Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
18
governments, development agencies, UN agencies and the private sector, agreed that between
15 percent and 20 percent of government budgets should be allocated to education.67 Yet in the
world, overall, the share of the budget that the governments spend on education remained
mostly stagnant with 13.8 percent in 1999 and 13.7 percent in 2012.68 An adequate financing
of education is important in providing children with necessary learning environment and
materials. Inability of schools to provide a good environment for children could affect household
demand negatively. Moreover students’ performance is also affected by the socioeconomic
status of the school. Large differences are found in children’s learning outcomes between
schools of low and high socioeconomic levels.69
Spending on education is positively correlated with learning outcomes up to a certain
point starting from which the way money is spent matters more. According to the analysis
of PISA test results up to a threshold of 35,000 USD of cumulative education spending per
student from age 6 to 15, spending is found to be positively correlated with countries’ average
PISA test scores.70 However after this threshold is reached more spending does not bring better
results and how the resources are spent becomes more important in achieving better learning
outcomes.71
Lack of adequate financing could lead to teacher shortages. Inadequate number of teachers
lower the quality of education since overcrowded classrooms make it difficult for teachers to
pay attention to the needs of children. While overall, pupil teacher ratio has been on a decline at
the primary level for the majority (83 percent) of the countries in the world with data available,
it continues to be a problem in regions like Sub-Sharan Africa or South and West Asia.72 In
countries like Chad, Central African Republic or Democratic Republic of Congo number of
students per teacher in grade 1 continue to exceed 80 on average.73
Teacher quality is important in achieving a quality education and higher learning
outcomes. Evidence indicates the positive association between teachers’ academic skills,
teaching experience, attitudes and students’ academic achievements.74 Competent teachers play
a significant role in guaranteeing that school time is being used efficiently and children are
learning in the school. When teachers are not competent enough and could not meet students’
expectations the demand for education also deteriorates.75
67 UNESCO (2007)
68 (UNESCO, 2015)
69 (OECD, 2008)
70 (OECD, 2012)
71 (OECD, 2012)
72 (UNESCO, 2015)
73 UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2014. Available at:
74 (Ballou, 1996; Darling-Hammond, 2000; UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2006; Wenglinsky, 2000)
75 UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2006)