Promoting Girls' Basic Education in the Rural Areas of Oromia
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Date
1998-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to examine the current status of girls ' participation in basic
education in the rural areas of Oromia, identify the major barriers i. e., in-school, and out-of-
school factors (socio-economic, socio-cultural and political) and indicate the major areas of
intervention to the regional policy makers and educational planners. A descriptive survey
method was employed to achieve this objective. Data from documents were obtained from the
annual statistical abstracts of the MOE, Oromia Education Bureau, and the 1994 Housing and
Population Census. Furthermore, questionnaires and structured interviews were administered
to 42 teachers, 70 female students, 48 parents, and 50 out-of-school girls in the rural areas.
Gross Enrollment Ratios, annual rate of growth, and percentages were calculated to examine the
participation of girls in rural primary schools when compared with girls in urban areas and
rural male students for the academic years 1994/95 to 1997/98. In addition, percentages, Chi-
square, one way ANOVA and Tukey- HSD tests were used to analyse the data obtained from
questionnaires and interviews. The results indicated that, in-school factors such as school
schedule was identified as a common problem for both study areas. Moreover, absence of
separate toilet for girls, and weak school-community relationships were found to be the major
obstacles in Muslim areas. Furthermore, distance from home to school was identified as a
problem in Christian areas, while the majority of in-school factors were not considered as major
barriers in both study areas. On the other hand, all socio-economic factors were identified as
major impediments in all areas. A10st of the socio-cultural factors, on the other hand, were
indicated as major obstacles in Muslim areas rather than in Christian areas except lack of
interest in education, and low status of women in development activities which were identified as
common problems. On top of this, political factors such as perception of limited range of paid
occupations open to women, lack of upper primary and secondary schools, and low participation
of local administrators to encourage girls' education were identified as common problems in
both areas. Hence, it is concluded that in most cases, the participation of girls in formal basic
education in the rural areas of Oromia is a function of out-of-school factors. Therefore, it is
recommended that the regional policy makers and educational planners should pay more
attention to increase the demand for education so as to increase the participation of girls {n
rural primary schools of the region.
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Keywords
Promoting Girls' Basic, Education