Page 5 - Studie IDEA 08 2020 Vysoka cena nizkeho vzdelani

Study 8 / 2020
The high costs of low literacy in the Czech Republic
DECEMBER 20202
JANA KRAJČOVÁ AND DANIEL MÜNICH
Summary
• By means of projections, we quantify the hypothetical impact of providing better education to insufficiently literate fifteen-year-old pupils on the Czech economy’s long-term growth in the coming decades, using a number of scenarios. Our projections are not predictions of future trends, but represent hypothetical projections of future trajectories based on what is currently known about the causal relationships between educational achievements and economic growth.
• Insufficiently literate fifteen-year-olds – those who do not achieve score enough in functional literacy tests – face substantial economic and social difficulties later in life. Across the OECD countries, 24% of pupils fall into this category. In the Czech Republic the proportion is slightly lower (21%), and this represents some 20 thousand pupils in an age cohort. Only a negligible share of these pupils attend four-year or extended gymnazia (academic upper-secondary schools). These pupils represent about a third in elementary schools, while they represent almost half of vocational / apprenticeship secondary schools (without the Maturita / Abitur school-leaving exam). School closures during the covid-19 era will likely increase unequal access to quality education and thus the proportion of under-literate pupils.
• Our projections show that even a relatively small reduction in the proportion of insufficiently literate pupils can, through its positive impact on the productivity of the workforce in the future, have a non-negligible impact on the country’s long-term economic growth. Considering the impact over a whole lifetime, even
2 This study represents the authors’ views and not the official position of the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Economics Institute nor of the Charles University Centre for Economic Research and Graduate Education (CERGE). The authors thank Tomáš Protivínský, Dan Prokop, Jana Straková, Arnošt Veselý, Václav Korbel and Štěpán Jurajda for their valuable comments and advice. Any errors are the authors’ responsibility. The study was produced in cooperation with PAQ Research and with the support from the Česká Spořitelna Foundation and the Czech Academy of Sciences as part of its Av21 Strategy Programme. The study was published in abbreviated form as part of the monograph „Inequalities in Education as a Source of Inefficiency“ published in cooperation with PAQ Research, and with the support of the Česká spořitelna Foundation.
3