Chirantan Chatterjee, Eric Hanushek, Shreekanth Mahendiran
Children in many extremely poor, remote regions are growing up illiterate and innumerate despite high reported school enrolment ratios (Pritchett 2013, Glewwe and Muralidharan 2016). This phenomenon of ‘schooling without learning’ has many alleged sources, such as insufficient demand, inadequate schooling materials, and a lack of qualified, motivated teachers. These factors are resulting in a substantial part of developing countries’ populations being illiterate and innumerate. The consequences of this phenomenon are dire: for these groups, lower lifetime incomes are expected as a result, and less opportunity to succeed in the growing worlds around them; and for the rest of the world, greater socioeconomic inequality.