Parental participation is especially important for girls' attendance. Among poor families, as incomes fall, parents' willingness to educate daughters falls faster than their willingness to educate sons. Poorer parents rely more on girls for help at home, and therefore schooling carries a greater cost in lost chore time. The report recommends that parent committees be phased in for all government schools. For new schools, the creation of a parent committee should precede the creation of the school.
Many private schools run on shoe-string budgets but still outperform government schools.
Even when controlling for differences in socio-economic background, the report found that students in private schools perform better than those in government schools. The report suggests that the main factor accounting for the success of the private sector in delivering primary education is that attendance among private-school teachers is more regular and they are more motivated than their counterparts in government schools. Governments need not be the providers of all the services they finance. Government must change the way it does business with parents, communities, and teachers, seeing itself as a member of a partnership rather than simply a provider of services. As part of the preparation of the second phase of the Social Action Program Project, the World Bank is currently working with the Federal and Provincial Governments of Pakistan to develop educational strategies for each province for the next five to ten years, which put into action the recommendations contained in the report.