Socio-Economic Determinants of Early Childhood Education Attendance in Uganda: Evidence from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (2016 Udhs)

Adrian Ssessanga, Centre for Population and Applied Statistics

The study sought to establish the socio-economic determinants of early childhood education attendance. It uses evidence from the analysis of the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (2016 UDHS) and a review of government policies and scholarly publications on related literature. The exploratory analysis included a logistic regression of a child’s chances of attending early childhood education against the socio-economic characteristics of mothers and fathers to living children aged 3 to 5 years. The characteristics included occupation, education level, marital status, total children ever born, residence and region. These characteristics were established to be significantly associated with a child’s chances of attending early childhood education. The selectivity in attendance of early childhood education is attributed to the liberal early childhood education policy whose operationalization in Uganda is largely by the private sector. Key words: Socio-economic determinants, Early childhood education, Attendance.