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Shwetlena Sabarwal

Principal Investigator, Bangladesh

Shwetlena Sabarwal is a Lead Economist in World Bank’s Education Global Practice. She was a co-author of the World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education’s Promise and several other World Bank flagship reports. Her research, which focuses on education service delivery, has been published in prominent journals like the Journal of Human Resources, World Bank Research Observer, Economics of Education Review etc. She is the World Bank lead on Education and Climate Change and has led the World Bank’s education engagement in Bangladesh, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, and Uganda. She holds a PhD in applied economics from the University of Minnesota.

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ssabarwal@worldbank.org

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Related resources

Insight note

Improving implementation while scaling: Differentiated Learning in Ghana

23 February 2026

Ama Anaman, Shwetlena Sabarwal, Surayya Masood, Noam Angrist and Marla Spivack

Ghana, Implementation science

This note shares early implementation science insights from scaling Differentiated Learning (DL) to 16,000+ schools. During the scale-up, A/B testing identified a simple, low-cost implementation tweak that improved fidelity and effectiveness when deployed. Read more

Working paper

Building resilient education systems: Experimental evidence across five countries

12 February 2026

Noam Angrist, Micheal Ainomugisha, Sai Pramod Bathena, Peter Bergman, Colin Crossley, Claire Cullen, Thato Letsomo, Moitshepi Matsheng, Rene Marlon Panti, Shwetlena Sabarwal and Tim Sullivan

Philippines, Nepal, Uganda, Kenya, Cross-country, India

This working paper presents results from five randomised trials in India, Kenya, Nepal, Philippines, and Uganda to evaluate the provision of education in emergency settings. The findings reveal it is possible to strengthen the resilience of education systems and to deliver effective learning gains across contexts and with governments. Read more

Journal article

How to improve education outcomes most efficiently? A review of the evidence using a unified metric

16 October 2024

Noam Angrist, David K. Evans, Deon Filmer, Rachel Glennerster, Halsey Rogers, Shwetlena Sabarwal

Cross-country, Evidence translation

Many low- and middle-income countries lag far behind high-income countries in educational access and student learning. While many interventions have been rigorously evaluated, comparing their results is difficult. This paper offers a comprehensive review of literature on effective education programs, with a focus on cost-effectiveness. Read more

Working paper

How to improve education outcomes most efficiently?

20 December 2023

Noam Angrist, David K Evans, Deon Filmer, Rachel Glennerster, Halsey Rogers, Shwetlena Sabarwal

Implementation science, Evidence translation, Literature review

Governments must make tough choices about how to invest limited resources in the way that will make the greatest educational improvements. This paper reviews 200 impact evaluations across 52 countries to identify the most cost-effective programmes and policies. Read more

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Young female student with notebook. Photo by Apex 360, Unsplash.

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