12.07.2015 Views

Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

2.4 EDUCATIONAL LEVEL OF HOUSEHOLD POPULATIONEducation is a key determinant of the lifestyle <strong>and</strong> status an individual enjoys in a society. Studiesconsistently show that educational attainment has a substantial effect on reproductive behaviour,contraceptive use, fertility, infant <strong>and</strong> child mortality, morbidity, <strong>and</strong> attitudes <strong>and</strong> awareness related to familyhealth <strong>and</strong> hygiene.Formal education in <strong>Zambia</strong> is based on a three-tier system: primary education consisting of 7 years,junior secondary school consisting of 2 years, <strong>and</strong> senior secondary school consisting of 3 years. Uponcompletion of secondary school, someone may choose to further his/her education by either going to theuniversity for 4 to 7 years, depending on the field of study, <strong>and</strong> obtain a degree or attending a vocational ortechnical institute for a two to three-year certificate/diploma course. The main goal is for the nation to meetits human resource requirement in the socio-economic <strong>and</strong> political sectors thereby leading to nationaldevelopment. The Government of the Republic of <strong>Zambia</strong> has recently (<strong>2002</strong>) declared free education for allfor grades 1-7 (primary education). This change in policy was motivated by an effort to make free educationaccessible so that literacy rates will improve.2.4.1 Educational Attainment of the Household PopulationDuring the <strong>2001</strong>-<strong>2002</strong> Z<strong>DHS</strong> survey, information on educational attainment was collected for everymember of the household age 5 <strong>and</strong> over. The results are presented in Table 2.4 <strong>and</strong> Figure 2.3. Data on theeducational attainment among youth suggest that there has been progress in achieving the goal of universaleducation.Table 2.4 shows the percent distribution of the de facto male <strong>and</strong> female population age 6 <strong>and</strong> over,by the highest level of education attained, according to selected background characteristics. Overall, morefemales than males have no education (25 percent <strong>and</strong> 18 percent, respectively). More than four in ten(42 percent of males <strong>and</strong> 45 percent of females) have some primary education. The proportion of males whocompleted primary <strong>and</strong> secondary education is slightly higher than the respective proportion of females.Figure 2.3 <strong>and</strong> Table 2.4 show that the proportions of persons with no education are markedly higher amongthose in the 6-9 age group (many of whom have not yet started school) <strong>and</strong> among those age 50 <strong>and</strong> above.There are urban-rural differences in educational attainment. Seven percent of males in urban areas<strong>and</strong> 2 percent in rural areas have attained more than a secondary level of education, compared with 4 percentof females in urban areas <strong>and</strong> 1 percent in rural areas. About 32 percent of females <strong>and</strong> 23 percent of males inrural areas have no education. In urban areas, 13 percent of females <strong>and</strong> 9 percent of males have noeducation. Results from past <strong>DHS</strong> surveys in <strong>Zambia</strong> indicate that the proportion of children attending schoolhas decreased slightly over the 10-year period between the surveys. In 1992, 11 percent of boys <strong>and</strong> girls age10-14 had never attended school; in 1996, 13 percent of males <strong>and</strong> 12 percent of females had never attendedschool; <strong>and</strong> in <strong>2001</strong>-<strong>2002</strong>, 14 percent of males <strong>and</strong> 15 percent of females age 10-14 had never attendedschool.Characteristics of Households <strong>and</strong> Respondents | 15

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!