There can be little question that studying the relationship between education
and inequality will benefit public investment in education. Although primary
school enrolment for African girls has increased in many parts of the developing
world, gender differences in performance persist, particularly in mathematics
and science subjects. This study focused on three countries in East Africa with
a female disadvantage in mathematics, and explored the influence of contextual
factors and organisational processes that were associated with higher
achievement and its improved gender distribution. Across countries, there was
a positive and significant relationship between higher academic achievement
in mathematics and the social class climate of the school. An important finding
relating to gender was that the school setting seemed to favour boys. However,
the particular features that were related to a wider gender gap were quite
specific to individual countries. The implications for education sector reform and
development are discussed.

References are not ready for this file yet, please refer to reference from the PDF file

Keywords

Africa, demand for schooling, development, education production function, gender