The Relationship Between Education Funding and Student Performance in Unity Schools in Nigeria
Developing countries need to significantly increase education funding in order to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) targets. The question remains as to whether increased funding leads to improved learning outcomes and whether allocated scarce resources are used efficiently to maximize...
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| author | Elizabeth Hassan Wim Groot Louis Volante |
| author_facet | Elizabeth Hassan Wim Groot Louis Volante |
| author_sort | Elizabeth Hassan |
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| description | Developing countries need to significantly increase education funding in order to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) targets. The question remains as to whether increased funding leads to improved learning outcomes and whether allocated scarce resources are used efficiently to maximize learning outcomes. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), we investigate the relationship between education funding and student performance using a representative sample of secondary schools in Nigeria and analyze school efficiency in utilizing the funding (budget). The OLS analysis robustly indicates that an increase in the released budget—in real terms—is consistently associated with a higher pass rate, while the SFA shows that after controlling for past budgets the average inefficiency is approximately 47–60%. Our correlation findings support the argument for more funding to improve performance. However, the SFA shows that more can still be achieved with current levels of funding if schools become more efficient. We observe differences across school type and school geographical location, concluding that these factors also influence performance and efficiency. Future research should examine the performance and efficiency differences between all-girls schools and mixed schools, and the higher efficiency of schools in low socioeconomic status (SES) and conflict-affected states. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-2efeb27261024fa19eb94958d7ff61f52025-01-24T13:30:32ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022025-01-011518610.3390/educsci15010086The Relationship Between Education Funding and Student Performance in Unity Schools in NigeriaElizabeth Hassan0Wim Groot1Louis Volante2Institute for Societal Policy & Innovation Research (INSPIRE), Maastricht University, 6211 LK Maastricht, The NetherlandsSchool of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, 6211 LK Maastricht, The NetherlandsDepartment of Educational Studies, Brock University, St. Catherines, ON L2S 3A1, CanadaDeveloping countries need to significantly increase education funding in order to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) targets. The question remains as to whether increased funding leads to improved learning outcomes and whether allocated scarce resources are used efficiently to maximize learning outcomes. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), we investigate the relationship between education funding and student performance using a representative sample of secondary schools in Nigeria and analyze school efficiency in utilizing the funding (budget). The OLS analysis robustly indicates that an increase in the released budget—in real terms—is consistently associated with a higher pass rate, while the SFA shows that after controlling for past budgets the average inefficiency is approximately 47–60%. Our correlation findings support the argument for more funding to improve performance. However, the SFA shows that more can still be achieved with current levels of funding if schools become more efficient. We observe differences across school type and school geographical location, concluding that these factors also influence performance and efficiency. Future research should examine the performance and efficiency differences between all-girls schools and mixed schools, and the higher efficiency of schools in low socioeconomic status (SES) and conflict-affected states.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/1/86student performanceeducationeducation fundinglearning outcomesregressionstochastic frontier analysis |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth Hassan Wim Groot Louis Volante The Relationship Between Education Funding and Student Performance in Unity Schools in Nigeria Education Sciences student performance education education funding learning outcomes regression stochastic frontier analysis |
| title | The Relationship Between Education Funding and Student Performance in Unity Schools in Nigeria |
| title_full | The Relationship Between Education Funding and Student Performance in Unity Schools in Nigeria |
| title_fullStr | The Relationship Between Education Funding and Student Performance in Unity Schools in Nigeria |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Relationship Between Education Funding and Student Performance in Unity Schools in Nigeria |
| title_short | The Relationship Between Education Funding and Student Performance in Unity Schools in Nigeria |
| title_sort | relationship between education funding and student performance in unity schools in nigeria |
| topic | student performance education education funding learning outcomes regression stochastic frontier analysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/1/86 |
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