Improving Primary Education in Pakistan: An Examination of the Association between School Autonomy and Children's Learning Outcomes

Description I gratefully acknowledge the insightful comments received from the editors and four anonymous reviewers.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the delegation of financial authority to public primary schools through Parent-Teacher Councils (PTCs) on learning outcomes of primary school children in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Pakistan. The learning outcomes were measured in three subject areas (Urdu, English, and Mathematics). Three sources of data were used: a) Education Management Information System (EMIS), which is obtained from the Ministry of Education KP and is an official compilation of institutional data on education; b) Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER), which is a household based, citizen led survey for evaluating the learning effectiveness of children of age 5-16 years; and c) a specially designed survey questionnaire used to compile information about PTCs and school quality from 222 public primary schools in the KP Province. Results show that school size, separate classrooms and children's attendance are significant in determining<strong> </strong>Urdu reading skills; whereas school size monograde schools and PTR (grades 3-5) are significant in determining<strong> </strong>English reading skills as well as numeracy skills.