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This study is based on research on secondary textbook and school library provision in Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Togo, as well as existing recent country reports on textbook provision and an extensive desk research. Considerable variations exist in Sub-Saharan African textbook requirements needed to meet secondary curriculum specifications just as significant differences exist between and within countries in regard to the average price of recommended textbooks. Some countries have no approved textbooks list. This World Bank Working Paper aims to discuss the textbook situation in Sub-Saharan Africa with a special focus on secondary textbook availability, cost and financing, distribution and publishing, and the status of school libraries. Its objective is to analyze the issues in secondary textbook and school library provision and to provide some options and strategies for improvement.

This report, produced with the help of Madagascar’s national education team in 2006-07, is designed to contribute to ongoing education reform discussions. It analyzes the constraints to system expansion and presents possible next steps for an appropriate course of action. This report aims to encourage discussion among policymakers, stakeholders and donors, and does not promote one approach over another. To promote a more competitive economy in Madagascar in the 21st century, the government expects to increase the average years of schooling from the current 4.5 years to about 9-10 years by 2015 for the relative age groups. This report discusses the ongoing reform and its impact and provides suggestions for implementation. This report is intended to be used as a discussion instrument and to be disseminated among Madagascar’s stakeholders in education. We hope this report will contribute to improved implementation of the secondary education reform in Madagascar.This study was prepared as part of the Secondary Education and Training in Africa (SEIA) initiative which aims to assist countries to develop sustainable strategies for expansion and quality improvements in secondary education and training.

PurposeThe purpose of the research was to, first, investigate if the use of maps as instructional resources will boost scholarly performance and, second, examine if gender can moderate the effect of map usage on scholarly performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study was a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test. A sample of 260 JSS II Students from 8 schools were selected through the purposive sampling technique. A Social Studies Scholarly Performance Test (SSSPT) with a reliability index of 0.79 was the instrument for data collection. The students were assigned into two groups: control and experimental. Both groups were pre-tested taught for a timeline of six weeks and thereafter post-tested.FindingsThe study reported a significant increase in the scholarly performance of students taught with maps; a significant difference occurred in the scholarly performance of both groups and gender did not moderate the effect of maps.Research limitations/implicationsThe social studies teachers used for the study did not have previous knowledge or map skills; this could have affected the outcome. Secondly, the treatment took place for just six weeks, and the time allotted for social studies in the school timetable was used. This may not have given the students enough time to master map interpretation.Practical implicationsA major implication of the study is that results will show that maps can promote the scholarly performance of students in social studies. Secondly, the fact that gender did not moderate the effect of maps suggests that maps are gender-friendly.Social implicationsThe results of the study, if implemented, would make social studies teachers to become inventive and resourceful in the use of maps as instructional resources for junior secondary students' scholarly performance in social studies without taking gender into consideration.Originality/valueThis study is a product of the researcher’s doctoral thesis; therefore, it is original and has value. The results are the product of a painstaking study carried out by the author for a period of three years on the effect of instructional resources on social studies students’ scholarly performance. Maps were one of the instructional resources studied for the award of a Ph.D. degree.

Background To address the significant issue of students’ heavy after-school study burden, many countries have enacted relevant policies. However, the effects of policy implementation are not always desirable. This study is informed by an analysis of how dominant social imaginaries and discourses in China—emphasizing accountability, performativity, competitiveness, and capital accrual—contribute to students’ burdens. Methods This case study investigated the after-school study burden of Chinese junior secondary school students following the implementation of burden reduction policies. It involved one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 15 students, 9 parents, and 3 teachers and informal individual or group discussions. Furthermore, the researchers spent nearly three months immersing themselves in the research site, during which period they observed students’ learning status and extracurricular activities. They also reviewed assignments, learning and school extracurricular records, and teachers’ reflexive journals. Findings This study found that burden reduction policies have brought some relief to student participants due to tailored assignments, learning support, and diversified after-school programs, although the pressure remained high. The convergence of the pragmatic social imaginary and discourses in China, along with social class dispositions, strongly intervened in the humanistic aims and practices under these policies. Student participants from families of different social classes continued to face heavy after-school study burdens, such as school assignments, private tutoring, and additional exercises, and suffered from emotional stress in their pursuit of better test performance and competitiveness, without breaks in or out of school. Compared to students from higher social class families, student participants from lower social class families focused more on thin exam-oriented learning goals and required more support due to a lack of access to various after-school resources. Conclusion The study suggests that all stakeholders (policymakers, school administrators, teachers, parents, and students) collaborate in pursuing humanistic objectives in education, rather than being narrowly governed by the pragmatic social imaginary and related discourses. These stakeholders must engage in meaningful conversations and work together to create a humanistic educational environment, aiming to reduce after-school workload from school and other sources, and promote students’ pressure relief, learning and well-being based on their individual interests, learning progress, and needs.

As part of China’s compulsory nine-year education system, junior secondary education (JSSE) plays a vital role in supporting students’ physical and mental development. The accurate prediction of the development scale trend of JSSE is helpful for the government to estimate the scale of educational development within a chosen time frame so as to aid decision making.Nevertheless, China’s education system is complex, highly dimensional, and largely influenced by policy and other factors, which results in difficulty in modeling the education sample. Based on gray system theory, this paper proposes an improved fractional-order grey prediction model, OCFNGBM(1,1), to predict the development scale of JSSE. We describe the basic expressions of the model, the parameter estimation method, and the optimization method for hyperparameters and construct a scheme for optimizing the background value coefficients. Data collected from official websites from 2011 to 2021 are used to build the forecasting model, and data from 2011 to 2017 are used to evaluate the model’s accuracy. Our experimental results indicate that the OCFNGBM(1,1) model has higher accuracy than the classical nonlinear gray prediction model. The OCFNGBM(1,1) model was employed to forecast the development scale of JSSE in China from 2022 to 2024, which provided useful information. This research provides a resource to help the national education department to develop a comprehensive and long-term plan for the development goals, scale, speed, steps, and measures of relevant education.

PurposeThis study aimed to provide evidence to support the use of a wiki called PBworks as a learning tool to foster students' information literacy (IL) skills based on activity theory.Design/methodology/approachThe participants consisted of 421 students (i.e. form 1 to form 3) from Hong Kong taking a liberal studies course during the 2016–2017 academic year. This study mainly used a mixed methods design, proposing 11 hypotheses. Quantitative data from 374 questionnaires were analysed to test these research hypotheses, while a qualitative method (interviews) was used to explain the quantitative results. A structural equation modelling approach was used to analyse the data, and data triangulation was used to answer the same research questions.FindingsThe results showed that the model components PBworks affordances (PB) and rules and divisions (RD) had significant direct effects on individual activities (IA) and community activities (CA) and significant indirect effects on information literacy (IL). The results also revealed that CA had a significant effect on IA and had an even greater effect on IL.Research limitations/implicationsUsing PBworks and the project-based learning (PjBL) approach, this study examined the determinants affecting the IL skills of Hong Kong junior secondary school students and proposed a wiki-based information literary activity (WILA) model.Practical implicationsAs students' IL skills have become increasingly important, this study can shed light on related topics for future studies.Social implicationsAnd contribute to social stability and harmonious development.Originality/valueThis study eventually confirmed the validity of the WILA model with all hypotheses supported.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-03-2020-0092.

Background Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, yet vaccine uptake remains suboptimal. This study assessed the determinants of HPV vaccine uptake among female junior secondary students in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 students from May to July 2024 using multi-stage sampling and structured interviewer-administered questionnaires to gather sociodemographic data and evaluate HPV vaccine knowledge, attitudes, and uptake, including barriers to vaccination. Analysis involved descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and logistic regression using GraphPad Prism 9, with significance at p ≤  0.05. Results The study revealed that 37.3% had poor HPV knowledge, 51.3% had fair knowledge, and 11.5% had good knowledge. Although 90% exhibited positive attitudes, only 36.3% had received at least one vaccine dose, and just 5.5% completed the vaccination series. Determinants of HPV vaccine uptake included being a preadolescent at age 9 (aOR = 4.16, 95% CI 1.86–9.57, p =  0.0006), early adolescence at 10–13 years (aOR = 3.01, 1.66–5.70, p =  0.0004), being in JSS1 (aOR = 2.28, 1.14–4.77, p =  0.0231), or JSS2 (aOR = 3.39, 1.62–7.38, p =  0.0015) while students from the Anang ethnic group were significantly less likely to be vaccinated (aOR = 0.15, 0.04–0.49, p =  0.0032). Barriers included limited awareness, logistical challenges, and safety concerns. Conclusions Despite favourable attitudes, HPV vaccine uptake and completion among students were low, highlighting urgent needs for targeted interventions and improved vaccine accessibility.

The study investigated the level of academic achievement in Social Studies among junior secondary school students in Oyo State. This study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised all the students and teachers in all the public junior secondary schools in Oyo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select seventy-six (76) teachers as well as three hundred and ninety-nine (399) students who constituted the sample size for the study. An instrument titled ‘Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT)’ was developed and used for the study. The instrument was trial-tested and a reliability coefficient of 0.87 was obtained. The data collected were analysed using frequency count and simple percentage. The results indicated that 22% of the total sampled respondents scored above 17 marks, 26% scored between 11 and 17 marks while 52% of the total sample of the study scored less than 10 marks. The study concluded that level of students’ academic achievement in Social Studies among junior secondary school students in Oyo State is low. The study recommended that government and schools should put in place a learning environment conducive and captivating enough to motivate students to learn.

Background The Symptom Checklist (SCL) developed by the Health Behaviour in School‑aged Children (HBSC) study is widely used to capture the psychosomatic complaints (PSC) of non-clinical children and adolescents. Although its psychometric properties have been well established internationally, the performance of the Mandarin Chinese version remains unclear. This study evaluates the Mandarin Chinese HBSC-SCL’s psychometric properties, develops its norm, and creates the corresponding scoring algorithm. Methods Data were collected from a two-wave cross-sectional survey conducted between June 20 and July 11, 2022, across eight Chinese Human Geography Regions (CHGRs). The sample included 3290 junior secondary school students, obtained through convenience sampling (first wave) and multistage, stratified, cluster sampling (second wave). The surveys were administered anonymously in the school setting, using a paper-and-pencil, self-administered questionnaire. The Mandarin Chinese HBSC-SCL’s unidimensionality was verified using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and its psychometric properties were comprehensively evaluated using the partial credit model (PCM) of the Rasch measurement method. Based on the above scientific evidence, the population-based norm and norm-referenced scoring algorithm were developed and created. Results The CFA confirmed that the HBSC-SCL can be considered unidimensional in the Chinese Mainland. Evidence-based on the six features of the Rasch model indicated that the Mandarin Chinese HBSC-SCL has satisfactory psychometric properties. All 5-category rating scales of eight items appropriately differentiated the students’ PSC and demonstrated strong goodness-of-fit. This version also exhibited good unidimensionality and local independence. The Rasch model generated two kinds of reliability indicators, with the item indicators performing well. The person-item map demonstrated acceptable person and item matches, and provided new perspectives for future improvements. Additionally, no substantial uniform differential item functioning (UDIF) was detected across 13 groups (e.g., survey waves, gender, chronological age). Conclusions The Mandarin Chinese HBSC-SCL demonstrates satisfactory psychometric properties and performs well in the Chinese Mainland context. It provides concise self-reported PSC measures for junior secondary school students, potentially applicable to a broader Chinese-speaking population. Its ease of administration, scoring, and interpretation makes it suitable for routine school monitoring, large-scale population surveys, and clinical applications. Additionally, the population-based norm and norm-referenced scoring algorithm support the broader application of this version and offer new insights for interpreting PSC sum scores.

This thematic study consists of case studies of Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda, as well as, a review of studies undertaken over the past ten years on education in Africa with particular attention to girls' and secondary education. Gender equity at the primary level has been the focus of considerable attention within the Education for All Framework of Action, but much less so at the secondary level. Evidence of gender inequity and inequality in terms of access, retention and performance in secondary education in SSA raises many questions. While transition rates from primary to secondary are higher for girls than boys, and the repetition rates are lower, girls still significantly trail behind boys in graduation and enrollment rates. The purpose of this study is to document and analyze the extent and nature of gender disadvantage in junior and senior secondary education, to analyze the causes of this disadvantage, and to identify strategies that may be effective in reducing or eliminating it. This study was prepared as part of the Secondary Education and Training in Africa (SEIA) initiative which aims to assist countries to develop sustainable strategies for expansion and quality improvements in secondary education and training. All SEIA products are available on its website: www.worldbank.org/afr/seia.