Academic literature on the topic 'Enrolment decline'
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Journal articles on the topic "Enrolment decline"
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Bedi, A. S. "The Decline in Primary School Enrolment in Kenya." Journal of African Economics 13, no. 1 (March 1, 2004): 1–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jae/13.1.1.
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Igberaharha, Clever Omovigho, and Moses Onyesom. "Strategies for boosting students’ enrolment into business education programme of colleges of education." International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE) 10, no. 3 (September 1, 2021): 1107. http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v10i3.22005.
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<span>A close observation in recent times has shown a steady decline of students’ enrolment into business education programme especially in the colleges of education. The situation is becoming worrisome considering the social implications it has on the education industry. Thus, the study was conducted to determine strategies for boosting students’ enrolment into business education programme of colleges of education in Delta State. Design of this research was descriptive survey and 118 business education lecturers in the colleges of education in Delta State participated in the survey. Data were collected with questionnaire. The results of data analysis showed that the respondents agreed that the attracting and retaining strategies considered in the study were necessary frameworks for boosting students’ enrolment into business education programme. The test of hypotheses showed that irrespective of the years of work experience of the respondents, their responses did not differ significantly. This indicated that the examined attracting and retaining strategies were critical for boosting students’ enrolment. It was concluded that the attracting and retaining strategies determined by the study are effective means of reversing the steady decline of students’ enrolment experienced in recent years at the colleges of education in Delta State, Nigeria.</span>
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Hamid, Shahnaz, and Rehana Siddiqui. "Gender Differences in Demand for Schooling." Pakistan Development Review 40, no. 4II (December 1, 2001): 1077–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.30541/v40i4iipp.1077-1092.
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The comparison of human development indicators in Table 1 shows that Pakistan’s performance is below the average for South Asian countries and below the average for the developing countries. Furthermore, gender differences in human development are also significant within country and across countries. For example, in 1999, differences in male and female literacy rate was 24 points in Pakistan, higher then the difference in less developed countries (equalling 15 points). [See HDC (2001)]. Similarly, within Pakistan, male literacy rate increased from 35 percent in 1980-81 to 56.6 percent in 1998-99 whereas female literacy rate increased from 16 percent in 1980-81 to 32.6 percent in 1998-99. This shows that despite doubling of female literacy rate, the gap between male and female literacy rate widened from 19 percent in 1980-81 to 24 percent in 1998-99. Similarly, another indicator of human capital, i.e., the net enrolment rates at primary level exhibited a declining trend in 1990s, particularly among males. An important reason for the decline could be rise in poverty. Table 2 shows a sustained increase in net enrolment ratio with income, and the positive income effect is higher in urban areas. In rural areas, the enrolment rate increases with income but there is slight decline in female enrolment rate at the highest income level. Thus, despite rapid rise in female enrolment the gender, differences persist and income is the main factor affecting demand for education.
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Watkins, Peter. "SCHOOL CLOSURE: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND ACTION IN THE FACE OF ENROLMENT DECLINE." Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 7, no. 1 (October 1986): 78–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0159630860070105.
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Pandita, Ramesh. "Enrolment & Dropout Percentage among Boys & Girls up to Secondary Level in India: A Comparative Study." International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences 49 (March 2015): 123–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ilshs.49.123.
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Purpose: The present paper seeks to examine the enrolment and dropout percentage of children in India, supported with empirical findings up to secondary level. Although, the study is general in nature, but the emphasis has been laid on the girl child education, which is one of the greatest concerns in the Indian school education sector. Some of the aspects studied include, enrolment and dropout of children during the period of study, under both boys and girls category, their corresponding growth rate in enrolment, their corresponding decline rate in dropout and many other allied aspects.Scope: The study is confined to secondary level education and the findings have direct bearing on the Indian school education system. Given the population size of India and the socioeconomic conditions of the country, there is a need to observe caution, while generalizing the findings for other countries.Methodology/Approach: The present study is purely based on the analysis of secondary data retrieved from the official website of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Govt., of India. The data lasts for the decade 2001-02 to 2010-11 and was retrieved on October 02, 2014. Since the data on the website stands up-dated up to the year 2010-11, as such the findings simply reflect a trend in the enrolment and dropout percentage in India and may show variation by the time figures are updated.Findings: The study reveals that during the period of study, the enrolment percentage of girls has improved over two fold to that of boys. As, compared to 18.17% increase in the overall enrolment of boys, the enrolment percentage of girls increased by 40.52% during the decade. The corresponding growth surely reflects the changed mindset of male dominated Indian social setup towards the girl child. Even, the average annual dropout percentage of girls remained better to that of boys, as the girls recorded a corresponding decline in their dropout percentage by 3.53%, while as in case of boys the dropout percentage declined by 2.54% annually. Despite all these positives, the discouraging part is that compared to 57.39% boys, 60.39% girls’ dropout by or before reaching the upper primary level and against 78.40% boys, 81.72% girls’ dropout by or before reaching the secondary level.Social Implications: Given the new and changed world order, no country can afford to remain elusive of basic formal education, what is commonly known as elementary education and so holds true of India. The study is a positive indicator of the growing awareness among Indian masses towards the promotion of girl child education, but still there is lot yet to be done to reduce the dropout percentage between upper primary and secondary level for both boys in general and girls in particular.
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Rahim Hanafi, Munazza. "HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: ANALYSIS ON STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO, STUDENT ENROLMENT, EDUCATION EXPENDITURE AND NUMBER OF UNIVERSITIES IN SINDH." International Journal of Advanced Research 9, no. 5 (May 31, 2021): 413–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/ijar01/12854.
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Development and social safety of a country rely more on all the actions that involve proficiency, knowledge and highly qualified manpower who can bridge between new opportunities and job demand. Number of higher education institutions, student-teacher ratio whichdepict quality of education, student enrolment in universities and availability of qualified teachers is vital for the promotion of quality education with a smooth transaction of academic activities across the country. This research study is an effort to measure the situation of public and private universities in Sindh by focusing on the number of universities, student-teacher ratio in public and private sector, number of teachers and Sindh education expenditure. Date included in the study to achieve the objective has been reviewed and examined from the available source (Pakistan Education Statistic). An increase can be seen in the public universities but still there are more private universities in Sindh. Data reveals that the number of teachers in both university sectors has declined and there is an increasing trend of part time teachers in respective universities. Prominent decline can be seen in public sector university enrolmentswhereas increasing percentage ofstudent enrolments has been identified in private sector universities of Sindh.
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Patel, Anuj V., Samuel M. Abrams, Charlotte A. Gaydos, Mary Jett-Goheen, Carl A. Latkin, Richard E. Rothman, and Yu-Hsiang Hsieh. "Increasing HIV testing engagement through provision of home HIV self-testing kits for patients who decline testing in the emergency department: a pilot randomisation study." Sexually Transmitted Infections 95, no. 5 (June 14, 2018): 358–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2018-053592.
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ObjectiveUp to 60% of patients decline routine HIV testing offer in US emergency departments (EDs). The objective of this study is to determine whether the provision of HIV self-testing (HIVST) kit would increase engagement of HIV testing among these HIV test ‘Decliners’.MethodsPatients who declined a test offered in an ED-based triage nurse-driven HIV screening programme were enrolled and randomised to either the HIVST or the control group. The patients in the HIVST group received HIVST kits to take home, were encouraged to report test results to an established internet-based STI/HIV testing recruitment website ‘I Want the Kit’ (IWTK) and received five referral cards for their peers to request HIVST kits from IWTK. The control group received pamphlets about publicly available HIV testing sites. HIV testing from both groups after enrolment was determined via telephone follow-up at 1 month. Testing rate ratio (RR) was determined using χ2 tests.ResultsFifty-two patients were randomised to the HIVST group and 48 to the control group. Among all 64 patients completing any follow-up, 14/29 (48%) patients in the HIVST group tested themselves at home with the provided kit. Four of these had never had an HIV test. Only 2/35 (6%) in the control group reported having an HIV test after enrolment (RR: 8.45 (95% CI: 2.09 to 34.17)). 57% (8/14) in the HIVST group reported test results to IWTK.ConclusionProvision of HIVST kits supplements ED-based screening programme and significantly improved engagement of HIV testing among those test ‘Decliners’ in the ED.Trial registration numberNCT03021005, results.
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Kola, Aina, Jacob. "The Decline in Science Students’ Enrolment in Nigerian Colleges of Education: Causes and Remedies." International Journal of Education and Practice 6, no. 4 (2018): 167–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.18488/journal.61.2018.64.167.178.
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Blicblau, Aaron. "Engaging Materials in the K1 to K12 School Environment as the Foundation for Engineering and Technology." Advanced Materials Research 422 (December 2011): 716–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.422.716.
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There is a need to re-vitalize science and technology education to suit today’s world. The specific aim for this study is to determine how school science in early years of schooling impacts on years 11 and 12 science studies in the areas of materials science, and subsequent further tertiary studies. Public education records were investigated to obtain post hoc enrolment data to establish trends and decline in enrolments in physics and chemistry in the final years of high school which revealed a trend in enrolments falling over a ten year period. The student population in science of physics and chemistry were not well prepared for future studies and are a challenge for students undertaking engineering and technology studies at a tertiary level. It is proposed that primary and high school science subjects be made more popular by integrating popular aspects of materials in everyday life, so making science an appealing part of the syllabus. Initiating these syllabus changes will enhance the way science subjects are taught to encourage studies into engineering.
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Bucchieri, Salvatore, Pietro Alfano, Palma Audino, Fabio Cibella, Giovanni Fazio, Salvatore Marcantonio, and Giuseppina Cuttitta. "Lung Function Decline in Adult Asthmatics—A 10-Year Follow-Up Retrospective and Prospective Study." Diagnostics 11, no. 9 (September 7, 2021): 1637. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11091637.
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Asthma may have an impact on lung function decline but conflicting results are reported in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) decline. We aimed to describe the changes in FEV1 in lifelong non-smoking adult asthmatic outpatients during a 10-year follow-up comparing years 1–5 (1st period) with years 6–10 (2nd period) to assess factors affecting these changes. A total of 100 outpatients performed spirometry every 3 months during a 10-year survey. FEV1/Ht3 slope values of the 2nd period reduced significantly respect to the 1st period (p < 0.0001). FEV1 slopes of years 1–5 and 6–10 were inversely associated with FEV1 at enrolment (p = 0.02, p = 0.01, respectively). Reversibility and variability FEV1 showed a significant effect on the 1st period slopes (p = 0.01 and p < 0.04, respectively). Frequent exacerbators in the 1st year had steeper FEV1/Ht3 slopes in the 1st period (p = 0.01). The number of subjects using higher doses of ICS was significantly lower at the 10th years respect to the 5th and the 1st year (p < 0.001, p = 0.003, respectively). This study shows that FEV1 decline in treated adult asthmatics non-smokers, over 10-year follow-up, is not constant. In particular, it slows down over time, and is influenced by FEV1 at enrolment, reversibility, variability FEV1 and exacerbation score in the 1st year.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Enrolment decline"
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Bathgate, Jeanne M. "School Closure – A Case Study." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1777.
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This case study looks at the impact of closing an urban secondary school. It considers the experiences of the students, the staff and the parents. It does not argue with the decision to close the school but concentrates on the experience for those most closely involved. The thesis is guided by the main research question which is: “What is the impact of school closure on the various elements of a school community and is there a way to close a school and minimise this impact?” Supplementary questions seek to describe how the closure was undertaken and what factors can be identified which helped ease the transition for those involved. While seeking to develop theory grounded in the research the findings have also been informed by theory associated with grief, place attachment, emotion in the workplace and change. Unpublished primary documents such as transcripts of group interviews, responses to written questionnaires and minutes of meetings are the basic sources of data for this thesis. The researcher was an active participant in the closure and well known to all respondents. The thesis concludes that although keeping the school open for the final year was of benefit to the morale and adjustment of staff it was probably less beneficial for the students involved. It suggests that with proper counselling support and identification of the closure as a critical incident, a quick closure would help student learning outcomes and prevent teacher de-skilling. It also confirms the importance of a school, or probably any institution, in the emotional life of those associated with it. Note: The students in this study range in age from 13 to 18 years of age in Years 7 through to 12.
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Bathgate, Jeanne M. "School Closure – A Case Study." University of Sydney, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1777.
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Doctor of EducationThis case study looks at the impact of closing an urban secondary school. It considers the experiences of the students, the staff and the parents. It does not argue with the decision to close the school but concentrates on the experience for those most closely involved. The thesis is guided by the main research question which is: “What is the impact of school closure on the various elements of a school community and is there a way to close a school and minimise this impact?” Supplementary questions seek to describe how the closure was undertaken and what factors can be identified which helped ease the transition for those involved. While seeking to develop theory grounded in the research the findings have also been informed by theory associated with grief, place attachment, emotion in the workplace and change. Unpublished primary documents such as transcripts of group interviews, responses to written questionnaires and minutes of meetings are the basic sources of data for this thesis. The researcher was an active participant in the closure and well known to all respondents. The thesis concludes that although keeping the school open for the final year was of benefit to the morale and adjustment of staff it was probably less beneficial for the students involved. It suggests that with proper counselling support and identification of the closure as a critical incident, a quick closure would help student learning outcomes and prevent teacher de-skilling. It also confirms the importance of a school, or probably any institution, in the emotional life of those associated with it. Note: The students in this study range in age from 13 to 18 years of age in Years 7 through to 12.
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Healy, Kevin M. "Decline, growth and amalgamation : an emerging picture in relation to the provision of post-primary education in Ireland with specific reference to five towns in West Cork and the enrolment trends between Catholic and State-Sector schools therein." Thesis, University of Hull, 2003. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:10113.
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This thesis traces the origin and development of post-primary education in Ireland with specific reference to the different forms of post-primary school. It examines recent and current trends in relation to the number of, and enrolment in, these school types. This analysis, at national level, points towards a change in postprimary enrolment patterns. The implications of this change for Catholic schools is examined, as is the implications for the various Vocational Education Committees. Consequent to this changing enrolment trend, the process towards amalgamation and the consequences thereof are also investigated. Specifically, the five main towns in West Cork, that are serviced by more than one form of post-primary school. are examined and the educational provision in these towns is assessed in relation to viability and future educational provision. These towns are Bantry, Dunmanway, Clonakilty, Skibbereen and Bandon. The enrolment trends in each of these towns are examined and compared with both the national trend and the trend in the other four towns. This examination is achieved through an identification of the 'feeder' primary schools for each of these towns, the current transfer pattern of students in these schools to the various post-primary schools and an examination of current enrolment within the various year groupings of these primary schools. From this examination, a projection is made of future enrolment in each of the post-primary schools within the five towns. This, in tum, leads to an identification of future possible amalgamations and a justification of amalgamations already proposed by the Department of Education and Science. The thesis concludes by making several recommendations which would safeguard the ethos of Catholic schools in the light of a declining secondary school enrolment, a growth in amalgamations and an increasingly significant role for the VECs in the provision of post-primary education. These recommendations would also ease the process of amalgamations in schools that are not viable, either economically or in terms of curricular provision.
Books on the topic "Enrolment decline"
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S, Bedi Arjun, ed. The decline in primary school enrolment in Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, 2002.
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Qian, Nancy. The Effect of China’s One Child Policy on Sex Selection, Family Size, and the School Enrolment of Daughters. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198829591.003.0014.
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A large economics literature provides evidence that parents trade-off the quantity of children with the quality of children, which implies that child ‘quality’ declines as family size increases. Child psychologists argue that increases in the number of children can increase the child quality because it provides children with opportunities to teach and learn from each other. Alternatively, there may simply be economies of scale in childcare costs for items such as clothes and textbooks such that an additional child lowers the marginal cost of quality for all children. Both China and India have experimented with different family planning policies to limit family size. This study addresses the effect of family size by examining the impact of increasing the number of children from one to two on school enrolment in rural China. To establish causality, the author exploits region and birth year variation in relaxations of the one child policy.
Book chapters on the topic "Enrolment decline"
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Hâj, Cezar Mihai, and Petrişor Laurenţiu Ţucă. "Access to Higher Education: Losing Precious Human Resources Before the Start Line." In Higher Education in Romania: Overcoming Challenges and Embracing Opportunities, 35–51. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94496-4_3.
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AbstractIn the last five years in Romania, a series of measures and policies have been adopted that aimed to increase the enrolment and participation of Romanian citizens in higher education. However, we are still witnessing a decline in the number of students even though Romania has the lowest proportion of graduates (30–34 years) with a higher education diploma in the EU. Through this paper, we will follow the educational path of students in final grades in upper secondary education to analyse how many of them graduated from the national baccalaureate exam and later became students. The data come from the interconnection of two important databases from the Romanian education system, the National Student Register (RMUR) and the Integrated Information System of Education in Romania (SIIIR). Access to higher education must be viewed not only from the perspective of the admissions process but also from the perspective of generational losses that have a direct impact on the human resources eligible for higher education. Thus, we will insist on analysing the “losses” of human capital registered in the national education system in the last year of study in pre-university education, looking at the same time at the characteristics of students who manage to enter higher education. The current analysis is based on the work done within the project “Quality in higher education: internationalization and databases for the development of Romanian education” (code POCU/472/6/8/126766/21.11.2018, implemented by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) in partnership with the Ministry of Education (ME).
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Santa, Robert, and Silvia I. Fierăscu. "Access Patterns in Romanian Higher Education. A Story of Asymmetry and Polarization." In Higher Education in Romania: Overcoming Challenges and Embracing Opportunities, 13–33. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94496-4_2.
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AbstractThe sharp decline in fertility rates that has occurred in Central and Eastern Europe in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of communist regimes has generated a realignment of social, economic and political realities across the region. Romania is no exception, and the ageing of its population has influenced a sharp reversal of the admissions boom of the 90s and 2000s. Universities are struggling to attract enough students while overall participation in higher education, when measured by the share of 30 to 34-year-olds with at least a bachelor’s degree, places Romania last among the 27 EU members. Drawing upon data from the National Matriculation Registry (RMU), the paper aims to analyse trends in student admissions and map university recruitment flows. The paper uses network analysis of existing student populations to identify universities with demographically vulnerable recruitment basins. The paper then discusses the impact of these vulnerabilities and analyse the wider challenges posed for universities by changing demographics and low cohort intakes. We find that variations in attractivity and demographic transformations combine to fuel a realignment of the structure of the Romanian Higher Education system that is already visible in enrolment patterns. This asymmetry does not only impact higher education but also development patterns and higher education funding policies. On the one hand, the paper informs policymakers on how existing demographic trends and recruitment flows are likely to influence the economic viability of existing universities, as well as how the currently low level of tertiary education attainment is reflected at a regional level. On the other hand, the paper encourages universities to rethink their competitive advantages in this revealed complex competition system to make better data-driven, evidence-based decisions when it comes to recruitment strategies in a context of scarcity and uncertainty.
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Nair, Pradeep. "Reimagining Higher Education in the Post-Pandemic World." In Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development, 1–9. IGI Global, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-6445-5.ch001.
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Higher education is often touted as a recession-proof occupation and industry. During a recession, jobs are lost, but people's hunger for higher education typically grows. The Covid-19 pandemic shattered this belief, particularly in the private higher education industry. The campus closures due to Covid-19 have led to a drastic decline in new student enrolment, increased student deferments while disrupting academic calendars and campus operations, with some universities and colleges likely to close down or merge. Institutions have had to pivot to online learning to try and maintain learning and business continuity. The pandemic accelerated digital adoption across the global higher education sector. For any recovery to be meaningful and sustainable, there must be reform. This chapter explores how higher education must transform in the new normal post Covid-19 pandemic. It implores university leaders to reimagine and adopt game changing strategies in curriculum design, assessment, and delivery in order to sustain and grow ahead of the market when the pandemic is over.
Conference papers on the topic "Enrolment decline"
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Craig, Annemieke, Catherine Lang, and Julie Fisher. "Twenty Years of Girls into Computing Days: Has It Been Worth the Effort?" In InSITE 2008: Informing Science + IT Education Conference. Informing Science Institute, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.28945/3221.
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The first documented day-long program to encourage girls to consider computing as a career was held in 1987 in the U.K. Over the last 20 years these one-day events, labeled Girls into Computing days, have been conducted by academics and professionals to foster female-student interest in information technology (IT) degrees and careers. This paper charts the growth and popularity of these types of events internationally and questions their effectiveness. The format of Girls in Computing days varies from giving students hands-on experiences with technology to exposure to women in the industry through seminars and presentations. They are mostly aimed at girls in the 12-16 year old age bracket. The underlying assumption of these events is that female students are not choosing IT degrees and careers because of a limited awareness of what an IT degree and career involves. The absence of any longitudinal evaluation on the success of Girls into Computing events is a glaring oversight. Success of previous events conducted in the UK, USA, and Australia has been evaluated mainly through pre-event and post-event attitudinal type surveying of students. These have all been positive, but any long-term attitudinal change has not been measured and some researchers suggest that the effects of Girls in Computing days have been negligible, a suggestion supported by a continued decline in female IT higher education enrolment statistics in all these countries.
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Nguyen Phung, Hang Thu, and Nahashon Nzioka Nthenya. "Women’s Education and Empowerment: Evidence from a Reform in Kenya." In 13th Women's Leadership and Empowerment Conference. Tomorrow People Organization, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.52987/wlec.2022.005.
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ABSTRACT This article examines the causal effects of education on women empowerment, focusing on women born between 1950 and 1980 in six waves of Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) data, who were likely exposed to 1985 education policy change in Kenya. The study employs this new structuring educational system as an instrument and reported the results using reduced-form due to high repetition rate and late enrolment at that time. The findings indicate that being exposed to the new education system yields positive impact on women empowerment. Specifically, being exposed to the 8-4-4 regime, women delayed their age at first birth by approximately 0.564 years, the female genital mutilation (FGM) practice on their eldest daughters declined by 3.51%, sexual domestic violence reduced by 6.47% and their decision-making index was enhanced by 0.067 point. We also conduct some robustness checks and placebo test, and the findings are robust. We provide some potential mechanisms that experiencing the new 8-4-4 system empowers women:1) exposure to information, 2) husbands/partners’ characteristics, and 3) labour market outcome. KEYWORDS: KDHS, education, women empowerment, Kenya, gende
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Miliszewska, Iwona, Gayle Barker, Fiona Henderson, and Ewa Sztendur. "The Issue of Gender Equity in Computer Science - What Students Say." In InSITE 2006: Informing Science + IT Education Conference. Informing Science Institute, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.28945/2986.
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The under-representation and poor retention of women in computing courses at Victoria University is a concern that has continued to defy all attempts to resolve it. Despite a range of initiatives created to encourage participation and improve retention of females in the courses, the percentage of female enrolments has declined significantly in recent years, from 32% in 1994 to 18% in 2004, while attrition rates soared to 40% in 2003. A recent research study investigated these negative trends with respect to gender equity in computing courses: of interest was the possibility of gender bias in the learning environment and its impact on female attrition rates. Focus groups and surveys involving computing students of both genders were used as data collection tools in the study. The overall findings from the focus groups were rather surprising, as they yielded no strong indication of gender bias in the learning environment of the computing course; this applied to the logistical arrangements, academic staff, pedagogical methods, and course content. The thesis that the existence of gender bias in the learning environment contributes to high attrition rates of females in computing courses was not sufficiently supported. While the fact that students, both male and female, found their learning environment gender neutral was comforting, the realization that reasons other than gender bias drove females away from the computing course was not. High attrition rate of females remains the reality. Possible explanations of this phenomenon were suggested by the focus groups, and the search for confirmation of these indications and discovery of other contributing factors continued.
Reports on the topic "Enrolment decline"
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Wills, Gabrielle, Janeli Kotzé, and Jesal Kika-Mistry. A Sector Hanging in the Balance: Early Childhood Development and Lockdown in South Africa. Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE), November 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.35489/bsg-rise-wp_2020/055.
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New evidence suggests that over four months after the closure of early childhood development (ECD) programmes on 18 March 2020, the ECD sector was likely to be operating at less than a quarter of its pre-lockdown levels. Of the 38 percent of respondents from the new NIDS-CRAM survey reporting that children aged 0-6 in their households had attended ECD programmes before the lockdown in March, only 12 percent indicated that children had returned to these programmes by mid-July, well after programmes were allowed to reopen. Using these findings, we estimate that just 13 percent of children aged 0-6 were attending ECD programmes by mid-July to mid-August compared to 47 percent in 2018. The last time that ECD attendance rates were as low as this was in the early 2000s. At this point it is not yet clear what proportion of these declines are only temporary, or whether there will be a lasting impact on ECD enrolment in the country. This dramatic contraction in the ECD sector relates to prohibitive costs to reopening ‘safely’ imposed by the regulatory environment, coupled with shocks to the demand side for ECD programmes (both in terms of reduced household incomes and parent fears of children contracting COVID-19). When viewed from a broader socio-economic lens, the threat of ECD programme closures across the nation will have impacts beyond ECD operators to the lives of millions of children, millions of households and millions of adults who rely on these ECD services. A swift intervention by government is necessary to save this important sector and limit the ripple effect of programme closures on multiple layers of society.