Change in educational attendance
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EDUCATION
Table 8.2: Population 6-24 years not attending school, by school age, sex, and by residence, reason for not attending in percentages
Residence, reason for non-attendance
School-age, sex Primary
Secondary Tertiary
Male Female
Both sexes
Male Female
Both sexes
Male Female
Both sexes
Urban 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
Distance access 4
4 4
2 3
3 1
5 3
Economic reasons 12
7 9
53 6
22 52
4 27
Cultural reasons 10
36 25
6 60
43 3
57 31
Insecurity 1
2 1
1 3
2 5
6 5
Problems with school 16
10 13
19 12
14 11
10 10
Child too young 44
26 33
Other reasons 14
15 15
19 15
16 28
19 23
Rural 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
Distance access 32
28 30
23 23
23 16
22 20
Economic reasons 11
3 7
43 4
19 46
3 22
Cultural reasons 8
35 24
6 53
35 6
54 32
Insecurity 7
6 7
5 6
6 6
8 7
Problems with school 23
15 19
17 10
12 10
7 8
Child too young 13
8 10
Other reasons 6
4 5
6 4
5 16
6 11
Kuchi 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
Distance access 60
60 60
55 55
55 54
56 55
Economic reasons 8
3 6
24 4
14 22
2 11
Cultural reasons 5
23 14
2 27
14 7
25 16
Insecurity 1
Problems with school 12
7 10
8 6
7 5
7 6
Child too young 3
1 2
Other reasons 12
5 9
12 8
10 12
10 11
National 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
Distance access 33
29 31
24 22
23 14
20 17
Economic reasons 11
4 7
42 5
19 46
3 23
Cultural reasons 7
34 23
5 52
35 5
53 31
Insecurity 6
5 6
4 5
5 6
7 6
Problems with school 21
14 17
16 10
12 10
7 8
Child too young 14
9 11
Other reasons 7
5 6
8 6
7 19
9 14
The non-attendance reason of ‘problems with school’ refer to issues like schools being temporarily closed, providing poor quality education or not allowing students access. According the survey, this is a major cause of non-attendance,
although more so at the level of primary education 17 percent than at secondary 12 percent and tertiary 8 percent levels, and more for boys than for girls. The motivation that children are too young largely refers to six-year olds. This
indicates that the recent decrease in admission age from seven to six for primary schools does not yet enjoy wide support or is not yet widely known.
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EDUCATION
Insecurity is primarily a rural obstacle for participation in education, and also the distance to or absence of educational facilities is almost entirely restricted to rural populations and is even by far the most important reason for the Kuchi.
Assuming that under normal circumstances two kilometres is an acceptable walking distance for primary-school students, only around half of Afghan households live within easy reach of primary education facilities: 54 percent within
two kilometres of boys primary schools and 48 percent within that range for girls primary education Figure 8.4. This would imply that some 2.5 million children in primary school age 7 to 12 years do not have access to school within two
kilometres distance. The percentage of households that have physical access to primary education within ive kilometres distance would be 69 percent for boys education and 60 percent for girls education. This corresponds to around 1.8
million children in primary school age.
Figure 8.4: Households within two kilometres distance from primary education facilities, by sex of student population, and by residence in percentages
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Urban Rural
Kuchi National
95
44 29
54 97
36 27
48
Boys Girls
Disparity of physical accessibility by residence is very large. Whereas almost all urban households live within acceptable walking distance from primary education facilities, in rural areas the corresponding percentages for households that
have, respectively, boys and girls primary education within two kilometres are only 44 and 36. The igures for Kuchi households are even far below that. Expanding the distance criterion to 5 kilometres would imply that of all rural primary
school age children, some 63 percent boys and 51 percent girls live within this distance from relevant education facilities. For Kuchi children – boys and girls alike – this would only be 42 percent, whereas for urban children virtually all can
reach school within ive kilometres.