Chuta, N., & Morrow, V. (2015). Youth trajectories through work and marriage in rural Ethiopia. Young Lives, 135.
The study examined the paths taken by young people who are no longer enrolled in formal education through their involvement in work/livelihood and marriage. It drew on the Young Lives survey and qualitative longitudinal data. Young people’s labour is essential in rural areas for both paid and unpaid work, and they became responsible for both household chores and waged work, which often required them to perform physically demanding labour. There was no obvious transition for these young people from school to work because they had barely attended school at all. There wasn’t a transitional period, instead, it was a process where young people temporarily worked doing housework, farm work, or paid work.
The study discovered that older children are more likely to drop out of school or not enrol at all due to financial issues and the preference for older children to take care of household chores, look after siblings, and farm work. Children from rural areas are often sent to live with relatives in urban areas in order to be cared for, to attend school, to help or care for a sick relative, or to help with household chores, as well as to search for employment. Thus, it is clear that children contribute their labour through this form of transition. According to the study, these are the most common reasons for children discontinuing school. Parents perceive that the returns from schooling are low (especially for girls), partly because opportunities for employment are in short supply. As a result, there seem to be few advantages to education.
In general, parents in low-income households do not see the value of education and prefer to have their children work at home. During harvest season, children’s labour is more in demand in Ethiopia’s rural areas for farm work, off-farm work, livestock herding, and household chores. In addition, sociocultural attitudes lessen the likelihood that girls will enrol in school. In Ethiopian culture a woman’s place is in the home, girls typically stay close to their mothers and adopt household skills and behaviours that will help them in their future lives.