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The efficiency of public schools: the case of Kuwait

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  • Nadeem A. Burney
  • Jill Johnes
  • Mohammed Al-Enezi
  • Marwa Al-Musallam

Abstract

This paper investigates the technical, and allocative efficiencies of public schools in Kuwait over four levels of schooling (kindergartens, primary, intermediate and secondary) and two periods (1999/2000 and 2004/2005) using data envelopment analysis. Mean pure technical efficiency varies between 0.695 and 0.852 across all levels of education; the majority of schools at kindergarten, primary and intermediate levels are operating at a point where returns to scale are increasing, and there are considerable cost efficiencies to be gained. In a second-stage analysis of the determinants of efficiency, teacher salary and the proportion of teaching staff who are Kuwaiti are highly significant in explaining school efficiency at all levels. The former has a positive effect and the latter a negative effect. All-girls schools have significantly higher efficiency than all-boys schools. There is limited evidence that geographical location affects efficiency, and this may be a consequence of differences between regions in terms of affluence or density of population.

Suggested Citation

  • Nadeem A. Burney & Jill Johnes & Mohammed Al-Enezi & Marwa Al-Musallam, 2013. "The efficiency of public schools: the case of Kuwait," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 360-379, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:21:y:2013:i:4:p:360-379
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2011.595580
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 1993. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195072181.
    2. Kirjavainen, Tanja, 2007. "Efficiency of Finnish Upper Secondary Schools: An Application of Stochastic Frontier Analysis with Panel Data," Discussion Papers 428, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kristof De Witte & Laura López-Torres, 2017. "Efficiency in education: a review of literature and a way forward," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 339-363, April.
    2. Agasisti, Tommaso & de Oliveira Ribeiro, Celma & Montemor, Daniel Sanches, 2022. "The efficiency of Brazilian elementary public schools," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Huguenin, Jean-Marc, 2015. "Adjusting for the environment in DEA: A comparison of alternative models based on empirical data," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 41-54.
    4. Johnes, Jill, 2015. "Operational Research in education," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 243(3), pages 683-696.
    5. Aatzaz Hassan & Muhammad Ramzan Sheikh & Rana Zafar Hayat & Neelam Asghar Ali, 2022. "An Efficiency Analysis of Public and Private Elementary Schools in Dera Ghazi Khan," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(3), pages 135-150, September.
    6. Inan Deniz Erguvan, 2024. "What difference does one course make? Assessing the impact of content-based instruction on students’ sustainability literacy," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Tommaso Agasisti, 2014. "How does schools’ efficiency look like across Europe? An empirical analysis of Germany, Spain, France, Italy and UK using OECD PISA2012 data," Working papers 9, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    8. López-Torres, Laura & Johnes, Jill & Elliott, Caroline & Polo, Cristina, 2021. "The effects of competition and collaboration on efficiency in the UK independent school sector," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 40-53.
    9. Delprato, Marcos & Antequera, Germán, 2021. "School efficiency in low and middle income countries: An analysis based on PISA for development learning survey," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Agasisti, Tommaso & Zoido, Pablo, 2019. "The efficiency of schools in developing countries, analysed through PISA 2012 data," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    11. Arora, Nitin & Talwar, Shubhendra Jit, 2020. "Modelling efficiency in budget allocations for Indian states using window based non-radial non-concave metafrontier data envelopment analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Yahia, F.B. & Essid, H., 2019. "Determinants of Tunisian Schools’ Efficiency: A DEA-Tobit Approach," Journal of Applied Management and Investments, Department of Business Administration and Corporate Security, International Humanitarian University, vol. 8(1), pages 44-56, February.

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