International Journal of Educational Development 97 (2023) 102715

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Educational Development

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev

Influence of teacher absenteeism and school distance on cognitive skills

in Ghana
Jacob Nunoo a, *, Francis Taale b, Joshua Sebu c, Adams Sorekuong Yakubu Adama b
a
Department of Applied Economics, School of Economics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
b
Department of Economic Studies, School of Economics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
c
Department of Data Science & Economic Policy, School of Economics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Cognitive skills are important predictors of academic success and wellbeing in adulthood. Unfortunately, the
Cognitive skills cognitive skills of many students in Ghana and other African countries are seriously lagging behind global mean
Distance to school estimates. This study examined the influence of teacher absenteeism and travel distance to school on the
Ghana
cognitive skills of school children between 5 and 15 years of age in Ghana. Dataset for the analysis were derived
Teacher absenteeism
from the first and second waves of the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey conducted by the Economic Growth
Center, Yale University. The study finds that teacher absenteeism and distance to school are detrimental to
cognitive skills development.

1. Introduction socioeconomic growth and industrialisation is preceded by quality

The importance of education for socioeconomic development and
improvement of the welfare of the human race has been well articulated
among policymakers and researchers. Evidence based on systematic
review of development history and cross-country empirical studies
points out the significant role of education in general, and higher edu­
cation in particular, in advancing economic growth and poverty
reduction (Afonso and Aubyn, 2006; Aksoy and Link, 2000; Nidup,
2016; Valero and Van Reenen, 2019; Zhao, 2015). According to Nidup
(2016), higher and better levels of education are critical inputs for
economic growth and development since they enhance human capital
and increase labour productivity. Education is also recognised to
enhance the human potential in understanding new technologies,
increasing innovative capabilities, and implementing new ideas which
benefit the global economy. Furthermore, education enhances the ca­
pacity of individuals to effectively participate in a range of social ac­
tivities including health and politics (Aslam and Lehrer, 2014; Connelly
and Zheng, 2003; Lindgren, Oskarsson and Persson, 2019; Nidup, 2016).
Moreover, the rapid technological changes and intense competition
occurring in global output and labour markets have increased the focus
on education and the need for every country to have an educated and
adaptable workforce (Baker, 2019; Damgaard and Nielsen, 2018;
Heckman, 2006). Unfortunately, the historical regularity in which rapid
human capital formed from better and quality educational systems re­
mains to occur in many low-income countries (Gundersen, 2016).
Like other developing economies, Ghana was among the few coun­
tries which increased access to education for its young population under
the Millennium Development Goal 3. Despite this, nearly 623,500
children of primary school age in the country are estimated to be out of
school whereas about 25 % of children in the kindergarten age group are
not in pre-school (UNICEF, 2013). Moreover, many children in Ghana do
not benefit from quality education as a result of overcrowding in classes,
shortage of books, and inadequate supply of trained and dedicated
teachers. This poor quality of education causes a reduction in cognitive
skill development in the country as only 40 % of grade six students are
proficient in literacy and only 25 % proficient in numeracy (Ministry of
Education, 2017). This shows that Ghana is not getting the desired
learning outcomes from the provision of education and might miss the
Sustainable Development Goal 4. Several factors have been identified as
hampering cognitive outcomes in developing countries (Holmes, 2003;
Huisman and Smits, 2009; Lincove, 2009; Tansel, 2002). On the supply
side, educational institutions are often scarce in many areas or located
far away from the dwelling places of learners (Holmes, 2003; Lavy,
1996; Mhiliwa, 2015; Vuri, 2010). For example, Vuri (2010) argues that
educational institutions are typically not available in many low-income
countries and even when they do exist, learners have to travel long

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jacob.nunoo@ucc.edu.gh (J. Nunoo).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102715
Received 16 May 2022; Received in revised form 30 August 2022; Accepted 15 December 2022
Available online 4 January 2023
0738-0593/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Nunoo et al.
distances, mostly through walking, in order to reach them. Afoakwah
and Koomson (2020) observed that a greater percentage of Ghanaian
children walk as their mode of travelling to school. Long commuting
distance to school exposes young people to various hazards including
sexual harassment, kidnapping, attack by wild animals, rainstorm, and
accidents. Moreover, attending school in such conditions requires sig­
nificant investments in terms of traveling time, transportation expenses
and alternative housing strategies like arranging for children to stay
with relatives or friends. The problem of long distance to school results
in lateness, absenteeism, exhaustion and low morale leading to poor
academic performance.
Teacher absenteeism has also been identified as one of the significant
factors that adversely affect learners’ academic performance (Akseer
and Játiva, 2021; Bradley et al., 2007; Carlsen, 2012; Finlayson, 2009;
Medrano, 2019; Prashanthi, 2008; Porres, 2016; Tao, 2013). For
instance, Finlayson (2009) found that higher teacher absenteeism leads
to lower student math and reading scores on standardised tests. Her
analysis also showed that students attending school in low socioeco­
nomic areas experience more teacher absences than their counterparts
in high socioeconomic areas. Undoubtedly, teacher absenteeism can
hamper learning outcomes by reducing the amount of time spent on
academic work and extra-curricular activities. Though teacher absen­
teeism occurs in all countries across the globe, literature shows that
more serious instances of teacher absenteeism occur in countries with
weak monitoring regimes (Bennell and Akyeampong, 2007; Mur­
alidharan et al., 2017). Like other low-income economies, teachers in
Ghana have been heavily criticised for a variety of negative behaviours
including absenteeism (Alhassan and Adzahlie-Mensah, 2010;
Akyeampong and Asante, 2006; Akseer and Játiva, 2021; Fobih et al.,
1999; National Schools Inspectorate Authority, 2021; World Bank,
2010). But the influence of teacher absenteeism on cognitive skill out­
comes is little known and under researched. This study examines the
pathways through which teacher absenteeism and distance to school
interact with other variables to explain differences in students’ cognitive
skills in the country.
2. Literature review
The role of distance in explaining cognitive skills has often been
overlooked both in empirical research and policy arenas. Among the
major works that brought this problem in Africa to the fore is a study
sponsored by World Bank. According to this study, the most important
factor in determining primary enrolment is school distance. It was also
noted that in areas where attention has been given to the problem of
long distances to school, enrolment increased and the problem of out-of-
school children reduced (Lockheed and Verspoor, 1991). Available ev­
idence shows that, on average, children in Africa live more than two
kilometres away from the nearest school in their communities (Majgaard
and Mingat, 2012). According to Majgaard and Mingat, about 41 % of
school-going children in Africa attended school when a primary school
was more than five kilometres away. The problem was exacerbated
when the rural-urban dichotomy was examined. In rural areas, close to
90 % of out-of-school children occurred as a result of long distance to
school. Similar findings are echoed by Filmer (2004) who found that
distance to school reduces school enrolment. The problem is identified
across many developing countries such as Ethiopia (Nekatibeb, 2002),
Tanzania (Mtahabwa, 2011), and Ivory Coast (Grootaert, 1999). Basi­
cally, children have to commute long distances in order to attend school.
This reduces school attendance and increases the likelihood of engaging
in early employment. Rural poor girls tend to suffer more from this
problem more than boys (UNESCO, 2014). On the other hand, in urban
areas, high transport fares to and from school and the huge traffic in the
cities contribute to the problem.
In Ghana, World Bank (2004) notes that, between 1988 and 2003,
reduced distance to school via community school projects accounted for
about 4 % increase in school enrolment. It has been noted that the
2
International Journal of Educational Development 97 (2023) 102715
concentration of schools in a given area improves school attendance
among school-going children (Akabayashi and Psacharopoulos, 1999;
Kondylis and Manacorda, 2006; Lavy, 1996). In Tanzania, Kondylis and
Manacorda (2006) observed that greater distance to schools discourages
school attendance more than work-related activities a child may be
engaged in. World Bank (2004) shows that the long distance combines
with hunger and malnutrition to contribute to delayed age of starting
school. Vuri (2010) found that the availability of both primary and ju­
nior high schools has a significant positive effect on schooling decisions
and that having a primary school nearby discouraged school-going
children from engaging in household chores. Undoubtedly, the dis­
tance from one’s place of residence to educational institutions can affect
educational achievement negatively by generating many impediments
including high transportation cost, fatigue, and absenteeism. Duze
(2010) argues that the impediments created by long school distance can
act individually or collectively to reduce academic achievement. Also,
when the distance travelled to school is too far for the child it increases
fatigue and demotivates learning even when enrolment occurs (Arubayi,
2005). Studies conducted by Frenette (2002) also document the negative
influence of commuting distance to participation in education. Frenette
examined the role that distance plays in the decision to go to school. The
results of his research revealed that respondents whose families lived
near educational institutions had cost-saving alternatives of staying at
home while attending school and thereby avoiding the added living and
moving costs associated with leaving home to attend school at far places.
Respondents who had to cover long distances to reach school did not
have this option and hence were less likely to attend school, especially if
they are from a lower-income family. These findings resonate well with
the widely held view that increased costs associated with travelling long
distance to attend school can act as a deterrent to getting educated
(Duze, 2010; Holmes, 2003; Vuri, 2010). These findings underscore the
importance of public infrastructure in increasing school attendance and
educational outcomes.
Woods and Montagno (1997) examined the effects of teacher
attendance on academic achievement of third and fourth graders in the
United States and found that students whose teachers missed 4.50 days
of school or more scored less than did students whose teachers missed
less than 4.50 days of school. Azumi and Madhere (1982) examined the
link between teacher absenteeism and student achievement at various
grade levels in 52 elementary schools. The focus was on third-grade and
sixth-grade student achievement scores in mathematics and reading.
The authors concluded that higher rates of teacher absenteeism nega­
tively affected the outcome measures. Manatt (1987) used the data from
Iowa and Minnesota to develop a model teacher evaluation program. His
analysis shows that seven to ten days of teacher absence was signifi­
cantly related to student achievement. Unlike Azumi and Madhere
(1982), Manatt looked at teacher absenteeism linked to professional
development as well as other reasons and urged caution regarding the
amount of time away from students to spend on training activities.
Clotfelter et al. (2009) investigated the link between teacher absen­
teeism and achievement of 4th and 5th graders in North Carolina for a
10-year period. Their findings show that students whose teachers missed
10 days of school or more in a year scored lower in mathematics and
reading than did the comparison group.
The general notion is that teacher absences negatively affect learning
outcomes and performance in key tests results. However, Robinson
(2008) argues that this needs not be the case. In his analysis of a
medium-size urban school district in New York, Robinson found that
teacher absences are unrelated to student performance, and certainly
not a negative relationship. Contrary to conventional expectation, he
found some weak positive association between teacher absenteeism and
student performance. Ehrenberg et al. (1989) probed the link between
school district leave policies, teacher absenteeism, and student
achievement in 700 New York School districts. Specifically, Ehrenberg
et al. sought to find out how teacher absenteeism affected student pass
rates on standardized reading and mathematics tests, and reported no
J. Nunoo et al. International Journal of Educational Development 97 (2023) 102715

Fig. 1. Hypothesised paths.

associations. Webb (1995) investigated the relationship between
teacher attendance and achievement in reading and mathematics among
students in Texas. The results from this research did not support the
postulation that achievement scores would be higher for students of
teachers with fewer absences. In a similar study, Felder (2017) applied a
mixed-methods approach to examine the influence of teacher absen­
teeism on achievement in reading between Title I and traditional funded
middle schools. Although a statistically significant difference was
observed in the rate of teacher absence between the two school types, a
small negative relationship was found between teacher absenteeism and
reading achievement for both groups, with the correlation coefficient of
the Title I group being higher than that of the traditional funded group.
Moreover, analyses of teacher perceptions showed a stronger negative
effect of teacher absenteeism on achievement than the quantitative
analysis. Tingle et al. (2012) also maintains that the effects of teacher
absenteeism on learning outcomes depends on the intensity of absences.
In schools where average teacher absences were low, individual teach­
er’s absence was statistically and negatively associated with student
achievement. Bu this effect was washed out in schools where the average
teacher absences were high. These conflicting findings do not only show
that the relationship between teacher absenteeism and academic
achievement will continue to be hotly debated but they also imply that
the general postulation that teacher absences are inimical to cognitive
skills development could be overhyped or not borne out by quantitative
facts.
2.1. Policies on teacher absenteeism and school access in Ghana
themselves from school for 10 or more working days are dismissed by
the service, those who do so below this threshold but without prior
approval forfeit their salaries for the days they were absent. It also uses
the school report card system as a tool to improve school efficiency and
monitor teachers’ school attendance (MoE, 2010). Teacher absenteeism
especially in rural communities are mainly due to lack of decent ac­
commodation for teachers posted. In a bid to solve this problem, GES in
conjunction with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Devel­
opment has a policy to provide on-site accommodation for teachers as
part of new school building projects. These measures or interventions
have led to a general decline in teacher absenteeism. For example, in
2016, the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant embarked on a drive to
monitor teacher attendance in 75 deprived districts using School Report
Cards. It was observed that teacher absenteeism declined from 19 % in
2013/14 to 14 % in 2014/15 (MoE, 2019). To increase access to edu­
cation and reduce the distance school going children will have to travel
to access education, a number of interventions and policy initiatives
have been undertaken by the Ministry of Education. The World Bank’s
Secondary Education Improvement Project for example, has been
instrumental in addressing the supply-side infrastructural challenges at
the secondary education level. This has resulted in the construction of
about 21 new schools in districts without public secondary schools and
Table 1
Summary statistics of the data used for the analysis.
Mean SD Min Max

Raven Z-score –0.088 0.910 –1.745 2.820

Teacher absenteeism and long distance to school are barriers to ed­ Digit Z-score –0.051 0.831 –1.428 3.422
ucation in Ghana. Cognisant of this, successive governments have Book access 0.870 0.337 0 1
Travel time 18.427 12.930 0 55
introduced some interventions aimed at curbing teacher absences and
Travel time square 506.682 589.779 0 3025
reducing the drudgery of long-distance commuting. For example, the School feeding programme 0.187 0.390 0 1
Ministry of Education (MoE), through its implementing agencies for pre- Teacher absence 0.793 2.420 0 30
tertiary basic education like the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Male 0.523 0.500 0 1
National Schools Inspectorate Authority, and the National Teaching Age 9.384 2.850 5 15
Age squared 96.174 55.768 25 225
Council, has a policy of zero tolerance for teacher absenteeism. This Household size 5.890 2.425 2 20
policy is aimed at increasing teacher attendance and presence in class to Public religious 0.372 0.483 0 1
facilitate teaching and learning as well as guaranteeing access to quality Public non-religious 0.424 0.494 0 1
education (MoE, 2019). The National Schools Inspectorate Authority is Private religious 0.050 0.218 0 1
Private non-religious 0.154 0.361 0 1
tasked with the responsibility of inspecting schools to monitor teaching
Father in house 0.642 0.480 0 1
and learning in both public and private schools in the country. As the Mother in house 0.797 0.402 0 1
employer and agency responsible for the day-to-day practices of teach­ Preschool 0.205 0.404 0 1
ers in the country, GES uses the salary validation system overseen by Lower primary 0.460 0.498 0 1
head teachers and circuit supervisors as a monitoring mechanism to Upper primary 0.314 0.464 0 1
Secondary 0.020 0.141 0 1
check teacher absenteeism. Apart from the fact that teachers who absent

3
J. Nunoo et al.
Fig. 2. Kernel density distribution of standardised Digit test score.
the rehabilitation and expansion of some existing schools. This has in
most cases reduced the travel time for students to school. At the primary
level, there is a drive by the Ministry of Education to eliminate all
schools-under-trees in the country.
3. Materials and methods
3.1. Data sources
The study used data from the first and second waves of the Ghana
Socioeconomic Panel Survey conducted by the Economic Growth Center
at Yale University and the Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic
Research at the University of Ghana. The overarching objective of these
waves was to solve the lack of panel data availability in the country that
will allow for studies to follow individuals over time. Three waves have
been collected so far however, only the first two waves have been made
available to the public. Wave 1 of the data was collected from November
2009 to April 2010 using paper-and-pencil survey forms with manual
entry, while the second wave was conducted in 2013/14 using
computer-assisted-personal interviews. Both waves are nationally and
regionally representative surveys of all the administrative regions
existing at that time. In the first wave, 5009 households from 334
enumeration areas were interviewed. The second wave tracked the
movement of households and individuals within a household making the
second wave unique. In total, 5484 households, made up of 5009
households from the baseline and 475 households from split households,
were included in the second wave. Although these waves were not
designed purposely to measure cognitive skills, they collected informa­
tion on academic performance and other independent variables
considered useful in predicting cognitive skills. Both waves contained
information on 10,145 individuals aged between 5 and 15 years. But our
analysis is restricted to 1230 individuals because data on cognitive
performance measured by the raven and digit test scores were collected
on this age cohort.
4
International Journal of Educational Development 97 (2023) 102715
3.2. Theoretical basis and econometric strategy
The study is grounded in Becker’s (1975) human capital theory
which stipulates that knowledge, competences, skills and attributes
embedded in the individual that make him or her functional and pro­
ductive in the society are enhanced through education and training. The
enhancement in productivity and functionality by economic agents
leads to favourable outcomes in health and governance. According to
Heckman (2000), improvement in human capital (both cognitive and
non-cognitive at an early age through education) leads to higher returns
in later years. The development of cognitive skills depends on a number
of factors including the availability of educational institutions within the
reach of learners as well as commitment to duties on the part of teachers.
Hence, the development of cognitive skills is influenced by access to
school and the quality of the school system. We argue that improved
school quality will mean that the most important school input (the
teacher) is readily available and has the needed skills to contribute to
learners’ cognitive skills development. To examine the effect of teacher
absenteeism and school distance on cognitive skills, this study first es­
timates a structural equation model represented by the path diagram in
Fig. 1.
The study posits a strong direct link between teacher absenteeism
and cognitive skills (Lavy, 1996; Lockheed and Verspoor, 1991; Vuri,
2010) as well as between travel time and cognitive skills. Child and
household characteristics are also expected to directly affect cognitive
skills, together with school type, school feeding program, book access
and being an urban resident. We articulate that child characteristics can
indirectly influence cognitive skills through travel time and book access.
The older the child the less likely travel time will affect cognitive skills.
Also, the higher the current grade, the less likely travel time will affect
cognitive skills. A similar indirect effect is argued for urban residence
and teacher absenteeism. Teachers in urban areas are expected to absent
themselves from school less often compared to their counterparts in
rural areas as a result of effective monitoring and supervision. House­
hold characteristics are also hypothesised to affect cognitive skills
through book access. The larger the household, the less books will be
J. Nunoo et al.
Fig. 3. Kernel density distribution of standardised Raven test score.
available as a result of competing demand on household resources. This
lack of access to books as a result of a larger household size will in turn
lead to lower cognitive skills. Nonetheless, larger household size has the
tendency to influence cognitive skills through increased access to books
from older siblings. Due to the relative abundance of sale outlets in
urban settings, children residing in urban areas are expected to have
more access to books and other educational materials than those in rural
areas.
As a robustness check to the SEM results, fixed effects and random
effects panel models are estimated via the following equation:
CSi = α0 + α1 TAbsenti + α2 Disti + α3 Booki + α4 Xi + εi
where CSi is the cognitive skill outcome for the ith child, TAbsent is the
number of days respondent i’s teacher has been absent from school,Dist
represents the distance to school in minutes,Book measures access to
books whileXcomprises child-specific (age, gender, current grade),
household (household size, parenting type, location), and school-level
characteristics (school type, school feeding programme), ε is the error
term. The study used performance on two test scores to measure
cognitive skills. These are the digit span test and raven pattern cognitive
test. The digit span test is used to measure cognitive status. It is used to
evaluate the verbal memory of an individual. Generally, a list of
numbers is read and the participant is expected to repeat the same until
an incorrect response occurs (Leung et al., 2011). Raven test, on the
other hand, assesses visual modality and intellectual efficiency. Essen­
tially, this test examines the ability to become proficient as a result of
past experience with a problem. As an inductive reasoning test, the
problems set become progressively more difficult. The test appears as a
series of pictures in which a pattern is displayed with a piece of the
pattern missing and learners are required to choose a piece from avail­
able pieces that will make the pattern complete. This nonverbal test is
recognised as a good measure of general intelligence which minimises
the impact of language or culture (Aslam and Lehrer, 2014; Raven,
2000). In the Ghana panel data, there were 15 hurdles on the digit span
test and 12 patterns for the raven test. For both tests, the responses were
International Journal of Educational Development 97 (2023) 102715
standardised into z-scores so that results from the estimation could be
interpreted as standard deviations.
4. Results and discussions
The summary statistics of the variables are presented in Table 1. As is
evident from Table 1, the minimum and maximum value of the raven Z-
score are 1.745 below and 2.82 above the mean raven Z-score respec­
tively. Similarly, the digit Z-score shows that the minimum and the
maximum values are 1.428 below and 3.422 above the mean. Generally,
(1) 87 % of children have access to some or all books required. There is
almost 50 % each of male and female children in the sample with a
minimum age of 9 years and the average household size was approxi­
mately 6 members. Children travel approximately 18.4 min to and from
school with the minimum value of 0 showing that some children live
within reach of their school compounds, perhaps in boarding houses.
Barely 18.7 % of children enjoy school feeding. Most of the children
were in public non-religious schools (42.4 %) compared to being in
private religious schools (5 %). Respondents in the lower primary grade
were the majority (46 %) relative to those in secondary school (2.0 %).
Most of the children sampled lived with their mothers (79.7 %) than
they did with their fathers. On average, most of the children included in
the analysis indicated that their class teacher was absent from class for
about a day.
The distribution of the digit and raven Z-scores by gender, grade and
school type are shown in Figs. 2 and 3 respectively.
Table 2 presents the results of structural equation modelling. This
technique was chosen over other econometric strategies such as the
ordinary least squares (OLS) regression for two reasons. First, unlike the
OLS regression, it can estimate direct, indirect and total effects. Simi­
larly, the nature of variables in our dataset made this technique a more
viable alternative. Fitness statistics accompanying the results show that
the models used for the analysis were within the threshold of adequately
fit models and that the results can be relied on for policy purposes.
Because robust analysis was implemented, commonly used model fit
indices such as the Akaike Information Criterion, Chi-square statistic,
5
J. Nunoo et al. International Journal of Educational Development 97 (2023) 102715

Table 2 Table 3
Output of the structural equation model. Results of the fixed and random effects panel estimation.
Digit Z-score Raven Z- FE RE
score Digit Z-score Raven Z-score
Coefficient SE Coefficient SE
Coefficients Robust SE Coefficients Robust SE
Constant –0.966* 0.443 –1.249*** 0.195
Structural
Book access 0.270* 0.108 0.161*** 0.044
Book access 0.196*** 0.0316 0.180*** 0.0416
Travel time –0.021* 0.008 –0.003 0.003
School feeding 0.109** 0.0368 –0.190*** 0.0364
Travel time squared 0.000* 0.000 0.000 0.000
programme
School feeding programme 0.164 0.125 –0.136*** 0.039
Teacher absence –0.00131 0.00484 –0.0123+ 0.00642
Teacher absence 0.005 0.027 –0.052*** 0.011
Male 0.0600* 0.0237 0.0420 0.0290
Teacher absence squared –0.001 0.001 0.002*** 0.000
Age 0.234*** 0.0331 0.203*** 0.0406
Male 0.237 0.353 0.047 0.029
Age square –0.00900*** 0.00169 –0.00792*** 0.00206
Age 0.127 0.083 0.204*** 0.040
Household size –0.0269*** 0.00488 –0.00567 0.00633
Age squared –0.005 0.003 –0.007*** 0.001
Travel time –0.00266 0.00297 –0.000310 0.00367
Household size –0.134*** 0.026 –0.006 0.006
Travel time squared 0.0000901 0.0000665 0.0000468 0.0000810
Father in house –0.040 0.156 –0.022 0.034
Father in house –0.0689* 0.0290 –0.0228 0.0353
Mother in house –0.057 0.152 0.038 0.039
Mother in house 0.106** 0.0326 0.0244 0.0398
Lower primary 0.093 0.119 0.170*** 0.047
Ref: Preschool
Upper primary 0.034 0.168 0.374*** 0.062
Lower primary 0.316*** 0.0349 0.161*** 0.0442
Secondary –0.108 0.313 0.751*** 0.119
Upper primary 0.696*** 0.0486 0.373*** 0.0610
Public religious 0.118 0.118 –0.053+ 0.032
Secondary 1.064*** 0.117 0.748*** 0.140
Private religious 0.044 0.192 0.211** 0.069
Ref: Public non-
Private non-religious 0.028 0.120 0.121** 0.045
religious
Year (2013/14) 0.499*** 0.140 –0.183*** 0.031
Public religious 0.0439 0.0267 –0.0544+ 0.0323
N 3502 3502
Private religious 0.271*** 0.0584 0.205** 0.0717
R2 0.504
Private non-religious 0.260*** 0.0334 0.0960* 0.0464
F 14.82
Constant –1.941*** 0.151 –1.569*** 0.190
Book access Note: +
p < 0.10, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001
Male 0.000269 0.0114 0.000269 0.0114
Household size –0.00746** 0.00258 –0.00746** 0.00258
Father in house –0.0213 0.0133 –0.0213 0.0133 cognitive skills measured by both raven and digit score. However, the
Mother in house –0.0338* 0.0138 –0.0338* 0.0138 coefficient for digit score did not achieve statistical significance whereas
Constant 0.954*** 0.0172 0.954*** 0.0172 that of raven test is significant at the 10 % probability level. Largely, our
Travel Time
results support the view that teacher absenteeism is inimical to cognitive
Male –0.0555 0.438 –0.0555 0.438
Age 0.470 0.567 0.470 0.567
skills acquisition. Similarly, while travel time to school has the expected
Age squared –0.0320 0.0293 –0.0320 0.0293 sign, it is insignificant in explaining both measures of cognitive skill. In
Lower primary –1.075* 0.483 –1.075* 0.483 addition, having access to the required books for learning has a signif­
Constant 17.62*** 2.515 17.62*** 2.515 icant positive influence on cognitive skills. A nonlinear effect is also
School feeding
established between the two measures of cognitive skills and age.
programme
Public non-religious 0.0221 0.0138 0.0221 0.0138 Table 2 also shows that the type of school being attended significantly
Constant 0.179*** 0.00816 0.179*** 0.00816 explained the differences in cognitive performance. Specifically,
Variance compared to children in public non-religious schools, those attending
Dependent variables 0.487*** 0.0183 0.727*** 0.0169
private schools whether religious or non-religious did relatively well on
Book access 0.112*** 0.00415 0.112*** 0.00415
Travel time 166.8*** 3.382 166.8*** 3.382
both cognitive test while those in public religious schools performed
School feeding 0.152*** 0.00412 0.152*** 0.00412 poorly on the raven test. In terms of schooling grade, the results imply
program that respondents in lower primary, upper primary and secondary edu­
N 3502 3502 cation did well than pre-schoolers. The positive and statistically signif­
SRMR 0.079 0.078
icant coefficient of male in the structural model for digit score implies
CD 0.287 0.114
that the gender of the child influence numeracy skills. This supports the
Note: SRMR = Standardized Root Mean Square Residual; CD = Coefficient of theoretical arguments that literacy and numeracy skills are gendered
Determination; Standard errors in parentheses: + p < 0.10, * p < 0.05, ** (Schleicher, 2008; Zuze and Reddy, 2014). A child who had his/her
p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001
mother at home had a positive influence on the child’s digit test per­
formance while a father at home contributed to a fall in a child’s digit
Comparative-Fit Index, Goodness-of-Fit Index and the Tucker-Lewis test. Interestingly, participation in school feeding programme had a
Index cannot be used to assess the results (Hu and Bentler, 1999; positive effect on the digit test performance, but a significant negative
Zhou, 2019). Consequently, the standardised root means square residual coefficient for raven test score implying that the programme may not be
(SRMR) was relied upon to determine the overall model fit. In particular, achieving its intended goal of retaining children in school for learning
Hu and Bentler (1999) stressed that, for the maximum likelihood and cognitive skills development in totality.
method, the SRMR value of 0.08 represents an acceptable fit whereas Results of the panel estimation reported in Table 3 are slightly
values closer to zero reflect a better fit. On this basis, it can comfortably different from those of the SEM estimation with variables such as dis­
be argued that the estimated models being relied upon have achieved tance being significant in the model for digit scores. Specifically, Table 3
adequate fit, given that the SRMR of the model predicting performance shows a nonlinear relationship between travel time and digit test per­
in the digit test is found to be 0.079 while that of the model for raven formance. The signs of the coefficients of travel time and its square term
score is 0.078. Though not all paths attained statistical significance, implies that performance on the digit test initially decreased as travel
Table 2 shows that the hypothesised model fits the dataset relatively time to school increased and increased as travel time inched past
well. approximately 14 min. This means that any travel time beyond 14 min
After the exposition on model fitness, the statistical significance of of commuting to school is detrimental to digit test performance as a
various factors on cognitive skills is presented. To begin with, it is measure of cognitive skill. Travel distance was observed not to signifi­
observed that teacher absenteeism exerts a negative influence on cantly influence cognitive skills on the Raven test. Teacher absenteeism

6
J. Nunoo et al.
was found to adversely affect cognitive skills measured the performance
on the raven test but not digit test performance. The findings on this
variable implies that teacher absences lasting approximately 12 days or
less reduces student cognitive skills development.
The findings reported are comparable to the results of previous
research. For example, Raychaudhuri et al. (2010) and Frenette (2002)
found a significant link between school distance and cognitive skills, and
argued that proximity to schools creates the enabling environment for
learners to attend school regularly and to participate actively in class­
room activities. In addition, Afoakwah and Koomson (2020) observed
that poor cognitive skills among Ghanaian children is prevalent among
those who travel about 30 min or more to access education. This they
argue is linked to poor health and contact hours missed in school.
Obemeata (1995) also confirmed that the school’s physical environment
exerts a dominant influence on students’ academic performance. Studies
such as Madden (2003), Badri et al. (2017), Jegathesan et al. (2018) and
Koutamanis et al. (2015) revealed that social networking and travelling
longer time to school made students perform poorly because of reaching
schools late, oftentimes extremely tired and disinterested in learning.
Contrary to the general perception, our results show that the relation­
ship between teacher absenteeism and learners’ cognitive skills is not
negative when teacher absence is more than 12 days. However, because
only a handful of children had teachers who absented themselves from
school for 12 days or more, this finding needs to be celebrated
cautiously. The finding also implies that attention should be focused not
only on prolonged absence from school by teachers but even those that
appear to be short or trivial. The rationale is that teachers might take
undue advantage of punitive measures against prolonged absences to
engage in other types of absences which policymakers may consider
trivial but which could cumulatively hamper cognitive skills develop­
ment. The findings with respect to teacher absenteeism and cognitive
skills in this study are similar to those of Ehrenberg et al. (1989) who
indicated that teacher absence from the classroom, at least at the
currently observed levels, for the most part does not appear to hamper
learners’ academic performance. Like the present study, these authors
warned against concluding that teacher absenteeism has no negative
impact on academic achievement measured by performance on standard
tests. Moreover, Lewis (1981) argues that when teachers were absent
more than thirteen days of the school year, student achievement
declined. Similarly, Finlayson (2009) and Obeng-Denteh et al. (2011)
found a statistically significant negative relationship between teacher
absenteeism and child academic performance, reflecting that the more
days a teacher is out of the classroom, the lower their students tend to
score on standardised tests.
5. Conclusions and policy implications
There is almost universal acceptance that cognitive skills are an
Appendix A. Total and indirect effects of the structural models
Digit Z-score
Coefficients
Total effects
Structural model
Book access 0.161**
Travel time 0.0137*
Travel time squared –0.000256*
School feeding programme –0.0136
Teacher absence –0.0143*
Male 0.109*
Age 0.272***
Age square –0.010**
Household size –0.0314***
7
International Journal of Educational Development 97 (2023) 102715
important aspect of academic success that contribute to wellbeing. What
is little known, however, is the influence of teacher absenteeism and
school distance on cognitive skills among learners in developing coun­
tries. Ghana, like other developing countries, faces numerous challenges
in providing quality education for all. An integral component of these
challenges is the low proportion of children empowered with the
requisite cognitive skills. This study adds to the scant, but growing,
literature by investigating the link between teacher absenteeism, travel
time to school and cognitive skills among school going children aged
between 5 and 15 years. This study used dataset from the first and
second waves of the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey to test the effect
of teacher absenteeism and school distance on cognitive skills measured
by performance on digit and raven tests.
A structural equation modelling technique was chosen for the anal­
ysis because of its ability to estimate total, direct and indirect effects.
Among other issues, teacher absenteeism less than 12 days was found to
have a detrimental effect on the raven cognitive measure. Since teachers
are the primary educators in schools, their absence can have adverse
consequences on cognitive skills through reduced instructional hours.
The study also found a non-linear relationship between school distance
and cognitive skills measured by performance on the digit test. Many
parents, especially in the urban areas, send their wards to schools far
from home due to perceived good qualities. As realised from this study,
travelling beyond certain distances retards cognitive skill development.
The study recommends that in order to reduce school commuting time,
the Ministry of Education should ensure new school projects should
target communities that are deprived of schools to reduce the travel
time. Further, boarding houses should be constructed within schools
that have students traveling longer distances and time to accommodate
them within the school compound. It is also recommended that Ghana
Education Service and school authorities include in their policies the
provision of substitute teachers to ensure that vital instructional time is
not lost even when teachers are absent for unavoidable causes.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Jacob Nunoo: conceptualisation, data curation, analysis, literature
review, correspondence, Francis Taale: conceptualisation, data cura­
tion, literature review, editing, Joshua Sebu: conceptualisation, data
curation, analysis, editing, Adams Sorekuong Yakubu Adama: con­
ceptualisation, data curation, literature review.
Acknowledgements
The study was supported by a research grant from the Directorate of
Research, Innovation and Consultancy, University of Cape Coast.
Raven Z-score
Robust SE Coefficients Robust SE
0.0586 0.242** 0.0750
0.00630 0.00357 0.00822
0.000129 –0.0000338 0.000171
0.0803 0.0257 0.103
0.00606 –0.0272** 0.00937
0.0410 0.0610 0.0561
0.0578 0.241** 0.0778
0.00291 –0.00934* 0.00399
0.00830 –0.0344** 0.0128
(continued on next page)
J. Nunoo et al. International Journal of Educational Development 97 (2023) 102715

(continued )
Digit Z-score Raven Z-score

Coefficients Robust SE Coefficients Robust SE

Father in house –0.001 0.0530 0.0881 0.0689

Mother in house 0.029 0.0553 –0.0355 0.0747
Urban 0.185** 0.0533 –0.00195 0.0708
Ref: Preschool
Lower primary 0.223*** 0.0631 0.0709 0.0786
Upper primary 0.599*** 0.0871 0.185+ 0.112
Secondary 0.974*** 0.162 0.780** 0.241
Ref: Public non-religious
Public religious 0.0746+ 0.0450 –0.0760 0.0613
Private religious 0.301* 0.129 –0.0107 0.152
Private non-religious 0.306*** 0.0767 0.0380 0.102
Book access
Male 0.0302 0.0198 0.0302 0.0198
Household size 0.00340 0.00474 0.00340 0.00474
Father in house 0.0269 0.0258 0.0269 0.0258
Mother in house –0.0733** 0.0242 –0.0733** 0.0242
Urban 0.0854*** 0.0183 0.0854*** 0.0183
Travel time
Male 0.313 0.792 0.313 0.792
Age 1.051 1.043 1.051 1.043
Age squared –0.0582 0.0545 –0.0582 0.0545
Lower primary –0.784 0.883 –0.784 0.883
School feeding programme
Public non-religious –0.00555 0.0198 –0.00555 0.0198
Teacher absence
Urban –0.187 0.154 –0.187 0.154
Indirect effects
Male 0.009 0.012 0.008 0.006
Age 0.014 0.015 0.004 0.009
Age squared –0.001 0.001 0.000 0.001
Household size 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001
Public non-religious 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.001
Father in house 0.004 0.005 0.007 0.006
Mother in house –0.012* 0.006 –0.018 0.007
Urban 0.016** 0.006 0.026 0.009
Lower Primary –0.011 0.013 –0.003 0.007

References Carlsen, B., 2012. From absence to absenteeism? A qualitative cross case study of
teachers’ views on sickness absence. J. Socio-Econ. 41 (2), 129–136.
Clotfelter, C.T., Ladd, H.F., Vigdor, J.L., 2009. Are teacher absences worth worrying
Afoakwah, C., Koomson, I., 2020. How does school travel time impact children’s learning
about in the United States? Educ. Financ. Policy 4 (2), 115–149.
outcomes in a developing country? Rev. Econ. Househ. 19, 1077–1097.
Connelly, R., Zheng, Z., 2003. Determinants of school enrollment and completion of 10 to
Afonso, A., Aubyn, M.S., 2006. Cross-country efficiency of secondary education
18 year olds in China. Econ. Educ. Rev. 22 (4), 379–388.
provision: a semi-parametric analysis with non-discretionary inputs. Econ. Model. 23
Damgaard, M.T., Nielsen, H.S., 2018. Nudging in education. Econ. Educ. Rev. 64,
(3), 476–491.
313–342.
Akabayashi, H., Psacharopoulos, G., 1999. The trade-off between child labour and
Duze, C.O., 2010. Average distance travelled to school by primary and secondary school
human capital formation: a Tanzanian case study. J. Dev. Stud. 35 (5), 120–140.
students in Nigeria and its effect on attendance. Afr. Res. Rev. 4 (4), 378–388.
Akseer, S., Játiva, X., 2021. Time to Teach: Teacher Attendance and Time on Task in
Ehrenberg, R.G., Ehrenberg, R.A., Rees, D.I., Ehrenberg, E.L., 1989. School District Leave
Ghana. UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, Florence, Italy.
Policies, Teacher Absenteeism, and Student Achievement. National Bureau of
Aksoy, T., Link, C.R., 2000. A panel analysis of student mathematics achievement in the
Economic Research. Working Paper No. 2874.
US in the 1990s: Does increasing the amount of time in learning activities affect
Felder, C.L., 2017. The relationship between excessive teacher absenteeism and student
math achievement? Econ. Educ. Rev. 19 (3), 261–277.
achievement. Wingate University. PhD Thesis.
Akyeampong, A.K., Asante, K., 2006. Teacher Motivation and Incentives-Ghana Case
Filmer, D., 2004. If You Build it, Will They Come? School Availability and School
Study. Department for International Development,, London, United Kingdom.
Enrollment in 21 Poor Countries. World Bank,, Washington, D.C.
Alhassan, S., Adzahlie-Mensah, V., 2010. Teachers and Access to Schooling in Ghana.
Finlayson, M., 2009. The Impact of teacher absenteeism on student performance: The
University of Sussex,, London, United Kingdom.
Case of the Cobb County School District.. Kennesaw State University. Master of
Arubayi, E.A., 2005. Comparing average distance travelled to schools by students in
Public Administration Thesis.
primary and secondary schools in Delta and Edo States and its effect on attendance.
Fobih, D., Akyeampong, K.A., Koomson, A., 1999. Ghana Primary School Development
Delsu J. Educ. Res. Dev. 4 (1), 1–9.
Project: Final Evaluation of Project Performance. Accra. Ministry of Education,,
Aslam, M., Lehrer, K., 2014. Learning by doing: skills and jobs in urban Ghana. J. Dev.
Ghana.
Stud. 50 (8), 1119–1134.
Frenette, M., 2002. Too Far to Go On? Distance to School and University Participation.
Azumi, J., Madhere, S., 1982. Characteristics of high achieving elementary schools in
Statistics Canada,, Ottawa, Canada.
Newark. ORET Report No. 5. Office of Research, Evaluation and Testing. Newark
Grootaert, C., 1999. Social Capital, Household Welfare, and Poverty in Indonesia. World
Board of Education, New Jersey.
Bank,, Washington, D.C.
Badri, M., Al Nuaimi, A., Guang, Y., Al Rashedi, A., 2017. School performance, social
Gundersen, S., 2016. Disappointing returns to education in Ghana: a test of the
networking effects, and learning of school children: Evidence of reciprocal
robustness of OLS estimates using the propensity score matching. Int. J. Educ. Dev.
relationships in Abu Dhabi. Telemat. Inform. 34 (8), 1433–1444.
50, 74–89.
Baker, R.B., 2019. School resources and labor market outcomes: Evidence from early
Heckman, J.J., 2000. Invest in the Very Young. Studies. Ounce of Prevention Fund and
twentieth-century Georgia. Econ. Educ. Rev. 70, 35–47.
the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy,, Chicago.
Becker, G.S., 1975. Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special
Heckman, J.J., 2006. Skill formation and the economics of investing in disadvantaged
Reference to Education, 2nd edn.,. University of Chicago Press,, Chicago, USA.
children. Science 312 (5782), 1900–1902.
Bennell, P., Akyeampong, K., 2007. Teacher motivation in sub-Saharan Africa and south
Holmes, J., 2003. Measuring the determinants of school completion in Pakistan: analysis
Asia. Department for International Development, London, United Kingdom.
of censoring and selection bias. Econ. Educ. Rev. 22 (3), 249–264.
Bradley, S., Green, C., Leeves, G., 2007. Worker absence and shirking: Evidence from
matched teacher-school data. Labour Econ. 14 (3), 319–334.

8
J. Nunoo et al.
Hu, L.T., Bentler, P.M., 1999. Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure
analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Struct. Equ. Model. 6 (1),
1–55.
Huisman, J., Smits, J., 2009. Effects of household-and district-level factors on primary
school enrollment in 30 developing countries. World Dev. 37 (1), 179–193.
Jegathesan, R., Noryati, A., Amar Hisham, J., Wan Nordiana, W.H., 2018. Learners’
satisfaction and academic performance in open and distance learning (odl)
universities in Malaysia. Glob. Bus. Manag. Res.: Int. J. 10 (3), 511–523.
Kondylis, F., Manacorda, M., 2006. Distance to School, School Attendance and Child
Labor Evidence from Rural Tanzania. London School of Economics, London, United
Kingdom.
Koutamanis, M., Vossen, H.G., Valkenburg, P.M., 2015. Adolescents’ comments in social
media: why do adolescents receive negative feedback and who is most at risk?
Comput. Hum. Behav. 53, 486–494.
Lavy, V., 1996. School supply constraints and children’s educational outcomes in rural
Ghana. J. Dev. Econ. 51 (2), 291–314.
Leung, J.L., Lee, G.T., Lam, Y.H., Chan, R.C., Wu, J.Y., 2011. The use of the Digit Span
Test in screening for cognitive impairment in acute medical inpatients. Int.
Psychogeriatr. 23 (10), 1569.
Lewis Jr, J., 1981. Do you encourage teacher absenteeism? Am. School Board J. 168 (11),
29–40.
Lincove, J.A., 2009. Determinants of schooling for boys and girls in Nigeria under a
policy of free primary education. Econ. Educ. Rev. 28 (4), 474–484.
Lindgren, K.O., Oskarsson, S., Persson, M., 2019. Access to education and political
candidacy: lessons from school openings in Sweden. Econ. Educ. Rev. 69, 138–148.
Lockheed, M.E., Verspoor, A.M., 1991. Improving Primary Education in Developing
Countries. Oxford University Press,, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Madden, M.E., 2003. Planning for distance learning: issues and strategies. J. Behav. Appl.
Manag. 4 (3), 254–281.
Majgaard, K., Mingat, A., 2012. Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative
Analysis. World Bank,, Washington, D.C.
Manatt, R.P., 1987. Lessons from comprehensive performance appraisal project. Educ.
Leadersh. 44 (7), 8–14.
Medrano, M.M., 2019. The Impact of Teacher Absenteeism on Student Achievement in
Mathematics and Reading Among 8th Graders: A Causal-Comparative Inquiry. Texas
A & M University-Corpus Christi. Doctoral dissertation.
Mhiliwa, J.A., 2015. The effects of school distance on students’ academic performance: A
case of community secondary schools in Makambako Town Council. Open University
of Tanzania. PhD Thesis.
Ministry of Education, 2010. Education Strategic Plan 2010–2020: Policies, Strategies,
Delivery, Finance. Ministry of Education, Accra, Ghana.
Ministry of Education, 2019. Ghana Education Sector Analysis 201. Ministry of
Education, Accra, Ghana.
Ministry of Education, 2017. Ghana 2016 National Education Assessment: Report of
Findings. Ministry of Education,, Accra, Ghana.
Mtahabwa, L., 2011. Parental Demand, Choice and Access to Early Childhood Education
in Tanzania. University of Dodoma,, Dodoma, Tanzania.
Muralidharan, K., Das, J., Holla, A., Mohpal, A., 2017. The fiscal cost of weak
governance: Evidence from teacher absence in India. J. Public Econ. 145, 116–135.
National Schools Inspectorate Authority, 2021. School performance plus inspection
aggregate report on 1000 inspected Galop schools. Accra. Ministry of Education,,
Ghana.
Nekatibeb, T., 2002. Low participation of female students in primary education. A case
study of dropout from Amhara and Oroma region states in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa.
UNESCO,.
International Journal of Educational Development 97 (2023) 102715
Nidup, J., 2016. Determinants of school enrolment in Bhutan: does income matter to
poor? Asian J. Econ. Modell. 4 (2), 95–103.
Obemeata, J.O., 1995. Education, An Unprofitable Industry in Nigeria. University of
Ibadan Press,, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Obeng-Denteh, W., Yeboah, E.A., Sam, C., Monkah, J.E., 2011. The impact of student and
teacher absenteeism on student performance at the junior high school: the case of the
Kumasi-metro school district. Cont. J. Educ. Res. 4 (1), 7–17.
Porres, A., 2016. The impact of teacher absenteeism on student achievement: A study on
US public schools, using results of the 2011–2012 civil rights data collection. Master
of Public Policy Thesis. Georgetown University.
Prashanthi, A., 2008. Effect of Teachers’ Absenteeism on Children’s Academic
Performance. Acharya Ng Ranga Agricultural University. Doctoral Thesis.
Raven, J., 2000. The raven’s progressive matrices: change and stability over culture and
time. Cogn. Psychol. 41 (1), 1–48.
Raychaudhuri, A., Debnath, M., Sen, S., Majumder, B.G., 2010. Factors affecting
students’ academic performance: A case study in Agartala municipal council area.
Bangladesh e-J. Sociol. 7 (2), 34–41.
Robinson, C.M., 2008. Teacher Absenteeism: Its Relationship to Student Performance on
State Assessments in English/language Arts in Grades Three, Five, and Seven. St.
John Fisher College. Education Doctoral Paper 83.
Schleicher, A., 2008. Student learning outcomes in mathematics from a gender
perspective: What does the international PISA assessment tell us? Girls’ Education in
the 21st century: Gender Equality, Empowerment, and Economic Growth. World
Bank, Washington, D.C., pp. 41–52
Tansel, A., 2002. Determinants of school attainment of boys and girls in Turkey:
individual, household and community factors. Econ. Educ. Rev. 21 (5), 455–470.
Tao, S., 2013. Why are teachers absent? Utilising the capability approach and critical
realism to explain teacher performance in Tanzania. Int. J. Educ. Dev. 33 (1), 2–14.
Tingle, L., Schoeneberger, J., Schools, C.M., Wang, C., Algozzine, B., Kerr, E., 2012. An
analysis of teacher absence and student achievement. Education 133 (2), 367–382.
UNESCO, 2014. All children in school by 2015: Global initiative on out-of-school
children: Regional report. West and Central Africa. United Nations,, Paris, France.
UNICEF, 2013. Ghana: Advocating for Development that Leaves no Child Behind. Accra.
UNICEF,, Ghana.
Valero, A., Van Reenen, J., 2019. The economic impact of universities: Evidence from
across the globe. Econ. Educ. Rev. 68, 53–67.
Vuri, D., 2010. The effect of availability of school and distance to school on children’s
time allocation in Ghana. Labour 24, 46–75.
Webb, R.A., 1995. Teacher Attendance: Its Relationship to Student Attendance,
Achievement, and Behavior. Baylor University. PhD Thesis.
Woods, R.C., Montagno, R.V., 1997. Determining the negative effect of teacher
attendance on student achievement. Education 118 (2), 307–317.
World Bank, 2004. Books, Buildings and Learning Outcomes: An Impact Evaluation of
World Bank Support to Basic Education in Ghana. World Bank,, Washington, D.C.
World Bank, 2010. Education in Ghana: improving equity, efficiency and accountability
of education service delivery. Africa Education Country Status Report. World Bank
Group, Washington, D.C.
Zhao, G., 2015. Can money ‘buy’ schooling achievement? Evidence from 19 Chinese
cities. China Econ. Rev. 35, 83–104.
Zhou, K., 2019. Education, skills, and wage outcomes among mid-career adults: A cross-
national study. State University of New York at Albany. PhD Thesis.
Zuze, T.L., Reddy, V., 2014. School resources and the gender reading literacy gap in
South African schools. Int. J. Educ. Dev. 36, 100–107.