Researchers have often investigated the
influence of women’s educational levels on their fertility. They have seldom,
however, explored the relationship between children’s education and their
mothers’ fertility. The noted demographer John Caldwell hypothesized in 1980 that the
onset of the fertility transition would be triggered when most children attend primary
school. The shift from having several children who lack education to having a small number
of children who obtain education is known as the quantity–quality transition.
Population Council
researchers Zeba Sathar, Cynthia B. Lloyd, and Minhaj ul Haque, along with Cem Mete, a
Population Council postdoctoral fellow in the Yale University economics department,
investigated how the accessibility of public schools in rural Pakistan influences couples
as they envision and build their families. They collected data for this purpose in 12
rural communities—six from Punjab and six from Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP).
These provinces were chosen because they each contain enormous demographic diversity.
In both Punjab and NWFP,
the researchers examined two villages each from districts that had a higher school
enrollment than expected for the economic level of the community, districts that had
expected levels of school enrollment, and districts that had a lower than expected school
enrollment. The goal was to visit a range of rural villages or communities reflecting
significantly different socioeconomic and schooling conditions. For each village, the
researchers visited and assessed most of the public primary schools, examined demographic
data, and interviewed a random sample of 50–60 currently married women aged
20–45, and their husbands when available.
Underserved
communities
Between 1992 and 1997, 13 new primary schools were added to the villages studied. Ten of
these schools were private. “These private schools exist because of community demand.
People are running ahead of the government in fulfilling their own schooling needs and
desires,” says Lloyd. But private schools are unable to meet all of the
communities’ needs. Five out of the 12 communities did not have a private school.
Moreover, while most parents would prefer that their children attend single-sex schools,
most private schools are mixed.
While all the communities
had a boys’ public primary school, two did not have a girls’ public primary
school. Moreover, in eight of the 12 communities, the ratio of girls’ to
boys' schools was less than 1. In general, girls’ schools were of poorer quality
than were boys’. Girls’ schools had fewer amenities, fewer class-rooms, and
higher teacher absenteeism. In public schools, girls are taught only by women and teacher
absences stem from the limited mobility allowed for women in Pakistan.
Parents’
perspective
Interviews with parents suggest a prevalent and newfound desire to educate both girls and
boys. “Now even uneducated parents send their girls to school,” observed a
29-year-old mother of seven in NWFP. Parents mentioned many specific benefits of educating
girls. “Knowledge is jewelry for girls that remains with them throughout their
life. . . . I think knowledge is better than a dowry,” one 30-year-old mother of four in NWFP told the researchers. Distance and cost were the primary reasons given for not
sending girls to school.
Many parents said if they
could do it over again they would have smaller families, citing inflation and a desire to
provide better health care and education. The cost of additional children was the most
frequently cited reason for adopting family planning. “I want to better educate my
kids and to avoid economic crises,” explained a 35-year-old father of six in NWFP.
Adding
girls’ schools
In the communities studied, school attendance varied from 22 percent to 92 percent among
10 to 14 year olds, and from 33 percent to 94 percent among 5 to 9 year olds. The
contraceptive prevalence rates ranged from 2 percent to 50 percent among currently married
women of reproductive age. “Communities that had overall higher schooling enrollments
were the very ones with higher contraceptive prevalence,” says Sathar.
The researchers also used
a statistical simulation to determine the potential effect of adding girls’ schools
to communities. They found that an increase from no girls’ schools to two girls’
schools in each community would increase by 14–15 percentage points the probability
that a mother would express a desire to stop childbearing and act on that desire by
practicing family planning.
“There is definitive
evidence that opportunities for primary schooling in the community play a role in
influencing the fertility transition in rural Pakistan,” argues Lloyd. Sathar
concurs, “It would appear that fertility change will be much more difficult and will
come much more slowly if girls are left behind.”
Sources
Sathar, Zeba Ayesha,
Cynthia B. Lloyd, and Minhaj ul Haque. 2000. “Investments in children’s
education and family-building behavior in Pakistan: Findings from rural NWFP and
Punjab.” Islamabad, Pakistan: Population Council.
Sathar, Zeba, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Cem Mete, and Minhaj ul Haque. 2000.
“Schooling opportunities for girls as a stimulus for fertility change in rural
Pakistan,” Policy Research Division Working Paper no. 143. New York: Population
Council. (PDF)
Outside funding
The Rockefeller Foundation
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