The Economist - USA (2022-06-11)

The Economist June 11th 2022 Middle East & Africa 49

EducationinAfrica

Golden tickets

I

n anidealworld,primary­schoolteach­
ers in Africa would all be well­educated,
highly motivated and dreaming up lessons
that zing. In reality many of the continent’s
educators  need  support.  For  several  years
low­cost  private  schools  run  in  several
countries  by  NewGlobe,  a  profit­seeking
firm, have used radical means to keep les­
sons to a consistent standard.
NewGlobe  insists  that  teachers  deliver
tightly scripted lessons written by a central
team  and  sent  to  them  on  electronic  tab­
lets. The instructions lay out exactly what
to write on the blackboard and even when
to  walk  around  the  classroom.  Similarly
detailed  plans  dictate  the  daily  checks
head  teachers  must  carry  out  in  order  to
make sure their staff are up to scratch.
Research published in a working paper
on June 6th suggests that this highly stan­
dardised  approach  to  schooling  may  have
been  serving  pupils  well.  The  study—by
Michael  Kremer,  a  Nobel  prize­winning
economist,  and  colleagues  at  four  Ameri­
can  universities—tracked  more  than
10,000 children who applied for free places
at NewGlobe schools that were distributed
by  lottery  in  Kenya  in  2016.  (NewGlobe’s
schools  are  better  known  by  the  brand
name Bridge International Academies.) 
After  two  years,  children  who  won
those  places  were  found  to  have  learned
oodles  more  than  applicants  who  missed
out  and  went  to  government  schools.  For
pupils of primary­school age, the gain was
equivalent  to  almost  a  whole  additional
year of schooling. Toddlers who won plac­
es  in  pre­primary  classrooms  ended  up
one­and­a­half years ahead of their peers.
The  improvement  in  grades  was  particu­
larly good for children who had performed
badly in tests before they joined. On aver­
age  such  pupils  learned  more  over  two
years  than  those  who  were  already  doing
well elsewhere.
These  gains  are  off  the  charts  and
among the largest recorded in any rigorous
study, according to the authors. They seem
to have come at a relatively low cost. At the
time  of  the  study  only  about  a  quarter  of
NewGlobe’s  teachers  in  Kenya  had  more
than  a  secondary  education,  compared
with three­quarters of those in public and
other  private  schools.  They  earned  be­
tween one­third and one­fifth as much as
government teachers. 
The  high  marks  awarded  to  NewGlobe
are  especially  striking,  given  the  contro­

versies  that  have  long  dogged  the  firm.

Since its first school was founded in 2009 it

has faced ferocious opposition from trade

unions  and  international  ngos,  many  of

which  hate  the  idea  of  profit­seeking

schools.  They  say  the  company  devalues

good teaching, promotes rote­learning and

has  played  fast  and  loose  with  national

curriculums.  Their  campaigns  have  made

it  harder  for  NewGlobe  to  fill  its  private

schools; in recent years it has closed a lot of

them. Since Mr Kremer and his colleagues

began their study, the number of branches

in  Kenya,  its  first  and  biggest  market,  has

fallen from 405 to 111.

The  new  research  may  have  come  too

late  to  pep  up  NewGlobe’s  private­school

business,  which  its  bosses  seem  to  have

given up trying to expand. But the findings

will bolster its new strategy: selling to local

and  national  education  authorities  the

tools and training they need to run schools

along  the  lines  that  its  own  institutions

have  demonstrated.  It  is  already  working

with governments in three Nigerian states

and  has  recently  been  hired  to  do  some­

thing similar in Rwanda. 

Whether  NewGlobe’s  methods  will

yield  the  same  success  outside  Kenya,  es­

pecially in government schools over which

it has little or no direct control, is an open

question. A study of 23 government­fund­

ed schools that NewGlobe took over in Li­

beria  in  2016  found  that  they  were  expen­

sive to run and that their pupils benefited

less than those in Kenya. Other old­school

education  providers  in  that  study  taught

children more cheaply than NewGlobe did

and got better results. 

Africa’s  dismal  education  systems  re­

quire urgent attention. Good ideas for fix­

ing  them  at  scale  are  rare.  Governments

and researcherswouldbe wise to keep put­

ting  scripted  schooling,  however  contro­

versial, to the test.n

A Nobel prize-winning economist sees

big benefits in “scripted” schools

Sticking to the script

An interviewwithIsrael’sprimeminister

Bolder abroad,

embattled at home

“W

e are implementingthe Octopus

Doctrine,” says Naftali Bennett, Is­

rael’s  prime  minister.  “We  no  longer  play

with  the  tentacles,  with  Iran’s  proxies:

we’ve created a new equation by going for

the  head.”  Talking  to  The Economistafter

nearly a year in office, he explains how Is­

rael  and  its  covert  services  are  raising  the

stakes in the shadowy war they have waged

with Iran for nearly four decades. 

In  the  past  Israel  aimed  its  attacks  on

Iran  almost  exclusively  at  its  nuclear  pro­

gramme  and  scientists  connected  with  it.

When Israel hit other Iranian targets, such

as  the  Islamic  Revolutionary  Guard  Corps

(irgc) and its expeditionary Quds Force, it

tended to do so in third countries, such as

Syria.  Now  it  is  attacking  the  irgc inside

Iran as well. In February it struck a factory

making  drones  for  the  Guards  in  western

Iran.  In  May  it  assassinated  one  of  their

commanders in Tehran, Iran’s capital.

Israel  is  becoming  less  coy  about  such

attacks. Previously it nearly always refused

to  acknowledge  operations  in  Iran.  Now

senior Israeli officials often give off­the­re­

cord briefings, sometimes only hours after

Iranian targets have been hit. In April Mos­

sad,  Israel’s  foreign­intelligence  agency,

even  aired  a  recording  of  a  revolutionary

guard being interrogated by Israeli agents,

supposedly inside Iran. 

Not all members of Israel’s security es­

tablishment are happy with this brash new

approach.  Some  intelligence  veterans  are

said to have grumbled that “poking Tehran

in the eye” will cause more trouble than it

is worth. Mr Bennett himself sticks to the

official  line  that  Israel  does  not  directly

take  responsibility  for  any  specific  opera­

tion  in  Iran  but  says  he  is  convinced  that

“the  Iranians  are  much  more  timid  than

you think” when it comes to reacting to Is­

raeli  audacity.  Clobbering  them  directly

will yield good results, he reckons. He fully

approves of these bolder tactics. 

Will this deter Iran and its proxies from

attacking Israeli targets? He notes with sat­

isfaction  that  Hizbullah,  an  Iranian­

backed  Shia  political  movement­cum­mi­

litia  in  Lebanon,  and  Hamas,  an  Iranian­

backed  Palestinian  Islamist  group  that

runs  the  Gaza  Strip,  have  not  launched

rockets against Israel in the past year. 

Mr Bennett also hopes that these brazen

attacks may prompt Iran to accept a tighter

version  of  the  nuclear  agreement  signed

with four Western powers plus China and

J ERUSALEM

How Naftali Bennett plans to keep his

country safe and his coalition afloat