Accessibility to primary education by children in Myanmar

Abstract

Primary education is the free compulsory education in Myanmar, however, every child does not access this education. This study aims to identify determining factors, including individuals, household and geographical factors, affecting the accessibility primary education among children aged 5-9 years old in Myanmar. This is a cross-sectional study using 10 percent samples of the 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census data. The study focuses on only children aged 5-9 years. The sample size is 460,086 children. The Binary Logistic Regression is used to figure out the determining factors. Overall, the girls, higher age children, child or grandchild of household head, children in household with female head, children in households with higher education head, children in households with less than 4 children, children in wealthier households, children in other States/Regions than Shan State are more likely to access primary education. Children with at least one difficulty and in urban areas are less likely to access primary education than the counterparts. The study suggests that the appropriate educational programs should focus on children live with the households with the lowest quintile