Motivating teachers in rural Zambia using a monetary incentive

Like many developing countries, the achievement gap between rural and urban areas in Zambia remains substantial. For example, the share of students scoring well on the Primary School Leaving Examinations (the Grade 7 Examinations) in rural areas is about half what it is in urban areas, according to data from the Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ). The reasons for the spatial differences in outcomes are legion: pupils in urban areas tend to come from wealthier families with highly educated parents, urban areas tend to have much better infrastructure than rural areas and so on.