Patterns of primary and secondary school attendance in Sierra Leone

The right to education is a fundamental principle championed in the international community’s goal, Education for All (EFA). This educational policy promises to expand access to education to all children by the year 2015. The current paper uses two of the EFA goals (Universal Primary Education (UPE) and equal gender parity) as a framework to assess patterns of school participation in Sierra Leone among children of official school going age. The country’s 2003/04 Integrated and Household Survey and 2008 Demographic and Household Survey are analysed. Results show that Sierra Leone will not attain UPE. Ever attendance at school is positively associated with age of the child; the opposite is true of net attendance. Differences between sexes only emerge at secondary school. Inequalities in access are most pronounced between the richest and poorest households, followed by rural and urban areas, then by sex. Future policies should encourage entry into school at the official age and make more effort to target poor and rural children.