Correlation between private education costs and parental depression in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: In Korea, higher education has rapidly grown influenced by sociocultural tradition. Parents invest a significant portion of their household income in their children's education. Private education has been considered to greatly affect students' psychology and behavior. However, past research has largely neglected to study parents who pay these costs. Since household income and education level are important determinants of socioeconomic status (SES), education expenditures are likely to cause depressive symptoms. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the correlation between private education costs and parental depression in South Korea. METHODS: Data were collected from the Korean Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS, 2015, 2018). The sample analyzed consisted of 397 and 337 fathers and 403 and 370 mothers in 2015 and 2018, respectively. The independent variable in this study was the proportion of private education cost. This proportion was calculated by dividing each household's private education costs by its equivalized household disposable income (EHDI) and multiplying this number by 100. The main dependent variable was parental responses to the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-11 (CESD-11). Using a generalized linear model, we investigated the effects of the proportion of private education cost on parental depression. RESULTS: The results showed that fathers with higher proportions of private education cost exhibited higher CESD-11 scores compared to fathers with lower proportions cost (moderate: ß = 0.419, S. E = 0.164, p = 0.0105; high: ß = 0.476, S. E = 0.178, p = 0.0076), indicating that a higher ratio of private education cost may negatively affect depression in fathers. However, there was no discernable correlation between mothers' CESD-11 scores and the proportion of private education cost (moderate: ß = - 0.078, S. E = 0.250, p = 0.7555; high: ß = 0.003, S. E = 0.215, p = 0.9882). CONCLUSIONS: These results may be explained by the tendency for fathers to experience greater economic burdens than mothers in patriarchal Korean society.

An update on finances and financial support for medical students in Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

INTRODUCTION: Increasing financial challenges have resulted in great debt among medical graduates worldwide. In Singapore, more scholarships and bursaries have been disbursed in recent years to support students who are financially challenged. We aimed to study the financial status of medical students in National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (i.e. NUS Medicine), Singapore, and the financial support available to them. METHODS: A cross-sectional quantitative study was performed. Surveys were distributed and completed by medical students of NUS Medicine. Information regarding household income, financial assistance, monthly allowance and expense, and concurrent occupations was collected. We compared our findings with the results of a similar study performed in 2007 and national income data. RESULTS: A total of 956 (66.2%) out of 1,445 medical students completed the survey. 19.5% and 58.5% of respondents came from households with monthly incomes < SGD 3,000 and > SGD 7,000, respectively. 20.6% of students had loans, 18.9% had scholarships and bursaries, and 14.4% worked to support themselves. CONCLUSION: Medical school fees have risen by more than 50% over the past ten years. Our study found that there were increases in the proportion of students from both the lower- and higher-income segments, with proportionally fewer students from the middle-income segment. A large number of students were working and/or had some form of financial support. More should be done to meet the needs of financially challenged medical students to ensure equal access to quality medical education.

Migration and education subsidies by governments: a game-theoretic analysis.

This study is concerned with the implications of the brain drain. "The brain drain alters both the endowments of educated labor and the cost of increasing the endowment of such labor in both countries of immigration and emigration." It thus affects government subsidies for education both directly and indirectly. "This has implications for the burden of education expenditures and net supplies of educated labor in a world with a brain drain. The [author] shows the need for inclusion of a mechanism for transfers between the involved governments if a compensation scheme is to yield Pareto efficient migration."

Development policy and the evaluation of community self-help: the Harambee school movement in Kenya.

PIP: This attempt to objectively assess the costs and benefits of involvement in the harambee education movement for individuals and families is directed at policymakers and is an exercise in policy analysis. Evaluative studies of this nature are essential to the improvement of the of the overall quality of policymaking. Despite general agreement that harambee education projects involving secondary schools differ in many ways from types of self-help projects, few attempts have been made to assess the long-term social impact of the harambee education movement. For nearly 2 decades Kenya's harambee movement has flourished and has been largely viewed as a positive contribution to national development. Between 1969-79, the total value of contributions to self-help projects rose from around $6 million to almost $27 million, demostrating the substantial inputs of local communities to the economic growth of the country as a whole. Policymakers, after initial reservations about independent self-help, in recent years have come to rely on such activities as complementary to the government's efforts. Self-help activities aimed at expanding educational opportunity are the most significant in terms of both monetary resources expended and the scope of human involvement. Benefits are difficult to extimate. The growing number of students in harambee schools does not necessarly indicate that the majority of these students are acquiring marketable skills or that their consequent levels of academic training will prepare them to complete successfully in the job market with the average student educated in government-sponsored schools. The evidence, in fact, clearly points in the opposite direction. Yet, politicians, policymakers, and citizens continue to regard harambee activities for expanding educational opportunities atall levels as necessary contributions to Kenya's development program and to individual achievement. The direct cost to government for harambee education can be compared with the direct private expenditure on this type of ecucation. The 1976 annual private investment in harambee education was $45 million. The most direct benefits from harambee efforts are reaped by wealthier regions and communities in Kenya. The greaes social benefits derived from the government's policy toward the harambee school movement are political benefits. By symbolically drawing linkages between its national development strategy and independent self-help activities, the government can elicit the tacit support of rural communities. Direct social costs of such a policy are minimal. The indirect, long-term costs may result in disastrous, unintended consequences as the pool of educated and unemployed youths expands and as resulting ethnic and class inequalities sharpen and crystallize.^ieng

[From passive to active: policies for Latin American emigrants]. / Del pasivo al activo: una politica para los emigrados de America Latina.

PIP: The conventional view of emigration holds that it represents a loss of resources from a country and that the only possible policy response is to discourage new emigration while promoting return of those who have left. A new policy is needed based on a fuller understanding of the potential benefits of emigration for the country of origin. The cost of emigration is usually counted as the loss of educational investment, the loss of labor force, and the loss of the contributions to development that would have been made by talented emigrants. But such views usually do not include a serious treatment of the economic problems of labor supply and demand in general or of skilled labor in particular. Underemployment or unemployment of highly educated persons and overproduction of educated persons are problems throughout Latin America and much of the developing world. A truer evaluation of the costs of education which considered decreasing marginal costs rather than average costs per student, nominally variable costs that actually behave as fixed costs, and an adequate assignment of costs for students leaving school before graduating would lead to much lower estimates of average cost per university student in Latin America. Significant emigration may actually result indirectly in an increase in national income by reducing pressure on the labor market and allowing wages to rise for remaining workers. Remittances for emigrants and repatriation of savings may contribute significantly to national income and balance of payments, and may compensate for or even exceed the economic losses of emigration. National policy for emigrants should aim at maximizing the economic benefits of emigration by providing incentives for the accumulation of capital obtained abroad and its transfer to the country of origin. The 1st major goal of emigration policy should be to maintain affective and social ties between the emigrant and the country of origin as a necessary condition for channeling benefits to the country. Such factors as inclusive citizenship policies for spouses and children born abroad, provisions for absentee voting, communication and information programs, and recognition of education and professional title conferred abroad would help motivate a continuing interest in the country of origin. The 2nd policy goal should be to create concrete channels for different types of emigrant activities that would benefit the country of origin. This operational side of emigration policy would provide channels for the return to the country of capital and goods accumulated by the emigrant and would provide for cooperation in scientific endeavors, business and investment, and for social and humanitarian projects.^ieng

Systematic review of the scientific literature on the economic evaluation of cochlear implants in paediatric patients.

The aim of the study consists in a systematic review concerning the economic evaluation of cochlear implant (CI) in children by searching the main international clinical and economic electronic databases. All primary studies published in English from January 2000 to May 2010 were included. The types of studies selected concerned partial economic evaluation, including direct and indirect costs of cochlear implantation; complete economic evaluation, including minimization of costs, cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), cost-utility analysis (CUA) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) performed through observational and experimental studies. A total of 68 articles were obtained from the database research. Of these, 54 did not meet the inclusion criteria and were eliminated. After reading the abstracts of the 14 articles selected, 11 were considered eligible. The articles were then read in full text. Furthermore, 5 articles identified by bibliography research were added manually. After reading 16 of the selected articles, 9 were included in the review. With regard to the studies included, countries examined, objectives, study design, methodology, prospect of analysis adopted, temporal horizon, the cost categories analyzed strongly differ from one study to another. Cost analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis and an analysis of educational costs associated with cochlear implants were performed. Regarding the cost analysis, only two articles reported both direct cost and indirect costs. The direct cost ranged between € 39,507 and € 68,235 (2011 values). The studies related to cost-effectiveness analysis were not easily comparable: one study reported a cost per QALY ranging between $ 5197 and $ 9209; another referred a cost of $ 2154 for QALY if benefits were not discounted, and $ 16,546 if discounted. Educational costs are significant, and increase with the level of hearing loss and type of school attended. This systematic review shows that the healthcare costs are high, but savings in terms of indirect and quality of life costs are also significant. Cochlear implantation in a paediatric age is cost-effective. The exiguity and heterogeneity of studies did not allow detailed comparative analysis of the studies included in the review.

[Education and the rights of man. Press review: Mauritania]. / Education et droits de l'homme. Revue de presse: Mauritanie.

PIP: We are now poised at the brink of a revolution in education, based upon a broadened and renewed concept of what defines education and apprenticeship. We have come to this point because of our realization during the 1990s that human rights are a key element of human development. Humanity recognizes today that human rights are indivisible and that the realization of one right leads to the reinforcement and promotion of another. Man has the right to education, freedom of speech and thought, and protection from torture. This is a very important concept for the developing world, where approximately 130 million children grow up without being properly educated. Governments are obligated to take the necessary measures to ensure that children receive a quality, basic education. Countries deficient in this domain often argue that they do not have enough resources to educate all of their populations, despite 30 years of evidence demonstrating how much developing countries can achieve in education with only limited means. Countries least advanced in achieving education for all have often inequitably invested more funds into higher education than into basic education. They have also failed to contain costs as scholastic coverage expanded. Efforts must be made to minimize the financial cost to parents of educating their children.^ieng

Educating girls in Bangladesh: exploding the myth.

PIP: Poor landless families in Bangladesh typically see no need to educate their girls. Even where school fees are waived, exercise books, pencils, and school clothes cost money, and girls are especially needed to care for siblings and do other household chores. The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), however, has found it possible to get girls to school by adapting education to the circumstances of poverty instead of requiring families and students to adjust to the conventional rules of primary school. The BRAC non-formal primary education (NFPE) program in five years has expanded to 12,000 centers serving 360,000 children in two programs of three-year duration each for 8-10 year olds and 11-14 year olds. Reflecting the policy of giving priority to girls, more than 70% of enrolled children are female. Almost all teachers are also female and typically young, married, from the neighborhood, and with 9-10 years of schooling. Each center is a thatch or tin-roofed hut accommodating thirty children managed by a village committee and a parent-teacher committee at a cost of US$18 per child per year. All learning materials are provided at the center for the three hours of courses six days per week set according to students' availability and convenience. The course for the younger children offers the equivalent of three years of primary education, while the course for the older children offers basic literacy and life skills. The success of the BRAC centers demonstrates how parents and children may respond when education is socially and culturally acceptable, affordable, and strives to meet parents' and child's expectations.^ieng

Poor families, poor children: who cares for the next generation?

"Despite the recovery in the Australian economy since 1991, the number of poor families in Australia has continued to increase. By September 1996, 43 per cent of Australian families could be regarded as poor. Some four out [of] every ten of these were headed by lone parents. These findings highlight major questions about the resources available to poor families in a context where families are increasingly expected to invest heavily in their children's education."

[Issue of population quality under economic reform].

PIP: Under the current economic reform program, various problems about the quality of the population have emerged; dropping out of school is one such problem. In recent years, dropping out of school, has become a prevalent phenomenon. It was estimated that between 1980 and 1987, 40 million primary and middle school students dropped out of school. Drop-outs occurred mostly in primary and middle schools and in rural areas. The reasons for dropping out can be summarized as follows: 1) families could not afford to pay for tuition, 2) students were not able to keep up with school work, and 3) families or students were influenced by other students who had dropped out. In weighing the cost and benefit of attending school, parents would decide whether or not and for how many years to send their children to school. The costs included both direct costs and opportunity costs. Children in urban areas have practically no opportunity costs, while those in rural areas do. Dropping out has been more prevalent among girls than boys. Since girls marry into other families, parents were less willing to invest in their education. On the other hand, the school curriculum gave more emphasis to preparing students for advanced studies than to relaying practical knowledge. Parents did not feel there was any advantage for their children to spend more time in school. Rural economic reform had strengthened the decision-making function of the family in the area of investment. It has also widened the gap between the rich and the poor. For less affluent families, it has become more and more difficult to bear the increasing cost of education. To deal with this problem, the author made several suggestions: 1) persuade parents to continue sending children to school 2) set regulations forbidding the employment of school age children 3) forbid schools to collect unauthorized feeds and establish scholarships to help economically disadvantaged students, 4) develop more vocational schools and change the current curriculum, and 5) develop non-formal education or adult education classes to meet the needs of the rural population.^ieng

Age structure and development in ASEAN and Japan: 1950-2015; a preliminary report.

PIP: An attempt was made to show that significant shifts in age composition have occurred and will occur in the ASEAN countries and Japan. Based on the key ratio, the ratio of the entering labor force population, 15-29, to the established labor force population, 30-64, and on the education and dependency burdence, the evidence supports that such shifts have occurred and will occur. Another goal was to trace the potential impact of these age structure changes on the economy and society of the ASEAN countries and Japan, assuming a set of hypothetical relations between age structure changes, as measured by the key ratio and various demographic, economic, and social outcomes. This was done for Indonesia, and the Indonesian "case study" suggests that past and future changes in age strucute could have led and could lead to wide swings or long waves in per capita incomes or the growth rate in per capita incomes, the skill and possible captial intensity of production, household formation rates, emigration and immigration rates, fertility rates, and suicide rates, and other indicators of social instability. Interesting conclusions also emerged from the analysis of education and dependency burdens, especially the inverse relation between Japan's and ASEAN's burdens on both indices. The low educational and dependency burdens Japan enjoyed must have given Japan a distinct advantage in providing resources for infrastrucute, plant, and equipment, and so forth--an advantage that Japan will maintain (joined by Singapore) over the rest of this century. It is entirely possible that the relative economic performance of Japan versus the ASEAN countries or the ASEAN countries versus one another could not be fully explained or adequately forecasted without considering the impact of age structure and changes in age structure. It seems unlikely that the past or future performance of these countries individually can be adequately understood or forecasted without considering the long swing apparent in the key ratio and in the education and dependency burdens of each. For example, future fertility rates in several of the ASEAN countries and in Japan will differ from UN forecasts if they vary with the key ratio in the future as they have in the past. Even if this result is correct, ignoring age structure changes could lead to major forecasting and planning errors. A 1st step to encouraging research necessary to test the hypothetical relations on which these outcomes are based and to empirically determine the contribution of age structure would be to develop a more sophisticated theoretical framework than that used in this study and to carry out country by country investigations of the institutional and cultural constraints that influence the relations involved.^ieng

Gender differentials in the cost of primary education: a study of Pakistan.

PIP: This study examined differences in the costs of primary education for boys versus girls in provinces in Pakistan. Data were obtained from the Federal and Provincial Annual Development Plans. Enrollment during 1973-91 increased faster for girls than for boys, but the number of teachers and schools for girls was much lower than the optimum. There were too many schools for boys. Provincial governments may allocate funds for primary education on the basis of intersectoral priorities rather than as a production function of enrollments. The real growth in expenditures per year has been rising at a rate of 8.1% annually. Expenditures adjusted to real terms and deflated by the construction sector rose by 8.8% annually. The author estimates enrollment and output costs of primary schools per student in 1990-91 prices during 1973-91 by province and gender. Costs varied by province and gender. In Balochistan, relative costs did not change over time, but were higher due to construction costs. Pooled time series data were used to determine average cost function for the primary education of girls and boys. For all provinces, average costs declined initially and then rose with an increase in the ratio of schools to school-age population. In the determination of costs of teachers per school, costs rose initially, declined up to a certain level, and then rose again. The optimum number of schools/1000 students, in Punjab and Sindh, was 6.02 for girls and 5.67 for boys. For NWFP and Balochistan, the optimum number of schools was 3.88 for boys and 0.27 for girls, which is unrealistic. Funds for development need to be shifted to recurring expenditures to employ teachers.^ieng

[Population, investment, and population quality].

PIP: The estimated cost of raising a child in China from birth to 16 years in 1978 was 6907 Yuan in cities, 4830 Yuan in townships, and 1630 Yuan in rural areas, which included both family costs and costs to the public. In 1985, this cost increased 2.79 times in cities, 0.46 times in townships, and 1.39 times in rural areas in real terms. It was also discovered from a survey in 1986 that in the rural areas, the family cost has increased and the cost to the public decreased since 1978. While in the cities, public cost increased and family cost decreased. In comparing 1985 with 1978, it was also discovered that living expenses were still a major part of the cost. But in the cities, the proportion of the cost attributable to living expenses decreased, while educational and medical expenses increased. In the rural areas, the reverse occurred. In terms of investment in education, the large proportion is the public input. IN 1979, family input was 16.5% in rural areas, 28.7% in cities, and 21.4% in townships. In 1985, family input in educational expenses was 10.4% in urban area and 27.4% in rural areas of Beijing. The small proportion of expenditures in education reflects the negligence of education on the part of both the State and families. Number of parents consider that it does not pay to have their children going to schools, and more education means a bigger loss. This is the reason for 7 million primary and middle school drop outs each year in recent years. In order to improve population quality, it is important to reverse this situation.^ieng

Becoming clear.

PIP: An interview with the journal Integration and the Special Advisor to the Secretary of Health on the Implementation of the Local Government Code focuses on family planning and fertility in the Philippines. Science and technology has reduced mortality and, subsequently, the total fertility rate (TFR) from 6.8 in 1965 to 3.8 in 1993. Yet traditional beliefs, particularly in rural areas, have prevented the fall in the TFR from being as abrupt as that of mortality. Catholicism no longer has the same influence on Filipino couples as it did in the past, so that today most family planning acceptors (65%) consider family planning to be an economic issue rather than a moral issue. In fact, more people are seeking family planning services and information. More access to family planning services, economic pressure, population pressure, and pressure of basic services contribute to the lower TFR in urban areas than in rural areas (2.61 vs. 4.05, 1985). The belief that immortality stems from many children, inaccessible clinics, limited supplies, and rumors about side effects work against fertility reduction in rural areas. Even though Filipinos value education and quality education is costly, rural couples have not yet considered education costs as a determinant of family size. The Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development holds regional conferences on population for local government officials and, besides population and development, it deals with women's status, environment, management, and family planning. Asking women what they know about reproductive health unearths unmet needs of family planning, e.g., impolite staff and inaccessible clinics. The information, education, and communication program holds much promise. Non governmental groups should identify perceived health needs in an area (e.g., intestinal parasites) and integrate them into a family planning program. Now 10% to 20% of acceptors pay for family planning services, but by the year 2000 this figure could be between 40% and 60%.^ieng

[Toward a new form of Umunani]. / Pour une nouvelle forme d'Umunani.

PIP: Inheritance is one of the fundamentals of tradition and an integral part of the culture in Rwanda. It is translated as the transmission of land use (a key element of traditional rural society) from the father to sons. Daughters inherit nothing. This system of Umunani, which has functioned well for a long time, has now collided with a geographical and physical limit. High population growth has increased population density in Rwanda from 40 to almost 400 inhabitants/sq. km between 1900 and 2000. If this system does not change, each rural family will have less than one-half a hectare. High fertility combined with a situation of very little use of and scarcity of land aggravates overall poverty. Population pressure causes deforestation, erosion, soil degradation, reduced agricultural production, quasi-generalization of undernutrition, poverty, and misery--a vicious cycle. A new family code of equality of sons and daughters in inheritance will exacerbate the problem. A new type of Umunani should be established to always serve as a means to secure subsistence for one's children. These new means are to be found outside of agriculture. Parents now must provide their children education. Thus, Umunani-land is replaced by Umunani-school. Education expenses will be heavy for the family, however. The poorest families and those with the most children (who tend to also be the poorest) are the most disadvantaged in education. Education of boys is favored over that of girls in Rwanda. Umunani-school must be applied to girls as well as boys to strengthen equality between the sexes and to improve education for the population, not just for the boy. Legislators should study the possibility of a new form of Umunani which is more adapted to the needs of the modern world and the new situation in Rwandan society. It will favor a reduction of population growth.^ieng

[Is family planning effective and profitable in Rwanda?]. / La PF est-elle efficace et rentable au Rwanda?

PIP: Although the demographic explosion in Rwanda will have catastrophic consequences if it is left unchecked, the family planning program has been received with hostility within the country. The National Population Office has conducted 2 studies to provide information on the costs and use of family planning services from 1981-88 and to project the findings into the future in demographic and financial terms. The population of Rwanda increased from 2 million in 1950 to 7 million in 1990 and will exceed 10 million in 2000. The projection is based on various hypotheses about demographic behavior from 1981, when the family planning program began, to 2011. The model measures the impact of family planning on population size and then assesses the repercussions of family planning on health, education, and agriculture expenditures. According to the projection, in the year 2011 with and without family planning respectively, the total population will be 17.7 or 13.2 million, the rate of increase will be 4.5% or 2.7% per year, and the number of children per woman will be 10.6 or 4.7. The rate of contraceptive prevalence is projected to increase from 8.0% in 1990 to 34.8% in 2000 and 46.8% in 2011. Expenditures for health care increase as a function of population size and therefore grow more rapidly without family planning. The government would save 29.2% of health expenditures and about 1/3 in education expenditures in 2010 if fertility declined according to the projection. Lower fertility would facilitate improvements in both health and education services. But it is in the agricultural sector that family planning would have the greatest impact in Rwanda. 93% of the economically active population is employed in agriculture, but available land has disappeared and productivity has declined due to soil exhaustion. The food supply is no longer adequate and famine threatens certain regions. Because population is increasing more rapidly than food production, the per capita food supply will decline with or without family planning, in 2010 the total availability of food will be 4.3% greater than with family planning, but the population will be 34% larger. Without family planning per capita food availability will decline by 57.4% compared to 1981, while with family planning the decline will be only 47.9%. A cost analysis of the family planning program indicates that the savings in the health, education, and agricultural sectors obtained through family planning exceed the direct costs of the family assumption of a higher rate of contraceptive usage requiring a 4 times greater expenditure but permitting the food supply to meet the minimal needs of the population in all years.^ieng