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 Most education schemes were found to improve either school enrolment or learning
outcomes. But in very few instance, they improved both.
 Some interventions appear to work in most contexts while others are promising but
require further testing. A third group of interventions comprise of those that do not
always work or have unknown effects owing to lack of sufficient studies.
 Among child-specific interventions, merit-based scholarships and school meals are
promising for improving learning outcomes. School meals programmers showed
positive impact in both school participation and a wider range of learning outcomes
such as language and mathematics test scores. The impact of others such as providing
information and school-based child health improvement are yet to be fully documented.
 Household-specific interventions include abolishing school fees, cash transfers and
providing information to parents on school performance. Cash transfers (CTs) were
consistently found to have the largest positive effects on improving access (e.g.
increasing school enrolment and completion). However, the impact on learning
outcomes is weak.
 Among school-specific schemes showing consistent impact on improving learning
outcomes, structured pedagogy programmers had the largest positive effects. These
schemes provided customised curricula, new instructional approaches for teachers, and
educational materials for students. Schemes that extend the school day and provide
remedial education programmes are also promising. Public-private partnerships are
promising for improving participation outcomes. But school-based management
programmes and computer-assisted learning have not improved learning outcomes in
most contexts.
 Among teacher-specific interventions, the impact of teacher training and hiring is
unknown while schemes that improve teacher accountability and incentives don’t
always work.
However, compared to other low-and middle-income countries, the response of the OIC
countries has been limited. In Arab countries in particular, carefully designed interventions with
built-in evaluation study is limited. There is also variation in the quality of evidence as well as
their regional coverage. In that sense, the distribution of impact evaluations studies is not even
as OIC countries are largely absent. Studies on member countries are either of poor quality or
are not based on an RCT design. The recent comprehensive review selected 238 impact
evaluation studies in total covering Latin America and the Caribbean (87), Sub-Saharan Africa
(59) and South Asia (51). For most Arab countries, researchers identified few or no studies.
Evidence is also limited for OIC countries with large populations (e.g. Indonesia, Nigeria and
Bangladesh). This makes it difficult to identify common barriers to quality education in OIC
countries.
For some educationally advanced member countries, there are many examples of good
practices. In the case of Malaysia, for instance, school principals engage in unannounced daily
‘learning walks’ to observe teachers more informally and enter classrooms to observe teaching
and help maintain discipline (UNESCO, 2017). This indirectly helps raise student learning by
improving teaching quality and ensuring effective use of resources through effective school
leadership. Another good example is the digitization of information on student performance in
the three public examinations at the end of primary, lower secondary and upper secondary to
improve school quality in Malaysia. The Malaysian government also revamped the school
management system, Sistem Pengurusan Sekolah , during 2013–2015 and made it more efficient
to improve quality, facilitate access and increase use levels. Today, all public secondary schools