Analysis of School Enrollment in Ghana: A Sequential Approach

Abstract

n this paper, we depart from the standard way of analyzing school enrollment by accounting explicitlyfor educational selectivity in order to examine the determinants of child school enrollment in Ghana.Using data from the Ghana Living Standard Survey round 6 (GLSS 6), we estimate a three-stepsequential logit model for the determinants of secondary school enrollment and its dependence oncompleting primary school. We find that family resources such as parental education, household incomeand the gender of the head of the household play a role in households’ child schooling decisions.Educated parents are relatively more likely to enroll their children in primary school and keep them inschool until they complete primary education. As well, we show that educated parents do not promote agender-biased investment in the schooling of children at the primary level. While household welfare doesnot influence children’s entry into primary school importantly, their completion of primary schooldepends on household welfare. The study sheds more light on the pro-male bias phenomenon regardingentry into primary school and primary school completion. Policies to promote the achievement ofSustainable Development Goal 4 in Ghana must be grade sensitive.

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Keywords

School Enrollment, Ghana, Sequential Approach, Sub-Saharan Africa

Citation