Educational inequality in Singapore : the impact of family background on the schooling of children.

Abstract

This paper investigates the issue of intergenerational educational inequality in Singapore and examines the possibility of an adult completing tertiary education in relation to parental education and income level as well as number of siblings based on a survey of 150 Singaporeans aged 25 to 40. Results from binary probit and logit models show that the impact of the father’s education is highly significant as an adult with a tertiary educated father is 35 percent more likely to graduate from university than counterparts with primary educated fathers. Mother’s income yields a positive but smaller influence on the possibility of completion of tertiary education. On the other hand, number of siblings has a negative effect. Our findings show that the mere expansion of education will not narrow the educational inequality, and people from well-off family backgrounds will disproportionately benefit more than those from less affluent or disadvantaged families.