An analysis of efficiency in senior secondary schools in the Gambia 2006 – 2008: Educational inputs and production of credits in English and Mathematics

Journal Article

• Magazine \ Newspaper: Africa Education Review
• Issue Number: 1
• Volume Number: 9
• Pages: 86 - 104

Publication Abstract

This paper employs a stochastic production frontier model to assess the efficiency of

the senior secondary schools in the Gambia. It examines their efficiency in using and

mixing the educational inputs of average teacher salary, average teacher education,

average teacher experience and students to teacher ratio in producing the number

of students scoring credit and above in English and Mathematics. The schools are

categorized into three types: the Government schools, the subsidized schools and

the private schools. The paper finds no evidence that the private schools are different

from the subsidized schools, but there is robust evidence that the private schools are

significantly different from the Government schools. The average teacher salary is

found to be irrelevant to the student performance, whereas high average teacher experience

significantly improves student performance, and high student-to-teacher ratio

significantly negates the student performance. Private schools appear to be the most

efficient in 2006, but from 2007 to 2008, the performance of the schools in general

is found to be highly volatile and unpredictable. Only one school emerges to consistently

maintain a superior efficient performance throughout the three years studied.