Child work and other determinants of school attendance and school attainment in Bangladesh

Abstract

[Abstract]: The paper examines the linkages between child work and both school attendance and school attainment of children aged 5–17 years using data from a survey based in rural Bangladesh. This paper first looks at school attendance as an indicator of a child’s time input in schooling; then it measures the “schooling-for-age” as a learning achievement or schooling outcome. The results from this paper show that school attendance and grade attainment are lower for children who are working. The gender-disaggregated estimates show that probability of grade attainment is lower for girls than that of boys. Our results reveal that child work has the highest impact on schooling of Bangladeshi children, followed by supply side correlates (presence of a school in the community), parental education and household income respectively.