Demographic

Some parents or guardians take the responsibility of accompanying their children to and fromschool. Table 18.3 shows that a majority (83 percent) of youths walk to school, 8 percent are alwaysaccompanied by an adult when going to school, and 5 percent are accompanied by an adult on their wayhome from school. Youth in the urban areas are more likely to be accompanied by an adult going to andcoming from school, while rural children are much more likely to walk. For example, 88 percent of ruralchildren walk to school compared with 50 percent of urban children.Supervision of youth also occurs within the school premises. In general, 68 percent of childrenage 12-14 report that a teacher or other adult is always present in classroom, 65 percent say that a teacheror other adult always watches children coming to or leaving school, and 63 percent say that a teacher oran adult always checks that no unauthorized person enters the school. Only 31 percent of children reportthat toilets are monitored by a teacher or an adult. There are marginal differentials across subgroups ofchildren.Table 18.3 Adult supervision going to and at schoolPercentage of children age 12-14 reporting caregiver or other adult accompanies child to and from school each day, percentagewalking to school, percentage reporting that at school an adult is always in classroom, always watches children entering or exitingschool, monitors the toilets, and checks that no unauthorized individuals enter school, according to background characteristics,Swaziland 2006-07BackgroundcharacteristicAdult alwaysaccompanies childFromhome toschoolFromschool tohomeChildwalks toschoolIs alwaysinclassroomAt school an adult:Watcheschildrenentering/existingschoolMonitorstoiletsChecks forunauthorizedindividualenteringschoolNumber ofchildrenSexFemale 8.0 5.0 81.0 65.6 62.9 30.8 61.9 446Male 7.0 3.9 85.9 69.8 68.0 32.1 63.3 384ResidenceUrban 15.2 6.4 50.1 67.6 68.1 26.9 63.2 100Rural 6.5 4.2 87.8 67.5 64.9 32.0 62.4 730RegionHhohho 9.0 4.8 83.4 69.6 59.9 28.9 61.5 209Manzini 11.1 6.5 75.6 71.5 68.1 28.5 63.2 240Shiselweni 5.0 3.9 87.8 61.2 71.3 38.7 68.3 210Lubombo 3.9 1.9 88.4 67.2 60.2 29.7 55.7 171Living arrangementsLiving with both parents 8.9 6.2 84.7 67.2 68.1 29.3 66.0 142Living with father/not mother 6.3 3.4 82.9 75.1 68.1 39.0 64.6 68Living with mother/not father 6.7 3.5 78.7 67.0 67.7 25.7 61.3 289Not living with either parent 8.2 4.6 86.2 66.9 61.0 36.0 60.1 310Missing (3.9) (8.7) (93.6) (62.3) (66.5) (31.5) (84.8) 21Orphanhood statusBoth parents alive 8.0 5.4 80.6 66.3 67.5 30.8 63.0 524Mother dead/father alive 2.9 2.9 88.3 69.2 64.5 31.5 61.2 70Father dead/mother alive 7.6 1.7 87.1 71.8 61.8 26.2 60.7 172Both parents dead 9.1 6.2 89.8 64.4 57.2 50.8 64.7 64OVC statusOrphan 1 6.8 2.9 87.9 69.6 61.5 32.5 61.7 306Vulnerable 2 (3.7) (0.0) (93.9) (67.6) (62.5) (32.8) (68.8) 32Orphan and vulnerable * * * * * * * 14Neither orphan nor vulnerable 8.3 5.6 79.9 66.5 67.6 30.5 63.1 506Total 7.5 4.5 83.3 67.5 65.3 31.4 62.5 830Note: Figures in parentheses are based on 25-49 unweighted cases. An asterisk indicates that an estimate is based on fewer than 25unweighted cases and has been suppressed.1One or both parents dead2Have a very sick parent or live in a household where an adult has been very sick or died in the past 12 months278 | Youth