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Parental Characteristics, Supply of Schools, and Child School-enrolment in Pakistan

Author

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  • Nadeem A. Burney

    (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.)

  • Mohammad Irfan

    (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.)

Abstract

In recent years, due to a virtual unanimity about the critical role of human capital in economic development, increased efforts are being made in the developing countries to eradicate illiteracy. Despite a significant increase over time in the number of educational institutions and the government's expenditure on education in Pakistan, the performance of the education sector in terms of output has been at best meagre. This non-correspondence between the growth in the educational institutions and the resultant output implies that failure to enlist the participation of the population in education can hardly be attributed exclusively to an insufficiency of the schools. To the extent that child schooling reflects parental capacity to invest in human capital formation, there is a need to reckon with factors bearing parental decision regarding child schooling. This paper investigates family's decision regarding child schooling through an assessment of the determinants of child school-enrolment, using choice theoretic framework. The regression results are indicative of the influence of household status, both economic and social, on the propensity to invest in child schooling. A positive association between the household income, parental education, and tenurial status as land-owner bear out the importance of these factors in shaping the household's decision regarding investment in human capital formation. The study also finds traces of the quantity-quality trade-off in family's preferences regarding the number of children, and it is found to be male-specific. The most disturbing finding of the study appears to be the predominance of the influence originating from parental education. It is this inter-generational transfer of human capital which needs more attention as it also implies that illiteracy, and hence poverty, of the parents gets transmitted to the off-spring. The analysis also brings out the fact that the labour market hiring practices serve as an important feedback to the household's human capital formation behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Nadeem A. Burney & Mohammad Irfan, 1991. "Parental Characteristics, Supply of Schools, and Child School-enrolment in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 21-62.
    • Handle: RePEc:pid:journl:v:30:y:1991:i:1:p:21-62
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Minhaj Ul Haque & Munawar Sultana, 2003. "Coming of Age in Contemporary Pakistan: Influences of Gender and Poverty," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 42(4), pages 643-668.
    2. Husain, Zakir, 2010. "Gender disparities in completing school education in India: Analyzing regional variations," MPRA Paper 25748, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Sajid Amin Javed & Mohammad Irfan, 2014. "Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence from Pakistan Panel Household Survey," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 53(2), pages 175-203.
    4. G. M. Arif & Najam US Saqib & G. M. Zahid, 1999. "Poverty, Gender, and Primary School Enrolment in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 979-992.
    5. Naushin Mahmood, 2004. "Transition in Primary and Secondary Schooling in Pakistan: Gender and Age Cohort Analysis," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 43(1), pages 53-71.
    6. Zeba A. Sathar & Cynthia B. Lloyd, 1994. "Who Gets Primary Schooling in Pakistan: Inequalities among and within Families," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 103-134.
    7. Holmes, Jessica, 2003. "Measuring the determinants of school completion in Pakistan: analysis of censoring and selection bias," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 249-264, June.
    8. Imran Ashraf Toor & Rizwana Parveen, 2004. "Factors Influencing Girls’ Primary Enrolment in Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 141-157, Jul-Dec.
    9. Valerie L. Durrant, 1998. "Community Influences on Schooling and Work Activity of Youth in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 37(4), pages 915-937.
    10. Nadeem A. Burney & Ashfaque H. Khan, 1992. "Socio-economic Characteristics and Household Savings: An Analysis of the Households' Saving Behaviour in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 31-48.
    11. M. Jehangir Khan & Wei Yin & Aqsa Anwar, 2020. "Macro Shocks and Child Grade Attainment in Rural Pakistan," PIDE-Working Papers 2020:16, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    12. Shahnaz Hamid & Rehana Siddiqui, 2001. "Gender Differences in Demand for Schooling," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 40(4), pages 1077-1092.
    13. Sajjad Akhtar, 1996. "Do Girls Have a Higher School Drop-out Rate than Boys? A Hazard Rate Analysis of Evidence from a Third World City," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 33(1), pages 49-62, February.
    14. Jessica Holmes, 1999. "Measuring the Determinants of School Completion in Pakistan: Analysis of Censoring and Selection Bias," Working Papers 794, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    15. Naz, Uzma & Ejaz, Zainab & Khan, Naveed, 2019. "Determinants of Dropout and Child School Enrollment: A Case Study from Rural Islamabad," Journal of Quantitative Methods, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, vol. 3(2), pages 77-89.
    16. Madeeha Gohar Qureshi, 2015. "Profile of Educational Outcomes by Gender: An Age Cohort Analysis," PIDE-Working Papers 2015:125, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.

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