Debre Zeit School Attendance by Age and Sex:
(Source: fe1c6t0qy9y81.jpg (1000×1000) (redd.it))
While school attendance is not mandatory, in 2007 in Debre Zeit, significant proportion of children five year and older were either attending school or have attended school. What is worth noting is those children who are five years and older who have never attended school for different reasons. Debre Zeit, which is an urban town, has reported that 14.4 percent of the school age children (five years and older) have never attended school. The school non attendance is twice worse for female children than male. This could be primarily due to the heavy burden the females carry with the house work and as their role as bread winners for the family.
The School not attendance and the dire situation of female non attendance situation gets even worth when we look at the situation in East Shewa Zone and the Oromia region as a Whole. One factor is that both East Shewa Zone and Oromia region were predominantly rural and school non attendance is prevalent in the rural areas.
In fact the situation might have been really bad back in the 1950 and 1960 when the cohorts of the 1970 were going to school. The 1970 cohorts are probably the first in their family who went to school, completed elementary, high school and went to university.
Especially the school attendance looks better in 2007 as a result of the literacy campaign undertaken During the Military Regime, 1974-1991 ( See Germa Amare’s: An Appraisal of the Literacy Campaign in Ethiopia During the Military Regime, 1974-1991,An Appraisal of the Literacy Campaign in Ethiopia During the Military Regime, 1974-1991 on JSTOR ).
| % of Total Never Attended | |||
| Total | Male | Female | |
| BISHOFTU/TOWN/-WEREDA | 14.39% | 8.98% | 19.31% |
| BISHOFTU/TOWN/WEREDA-URBAN | 14.39% | 8.98% | 19.31% |
| EAST SHEWA ZONE | 51.63% | 46.22% | 57.35% |
| EAST SHWEA ZONE URBAN | 21.82% | 15.63% | 27.94% |
| EAST SHWEA ZONE-RURAL | 62.27% | 56.66% | 68.34% |
| OROMIA REGION | 61.83% | 54.28% | 69.46% |
| OROMIA REGION_URBAN | 24.88% | 17.76% | 32.16% |
| OROMIA REGION-RURAL | 67.40% | 59.83% | 75.05% |
To help further analysis, the table below provides more breakdown of school attendance. It is important to note that the key part is those who attended school in the past. These includes those who participated in literacy campaign. Unfortunately the number of school age children five years and older who are currently attending school is smaller than those who attended school in the past. This emphasizes that a significant portion of school attendance is happening in the informal or non regular arrangements.
Poupulation 5 Years Old and Older by School Attendence and Sex: 2007
All Persons Currently Attending Attended in the Past Never Attended % of Total Never Attended
Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female
BISHOFTU/TOWN/-WEREDA 91629 43668 47961 30875 14737 16138 47570 25009 22561 13184 3922 9262 0.14388457802661 0.089814051479344 0.1931152394654
BISHOFTU/TOWN/WEREDA-URBAN 91629 43668 47961 30875 14737 16138 47570 25009 22561 13184 3922 9262 0.14388457802661 0.089814051479344 0.1931152394654
EAST SHEWA ZONE 1164830 598381 566449 260822 141166 119656 302576 180664 121912 601432 276551 324881 0.51632598748315 0.46216540966374 0.57353971849187
EAST SHWEA ZONE URBAN 306370 152286 154084 101057 51718 49339 138448 76761 61687 66865 23807 43058 0.21824917583314 0.15633085116163 0.27944497806391
EAST SHWEA ZONE-RURAL 858463 446098 412365 159766 89449 70317 164129 103904 60225 534568 252745 281823 0.62270359933975 0.56656833251886 0.68343094103525
OROMIA REGION 22545311 11340231 11205080 4304227 2437016 1867211 4301936 2747314 1554622 13939148 6155901 7783247 0.61827259779206 0.54283735490044 0.69461770911051
OROMIA REGION_URBAN 2956512 1496219 1460293 1112087 601506 510581 1108984 628956 480028 735441 265757 469684 0.24875292236257 0.17761905175646 0.32163682219938
OROMIA REGION-RURAL 19588801 9844013 9744788 3192142 1835511 1356631 3192952 2118358 1074594 13203707 5890144 7313563 0.67404365382036 0.59834784858573 0.75051022146403