Effect of school electrification on learning outcomes: a subnational level analysis of students’ pass rate in English and mathematics in Ghana

The paper used district level students’ pass rate in a nationally conducted basic education certification examination to assess the effect of school electrification on learning outcomes. The results show that school electrification in addition to the traditional school-level inputs, such as class size, pupil–teacher ratio, ratio of core textbook to students, and sanitation, help to explain a significant portion of the variation in performance across districts. The analysis further showed that in districts classified as deprived, electrification of schools is a mediating factor for improving pass rate in English and mathematics. In a spatially differentiated developing country like Ghana, this finding is indicative of the need for policy congruence. Ghana has achieved substantial progress in extending electricity to many communities across the country. However, distribution and consumption of electricity is still skewed in favour of urban and affluent communities over rural deprived communities. Students’ performance in the standard national examinations follow similar skewed pattern. The results of this study suggest that electrification of schools could boost students’ performance, and the gain is more significant in deprived districts.