Differentials in school attendance in South Africa: A household situational analysis across the Provinces

Abstract

The thesis examines the patterns of school attendance across the nine Provinces of South Africa. With reference to individuals of eligible age, school attendance is conceived of three statuses: effective attendance (those who are presently attending an educational institution), definitive non-attendance (those with no intentions of going back to school), and temporary non-attendance (possibility of going back to the educational system within a specified time frame). The focus of the study is on the primary and secondary levels of schooling. A household based approach is pursued to profile the extent to which young people aged 20 years and below either who attend/do not attend schooling institutions in each of the nine Provinces. Differentials in school attendance are examined along the lines of some socio-demographic and spatial variables drawn from the 2004 general household survey conducted by Statistics South Africa. The core hypothesis is that school attendance is subjected to the influence of both individual attributes and household characteristics. The study also attempts to profile the causes of non-attendance (definitive and temporary) through a set of instrumental variables. To complement this subjective profiling, appropriate statistical methods are used to assess the significance of contributing factors to non-school attendance at the household level.