The Relationship between School Built Environment and Student Achievement in Pakistan

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Begum, N. (2018). The Relationship between School Built Environment and Student Achievement in Pakistan. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

Schools in Pakistan face many challenges, ranging from lack of qualified teachers to insufficient teaching resources. Another obstacle is the low quality of school built environment. Some important built environment factors include an available water supply, sanitation facility, electricity access, proper seating arrangement and space, and school age. The quality of most schools’ built environment in Pakistan is poor because schools are either built poorly or not well-maintained. Scholars have rarely studied the effects of school built environment on educational outcomes in Pakistan. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of school built environment on achievements of 72,843 students in grades 1 to 10. The study uses secondary data collected in 2015 by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Center, a Pakistani nongovernment organization. The data come from a nationwide random sample of 5,296 Pakistani schools. Indicators of the built environment in multi-level regression models are the facility’s age and if school has electricity, water supply, toilet facilities, a boundary wall, multi-grade classrooms, and seating arrangement. The models control for student and family background characteristics, urban or rural school location and public or private sector affiliation. Findings indicate that variations in school built environment are significantly related to variations in academic achievement. The better the built environment, the higher the students’ achievement in all grades. The study also finds the impact of school built environment on academic achievement is conditioned by gender, such that female students are more vulnerable than male students to the effects of variations in school built environments, particularly due to the absence of sanitation and water. Findings highlight the importance of school built environment for student performance. Given the paucity of research on the issue, this study contributes to the existing literature on the topic. Policy implications of the findings are considered.

Details
Author

Begum, Nahida

Title

The Relationship between School Built Environment and Student Achievement in Pakistan

Physical Description

1 online resource (95 pages) : PDF

Date

2018

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Schools in Pakistan face many challenges, ranging from lack of qualified teachers to insufficient teaching resources. Another obstacle is the low quality of school built environment. Some important built environment factors include an available water supply, sanitation facility, electricity access, proper seating arrangement and space, and school age. The quality of most schools’ built environment in Pakistan is poor because schools are either built poorly or not well-maintained. Scholars have rarely studied the effects of school built environment on educational outcomes in Pakistan. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of school built environment on achievements of 72,843 students in grades 1 to 10. The study uses secondary data collected in 2015 by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Center, a Pakistani nongovernment organization. The data come from a nationwide random sample of 5,296 Pakistani schools. Indicators of the built environment in multi-level regression models are the facility’s age and if school has electricity, water supply, toilet facilities, a boundary wall, multi-grade classrooms, and seating arrangement. The models control for student and family background characteristics, urban or rural school location and public or private sector affiliation. Findings indicate that variations in school built environment are significantly related to variations in academic achievement. The better the built environment, the higher the students’ achievement in all grades. The study also finds the impact of school built environment on academic achievement is conditioned by gender, such that female students are more vulnerable than male students to the effects of variations in school built environments, particularly due to the absence of sanitation and water. Findings highlight the importance of school built environment for student performance. Given the paucity of research on the issue, this study contributes to the existing literature on the topic. Policy implications of the findings are considered.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Environmental sciences
Ecology
Education and state

Degree

Ph.D.

Keywords

Academic Achievement
Built Environment
Electricity
Gender
Schools in Pakistan
Water and Sanitation

Subject Area

Public Policy

Advisor(s)

Mickelson, Roslyn

Committee Members

Wiggan, Greg
Lizotte, Michael
Giersch, Jason
Whitaker, Beth

Degree Note

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2018.

Rights Statement

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). For additional information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/.

Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Begum_uncc_0694D_11659

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:1500