IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v96y2017icp550-561.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Political Economy of Primary Education: Lessons from Rwanda

Author

Listed:
  • Williams, Timothy P.

Abstract

When it comes to the state’s ability to deliver services to the poor, politics matter. This paper applies a political settlements framework to examine primary education quality in Rwanda. Formal education features prominently into the post-genocide government’s social and economic development project. Rwanda’s political elite have staked their claim in the development of the country, one which is relatively free from rent-seeking. But education quality remains surprisingly low. Enrollment has surged, but primary school dropout and repetition are high. Most children have not acquired age-appropriate literacy or numeracy skills. We sought to investigate why the education sector hasn’t done better in terms of improving quality than we might have expected. This paper draws from interviews and literature review to investigate how policy development and implementation shape the provision of quality education. Our study finds that education priorities were as much political as they were developmental. A lack of real opposition or pushback enabled the government to introduce profoundly transformative educational policies, such as switching the language of instruction from French to English. Often these decisions occurred outside the sector’s strategic planning processes. Performance-based incentives tended to focus on aspects of quality that are measurable, such as the construction of classrooms, rather than improving the capacity of the teaching workforce. We did not find evidence of an effective, sustained strategy to improve education quality. It is thus debatable to what extent Rwanda’s approach can be considered as inclusive development when quality for most children remains so low. This study makes an empirical contribution through evaluating how the education sector has been situated within Rwanda’s broader political settlement, what kinds of outcomes it has led to, and why. It also makes a theoretical contribution by understanding the nature of the relationship between the national political settlement and the education sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Williams, Timothy P., 2017. "The Political Economy of Primary Education: Lessons from Rwanda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 550-561.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:96:y:2017:i:c:p:550-561
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.03.037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X17301079
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.03.037?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. Hanushek, Eric A. & Woessmann, Ludger, 2007. "The role of education quality for economic growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4122, The World Bank.
    2. Glewwe, Paul & Maïga, Eugénie & Zheng, Haochi, 2014. "The Contribution of Education to Economic Growth: A Review of the Evidence, with Special Attention and an Application to Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 379-393.
    3. Brian Levy & Michael Walton, 2013. "Institutions, incentives and service provision: Bringing politics back in," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-018-13, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    4. Abbott, Pamela & Sapsford, Roger & Rwirahira, John, 2015. "Rwanda's potential to achieve the millennium development goals for education," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 117-125.
    5. Richard Batley & Claire Mcloughlin, 2011. "Factors Affecting State–Non‐Governmental Organisation Relations In Service Provision: Key Themes From The Literature," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 31(4), pages 240-251, October.
    6. Justin Sandefur & Amanda Glassman, 2015. "The Political Economy of Bad Data: Evidence from African Survey and Administrative Statistics," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(2), pages 116-132, February.
    7. Ludger Vessman & Jerik Hanushek, 2007. "The role of education quality in economic growth (Part I)," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 2, pages 86-116.
    8. Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, 2013. "Politics, political settlements and social change in post-colonial Rwanda," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-024-13, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    9. Milligan, Lizzi O. & Tikly, Leon & Williams, Timothy & Vianney, Jean-Marie & Uworwabayeho, Alphonse, 2017. "Textbook availability and use in Rwandan basic education: A mixed-methods study," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-7.
    10. World Bank, 2011. "Rwanda - Education Country Status Report : Toward Quality Enhancement and Achievement of Universal Nine Year Basic Education - An Education System in Transition; A Nation in Transition," World Bank Publications - Reports 2733, The World Bank Group.
    11. Abbott, Pamela & Sapsford, Roger & Binagwaho, Agnes, 2017. "Learning from Success: How Rwanda Achieved the Millennium Development Goals for Health," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 103-116.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dr. Nuwatuhaire Benard & Dr. Rwabutogo Zogeye Marcel & Janan Mubehamwe & Dr. Phanual Murenzi, 2023. "Assessing the Relationship between Female Head Teachers’ Supportive Leadership Behaviours and Organizational Effectiveness of Secondary Schools in Rwanda, Nyagatare District," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(11), pages 1292-1306, November.
    2. Ouedraogo, Idrissa & Ngoa Tabi, Henri & Atangana Ondoa, Henri & Jiya, Alex Nester, 2022. "Institutional quality and human capital development in Africa," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(1).
    3. Pritish Behuria & Tom Goodfellow, 2019. "Leapfrogging Manufacturing? Rwanda’s Attempt to Build a Services-Led ‘Developmental State’," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(3), pages 581-603, July.
    4. Enock Warinda & Dickson M Nyariki & Stephen Wambua & Reuben M Muasya & Munir A Hanjra, 2020. "Sustainable development in East Africa: impact evaluation of regional agricultural development projects in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 3-39, February.
    5. Bennell, Paul, 2021. "The political economy of attaining Universal Primary Education in sub-Saharan Africa: The politics of UPE implementation," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Chinsinga, Blessings & Weldeghebrael, Ezana Haddis & Kelsall, Tim & Schulz, Nicolai & Williams, Timothy P., 2022. "Using political settlements analysis to explain poverty trends in Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    7. Sebastian Heinen, 2022. "Rwanda’s Agricultural Transformation Revisited: Stagnating Food Production, Systematic Overestimation, and a Flawed Performance Contract System," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(10), pages 2044-2064, October.
    8. Tyce, Matthew, 2020. "Beyond the neoliberal-statist divide on the drivers of innovation: A political settlements reading of Kenya’s M-Pesa success story," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    9. Knutsson, Beniamin & Lindberg, Jonas, 2019. "The post-politics of aid to education: Rwanda ten years after Hayman," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 144-151.
    10. Crawfurd, Lee, 2021. "Accounting for repetition and dropout in contemporaneous cross-section learning profiles: Evidence from Rwanda," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    11. Bayley, Stephen H., 2022. "Learning for adaptation and 21st-century skills: Evidence of pupils’ flexibility in Rwandan primary schools," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    12. Ian E. Munanura & Edwin Sabuhoro & Carter A. Hunt & Jim Ayorekire, 2021. "Livelihoods and Tourism: Capital Assets, Household Resiliency, and Subjective Wellbeing," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-18, October.
    13. Venkatesh Murthy & Diptanshu Gaur & Korak Bhaduri, 2022. "Parents, Pupils, Pedagogues, and Policies: A Rectangle of School Education for Immigrant’s Children," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 35(5), pages 607-634, October.

    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. Timothy P. Williams, 2016. "Oriented towards action: The political economy of primary education in Rwanda," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-064-16, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    2. UNESCO Publishing, 2015. "The Economic Cost of Out-of-School Children in Southeast Asia," Working Papers id:7651, eSocialSciences.
    3. Abdel-Rahman, Alaa & Fuller, David, 2014. "Education and employment in Egypt: the policies, discrepancies and possible solutions," MPRA Paper 67571, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Vegas, E & Ganimian, A. J., 2013. "Theory and Evidence on Teacher Policies in Developed and Developing Countries," Working Paper 104291, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    5. Fadi Fawaz & Anis Mnif & Ani Popiashvili, 2021. "Impact of governance on economic growth in developing countries: a case of HIDC vs. LIDC," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 23(1), pages 44-58, June.
    6. Brezis Elise S., 2019. "Should individuals migrate before acquiring education or after? A new model of Brain Waste vs. Brain Drain," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 1-11, June.
    7. Carolina Zayas Márquez & Santos Lopez Leyva & Patricia Moctezuma Hernández, 2016. "Influencia de los rankings universitarios sobre la calidad de las universidades de Argentina, Brasil, Chile y México," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 11, in: José Manuel Cordero Ferrera & Rosa Simancas Rodríguez (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 11, edition 1, volume 11, chapter 25, pages 467-482, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    8. Chris Baumann & Hamin, 2011. "The role of culture, competitiveness and economic performance in explaining academic performance: a global market analysis for international student segmentation," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 181-201, September.
    9. Slavo Radosevic & Esin Yoruk, 2016. "A New Metrics Of Technology Upgrading: The Central And East European Countries In A Comparative Perspective," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 2016-2, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).
    10. Ama Baafra Abeberese, 2011. "Improving Reading Skills by Encouraging Children to Read: A Randomized Evaluation of the Sa Aklat Sisikat Reading Program in the Philippines," Working Papers id:4312, eSocialSciences.
    11. Luque, Mariano & Marcenaro-Gutierrez, Oscar D. & Ruiz, Ana B., 2020. "Evaluating the global efficiency of teachers through a multi-criteria approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Robles, Adrian & Robles, Marcos, 2016. "Changes in Welfare with a Heterogeneous Workforce: The Case of Peru," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 7507, Inter-American Development Bank.
    13. Elise S. Brezis, 2018. "Is Brain Drain passé? The Optimal Timing of Migration," Working Papers 2018-02, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    14. Abbott, Pamela & Sapsford, Roger & Binagwaho, Agnes, 2017. "Learning from Success: How Rwanda Achieved the Millennium Development Goals for Health," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 103-116.
    15. Paula Salinas, 2014. "The effect of decentralization on educational outcomes: real autonomy matters!," Working Papers 2014/25, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    16. Christopher Freiman, 2017. "Poverty, partiality, and the purchase of expensive education," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 16(1), pages 25-46, February.
    17. Jayasooriya, Sujith, 2020. "Revised Macro-Mincer Model for Human Capital Investment in Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 100747, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Risti Permani, 2009. "The Role of Education in Economic Growth in East Asia: a survey," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 23(1), pages 1-20, May.
    19. Ana B. Ruiz & Mariano Luque & Oscar D. Marcenaro-Gutierrez, 2022. "On the use of Synthetic Indexes Based on Multi-Criteria Decision Making to Study the Efficiency of Teachers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 1269-1300, October.
    20. Eric A. Hanushek, 2017. "Education and the Growth-Equity Trade-Off," NBER Chapters, in: Education, Skills, and Technical Change: Implications for Future US GDP Growth, pages 293-312, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    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:eee:wdevel:v:96:y:2017:i:c:p:550-561. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.