7 Though statistics may not be directly comparable, systematic surveys as well as ethnographic studies have shown surprising losses and highlight the issue of service quality to the poor. Some examples are: _Senegal._ A study undertaken by the inspectors of the _Académie de Diourbel_ found a teacher absenteeism rate of about 30%, with strikes initiated by both students and teachers.<sup>19</sup> In the final secondary grade and before the final examinations, almost five weeks of class time were lost between October and March. With a teacher absenteeism rate of 32%, the deficit amounted to 112 hours or about 14 weeks. In the philosophy course only 4 of the 23 chapters were covered, in physics 7 of the 17 chapters, and in chemistry 7 of the 11 chapters were covered.

_Bangladesh_ . A 2003 ethnographic study of time use in eight low-income schools found that schools operated 19% to 55% fewer days than scheduled in the school calendar. The losses had multiple sources. One month of contact time with students at the beginning and at the end of the school year were sacrificed to administrative and non-teaching activities. Rural schools seldom opened at the expected time. They allowed travel time for non-resident teachers and gave a 1.5-hour break to students attending Koranic school, but did not stay open later. Inside the classroom, time was not used well, either. Teaching occupied on average 63% of the class time in the classes observed. (Lecturing occupied about 83% of that time.) Students also showed high absenteeism; only 43 to 67% of them were in attendance on the days of surprise visits. Teachers estimated that only about 50% of the children were very regular in their attendance. The study found that the problems were more prominent in isolated areas. However, schools were more likely to comply with schedules if they received regular visits by authorities.<sup>20</sup> _Dominican Republic._ A USAID-financed team visited schools on three different occasions. It found that on average students were receiving instruction 77% of the time. Main reasons for time loss were various meetings of teachers with parents, district and other officials, and training (about 42%). Strikes accounted for 19% and teacher absenteeism accounted for 8% of the lack of instruction. Overall, schools used 65% of the intended time in teaching. Afternoon shifts spent less time in teaching (58%) than morning shirts (73%), a trend that was also shown in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco during the World Bank study (See Chapter 3).<sup>21</sup> _Mexico_ . A study from the 1970s showed that a typical teacher used about 50% of the scheduled school week on actual instruction. The rest of the time was lost to absences, leaving early, administrative interruptions, and classroom disturbances.<sup>22</sup> 19. Diouf 2005 20. Tietjen et al. 2004 21. EDUCA 2005

> 22. Munoz Izquierdo 1979. Other estimates with limited data include: In Colombia, off task time was estimated at about 40 percent (Arancibia 1987). One third of instructional hours might potentially lost because the teacher’s voice is drowned out by rain on metal roofs in Malawi and less than half the prescribed time for the early grades may be taught in Indonesia (Lockheed and Verspoor 1992).