicity; and how opening schooling to more students influenced academic achievement in reading and Mathematics.

Significance of the study
This study is significant in several ways. First, it provides an understanding of the extent to which government policies in East Africa meant to provide universal access were effective in addressing inequalities of access and quality of learning as measured by test scores. Second, many developing countries have implemented free fee education policies, and this study may provide a case for comparison by other researchers. Third, in line with the 2021 conference theme, it calls for international bodies and East African governments to meet their responsibility of providing access and quality education to all students irrespective of their gender, place of residence, family wealth, or other social-cultural contexts.

Author

• Pauline M. Wambua, Michigan State University