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Our partnership with a Ghanaian school is often used to promote International School Partnership (ISP) programmes. This study aims to explore our 'success story' from the perspective of our colleagues in Ghana. Do they consider our partnership to be successful or is our partner school merely serving a dominant Northern global citizenship agenda? The research considers teacher understandings and applications of global citizenship education (GCE) within a partnership context, from the perspective of teachers in the Global South through an ethnographically-informed case study approach. Findings show that teachers in Ghana highlighted many successful aspects of learning and teaching around GCE within our ISP context. There is evidence of teachers taking a 'writerly approach' to our partnership work which creates space for a wider perspective of global citizenship and GCE. Data also highlights challenges around equity and the place of 'restorative justice' is discussed. Perhaps the most surprising and significant outcome of the study was the importance of relationships and emotions within ISPs, and the impact it has on perceptions of 'success'.

In lower- and middle-income countries, including Ghana, students in rural areas dramatically underperform their urban peers. Rural schools struggle to attract and retain professionally trained teachers (GES 2012; World Bank 2012). We explore one potential solution to the problem of teacher recruitment: distance instruction. Through a cluster randomized controlled trial, we estimate the impact of a program that broadcasts live instruction via satellite to rural primary school students. The program equipped classrooms in 70 randomly selected Ghanaian schools with the technology required to connect to a studio in Accra. An additional 77 schools served as the control. Instructors in Accra provided math and English lessons to classrooms in the treatment group. The model is interactive, and students in satellite classes could communicate in real time with their remote teachers. We estimate significant gains (p<0.05) in rural students' numeracy and foundational literacy skills. We find no impact on attendance and classroom time-on-task (as measured through unannounced classroom observations), suggesting that these gains may result from improved instructional quality rather than from increased instruction time.

This paper reports that the basic opportunity to learn does not exist in many countries, and that a concerted management focus to assure that schools provide basic elements of an opportunity to learn (OTL) could potentially yield big improvements in learning. The paper assesses: (1) what basic factors create the opportunity to learn; and (2) to what extent is the lack of these basic elements a problem in developing countries? Elements of a foundational opportunity to learn are identified as: (1) The school is open and located near the student; (2) Minimum instructional time of 850-1000 hours annually; (3) Teacher absenteeism and tardiness; (4) Student absenteeism and tardiness; (5) Appropriate class size and student-teacher ratios; (6) Learning materials are available to every student and regularly used; (7) Time-on-Task; and (8) Learning to read. General strategies suggested for addressing OTL include incorporating OTL issues and awareness in activities and assistance programs such as teacher and principal training; incorporating OTL measures in management and information systems at the school level; and raising awareness by tracking an OTL Index). (Contains 6 figures and 5 tables.) [This paper was written for EQUIP2: Educational Policy, Systems Development, and Management, one of three USAID-funded Leader with Associates Cooperative Agreements under the umbrella heading Educational Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP).]

Good basic education depends on several factors working in harmony. The first is that students be healthy, safe, and ready to learn. Other essentials include an enabling policy environment and transparent management; a curriculum that reflects the society's values and aspirations for learning; and community support for education and parents' involvement in the lives of schools (UNESCO 2004; UNICEF 2000). The most important element of all, according to much current research and program experience, is the quality of teachers (ADEA 2004; Anderson 2002; Boyle, While, and Boyle 2003; Lewin and Stuart 2003; USAID 2002). Over the last two decades, the Academy for Educational Development (AED) has worked extensively with programs that address all of these crucial areas of basic education. This paper focuses on AED's approaches that address the heart of education: strengthening the quality of teachers and teaching through ongoing professional development at the local level. This paper summarizes the context and rationale for evolving approaches to teacher professional development, describe AED's early programs in this context, and outline a basic framework of AED's flexible and dynamic approach to decentralized, school- and cluster-based teacher professional development programs. The final section consists of six case studies showing how the approach has been adapted to strengthen teacher skills, morale, and professional commitment in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Uganda, Ghana, Namibia, and Ethiopia.

In 2004, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Educational Quality Improvement Program 2 (EQUIP2) began investigating community-based schools as a mechanism for reaching the underserved populations. The team identified nine models that successfully organized schooling in regions least served by the formal education system. These complementary education approaches rely on community, non-governmental, and ministry collaboration and present a promising response to the challenge of meeting the EFA goals of universal access, completion, and learning. Complementary Education models work in support of the formal public system, offering students an alternative route to achieving the same educational outcomes as students in the government schools. The programs are designed to feed students into the government system at various entry points and are large enough to exhibit many of the same characteristics as mainstream schools. Over time, the models have increased rates of attendance, completion, and learning among the populations they serve. This EQUIP2 working paper synthesizes the findings from the nine case studies of successful complementary education programs in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Mali, and Zambia. The research demonstrated that the programs are more cost-effective than government schools in delivering education services and that they achieve higher learning outcomes through adjustments in school size and location, curriculum and language of instruction, school management and governance arrangements, and teaching staff and instructional support services.

Following the widespread adoption of free primary education, African policymakers are now considering making secondary school free, but little is known about the private and social benefits of free secondary education. We exploit randomized assignment to secondary school scholarships among 2,064 youths in Ghana, combined with 12 years of data, to establish that scholarships increase educational attainment, knowledge, skills, and preventative health behaviors, while reducing female fertility. Eleven years after receipt of the scholarship, only female winners show private labor market gains, but those come primarily in the form of better access to jobs with rents (in particular rationed jobs in the public sector). We develop a simple model to interpret the labor market results and help think through the welfare impact of free secondary education. [Additional funding for this study was provided by the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) Post-Primary Education Initiative, the International Growth Centre (IGC), International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), the Partnership for Child Development and the Nike Foundation.]

A multinational, multidisciplinary team examined the impact of globalization on education, training, and small and medium sized enterprise development in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. The study focused on the following issues: developing a learner-led competitiveness approach; building learning enterprises; education for microenterprises and macroeconomic growth; and training for self-employment and competitiveness. The study documented the importance of learning-led competitiveness and identified obstacles to development of learning enterprises in all three countries. The following are among the 12 recommendations offered to national governments and international agencies with development concerns: (1) insert learning-led competitiveness into development debates; (2) understand the implications of globalization better; (3) address the range of barriers to development of learning enterprises; (4) consider interenterprise linkages and the role of learning therein; (5) place learning-led competitiveness at the heart of small enterprise development policy; (6) broaden the universal primary education vision; (7) construct a curriculum for competitiveness; (8) improve public training's ability to support competitive self-employment; (9) empower training providers to be more market responsive; and (10) emphasize skills transfer from large to small firms. (The bibliography lists 139 references. Brief profiles and addresses of the research team members and a list of project papers are appended.) (MN)

Decentralization and an increased emphasis on community and parent participation represent significant education reform trends over the past decade. These reforms take place in the context of increased emphasis within Education for All (EFA) on improving education quality and outcomes and on strengthening accountability for results. They require that substantial information be available to local and regional stakeholders, school officials, and communities in order to increase transparency, establish a basis for accountability, and provide tools for effective management at the local level. Parents, teachers, school officials, and other stakeholders must be able to assess school performance and status. A number of countries are experimenting with school-level information systems known as "school report cards" to increase accountability and transparency. These systems have different formats and purposes, ranging from strict accountability systems that measure student performance to participatory diagnostic and management tools that support school managers. Efforts are relatively novel, and substantial evaluation information is not yet available. The purpose of this report is to present the various types of school report cards and information systems currently being used and establish a typology for understanding the range of audiences and purposes for such systems, as well as the continuum of cost and sophistication involved.

This working paper examines behavior change as a key element in creating an enabling environment to sustain educational reform in Indonesia. It recommends elevating the importance of a formalized behavior change framework and methodology so that future plans for educational reform in Indonesia will include social marketing as a planned subcomponent. Six chapters focus on the following: (1) "An Introduction and Behavior Change Theory"; (2) "A Model for Behavior Change in Education" (defining social marketing and the Applied Behavior Change, or ABC, Framework for Education); (3) "Case Studies of Social Marketing Programs in Education" (a complicated example in Bangladesh and a successful example in Ghana); (4) "A National Social Marketing Strategy for Education in Indonesia" (background on Indonesia's educational system and an outline of a social marketing plan for Indonesia); (5) "Training Social Marketing Professionals"; and (6) "Conclusions" (recommendations for conceiving a social marketing effort and implementing the ABC framework in Indonesia). (Contains 26 references.) (SM)

This study examined the determinants of school enrollment in Ghana, considering historical and social information to formulate an econometric model of school enrollment patterns for households. Data came from a 1989 survey of households in Ghana. The survey collected basic information about community characteristics, health and school facilities, and living conditions. This 1989 survey was the second in a series of surveys in Ghana. It included a sample of children age 6-20 years. Analysis of the data indicated that gender of the child and school attendance of the child's mother were the most significant predictors of school enrollment status. Boys were more likely to attend schools than girls, and girls were more likely to drop out of school than boys. Uneducated mothers were three times more likely to have children who did not attend school. Girls of mothers who did not attend school were 1.8 times more likely to drop out and half as likely to attend school than girls of mothers who attended school. The mean cost of schooling had no measurable effect on school enrollment status. (Contains 15 references and 4 tables.) (SM)

The needs of grassroots farmers in Uganda and Ghana for locally developed print materials were examined through a postal survey of nearly 200 organizations and examinations of 75 autonomous farmer groups and 95 organizations sharing agricultural information in both countries. Both printed agricultural information relevant to grassroots farmers and networks for distributing such existing information were in short supply. Most large organizations directed their efforts mainly toward networking with similar organizations rather than toward visiting grassroots farmers or meeting their information needs. Group support to grassroots farmers was deemed very important because it provides a safety net that allows members to share and try out new ideas. The study confirmed the existence of considerable potential for supporting extension services, nongovernmental organizations, mass media services, farmers, animators, and literacy services in the generation and production of agricultural information in local languages and aimed at group usage. (Thirty-two tables/figures and 100 references are included. The following items are among those appended: sample pages of the publication "Footsteps"; samples of materials in local languages; information about the survey respondents; a list of languages used for sharing information by survey respondents; maps showing areas and groups visited; lists of organizations contacted; and sample newsletters and locally generated materials.) (MN)

As increasing numbers of children in developing nations survive to school age, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers are increasingly focusing on the health and well-being of school-age children and on the possibility of using the infrastructure of the school system to deliver health and nutrition interventions. This research, conducted in Ghana through the worldwide Partnership for Child Development, identified and targeted school-age children's prevalent health problems; used simple, low-cost mass interventions through the schools; and developed partnerships for implementation between health and education, government, and non-governmental agencies. The specific intervention for this study focused on de-worming. Samples of 8- to 9- and 12- to 13-year-olds were obtained in 1994 at 3 intervention and 2 comparison sites for baseline, with subsequent samples selected for follow-ups. The results indicated that the interventions were effective in reducing infection levels of schistosomiasis and hookworm, reducing malnutrition, and improving achievement, though not necessarily improving students' attendance. The intervention effect on achievement was especially strong for nutritionally disadvantaged children and for girls. The feasibility of mass school-based treatment was demonstrated, with treatment provided to 85,000 children at a cost of $3.21 per child. Further research needs related to education policy were identified. (A list of the persons interviewed for the report is appended.) (KB)

This report examines cost sharing, a term that combines the concepts of direct-cost recovery and indirect contributions from pupils, their parents, and sponsors. Such contributions may be voluntary, quasi-compulsory, or even compulsory. For the study reported here, cost sharing is used when the subject under discussion is not restricted to user-fee issues. The approach of the study was quantitative, but important cultural and sociological aspects were also considered. The report is primarily concerned with putting together a modest body of evidence on education expenditures by governments and households and with exploring the implications the evidence has for the central questions that need to be asked to develop and sustain government-expenditure policies. The report is presented in five chapters. Following an introduction, chapter 2 outlines the principles of cost sharing and explores the key issues that underpin cost-sharing policies. The next two chapters consist of case studies of specific countries: Ghana and Tanzania. These chapters are not self-contained and each complements the other. The last chapter summarizes the issues surrounding cost sharing and draws some policy conclusions. (Contains approximately 105 references.) (RJM)

A study examined the issues and experiences of 89 women teachers, head teachers, and girls in and out of school in two contrasting Ghanaian cultural contexts. Data were collected via life history interviews, analyzed, and presented around three domains: culture of the home; relationship between culture and the economy, and culture of the school. Findings indicated that the home domain was shaped by issues of kinship, descent, and the practice of fostering. Cultural values of elders, attitudes toward knowledge, women's role in society, and expectations of the economic value of schooling influenced girls' educational experiences. The economic domain operated at two levels. At the macro level, Ghana exemplified the impact of structural adjustment policies on marginalized people now facing increased educational and health service costs. At the micro level of the home and extended family, the girl was often the sole breadwinner needing to develop coping strategies to balance school with employment. In the culture of the school, many children did or learned little of value. Issues of attitude to knowledge, teaching methods, and language policy constrained reform efforts. The teacher's life was hard; many perceived their profession as having low status. Positive school experiences for the child included being well taught in literacy and numeracy skills, seeing successful women teachers as role models, and avoiding excessive corporal punishment. Policy implications were determined for home, the economy, and school. (Appendixes include three life history interviews, survey instruments, and 87 references.) (YLB)

Investments in schooling are often regarded as essential for economic development, implying that such investments have high rates of return in developing countries. This paper examines the accuracy and usefulness of estimates of rates of return to formal schooling based on the standard human capital model of G. Becker and J. Mincer. Focus is on whether failure to account for differences in ability and school quality across a random sample significantly biases estimates of the private return to schooling derived from estimates of wage equations. This is done using an unusually rich data set from Ghana (over 4,700 households), which includes tests of ability and cognitive skills administered to 389 survey respondents. When years of schooling are used to measure the accumulation of human capital, there are virtually no returns to schooling in the private sector. Replacement of years of schooling by reading and mathematical ability does show positive returns to acquired skills, although these rates may be of little use to governments making schooling investment decisions because of the complexity of such decisions. Many government investments in education are designed to raise rates of return to schooling by raising school quality, but decisions by individuals assume that both rates of return and school quality are exogenous. Thirteen tables present data from the analyses. Four appendices provide supplemental data concerning the calculation of rates of return. (SLD)

This publication is a companion volume to a research report that examined local, national, and international interventions and initiatives aimed at promoting education and training for the informal sector. It provides four case studies on types of initiatives being taken by a wide range of actors in the area of education and training. "Ghana" (Osei Boeh-Ocansey) addresses how the government realizes that employment opportunities in the formal sector of the economy will continue to be limited; therefore, educational reforms are now emphasizing the acquisition of skills that promote self-employment and entrepreneurship. "Kenya" (Henry Oketch) reviews strategies that individuals, the government, and nonprofit organizations are using to improve skills in the informal sector. It identifies nine different types of agencies or processes providing skills for self-employment. "India" (Keith D'Souza, Liza Thomas) focuses on the activities of four nongovernmental organizations working in the field of nonformal education in the state of Gujarat. Their emphasis is on capacity building rather than on employment generation or job skill development. "Chile" (Graciela Messina) compares two training programs for unemployed youth to develop a series of reflections on the role that training for the informal sector ought to play. It concludes that the government is more concerned with employment policies than with training policies. (YLB)

Students often make school choice decisions with inadequate information. We present results from delivering information to randomly selected students (and some randomly selected parents) across 900 junior high schools in Ghana, a country with universal secondary school choice. We provided guidance on application strategies and reported the selectivity and exit exam performance of secondary schools, information students and parents prioritized. We find that despite information changing the characteristics of schools to which students applied and students gaining admission to higher value-added schools, they were not more likely to matriculate on time or at all. Information was not the only constraint. [Funding is provided by the Post-Primary Education Initiative of the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the Weiss Family Program Fund, and University of Delaware Institute for Global Studies' Global Exchange Program.]

Randomized controlled trials in lower-income countries have demonstrated ways to increase learning, in specific settings. This study uses a large-scale, nationwide RCT in Ghana to show the external validity of four school-based interventions inspired by other RCTs. Even though the government implemented the programs within existing systems, student learning increased across all four models, more so for female than male students, and many gains persisted one year after the program ended. Three of the four interventions had a similar cost effectiveness. The intervention that directly targeted classroom teachers increased the likelihood that teachers were engaged with students. [Additional funding was provided for this evaluation from the International Growth Centre and the Children's Investment Fund Foundation.]

Linking between schools in the United Kingdom and schools in sub-Saharan Africa has been a feature of the educational landscape for more than twenty years, but became a government priority between 2000 and 2010. Whilst the interest in Ireland was less, both countries resourced linking programmes primarily as a means of raising awareness of development issues. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also became involved in school linking during the first decade of the twenty-first century with Plan UK and Link Community Development (Link) being the leading organisations in this field. However, due to funding constraints and change in United Kingdom government policy post 2010, both of these NGOs ended their linking programmes in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Link's involvement in school linking came from a development perspective; links were primarily seen as a mechanism for improving schools in sub-Saharan Africa. Development education only became a main feature of their linking programme with their European Union funded project, Partners in Development (PiD), which ran from 2010 to 2012. This project was funded from a development awareness budget line, but the NGO's proposal included development goals within the project. This became a major source of tension that was unresolved throughout the life of the project. This report is an evaluation of the "Partners in Development" project that was based on linking schools in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, with schools in Ghana, Malawi, Uganda, and South Africa. The evidence gathered was based on a combination of quantitative-based questionnaires, interviews with key staff within Link, and in-depth data gathered from a number of schools in Scotland. The main findings of the evaluation are as follows: (1) The Link Schools Programme (LSP) was clearly valued, but its impact was different in the United Kingdom and Ireland from that in South Africa, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda; (2) The breadth of schools involved, particularly in the United Kingdom, suggests that the programme reached different schools from those which have been involved in other linking programmes; (3) The project suffered from funding criteria that continually focused on a target-driven approach; (4) Link staff became too heavily involved in administration and support; (5) As a consequence, many of the issues that often emerge in linking activities were not fully addressed; (6) The website was popular and the Solar Connect component that provided internet access to some of the schools in Africa was highly valued; and (7) Supported links developed by the Link model clearly have value. The following appendices are included: (1) Breakdown of schools participating in the Teacher Survey; (2) Rating of the Link Programme services. UK & Ireland schools; (3) Rating of the Link Programme services. African schools; (4) Profile of activities by school characteristics; (5) Evaluation Questionnaire; and (6) Focus Group Questions for Teachers in Scottish Link Schools--June 2012.

This paper reports on a study that analyzed the links between child labor and poor school performance. Using data gathered in Ghana in recent years through the administration of tests, the study measured reading achievement and mathematics achievement to about half of the individuals surveyed as part of the Ghana Living Standards Survey. The paper moves away from conventional studies on child labor and education, which tend to focus on low school enrollment and attendance. It goes further, to examine the day-to-day impact of child labor on those in school, finding that, as well as leaving children too tired to learn, child labor robs them of their interest in learning. The paper concludes that children who are already contributing economically to their family income may be less interested in academic achievement, resulting in lack of motivation that affects both their learning and their future prospects. Contains 19 notes, 5 figures, 13 tables, and 17 references. (Author/BT)

The link between poverty and child labor has been regarded as a well established fact, but recent research has questioned the validity of this link. Starting from the premise that child labor is not necessarily harmful, this paper analyzes the determinants of harmful child labor, viewed as labor that directly conflicts with children's human capital accumulation, and attempts to identify the most vulnerable groups. Data were drawn from a 1997 household survey of Ghana, covering 14,514 households. Analysis focused on children aged 9-14. The economic model and econometric methodology used are discussed. Although the vast majority of children in Ghana were attending school, the incidence of harmful child labor increased with age, ranging from 1.2 percent at age 9 to 5.9 percent at age 14. Rural children were over twice as likely to engage in harmful labor than were urban children. Harmful child labor was more common among girls than boys and among children from poor households than those of nonpoor households. In addition, harmful child labor was positively related to parent being self-employed, family ownership of land and livestock, and the distances to the nearest primary school and the nearest secondary school. The findings suggest that there are structural differences in the processes underlying harmful child labor in Ghana across gender, across rural/urban location, and across poverty quintiles of households. (Contains 18 references.) (SV)

This paper analyzes the determinants of literacy and earnings in Ghana. Introductory sections discuss developments in literacy in the United States and Great Britain, literacy rates in developing countries, worldwide increases in literacy, literature on the determinants of literacy, aspects of the Ghanaian economy and educational spending, and the human capital framework for analyzing the relationship between education as investment and income as return on investment. Analysis of two household surveys in Ghana found that literacy and age were negatively correlated, suggesting that efforts in recent years to expand and improve basic education programs have been successful in raising adult literacy rates. Females were less literate than males, controlling for other factors. Literacy was positively associated with parents' education and negatively related to distance to the nearest primary school, residence in a rural area, and poverty. Income was related to age and male gender, but not to education. Functional literacy appears to be a prerequisite for entering the labor market, which may partly explain the lack of return to education other than middle school and technical/professional training. Basic education and literacy programs should target females and poorer households, especially in rural areas. (Contains 22 references.) (SV)

This research paper explores the relationship between fertility and the investments made by parents in the schooling of their children in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana (both in Africa). The tendency in developing nations research is that families with many children invest less in each, and families with fewer children make greater human capital investments per child. The two papers in this volume examine the determinants of fertility and child schooling in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana to assess evidence of a tradeoff between the number of children born and levels of child schooling. In Cote d'Ivoire, there is evidence of such a tradeoff in urban areas, but not in rural areas. Female schooling, higher income, and improved child survival are associated with lower fertility and higher child schooling. In both urban and rural areas of Ghana, there is evidence of a tradeoff between fertility and child schooling with higher incomes and, in rural Ghana, with increases in mothers' schooling. The papers in this monograph include: (1) "Fertility and Child Schooling in Cote d'Ivoire: Is There a Tradeoff?" (Mark Montgomery; Aka Kouame); and (2) "Fertility and Child Schooling in Ghana: Evidence of a Quality/Quantity Tradeoff" (Raylynn Oliver). Contains 18 references. (EH)

This paper explores the relationship child health and educational achievement using data from the Ghanaian Living Standard Measurement Study (LSMS), as well as the reliability of such health-education studies in general. An analysis of the data indicated that: (1) the failure to control for estimation problems in the LSMS and other studies has led to a considerable bias in the estimated impact of child health on educational success; (2) Instrumental variable estimates based on observations suggest that the direction of this bias is downward; (3) estimated with family and community fixed effects, however, suggest that the direction of this bias is upward; and (4) exploration of the possibility that child health may affect child cognitive achievement through schooling attainment also does not reveal a significant positive impact on child schooling. The paper concludes that, in the case of the Ghanaian LSMS and other similar studies, there is no evidence of an impact of the observed range of child health on child cognitive achievement. (Contains 90 references.) (MDM)

Ghana was among the first sub-Saharan African countries to adopt a population policy, in 1969. In this paper, individual women are linked to the characteristics of the nearest pharmacy, health facility and source of family planning to assess the relative importance of socioeconomic background and the availability, price and quality of family planning services on contraceptive use and fertility. The results suggest that raising levels of female schooling will also raise contraceptive use and lower fertility, particularly in rural areas. Distance to services remains a binding constraint for contraceptive use among the entire sample and for the urban sample of women. The number of methods offered at a health facility is associated with lower fertility but has no apparent relation with current contraceptive use. The presence of admission fees at the nearest health facilities has no relation with contraceptive use, while the availability of spermicides raises use. Service characteristics have little relation with fertility, leading to the suspicion that some of the services are placed according to patterns of demand. Measures of the quality of the services show no consistent effect in the demand for contraception or on fertility. (Author/JE)

International experience with student loans as a means of financing higher education is examined, with particular reference to developing countries. After summarizing the main purposes and kinds of student loan programs and practices in developed countries, advantages and disadvantages of loans as a means of financing higher education are identified. Specific attention is directed to Latin America and the Caribbean, including the scale of student loan programs, administration of educational credit institutions, the financing of student loans, repayment terms, the cost of administering student loans, and default on student loans. Additionally, student loan programs in Asia, the Middle East, Ghana, and other African countries are addressed. Loan programs in developing countries are also evaluated in terms of feasibility, as a means of cost recovery, flexibility, efficiency, equity, manpower, and administration. The roles of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank in funding student loan institutions are examined. Finally, the choice between student loans and other methods of financing higher education is addressed, and policy options for student loan programs are summarized. Information on educational credit institutions in Latin America and a bibliography are appended. (SW)

This report examines the determinants of child labor in conjunction with school participation trends for children ages 7-14 in Ghana. The report is based on data from national household surveys conducted 1987-92. Specifically, the study examined the influence of variables such as child age and sex; parent's education, religion, and employment; and place of residence (rural or urban) on child labor and participation in school. About 28 percent of children ages 7-14 in Ghana were involved in child labor. Child labor had a direct impact on school participation. During 1992 one of every three girls and one of every three boys did not attend school in urban Ghana, while 37 percent of girls and 28 percent of boys did not attend school in rural areas. However, of the 28 percent of children involved in child labor, more than two-thirds were involved in school. The majority of child labor in Africa, and especially in Ghana, is unpaid work and takes place in family agricultural enterprises. Data indicate that 90 percent of children in Ghana between the ages of 7-14 were involved in household chores. The study did not demonstrate that poverty is the main culprit in child labor; in contrast, poverty did affect the decision to school. The high cost of schooling and the low quality and weak relevance of education have pushed many children into work. Among family characteristics, father's education had a significant negative effect on child labor, particularly for girls. Increasing demand for schooling is an effective way of reducing child labor and ensuring that Ghana's human capital is stabilized. Appendices include definitions and descriptive statistics of variables. (Contains 31 references and 19 data tables and figures.) (LP)

We look at the decision of the government or "central planner" in the allocation of scarce governmental resources for tertiary education, as well as that for the individual. We provide estimates of the net present values, or cost and benefits. These include costs of tertiary education; the benefits of improved skills of those who remain in the country; and also takes into account the flows of the skilled out of the country (the brain drain) as well as the remittances they bring into the country. Our results are positive for the net benefits relative to costs. Our results suggest that (i) there may be room for creative thinking about the possibility that the brain drain could provide mechanisms for dramatic increases in education levels within African nations; and (ii) by at least one metric, spending by African nations on higher education in this period yielded positive returns on the investment. Our results on the individual decision problem resolve a paradox in the returns to education literature which finds low returns to tertiary education.

The medium of instruction in schools in most African countries is a second language (L2); less attention is focused on the first language (L1) at each successive level of formal schooling. Little attention, however, has been given in curriculum development and in research to the building up of the bilingual reading skills of children whose experience in the L2 is almost exclusively confined to its school use and whose L1 is relatively unavailable to them in its written form. A current theory of second language learning advances the thesis that reading and writing skills in L2 are dependent upon the attainment of oral proficiency in that language. The implication of this thesis is that superior reading and writing performance will be demonstrated in the language medium in which the child has gained the greater oral proficiency. This study examined this implication through an investigation of bilingual reading skills in Ghanaian primary schools. The results show that the nature of the child's bilingual experience, especially in the classroom, may be a far more important determinant of reading ability than the degree of oral proficiency attained, since the children in this study obtained similar mean reading scores in the two languages. (Author/CFM)