Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
162
The difference in access between children with household head with no education versus head of
household with higher education has improved across all indicators between 1990 and 2012,
driven by increases in access rates by children belonging to the head of household with no
education (se . However, there are almost no improvements in access rates for 12-15
year olds (se Panel B), and even a decrease in access rates for students whose head of
household has higher education. The latter may due to students enrolling in private schools as
families with head of households with higher education tend to be wealthier and thus able to
afford private education. Private schools are supposed to report their enrolment numbers to the
government, however it does not always happen in practice and in the absence of a rigorous
monitoring system, it is difficult to track students moving between public and private systems.
Number of children in the household: Another circumstance/indicator that is closely related to
poverty is the number of children in the household. Classically, larger families tend to belong to
the poorest wealth quintile. In line with this trend, the DHS data shows that attendance and
completion rates for 6-11 year old and 12-15 year old cohorts are lowest for families with 5 or
more children and highest for families with only 1 or 2 children.
The difference in outcomes between children in small versus large families has increased over
time. Between 1990 and 2012, across all indicators, the percentage difference in access rates for
children in families with 1-2 children minus the rates of children in families with 5+ children has
increased significantly. Family size’s influence has increased over time.
Table 26 Education outcomes by number of children in the household
Number of children
in the household
Attendance to
school
(6-11 year olds)
Attendance to
school
(12-15 year olds)
Finishing 5 years
of education
(12-15 year olds)
Finishing 8 years
of education
(16-18 year olds)
1990 2012 1990 2012 1990 2012 1990 2012
5 or more children 52.8 70 51.9 56.6 37.3 44 28.7 31.9
3-4 children 56.6 77.4 54.3 66.4 40.3 53.1 30.4 42.2
1-2 children 59.6 81.8 54 70.5 46.9 64.1 33.7 50.6
Note: Authors’ calculations using DHS 1990 and DHS 2012
Gender: Between 1990 and 2012, the Gender Parity Index, calculated by dividing the rate for girls
with the rate for boys, has improved significantly across all 4 access indicators, going from 0.72
to 0.90 and 0.61 to 0.81 for 6-11 year old and 12-15 year old attendance rates respectively.
Completion rates also improved significantly, going from 0.66 to 0.94 and 0.58 to 0.82 for
completion rates of 5 years and 8 years of education. These rises are due to higher increases in
access by female students than increases in access by male students.