Sri Lanka - Institut de statistique de l'Unesco

Out-of-School Children in Sri Lanka: Country Study
3.2 Demand-side economic barriers and bottlenecks
Demand-side economic barriers to education centre on family poverty, which is closely linked to
child labour and the migration of mothers.
Poverty
Analysis of data from the DHS 2006/07 indicates that there is relatively little disparity by wealth
quintile for primary-school-age children; however, this increases for secondary-school-age
children (see Table 2.13). Indeed, a Central Bank survey in 2005 concludes that there was a
negative relationship between income level and non-schooling rates: school avoidance declined
as income rose. Thus, school avoidance rates were calculated to be 2.8 percent for the poorest
quintile and 1.3 percent for the richest quintile (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2005). Moreover,
smaller studies specifically on OOSC and child labourers often cite ‘poverty’ and ‘financial
difficulties’ as the main reason for children being out of school. It is not always clear whether
families cannot afford the actual costs of schooling or whether the opportunity costs are too high.
Data from the 2001 population census for about one third of the most economically backward
divisions in the country present a clear picture of the link between poverty and the lack of
education (DCS, 2006). The proportion of the population below the national poverty line in these
divisions ranged from 37.3 percent in Badulla to 6.4 percent in Colombo. Eight districts from the
conflict-affected Northern and Eastern Provinces were not included in the analysis, thus leaving
out the worst affected regions. The highest percentages of children not attending school in
selected divisions were from Ratnapura (16.0 percent), Colombo (14.1 percent), Galle (12.2
percent), Kalutara (12.2 percent), Ampara (11.8 percent), Batticaloa (11.5 percent), Puttalam
(11.5 percent), Badulla (11.4 percent) and Matara (10.1 percent). These figures indicate that
those disadvantaged in education are found not only in remote and difficult districts but also in
pockets of disadvantage in better-off districts. Of the above districts, Ampara, Batticaloa and
Puttalam were also affected by the conflict.
In 2006, while the national dropout rate for children aged 5–14 years was less than five percent,
it was between six percent and 15 percent for 15 of the 100 most economically disadvantaged
divisions (DCS, 2006).
Arunatilake (2005) in her analysis of Sri Lanka Integrated Survey (SLIS) data found that despite
large-scale government spending on education, out-of-pocket expenditure on education was
quite high. As much as 27 percent of total spending on education came from private sources. On
average, expenditure on education for a child in the richest quintile was SLRs 518 (US$ 6.80) per
month, while it was SLRs 121 (US$ 1.60) per month for a child in the poorest quintile. A significant
proportion of private spending on education was on clothing, stationery, private coaching and
books. She also found that the type of employment, and hence the income, of the head of the
household was statistically significant in explaining the schooling of children. Households where
the head owned farmland, was employed in the informal sector or was not working were most
likely to have children out of school. Moreover, living in a community where the main livelihood
was agriculture or fishing increased the likelihood of children being out of school compared to
communities where the main livelihood was employment in services. She suggested that, as
agricultural communities provide more opportunities for employment, the opportunity costs of
staying in school are increased for children from agricultural households. MOE et al. (2009)
reported that some parents had difficulties in meeting the economic costs of educating their
children.
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