Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

enrolment ratios suggest that education attainment is largely conditioned by a society’s level of socioeconomicdevelopment and that larger gender gaps in schooling are observed in regions with lower overalleducational levels (ILO, 1995).Table 3.2 provides an overview of the relationship between the respondents’ level of educationand other background characteristics. The data show that younger respondents, especially women, aremore likely to have attended school than the older ones (92 and 89 percent of women age 15-19 and20-24, respectively, compared with 78 percent of those age 45-49).Table 3.2 shows that in contrast to women, higher proportions of male respondents complete secondaryschool, particularly at ages 20-24 and 25-29 years (22 and 23 percent of males compared with11 and 10 percent of women, respectively). High dropouts of girls at primary and secondary levels mayexplain some of the differences in educational attainment between women and men. Measures to enhanceretention of girls in school have been considered by the Zambian government. One such measure allowsgirls who drop out of school due to pregnancy to continue with their education after they have delivered.Table 3.2 also shows that education attainment varies greatly with type of residence. Given thedifferent socio-economic situations, respondents in rural areas have substantially lower educational attainmentcompared with their urban counterparts. For example, half of women in urban areas have attendedor completed secondary school, compared with only 16 percent of rural women.At the provincial level, rural provinces 1 have the highest proportion of respondents with noschooling, with Eastern province leading for both females and males (23 and 13 percent, respectively).The gender gap (the difference in percentage points between women and men) in the proportion reportingno schooling is 10 percent in Eastern province versus only 1 percent and 4 percent in Copperbelt and Lusakaprovinces.1This refers to all provinces of Zambia with the exception of Copperbelt and Lusaka.Characteristics of Respondents │ 27