Determinants of School Choice: Understanding How Parents' Choose Primary School for Their Children in Arba Minch, Southern Ethiopia

摘要

Almost all parents want to educate their children in the best possible educational environment. Their decision to invest in children depends on a number of social, economic and cultural factors. Education in Ethiopia is offering by both public and private sector educational institutions. It is free of cost in public schools whereas in private schools, the parents have to bear the financial burden. For the last two decades private sector is emerging as an important source of imparting education in Ethiopia particularly in the study area. Many aspects regarding the education system of Ethiopia have been discussed in various studies so far. However, the factors which motivate the parents to make a decision about private sector are yet to be explored. The present study was conducted in Arba Minch town to scrutinize the factors which motivate the parents to educate their children in private schools. Primary data was collected for this purpose from 119 parents of elementary school students. The results were derived by using descriptive as well as inferential analysis. The logistic regression analysis suggests that parents' perceptions play an important role in the school-choice decision. In particular, perceptions of school quality, cost of school, and teacher performance emerge as key determinants of private school choice. Additionally, age of the child, monthly income of household, distance from home to school, and numbers of children in family have a significant impact on parents' probability of choosing a private school for their child. In the context of Ethiopia, we can therefore conclude that the school-choice decision is a combination of child, household and school characteristics. Moreover, these findings are important in unraveling the factors based on which parents decide which type of school to send their children.