CHILD LABOUR: Does school quality matter for working children?

Summary: This paper aims to begin to fill in the gap about the possible role of school quality in affecting household decisions relative to children’s work and school attendance. While
from a theoretical point of view, we would expect school quality to be an important determinant of household decisions, as it influences expected return to education, there is almost no empirical evidence available on the matter.
This paper aims to begin to fill in the gap about the possible role of school quality in
affecting household decisions relative to children’s work and school attendance. While
from a theoretical point of view, we would expect school quality to be an important
determinant of household decisions, as it influences expected return to education, there is almost no empirical evidence available on the matter.

We first review evidence based on cross country data to assess whether some clear
facts can be identified: cross country data show that children’s work and school
attendance are negatively (positively) correlated to a few of the available school
indicators. Subsequently, we use micro data for Yemen (YNPS, 1999 and Yemen School
Based Survey, 1999/2000) and Cambodia (CSES and EMIS, 2003/204) to identify the
effects of school quality on school attendance and children’s work, and results become
more definitive. Our finding suggest that school quality matters for working children:
better schools do reduce participation to economic activities and increase school
attendance.

 

Owner: L. Guarcello; F. C. Rosatipdf: http://ucw-project.org/pdf/publications/standard_school_quality.pdf

Countries

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