Title: Education and aspirations in a capability-based approach: the case of talibé children in Mauritania

Authors: Jérôme Ballet; Augendra Bhukuth; Bilal Hamzetta; Robin Vos

Addresses: GREThA, University of Bordeaux, Avenue Léon Duguit, 33006 Pessac, Cedex, France ' IPAG Business School, France ' Ecole Normale Supérieure de Nouakchott, Mauritania ' GREThA, University of Bordeaux, Avenue Léon Duguit, 33006 Pessac, Cedex, France

Abstract: The debate surrounding education in developing countries has mainly centred on the respective importance of school-related and family-related factors to both academic access and academic success. Studies on developed countries have already highlighted issues regarding the aspirations of children. In developing countries these issues are still under study. Our study fills in this gap. The aim of this article is to present an analysis of the determinants of children's aspirations. For this we use the theoretical framework of capabilities. This framework is innovative as it was not applied on this issue on developing countries. Our study concerns a case study of talibé children in Mauritania. We use a database on 116 children. The results indicate that cultural factors and parental involvement in children's schooling are decisive, in contrast to the quality of education and material living conditions, which have no significant effect.

Keywords: capability approach; Koranic school; family-related factors; aspiration; Mauritania.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEED.2020.106577

International Journal of Education Economics and Development, 2020 Vol.11 No.2, pp.113 - 131

Received: 30 Jan 2019
Accepted: 15 Jul 2019
Published online: 15 Apr 2020 *

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