Schooling Achievement among Rural Zimbabwean Children during a Period of Economic Turmoil

Zimbabwe suffered severe economic crisis in the decade before 2009, and anecdotal evidence indicates that public education suffered due to uncertainty about salary payments and inflation. As the country recovers, it is important to understand how this crisis affected schooling participation before and during the crisis. This study focuses on the relationship between schooling achievement, measured by enrollment and enrollment in the ageappropriate grade, and household economic conditions in rural Zimbabwe for 2001 and 2007. A wealth index is used to reflect household economic conditions. Results indicate that children in the bottom 20 percent of the economic status distribution were less likely than others to be enrolled or attend the age-appropriate grade in both periods, but the impact of the crisis on indicators of school attendance are surprisingly modest. Findings indicate that the economy may be poised to rebound as macro-economic conditions stabilize since schooling attainment did not slip substantially.