Unequal Educational Trajectories: The Case of Ethiopia

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 has set out targets to improve learning quality and equity at all educational levels. A prerequisite for reaching these targets is to identify the sources and timing of inequality of educational opportunity (IEO). Drawing from the Young Lives Ethiopia longitudinal survey data, this chapter investigates the relationship between early cognitive abilities and later chances to reach higher educational levels, by parental socioeconomic status (SES). Findings point at two sources of IEO. First, poorer children develop lower abilities during childhood which negatively affects their later school transitions. This underlines the need for more policy efforts to equalize early cognitive development through levelling of household living conditions and access to pre-schools. Second, poorer children are considerably less likely to reach post-primary education, also when their abilities are high. This points at a need to reduce existing institutional and financial barriers to transit to post-primary education.