Child Schooling in Sidama: Predicting School Dropping out and Sex-Preference in Households’ Enrolment Decision

Abstract

This article examines the impediments of primary school attendance among young children amid at increasing gross primary school enrolment at both regional and federal levels. Accordingly, a survey was conducted on 263 randomly selected households in two rural localities of Sidama Zone, southern Ethiopia. In addition, an interview was made with 10 teachers and two principals of the local school to complement the survey data. The data generated were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative procedures. The findings reveal that the likelihood that households enroll school age children depends on family size and location of the households while the likelihood of child dropping out was found to significantly vary as a function of location suggesting a strong linkage between location and level of household poverty. On the other hand, preferential treatment of boys over girls while making enrollment decision was associated with father‟s literacy status, location, and gender of the household head. The policy implications that help strengthen the inclusion of disadvantaged children into the school system in view of achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015 are discussed.