I have written previously on this website about the power of simple educational inputs in increasing schooling outputs. Thus, previous reports have been consolidated into a full primary school intervention targeting providing reading glasses to the 10 percent of primary school children who cannot see correctly. Such a simple idea, requiring the simplest of solutions; if children cannot see, they cannot learn; and if 10% of children cannot see, we are automatically forfeiting 10% of our young populations' futures.
However, as is the case with all aspects of educational quality which have been examined on this website, incentives and and their proper understanding and integration into policy design is absolutely critical. Though the intervention was shown to be incredibly efficient in raising educational outcomes for the targeted children, equivalent in some cases to an additional one half year of school, adoption of the glasses by communities, parents, and children was hindered because proper insight was not given into the role of incentives and internalization of change theory.
According to the intervention, "Visualizing Development: Eyeglasses and Academic Performance in China," (Glewwe, Park, and Zhao, 2012), eyeglasses as an educational intervention are easy and efficient, as has "...immediate gains," and are, perhaps most crucially, have the ability to create positive change even in larger, failing macro-climates which commonly impede other interventions. However, community norms, expectations of the necessity of future eyeglass purchases, and parents' simple perceptions of eyeglasses means that even when provided for free, 30% of needy children did not accept the lenses.
However, what about the role of incentives and change theory in the adoption of new technology? The authors have not analyzed the basic human fundamentals behind change itself; the status quo, even when detrimental to youth, is much easier to maintain than to change. Thus, incentives for change must be examined; these incentives can be either monetary or non-monetary in nature. Parents, the obvious gatekeepers in such interventions, must be educated and incentivized to induce needed change for such beneficial and simple interventions as the Gansu Eyeglass Project.
http://www.povertyactionlab.org/publication/better-vision-education
However, as is the case with all aspects of educational quality which have been examined on this website, incentives and and their proper understanding and integration into policy design is absolutely critical. Though the intervention was shown to be incredibly efficient in raising educational outcomes for the targeted children, equivalent in some cases to an additional one half year of school, adoption of the glasses by communities, parents, and children was hindered because proper insight was not given into the role of incentives and internalization of change theory.
According to the intervention, "Visualizing Development: Eyeglasses and Academic Performance in China," (Glewwe, Park, and Zhao, 2012), eyeglasses as an educational intervention are easy and efficient, as has "...immediate gains," and are, perhaps most crucially, have the ability to create positive change even in larger, failing macro-climates which commonly impede other interventions. However, community norms, expectations of the necessity of future eyeglass purchases, and parents' simple perceptions of eyeglasses means that even when provided for free, 30% of needy children did not accept the lenses.
However, what about the role of incentives and change theory in the adoption of new technology? The authors have not analyzed the basic human fundamentals behind change itself; the status quo, even when detrimental to youth, is much easier to maintain than to change. Thus, incentives for change must be examined; these incentives can be either monetary or non-monetary in nature. Parents, the obvious gatekeepers in such interventions, must be educated and incentivized to induce needed change for such beneficial and simple interventions as the Gansu Eyeglass Project.
http://www.povertyactionlab.org/publication/better-vision-education
