Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
260
improvements throughout the years was mostly for the children living in households in the
3rd and 4th wealth quintiles and mostly for attending school and not for finishing it.
 5 or more children in the household also has a negative effect on education outcomes.
 Speaking a language different than Urdu in the household did not use to affect education
outcomes in 1990 while this circumstance has a negative and significant marginal effect on
education indicators in 2012.
A detailed analysis of the results for each indicator could be found below:
Attendance to school for 6-11 year olds
In 2012, all circumstances except the location of the household affect children’s school
attendance.
 Living in rural areas did not have a negative effect in 1990 and it had a minor positive
effect in 2012 (2.5 percent).
 Compared to living in Punjab living in other regions (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and
Balochistan) decreases the likelihood of attending school for 6-11 year olds. But the
negative marginal effects in 2012 are smaller compared to the marginal effects in
1990.
 Living in a household with a household head that has no education, primary education
or secondary education (compared to a household head with higher education degree)
decrease the likelihood of school attendance both in 1990 and 2012 but in 2012
marginal effects are smaller.
 5 or more children in the household (compared to 1-2 children in the household)
decreases the likelihood of school attendance in both years.
 Living in a household in the 1 st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th quintile all decrease the likelihood of
attending school but the marginal effects decreased more for the 2 nd, 3rd and 4th
quintile while for the 1st quintile (the poorest) it remained more or less the same form
1990 to 2012. In 1990 a child living in one of the poorest households is 57.2 percent
less likely to attend school while this rate is still high with 50.4 percent in 2012.
 Speaking a language different than Urdu in the household did not use to affect
attendance in 1990 but in 2012 it decreased the chances of attending school by 7.2
percent.
 Negative marginal effect of being a girl decreased considerably from 1990 to 2012
from 22.8 percent to 9.7 percent. Hence being a girl still decreases the chances of
children for attending school but its impact decreased over time.
Attendance to school for 12-15 year olds
As of 2012, similar with attendance to school of the younger children, attendance to school of
children aged 12-15 years old is also affected from all circumstances except location of the
household. In addition, among the regions large and negative marginal effect of Balochistan on
school attendance of younger children cannot be seen for school attendance of older children
(compared to living in Punjab).
 Living in rural areas used to have a positive impact on school attendance of children
aged 12-15 years old in 1990 while this effect was not significant in 2012.