Educational inequality in Mozambique

In very poor countries, inequality often means that a small part of the population maintains living standards far above the rest. This is also true for educational inequality in Mozambique: only a small segment of the population has access to higher levels of education (there are 30 times as many schools offering grade 1 than grade 12) and receives education of a good quality. This study investigates inequality in past attainment, in current school access, and learning or educational quality, by gender, geography and parental socio-economic status. Survey and census data measure attainment and access, while a grade-3 Portuguese test and 2007 SACMEQ tests measure quality. While the gender gap in access has been closed, large geographical and wealth inequalities remain. The South—particularly Maputo City—is far better served than other regions or provinces, while richer children remain in school longer. The overall weakness of the school system limits its ability to overcome these inequalities. In developing countries, women’s decisions concerning their children’s health depend on ‘empowerment’ concerning decision-making, husband/partner’s use of violence, woman’s attitude towards this violence, available information, and resources. We derive an empowerment indicator using the ‘fuzzy sets’ and Alkire and Foster approaches to multidimensional poverty measurement. The health of children is a latent variable; their height and weight are observed health indicators. We apply the ‘MIMIC’ approach to the 2009 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey. Children’s health is better when the woman opposes her partner’s violence, the higher her education and body mass index, among female children, and in urban areas.