| dc.description.abstract | Not all children who complete primary school go on to secondary education.
Some families cannot afford to continue sending their children to school while
others decide whether it is worthwhile to enroll their children in secondary school
since they associate education with benefits, or losses that come as a cost either
directly in terms of fees or as an opportunity cost associated with lower
resources available for household consumption. This indirect opportunity cost
and the value of a childs time will depend on the personal characteristics of the
child (age, sex) and the value that the parents place on the childs time.
Apart from these household based factors, there are school based factors that
are likely to playa role in determining the payoff from education. Such factors as
capacity of the system, school inputs, curriculum, school fees including all
expenditure on secondary education, teacher experience, pupil/teacher ratio
among many others. In this study, school expenditure and the pupil/teacher ratio
are considered in this respect. It is shown that these two factors can influence
the decision about enrolment.
Further still there are environmental factors like whether a child is in rural or
urban area and the distance to school which also playa role in school enrolment
just like the quality of school in terms of inputs. If a school is located near the
households dwelling unlt; then children from that household are more likely to
be enrolled in the school since the transport/commuting time and cost is
reduced. The further a school is located or the longer it takes to get to the
nearest school the lower the probability that children will be enrolled.
This study merges some district level data with data from Welfare Monitoring
Survey, WMS III of 1997 in ~1e analysis of these three groups of factors. It is
found that these factors affect enrolment and in doing so, creates gender
disparity in the secondary education system. More girls were found not to be
attending secondary school as compared to boys. Based on the findings of this
study, incentives for enrolment are recommended, especially for girls. These
include: Differential schooling cost, increased public subsidies, bursaries and
scholarships to assist the needy students, incentives for greater new investment
in market provision of secondary schools in order to improve on school quality,
collaboration with non-governmental organizations and constituency
development committees in establishing new schools and finally, incorporating a
Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) clause in the wages and pensions bargaining
agreements. | en |
