| Abstract: |
This paper is an empirical investigation of inequality of education
opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We use student
scores from tests administered by the international consortium Trends in
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for a number of MENA countries and over
time since 1999 to estimate the effect of circumstances children are born into
on their academic achievement in science and mathematics. From the variation
in inequality of education opportunities across countries and over time we
draw lessons on the influence of different education systems or changes in
policy on equality of opportunity. We ï¬nd that inequality of opportunities
explains a signiï¬cant part of the inequality in educational achievements in
most MENA countries, but in a few cases, notably Algeria, its role is small.
Family background variables are the most important determinants of inequality
in achievement, followed by community characteristics. Inequality of education
opportunities are high in several MENA countries, and have either stayed the
same or worsened in recent years. The results show that, despite great efforts
in past decades to invest in free public education, in most MENA countries are
less opportunity equal in educational achievement that European countries, and
several are less equal than Latin America countries and the United States.
There is plenty of room for policy to further level the playing ï¬eld in
education. We discuss how our results shed light on policy choices in
education that can contribute to greater equality of education and income in
the region. |