Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2017 / This paper carries out an analysis to test for the existence of a private school premium in schooling outcomes among primary school children in Pakistan. In Pakistan, private schools are often preferred over public schools, due to their assumed higher quality of education, by almost every social class in the country. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on whether a private school premium in learning outcomes exists using recent geographically representative data, and whether private school benefits accrue to children in every social class proportionally. Using the latest ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) data from 2015, the analysis confirms the existence of a private school premium. It also identifies some of the mechanisms that drive this premium. In particular, it appears that household-level characteristics account for a large part of why children in private schools do better than children in public schools. In addition, the findings suggest that private schools disproportionally affect the learning outcomes of the students belonging to different social backgrounds and in different areas, benefitting those at the upper end of the distribution and in urban areas more. / GR2018

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