EVENTS

Abstract  

India and China have two of the world’s largest basic education sectors in terms of both supply and demand. Their governance thus deserves some much-needed scrutiny in addition to their economic power and roles in international relations and geopolitics. In particular, what are the accountability measures used in the two basic education sectors? And what are their impacts on education outcomes?In this seminar, I would like to share my research that focuses on the last phase of basic education and compares accountability of government middle schools in Beijing and Delhi.

The first part of the presentation will critically review theorizations of accountability as well as their illustrations in the two countries, so as to set the research into the larger context. The second part compares governance and accountability of basic education in Beijing and Delhi. While a more detailed picture can only be gained after the still ongoing surveys and interviews, some preliminary results suggest that despite the limited autonomy given to schools in both systems, accountability of teachers is better supported in Beijing through a more incentive-compatible career development scheme. Inadequate or even hazardous infrastructure poses an additional source of distraction, if not dismay, to teachers in Delhi. However, Delhi’s active scene on social accountability is also something quite unknown to Beijing, which could have the potential to improve incentive compatibility if well integrated with administrative accountability from the government.

About the Speaker

Bria Yifei Yan (严奕飞) is a PhD candidate at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. She specializes in education policy and compares education accountability of government middle schools in Beijing and Delhi for her dissertation. Her other research interests include health policy (China’s health policy reform in particular), development economics, law and economics, political economy and institutional analysis.

Yifei holds master degrees (with distinction) from the European Master in Law and Economics, including a M.Sc. in Law and Economics of Development from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research.Before that, she has received B.Econ and LL.B degrees from Fudan University in China.

Apart from being a researcher, Yifei also publishes regularly on her blog (https://briayifeiyan.wordpress.com/) and wechat (“飞过这世界”) observations and reflections on China, India, Italy, Israel and so on. She can be reached via email: yifei.yan [at] u.nus.edu.