Salient Socio-economic and Demographic Aspects of School Enrolment: The Case of Primary Schooling in Ethiopia

Abstract

Primary education makes people literate and numerate thereby enabling them to effectively manage their domestic and occupational duties. In Ethiopia the rate of primary school participation is very low even when compared with other Sub-Saharan African countries. Officially, the enrolment rate is 34% while, according to this study, it is 36% (with standard deviation 0.004). Based on the low levels of enrolment this study looks into the salient socio-economic and demographic aspects of school enrolment in Ethiopia. It uses the logistic regression method of analysis among several methods that can be used to predict a binary dependent variable from a set of explanatory variables. The results show that the probability of primary school enrolment is a function of variables which are related to the family and to the child. In fact variables related to the location of residence of the child and their interaction with the variable related to the family and the child are also found significant.


Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review (EASSRR) VOLUME XVI No. 2 June 2000, pp. 1-24