Effects of educational scholarship schemes designed to incentivise Nigerian high school students towards high test scores

Effects of educational scholarship schemes designed to incentivise Nigerian high school students towards high test scores

Despite huge commitments, education quality and achievement gaps have remained low in developing countries in Nigeria, posing threats to SDG-4 actualisation. Studies have shown that test scores are the only educational outcomes not consistently improved by financial incentives. If improvements in test scores can be achieved in Nigeria and other developing African countries, existing publications reveal that sustainable economic growth may become realistic while some educational inequalities can be bridged. The attainment of item 4 of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-4), which borders on education quality, may also become expedited. Using a mixed-methods study, this work evaluates a scholarship scheme established in 2017 and designed to inspire increased test scores for “all eligible scholarship beneficiaries” (i.e., en masse inspiration for low, moderate, and high performers) in some high schools of Southeast Nigeria. Quantitatively, the study observed that, alongside increased enrolments in senior secondary school certificate examinations, the 6-year “Controlled-Before-and-after (CBA)” study found that, relative to controls, test scores improved significantly for all student-performance categories (low, moderate and high performers) in an intervention group. The scheme, which combined “community participation” with a hybrid of “needs and merit-based selection criteria”, offers policymakers the option of optimising existing but potentially limited funds to inspire higher educational performances in Nigerian schools. Through a case study that used in-depth interviews to explore the experiences of 15 participants of the scholarship scheme, the qualitative component of this research confirmed that the scheme’s hybrid selection criteria, motivation of whole student populations and community involvement were all tied to the observed improvements in test scores and exam enrolments. Alongside the scholarship recipients, the non-recipients also reported being motivated, affirming the efficacy of the mass motivation component of the work. Interviewed representatives of all community groups (family, friends, teachers, community leaders and government staff) involved in the scheme reported positive influences on the test outcomes. They also asserted that media publicity of the scheme inspired confidence and trust in the process. This work concludes that scholarship schemes that integrate the three advocated principles might hold the key to sustainably raising test scores in developing countries, arming stakeholders with new tools for optimising education quality and improving enrolments. If replicated in larger studies across other parts of the world, such an outcome might also help bridge inequalities in educational outcomes, not just in Nigeria and other developing countries that this paper focused on, but also among disadvantaged communities in developed countries like the Indigenous populations in Australia and Canada. If well implemented, the findings can also potentially boost economic growth in developing countries and facilitate the attainment of SDG-4.

File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author/creator.