Abstract
While Ethiopia has seen a rapid expansion of school enrollment over the past 25 years, especially in primary education, dropout, absenteeism, and grade repetition remain key challenges to achieving the education-related Sustainable Development Goals. This article uses the 2017/18 Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) survey of 6800 Ethiopian adolescents and regression analysis to examine how exposure to and /or experience of violence (from peers and at home), adolescent decision-making power in the household, and paid and unpaid child work are related to absenteeism, dropout, and on-time completion in primary school. The findings provide empirical evidence on the positive association between adolescent decision-making power in the household and educational outcomes and the negative relationships between adolescent education and both exposure to and /or experience of violence and paid and unpaid child work. We explore variations in the magnitude and robustness of these associations across gender, age cohort, and rural/urban residential location. Our findings suggest that programs which enhance decision-making power of adolescents in the household reduce exposure to and/or experience of violence among peers and at home and reduce participation in paid and unpaid child work which can improve adolescent educational attainment.
Highlights
Increased human capital is an important component of economic growth, development, and poverty reduction (Aghion et al 1999; Barro 1997)
We find suggestive evidence among the younger cohort of dropouts that adolescent decision-making power in the household is associated with lower dropout prior to completing grade 4 (2.5 p.p., p < 0.1), and among the older cohort that wealth protects from dropout before completing grade 8 (8.9 p.p., p < 0.1)
Our findings suggest that adolescent decision-making power in the household, exposure and/or experience to peer and household violence, and paid and unpaid work all play a significant role in adolescents’ educational outcomes in Ethiopia, alongside other demographic, household characteristics, and locations such as gender, health, wealth, and urban residence
Summary
Increased human capital is an important component of economic growth, development, and poverty reduction (Aghion et al 1999; Barro 1997). The country experienced rapid growth in primary schools from 1996–2020 that helped increase net primary enrollment in first cycle primary education (grades 1–4) from 87% (85% for females, 88% for males) in 2009/10 to 104% (99% for females, 109% for males) in 2019/20. Another important issue is age-for-grade appropriateness which arises mainly due to grade repetition and/or late entry into school. It contributes to the widening gap between gross enrollment and net enrollment by decreasing completions of first cycle (grade 4) and second cycle (grade 8) at 10 and 14 years old, respectively. The high rates of Absenteeism, Dropout, and On‐Time School Completion of
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