Education is widely recognized as a central instrument of social transformation and human development. However, its equitable distribution remains a persistent challenge, particularly among marginalized populations residing in urban slums. This study critically examines the status of primary education among children living in the slum settlements of Chetru and Salangari near Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, India. Using a qualitative research design, the study draws upon field-based evidence collected through interviews with parents, teachers and school administrators, supplemented by direct observation. The findings reveal a complex paradox, while enrollment rates are nearly universal largely due to policy interventions such as the Right to Education Act (RTE) and the Mid-Day Meal Scheme however issues of irregular attendance, low learning outcomes and limited educational continuity persist. Socio-economic deprivation, parental illiteracy, child labour, and institutional constraints emerge as key barriers to meaningful education. The study interprets these findings through the lenses of Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital, Sen’s capability approach and Freire’s critical pedagogy, arguing that access to schooling does not necessarily translate into educational empowerment. The paper concludes that structural inequalities continue to shape educational experiences, thereby limiting the transformative potential of education in slum contexts. Policy recommendations emphasize the need for quality-focused interventions, community engagement and systemic accountability. Keywords: Slum education, educational inequality, learning outcomes, cultural capital, capability approach, India, primary education, social exclusion
Abstract Despite progress towards universal primary education, children in India lag in age and grade-appropriate learning competencies. This paper studies the effect of women’s political leadership in state legislatures on primary school-aged children’s learning outcomes. I use close elections won by women against men as an instrument for the election of a female politician and find significant gains in math and reading proficiency in children 8–11. Using a rich set of school and household-level data, I evaluate the impact on public and household investments. There is an increased likelihood of public schools receiving grants and inputs beneficial for learning. Further, female politicians lead households to exhibit more confidence in the ability of public schools to provide a better education. Consistent with this perception change, there are reduced time allocation and spending on supplementary household resources. The net positive effect suggests the policy effect outweighs the crowding out of private resources.
School readiness includes the readiness of the individual child, the school's readiness for children, and the ability of the family and community to support optimal early child development. It is the responsibility of schools to meet the needs of all children at all levels of readiness. Children's readiness for kindergarten should become an outcome measure for a coordinated system of community-based programs and supports for the healthy development of young children. Our rapidly expanding insights into early brain and child development have revealed that modifiable factors in a child's early experience can greatly affect that child's health and learning trajectories. Many children in the United States enter kindergarten with limitations in their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development that might have been significantly diminished or eliminated through early identification and attention to child and family needs. A strong correlation between social-emotional development and school and life success, combined with alarming rates of preschool expulsion, point toward the urgency of leveraging opportunities to support social-emotional development and address behavioral concerns early. Pediatric primary care providers have access to the youngest children and their families. Pediatricians can promote and use community supports, such as home visiting programs, quality early care and education programs, family support programs and resources, early intervention services, children's museums, and libraries, which are important for addressing school readiness and are too often underused by populations who can benefit most from them. When these are not available, pediatricians can support the development of such resources. The American Academy of Pediatrics affords pediatricians many opportunities to improve the physical, social-emotional, and educational health of young children, in conjunction with other advocacy groups. This technical report provides an updated version of the previous iteration from the American Academy of Pediatrics published in 2008.
Patricia Gail Williams, Marc Lerner, Jill M. Sells et al.
The study aims to assess the machine learning techniques in predicting students' associated factors that affect their academic performance.The study sample consisted of 5084 middle and high school students between the ages of 10 and 17, attending public and UNRWA schools in the West Bank.The 'Health Behaviors School Children' questionnaire for the 2013-2014 academic year was used for data collection, and was then analyzed through machine learning techniques in order to evaluate their relationship with student academic outcomes.Six machine learning techniques (Random Forest, Neural Network, Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Naïve Bayes, and Logistic Regression) were used for prediction.The results indicated that the logistic regression and Naïve Bayes models had the highest accuracy levels (94.3%, 94%) respectively, followed by a decision tree, Neural Network, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine (93.3%,91.9%,91.7%,and 80.2%) respectively.Thus, the Logistic Regression and Naïve Bayes had the best performance in classifying and predicting student academic performance with the associated factors.Furthermore, Decision Tree, Random Forest, and Neural Network had better predictive performance than Support Vector Machine.The results indicated that perception, Smoking, Depression, PTSD, Healthy Food Consumption, Age, gender, Grade Level, and Family income are the most important and significant factors that influence student academic performance.Overall, machine learning techniques prove efficient tools for identifying and predicting the features that influence student academic performance.The deployment of machine learning techniques within schools' information systems will facilitate the development of health prevention and intervention programs that will enhance students' academic performance.
Radwan Qasrawi, Stephanny Vicuna Polo, Diala Abu Al-Halawa et al.
Purpose of the study: The development of digital technology has brought about significant changes in the patterns of social interaction and learning outcomes of children, including in developing countries such as Nigeria. This study aims to investigate the impact of new media use on the social interaction and learning outcomes of children aged 8–12 years in Nigeria. Methodology: Using a mixed-method approach with a sequential explanatory design, data were collected from 220 respondents through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Main Findings: The results showed that the majority of children use digital media, such as mobile phones and computers, not only for entertainment but also as a means of learning and social communication. A total of 59.6% of respondents had a good level of media use, while 64.6% demonstrated good social interaction, and 62.3% achieved positive learning outcomes. Regression analysis showed that new media use contributed 64.3% to the variation in children's social interaction and learning outcomes. This study confirms that with proper supervision and direction, digital media can be an effective tool to support children's social and academic development. Novelty/Originality of this study: These findings have important implications for education policy and the active role of parents and teachers in assisting children's use of digital media.
Queen Nwoji, Bashiru Aliyu Gada, Zahra Mohammed M. Alqahtani
Introduction: National health policies to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the US resulted in widespread school closures and disrupted learning in Spring 2020. Methods: = 282 5-12 year olds enrolled in the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Research Program to investigate associations between caregiver-reported duration of Spring 2020 learning disruptions and academic achievement. Results: Linear regression analyses estimated that children who experienced more than 4 weeks of instruction disruptions in Spring 2020 scored 4.5 points [95% CI: -8.77, -0.22] lower on age-normed math assessments compared to peers who had four or fewer weeks of disruption, adjusting for sociodemographic variables, pre-pandemic vocabulary, and COVID-19 family hardships and stress. No differences were found for reading. Children whose caregivers had higher levels of pandemic-related traumatic stress and lower educational attainment also had lower math scores, adjusting for all other covariates. Discussion: Results suggest educators and schools focus additional attention on supporting math instruction for children who experienced extended learning disruptions.
Courtney K. Blackwell, Maxwell Armand Mansolf, Sean Deoni et al.
INTRODUCTION: Exposure to poor environmental conditions has been associated with deterioration of physical and mental health, and with reduction of cognitive performance. Environmental conditions may also influence cognitive development of children, but epidemiological evidence is scant. In developed countries, children spend 930 hours per year in a classroom, second only to time spent in their bedroom. Using continuous sensing technology, we investigate the relationship between indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and cognitive performance of school-aged children. The proposed study will result in a better understanding of the effects of environmental characteristics on cognitive performance, thereby paving the way for experimental studies. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A study protocol is presented to reliably measure IEQ in schools. We will monitor the IEQ of 280 classrooms for 5 years, covering approximately 10 000 children. Each classroom in the sample is permanently equipped with a sensor measuring air quality (carbon dioxide and coarse particles), temperature, relative humidity, light intensity and noise levels, all at 1 min intervals. The location of sensing equipment within and across rooms has been validated by a pilot study. Academic performance of school-aged children is measured through standardised cognitive tests. In addition, a series of health indicators is collected (eg, school absence and demand for healthcare), together with an extensive set of sociodemographic characteristics (eg, parental income, education, occupational status). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Medical Ethical Approval for the current study was waived by the Medical Ethical Committee azM/UM (METC 2018-0681). In addition, data on student performance and health stems from an already existing data infrastructure that are granted with ethical approval by the Ethical Review Committee Inner City faculties (ERCIC_092_12_07_2018). Health data are obtained from the 'The Healthy Primary School of the Future' (HPSF) project. Medical Ethical Approval for HPSF was waived by the Medical Ethical Committee of Zuyderland, Heerlen (METC 14 N-142). The HPSF study protocol was registered in the database ClinicalTrials.gov on 14-06-2016 with reference number NCT02800616, this study is currently in the Results stage. Data collection from Gemeentelijke Gezondheidsdienst Zuid-Limburg (GGD-ZL) is executed by researchers of HPSF, this procedure has been fully approved by the Medical Ethical Committee of Zuyderland. The questionnaires on level of comfort will be filled in anonymously by students and teachers. The study will follow the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and Dutch data protection law to ensure protection of personal data, as well as maintain proper data management and anonymisation.The protocol discussed in this paper includes significant efforts focused on integrating results and making them available to both the scientific community and the wider public, including policy makers. The results will lead to multiple scientific articles that will be disseminated through peer-reviewed international journals, as well as through conference presentations. In addition, we will exploit ongoing collaboration with project stakeholders and project partners to disseminate information to the target audience. For example, the results will be presented to school boards in the Netherlands, through engagement with the Coalition for Green Schools, as well as to school boards in USA, through engagement with the Center for Green Schools. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02800616; Results.
Juan Palacios, Piet M. A. Eichholtz, Maartje Willeboordse et al.
OBJECTIVES: to understand health and education professionals' perceptions regarding children's learning difficulties in public schools. METHODS: qualitative research, of the participatory action type, linked to Paulo Freire's Research Itinerary. Forty-five professionals participated, through interviews and a Virtual Culture Circle. The analysis was developed through careful reading, reflection and interpretation of highlighted topics. RESULTS: professionals discussed the (in)visibility of learning difficulties, strategies and resources in the educational sector and the search for solutions in the health sector. It was found that the production of complaints related to school learning is attributed predominantly as an individual problem of children or their family, exempting the educational institution from this process. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: greater investment in professional training and development policies is urgently needed to facilitate coordination between sectors, with a view to overcoming outdated pedagogical and health models.
Pamela Camila Fernandes Rumor, Michelle Kuntz Durand, Jeane Barros de Souza et al.
Various research results show that independent learning provides many benefits for students. On that basis, this community service was carried out to motivate students in Satengah Village, Sinjai Regency to utilize their time outside of school by doing independent learning. Therefore, this community service is important so that students can learn independently after helping their parents. The method used in this community service is in the form of lectures and counseling. The stages of implementation are activity planning, preparation, socialization, and implementation of activities. The results of the community service activity show that this activity received attention from the local government, and the participants of the activity, namely students and their parents, were very enthusiastic about participating in this activity.
Abdul Hafiz A. Rahman, Parham Taufik, Andi Kasmawati et al.
Access to basic education in conflict-prone communities is a significant challenge in Kenya. Empirical reviews had suggested that, during intercommunal conflicts, various factors influencing access to basic education were compromised. However, these influences manifest differently in distinct situations and locations. There has been limited research on how access to basic education was affected following intercommunal conflicts in Kapedo, Turkana County. The study aimed to examine the effect of family income levels on learning of primary school going children in Kapedo ward in Turkana County- Kenya. The study drew on three theories: Relative Deprivation theory, System Resource Theory, and Hierarchy of Needs Theory. It employed a descriptive survey research design, covering the entire population with two Ministry of Education officials, four headteachers, and twenty-four teachers as respondents. Data collection used a semi-structured questionnaire and an interview schedule, ensuring voluntary participation, confidentiality, and clarity of the studys purpose. The analysis combined descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, and averages) and inferential statistics (regression analysis) and presented results through charts and tables, with qualitative data analyzed thematically. The study revealed that family income affected education, with conflict-induced economic instability leading to resource allocation challenges and school attendance issues, especially for girls. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education and Local Authorities maintain the provision of essential learning resources, emphasizing administrative functionality, classroom safety, and resource access to enhance learning outcomes. Non-Governmental Organizations and Donors should support programs to address economic challenges during conflicts, offering financial assistance, livelihood opportunities, and scholarships for childrens education. KEY WORDS: Family Income Levels, Learning, Access to Basic Education, Primary School Going Children, Intercommunal Conflicts
