Assessing inequality in primary education opportunities and outcomes: a comparative analysis of public and private schools in Nigeria

Obiakor, Thelma Ebube (2024) Assessing inequality in primary education opportunities and outcomes: a comparative analysis of public and private schools in Nigeria. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

The number of private schools has been growing across lower-middle-income countries, including sub-Saharan Africa, since the early 1990s. Proponents claim private education is now accessible to all, including marginalized groups, such as poorer and remote households. They also claim that private schools provide better quality learning and, with supportive policies, could offer a viable egalitarian alternative to low-quality public schooling. However, critics argue that private schooling remains inaccessible to marginalized groups and may perpetuate socioeconomic and cultural inequalities, undermining the attainment of Education for All (EFA) targets and other education goals. The lack of up-to-date evidence on the scale, equity, and effectiveness of private schools hinders the debate on private schooling. This thesis addresses this gap by utilizing household survey data from Nigeria. In Chapter 2, I employ a multinomial logit regression model to examine the factors that predict attendance between public and private schools in Nigeria. This analysis includes a comparative perspective of rural and urban areas to highlight the differences in private school attendance and growth. I deviate from previous studies by using reported household expenditures to categorize private schools based on cost into three groups: low-cost, mid-cost, and high cost. My analysis shows that private school attendance is associated with socio-economic factors like wealth, parents’ education, and place of residence. Additionally, the availability of nearby public schools is strongly linked to private school attendance. In Chapter 3, I assess the impact of school type on student learning outcomes, focusing on whether private school students perform better than their public school peers. Using quasi-experimental techniques to account for selection bias, I find that private schools have a positive impact on literacy but a disadvantage for numeracy. When private schools are broken into three categories, the positive premium of private schools on literacy is only prevalent for mid- and high-cost private schools but not for low-cost private schools. In Chapter 4, I investigate the implementation of Nigeria’s Language of Instruction Policy, which mandates that primary school children be taught in their native language. I examine differences across school types (public and private) and locations (urban/rural and regional) and analyze the relationship between language of instruction and learning outcomes. The results show that private schools have lower implementation rates than public schools, with urban areas and the southern region lagging behind their counterparts. Further, my findings suggest that students taught in English outperform those taught in indigenous languages, challenging conventional knowledge.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	© 2024 Thelma Ebube Obiakor
Library of Congress subject classification:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1501 Primary Education L Education > LC Special aspects of education
Sets:	Departments > Social Policy
Supervisor:	Jenkins, Stephen P. and West, Anne
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/4828

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