STRENGTHENING SCHOOL COMPLETION THROUGH EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENT AND TEACHER RESOURCES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/ephijer.v10i02.201Abstract
This study examined the influence of educational investment and teacher resources on school completion using country-level data drawn from the UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal 4 Education Database. A quantitative explanatory design was employed, and 79 countries with complete observations were included in the analysis. School completion was measured using the primary completion rate, educational investment was represented by government expenditure on education as a percentage of gross domestic product, and teacher resources were measured by the proportion of qualified primary teachers. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression with HC3 robust standard errors were applied. The findings showed that educational investment had a weak positive but statistically insignificant relationship with school completion, while qualified teachers had a weak positive and statistically significant bivariate relationship with completion. In the regression model, both predictors produced positive coefficients, but neither made a statistically significant individual contribution. The model explained 9.1% of the variation in school completion, and the robust joint significance test was not significant at the 5% level. These findings suggest that educational investment and teacher resources are relevant but insufficient as isolated predictors of school completion. Their effectiveness likely depends on resource allocation, instructional quality, governance, socioeconomic conditions, school accessibility, and other institutional factors. The study highlights the need for integrated policies that combine adequate financing with effective teacher development and broader student-support measures.
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