Survey of the Major Factors Influencing Household Demand for Schooling in Rural Bale Zone
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Date
1999-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to identify the major
factors that influence household demand for schooling in rural
Bale Zone .
In order to fulfill this purpose, basic , questions
were raised regarding the utilization Qf $chool resources, the
background
of
the
children
who
mostly
lack
schooling
opportunity, the fa9tors that determine school participation in
general
and
differenc~
in
schooling
between
sexes
in
particular.
Th~
st~qy
was carrie~ 9ut in eight rural primary schools
and ~7 peasant assoc;:iatiQns that use these schools.
The
sources of information were 2~0 household heads (~OO household
heads having at least one schooling child, ~oo household heads
having no schooling child and 50 household heads of drop-out
children) eight school directors, 98 teacher$, 497 students and
50 non-schooling primary $chool-age children. Household heads'
and
non-schooling
children's
interviews
and
teachers',
directors'and students' questionnaires were the instruments
used to gather information for the study.
The data obtained
were
anQ.lysed
thr9ugh
qvalitative
method,
percentages,
correlatiQn coeffjcient and average rank order.
Based on the
analysis made, the following major findings were obtained.
•
f
There is under utilization of teachers and an indication
of crowdedn~ss of classrooms in some of th~ surveyed schools.
The finding$ of the st~dy also has shown that, the demand of
the households for schooling in the surveyed areaS is low which
was indicated by low and fluctuating enrollment growth rate and
high drop-out. Drop-out is more severe at lower grades and for
girls.
In general, females have low school participation
because of the low demand of the households for schooling them
due to high home duties on females, parents' perception of low
employment prospect for educated females and marriage of girls.
Majority of the students are older for their grades, and
there are more over-age males than femaJes. Children from the
household head$ who $peak Oromo ~anguage as their mother tongue
hav~ a r~l~tively low sch09J. participation thQ.n children from
Amhariq mQther tongue hqu$eholds when C9mpQ.red with the
proPQrtion Of the hou$eholds by mother ton~ue. Muslim children
in general and Muslim girJs in particul~r are the other groups
jiof children who are educationally deprived.
In addi tion to
this, Muslim household heads are found · to have high preference
for their children to attend Koran school than government
school, and there is high Koran school attendance among Muslim
children.
Economic conditions are the main factors determining household
demand for schooling.
Family weal th and distance from school
have high influence on school participation, while household
heads'
educational
level
has
weak relation
wi th
family
educational consumption.
Based
on
the
findings
obtained,
the
following
recommendations are made.
Future enrollment in most of the
schools must be preceded by the construction of some additional
classrooms, or operating with double shift is another option.
In order to attract more children to school and to reduce drop-
out, the present full-day school time need to be reduced to one
session and change of school schedule according to local
situation are required.
Other than this,
improvement of
economic condi tion of the society, persuading communi ty about
the value of education and ini tiating li teracy program are
suggested to increase school participation.
To increase
females' school participa tion, the recrui tment and training of
female teachers in primary schools and giving priori ty for
females in job employment are suggested
Description
Keywords
Household Demand for Schooling