52
City 31.63** 21.49** 24.83** 30.71** 28.40** 25.05**
(1.805) (1.637) (1.707) (1.777) (1.677) (1.720)
Large city 48.81** 35.68** 39.10** 59.29** 53.35** 50.68**
(2.242) (2.090) (2.153) (2.001) (1.940) (1.964)
Autonomy – content 4.233* 2.288 -0.917 2.186 -5.217** -5.896**
(1.844) (1.671) (1.757) (1.578) (1.478) (1.515)
Autonomy – hiring -31.50** -17.32** -23.69** -28.74** -17.51** -23.57**
(2.007) (1.801) (1.929) (1.719) (1.613) (1.664)
Autonomy – budget 9.165** 1.975+ 7.162** 8.662** 4.680** 7.058**
(1.283) (1.167) (1.221) (1.120) (1.052) (1.070)
Constant 246.5** 296.2** 281.0** 180.0** 225.1** 226.9**
(31.46) (28.69) (30.07) (27.90) (26.54) (26.90)
Observations 22,872 22,872 22,872 29,832 29,832 29,832
R-squared 0.213 0.183 0.177 0.223 0.204 0.199
Source: Author’s calculation based on PISA 2012 data.
In order to identify the determinants of learning achievement among children of rich and poor
families in the participating OIC sample countries in PISA 2012, Table 2.2 reports OLS estimates
pooling data on all 9 countries as a single population group. Among child-specific results, girls
outperform boys in both wealth groups. In reading, the gap is equivalent to more than one full
year in school. Pre-school attendance also benefits both groups of children. There is also a
systematic advantage to private school attendance among both groups. Being absent from
school also exerts a significant learning penalty among children from wealthier families though
such negative effect is weak in case of children from economically poorer families. In case of
family-specific factors, there is clearly a positive wealth effect among children poorest families
(bottom two quartiles). However, this is reversed in case of children from the weather families
(top two quartiles).
Main Factors Determining the Quality of Education
The vast majority of the OIC member states are low income countries where schools are
inadequately funded by the state. Therefore the common perception is that quality is poor
because of lack of a wide range of basic facilities in school such as teachers, classrooms,
blackboards, textbooks, functional toilets. For instance, among secondary school principals who
participated in the 2015 PISA survey, about 40% in Indonesia and Jordan reported that
infrastructure problems adversely affected instruction (UNESCO 2017). Similarly, a large
percentage of primary schools in Asian OIC member states worry about the lack of instruction
space and heating or cooling and its adverse effect on classroom instruction. As per responses
of school Principals in TIMSS 2015 survey, about half of primary principals in Jordan, Kuwait,
Turkey and Saudi Arabia said insufficient instruction space and ineffective heating or cooling
impeded teaching and learning (UNESCO 2017).
Among school specific resource-related factors, the shortage of qualified teachers as well as the
lack of training provisions is thought to be a major constraint. Unfavorable STR means
insufficient learning hours in a school day. In populous countries like Nigeria and Pakistan,
lowering student-teacher ratio to no more than 30 students in primary education would require
recruiting thousands of additional teachers. At the secondary level, there is also a shortage of