IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joerap/v7y2024i4d10.1007_s41996-024-00159-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inclusivity, Gender, and Learning Gains: Are Online Education Platforms the Answer?

Author

Listed:
  • Agha Ali Akram

    (Mathematica Inc.)

  • Hadia Majid

    (Lahore University of Management Sciences)

Abstract

While school enrollment has seen gains globally over the last few decades, some 260 million still remain out-of-school. Digital solutions to overcome enrollment and learning gaps have become increasingly popular, but evidence around ed-tech solutions is limited. We experimentally evaluate learning outcomes from an online after-school learning platform. We find a 22% gain in assessment scores of students who availed the platform relative to those who did not have access to the platform. We also study the effects of income and gender. We find that the platform does not distinguish by income: poorer students do no worse than rich students, and that girls are at no disadvantage relative to boys. Our results then carry deep implications for leveraging at-home technology to reduce gender gaps in education in highly unequal and under-resourced contexts where girls’ mobility remains a primary constraint to enrollment.

Suggested Citation

  • Agha Ali Akram & Hadia Majid, 2024. "Inclusivity, Gender, and Learning Gains: Are Online Education Platforms the Answer?," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 319-330, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joerap:v:7:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s41996-024-00159-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s41996-024-00159-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41996-024-00159-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41996-024-00159-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monazza Aslam & Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2008. "Gender and household education expenditure in Pakistan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(20), pages 2573-2591.
    2. Bisma Haseeb Khan & Sahar Amjad Shaikh, 2013. "Analyzing the Market for Shadow Education in Pakistan: Does Private Tuition Affect the Learning Gap between Private and Public Schools?," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 18(Special E), pages 129-160, September.
    3. Zeba A. Sathar & Asif Wazir & Maqsood Sadiq, 2013. "Struggling against the Odds of Poverty, Access, and Gender: Secondary Schooling for Girls in Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 18(Special E), pages 67-92, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dickerson, Andy & McIntosh, Steven & Valente, Christine, 2015. "Do the maths: An analysis of the gender gap in mathematics in Africa," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-22.
    2. Manik Kumar & Nicky Naincy, 2020. "Revisiting the Gender Gap in Private Household Expenditure on Education in India: An Empirical Analysis," Paradigm, , vol. 24(2), pages 164-176, December.
    3. Abbas, Qaisar & Foreman-Peck, James, 2007. "The Mincer Human Capital Model in Pakistan: Implications for Education Policy," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2007/24, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    4. Sutirtha Bandyopadhyay & Bipasha Maity, 2021. "Widowhood and Consumption of Private Assignable Goods: The Role of Socio-Economic Status, Rainfall Shocks and Historical Institutions," Working Papers 73, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    5. Monazza Aslam & Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2008. "Gender and household education expenditure in Pakistan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(20), pages 2573-2591.
    6. Kenayathulla, Husaina Banu, 2016. "Gender differences in intra-household educational expenditures in Malaysia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 59-73.
    7. Monazza Aslam, 2009. "Education Gender Gaps in Pakistan: Is the Labor Market to Blame?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(4), pages 747-784, July.
    8. Monazza Aslam, 2006. "Rates of Return to Education by Gender in Pakistan," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-064, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    9. Azam, Mehtabul & Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi, 2013. "Are Girls the Fairer Sex in India? Revisiting Intra-Household Allocation of Education Expenditure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 143-164.
    10. Kaletski, Elizabeth, 2016. "Work versus School? The Effect of Work on Educational Expenditures for Children in Mexico," IZA Discussion Papers 10054, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Aswathy Rachel Varughese & Indrajit Bairagya, 2023. "Socio-economic inequalities in spending on various levels of education across Indian households: an update," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 197-229, June.
    12. Tariq Mahmood & Najam us Saqib & Muhammad Ali Qasim, 2017. "Parental Effects on Primary School Enrolment under Different Types of Household Headship: Evidence from Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 249-264.
    13. Jacob, Arun, 2016. "Gender Bias in Educational Attainment in India : The Role of Dowry Payments," MPRA Paper 76338, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Klaus Prettner & Holger Strulik, 2017. "Gender equity and the escape from poverty," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(1), pages 55-74.
    15. Mahreen Mahmud, 2015. "Act Now: Microcredit with Voluntary Contributions and Zero Interest Rate - Evidence from Pakistan," Studies in Economics 1513, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    16. Madhulika Khanna & Milan Thomas, 2024. "Gendered time poverty in three developing countries: An intra‐household analysis of children's time use," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(1), pages 316-342, January.
    17. Cristina Cattaneo, 2012. "Migrants’ international transfers and educational expenditure," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 20(1), pages 163-193, January.
    18. Reham Rizk & Hala Abou-Ali, 2016. "Out of Pocket Education Expenditure and Household Budget: Evidence from Arab Countries," Working Papers 996, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.
    19. Rashmi Rashmi & Bijay Kumar Malik & Sanjay K. Mohanty & Udaya Shankar Mishra & S. V. Subramanian, 2022. "Predictors of the gender gap in household educational spending among school and college-going children in India," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    20. Ye, Juntao & Cai, Liming & Shi, Xinjie & Cheng, Mingwang, 2024. "Pursuing a brighter future: Impact of the Hukou reform on human capital investment in migrant children in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joerap:v:7:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s41996-024-00159-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.