Breaking the Mismatch: Government Structure vs. School Participation

Musiliu Adeolu Adeolu Adewole

Working Papers from African Economic Research Consortium

Abstract: Nigeria has made significant strides in expanding access to education through largescale programmes such as UPE and UBE. However, despite these efforts, disparities in school participation persist across different regions of the country. This study aims to shed light on the historical factors that contribute to these disparities, specifically looking at the relationship between pre-colonial centralization and investment in Koranic education on school participation.One of the key findings of this study is that areas under highly centralized political systems are more likely to participate in large-scale school expansion programmes such as UPE and UBE. This is in line with previous research that has shown a positive relationship between state centralization and development outcomes. However, the study also finds that areas with heavy investment in Koranic education have a negative effect on school enrolment, even when these areas before colonialism had highly centralized political structure. The findings highlight the mismatch between the demands of modern economic life and the skills possessed by a large section of the population. The contemporary world does not require Koranic education to make either regional or national advancement possible, yet many areas with heavy investment in Koranic education are falling behind in the education race. This calls for well-thought-out policies to address this mismatch and accelerate inclusive economic development.

Date: 2024-03-30
Note: African Economic Research Consortium
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://publication.aercafricalibrary.org/handle/123456789/3662 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aer:wpaper:3aefe8b4-b9ed-4bba-9d8e-780970c7feb7

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from African Economic Research Consortium Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Daniel Njiru ().