Household Poverty and School Choice in Low-income Areas of Lagos: a qualitative case study approach

Abstract

This report, a qualitative field study of household poverty and school choice in low-income areas of Lagos, is the second part of a study commissioned by DFID Nigeria on school choice in Lagos State, investigating who goes to which type of school and why, how schooling decisions are made, and the influence of poverty on who goes to which school and why. This report builds on the findings from the household survey in the previous report and comprises a qualitative comparative case study of three low- income areas of Lagos, focusing on the school choices of households with children in primary and junior secondary schools and is referred to throughout as the ‘qualitative research’. First, it aimed to identify ultra‐poor and vulnerable households and look at the school choices within this particular class of households: what range of schools is available, what limitations of travel/transportation apply, are there any household that choose solely on location or completely discounting location, are the selection processes for primary schools different from those for secondaries. The household survey also examined the gender and ward status of children, and found no difference between girls and boys when households made school choices, but that wards are more likely to go to government schools than any other kind of school. Bringing this analysis together, the study asks whether parents are able to choose a school within their sector of preference. In other words: which households (if any) are pushed into the private sector by lack of a locally supplied government alternative, and which households (if any) are pushed into the government sector by a lack of low-cost private alternatives?