Beyond simply telling them or showing evidence, how can we make children in developing countries believe that education has value?
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Children in developing countries often leave school early as they underestimate the returns to education. Guo Xu, from the University of Berkley, discusses the impact of providing fellowships to students to complete secondary school in three rural districts in India. The awarding of the fellowships recognises schooling success. The researchers analysed whether such recognition altered beliefs on returns to education. Interestingly, we see that recognition for schooling success has a strong positive effect on perceived returns to education.