Literacy Trends and Their Educational Drivers in the Middle East
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52839/0111-000-089-018Keywords:
Literacy trends, Teacher availability, Literacy gains, Complementary education indicators in middle eastern countriesAbstract
The current research aims to examine the relationship between teacher availability, literacy gains, and complementary education indicators in nine middle eastern countries from 1990 to 2023, using harmonized data from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators. The panel covers literacy rates, pupil–teacher ratios, primary completion rates, tertiary enrollment, education spending shares, and internet penetration, with missing values interpolated only within internal gaps. The results showed that the correlation analysis reveals large cross-country differences. In the United Arab Emirates, reduced pupil–teacher ratios correlate strongly with higher literacy ( , ), while in Egypt, the link is negligible ( , ). Stronger associations often coincide with parallel gains in tertiary enrollment and digital access. Fixed-effects regressions show positive relationships between literacy and both tertiary enrollment and internet use, alongside a negative relationship with pupil–teacher ratios. Standardized effects highlight digital access and higher education as key drivers. A high within- indicates that much of the variation is explained by persistent national characteristics and shared temporal trends, rather than short-term shifts in single inputs. The results suggest that sustained literacy improvements are most likely when manageable class sizes are combined with expanded post-secondary opportunities and digital infrastructure. Isolated reforms, such as class-size reduction alone, are unlikely to produce rapid gains without broader systemic changes.
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