The Economics of Financing Education and Gender Composition of Schools: Retention and Learning Outcomes in Public Primary Schools Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, Pakistan

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of school-level factors (physical resources, teachers' and schools' characteristics) and system-level factors (delegation of financial authority to public primary schools through Parent Teacher Councils (PTCs)) on two educational outcomes - retention rates to the last grade of primary school and learning outcomes - in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, one of the least?developed and conflict-affected provinces in Pakistan.;Three sources of data were used to measure the two educational outcomes. These sources are: a) Annual School Census (ASC) or Education Management Information System (EMIS), which is obtained from the Ministry of Elementary & Secondary Education Department KP and is an official compilation of institutional data on education b) Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER), which is a household based survey for evaluating the learning effectiveness of children of age 5-16 years; and iii) a specially designed survey questionnaire used to compile information about PTCs and school quality from public primary schools in the KP Province.;The impacts of school and system-level factors on two educational outcomes were investigated using multiple regression models. Four research questions were analyzed. The first two questions looked at the relationship between school-level factors and children's educational outcomes -- rates of retention to the last grade of primary school and rates of literacy and numeracy. The last two questions analyzed the aspects of PTC reforms related with retention rates and rates of literacy and numeracy.;Major research findings of this study included the following: first, amongst the school-level factors, medium of instruction, school size and pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) were found to be statistically significant in relation to retention to the last grade of primary school. This indicates that teaching in mother tongue, large-size schools in terms of enrollment of students and PTR up to a particular benchmark can predict whether children will be able to complete the six year primary school cycle.;Second, with regards to the impact of school factors on rates of literacy and numeracy, school size, monograde schools and PTR were significantly related to numeracy skills whereas only school size and monograde schools were found significant in determining English reading skills. This indicates that large-size schools and schools where each grade level is taught by a single teacher at a time contribute towards children's English reading and Mathematics skills.;The third major finding of this study is that, amongst the PTC reform variables, availability of PTC funds on time and separate classrooms for children were found to be significantly related to retention rates to the last grade of primary school. Fourth, school size, separate classrooms and children's attendance are found to be significant in determining Urdu reading skills; whereas school size and monograde schools are significant in determining English reading skills as well as numeracy skills. Across all the analyses, school size, monograde schools and PTR statistically significantly predicted educational outcomes -- rates of retention to the last grade of primary school and rates of literacy and numeracy.;The researcher recommendations based upon this study include the following: first, the government shall focus on improving the quality of existing schools in terms of provision of requisite number of teachers, and construction of additional classrooms. Second, Head Teachers shall ensure that children attend school regularly so as to improve the educational outcomes of the students. Third, the government shall not change the medium of instruction haphazardly rather familiar language shall be the medium of instruction in the primary schools and Urdu (national language) or English shall be taught as a second language as has been supported by the researchers. Finally, there is a need to ensure that the PTCs receive their budgets at the start of financial year so they can plan school's requirements and spend the budgets on need-basis.