Determinants of schooling in Botswana: do family background and location matter?

Education is a key development goal that is critical in the fight against poverty through the creation of human capital. For this reason, the Botswana Government has prioritised the provision of free basic education to its citizens as part of the strategy to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs). However, not all school going age children are in school despite the free basic education. This motivated the study to investigate the determinants of schooling in Botswana using the HIES 2002/2003 and LFS 2005/2006 datasets and the probit model. The probit regression results indicate that children's current schooling is positively and significantly influenced by the age of the children themselves; education level of the household head; having at least one of the parents alive; urban location; employment status of household head and household income.