Gibbison, Godfrey; Murthy, Nittala
Author Affiliation, Ana.
Department of Economics
An assessment of the problem of irregular school attendance among primary school children in Jamaica
Social and economic studies
Date of Publication
Notes that Jamaica achieved universal enrollment for children in primary school in 1977 and that the average Jamaican adult now completes nine years of formal schooling. Laments that the country is still far from eliminating illiteracy; many children are illiterate at the end of grade 6 and many young adults have no formal qualifications of any kind. Suggests that school enrollment is not the same as school attendance. Furthermore, sporadic attendance is a major problem within the school system leading to inadequate learning with the result that after receiving nine years of schooling the academic competence of many children has hardly been expanded. Investigates the factors responisble for sporadic efforts on the part of households to send children to school at the primary level. Concludes that the household economic situation is important in determining school attendance, that girls are more likely to attend school on a regular basis than boys and that boys' attendance at school depends on whether there is a male presence in the household.....