Changes in the repetition and dropout situation in Honduran primary education since the late 1980s

Abstract

While Honduras's post-1990s enrolment status has improved, no reports examine changes in status. We examined changes in enrolment patterns by analysing 1689 children's data using the true cohort method. We also analysed educational-development strategies/policies and project documentation. Grade-failure numbers did not improve over time because more children attended school, and no clear influence of strategies/policies and projects on educational quality was observed. Enrolment patterns were divided into graduation pattern with once-or-none repetition, and into dropout pattern after one-or-two years’ attendance. However, the more recent the school entrance year, the more often students continued attendance until graduation. Policy implications of these are discussed.

Keywords:

• enrolment
• true cohort method
• longitudinal data
• primary-school education
• Honduras

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our appreciation for Lic. Zoila Herrera for her cooperation.

Notes

1. ‘Enrolment’, as used herein, does not mean entrance into or daily attendance at school. Instead, it refers to factors such as registered grades, year-end evaluation results (passing/failure), and the resulting grade-level repetition or advancement, as well as dropout or transfer rates. For example, ‘entrance’ refers to a child's first entry into school, and ‘attendance’ refers to the child's presence in or absence from school on a daily basis.

2. In this paper, we use the term ‘homeroom teacher’ to refer to the class teacher.

3. Because the number of years until children are de-registered from the targeted schools was diverse, our data were based on the year of entrance. For example, in the case of the group that had entered in 2000, our data cover the enrolment status of those who de-registered (i.e. those who dropped out) and/or graduated from 2000 through 2009.

4. We referred to policy papers and reports by the following organisations and individuals in outlining educational-development strategies/policies and educational projects: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA 2006); Republic of Honduras (2001, 2005); Honduran Secretary of Education (2002, 2004); Honduran Secretary of Education, Schools for the Children of the World (SCW), and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) (2004); International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and World Bank (2009); and Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University (UPNFM 2010).

5. The Roundtable of External Donors in Education (Mesa Redonda de Cooperantes en Educación [MERECE]) was established in 1998 after restoration of the damage caused by Hurricane Mitch.

6. We did not include in our analysis the PRAREBAH nor the IHER programme, which are not formal-education programmes. The Educational Programme for Youth and Adults (Programa de Educación para Jóvenes y Adultos [PRALEBAH]), a literary-education programme, is funded by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). The Honduran Institute for Education by Radio (Instituto Hondureño de Educación por Radio [IHER]) is a learning programme, the contents of which are broadcast over the radio, for students at the secondary-school level. This programme is offered by a non-governmental organisation located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

7. In Honduras, when a student stops attending school, a mark of ‘D’ (desertar, means dropout) is listed on his or her academic record. However, some children return to school in the next school year. Therefore, in this study, we consider children who leave school temporarily to be temporary dropouts, to differentiate them from dropouts, who completely discontinue their schooling. We based this distinction on the explanation of the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (Honduran Secretary of Education 2002).

8. The reason for the slight difference in the corresponding values in Table 2, which shows enrolment status, is that some students, although they had graduated after six years, had repeated and/or skipped grades during that period of time.

9. Successful Schooling (Escuela con Éxito) is a pilot project by the Ministry of Education and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The targeted area is department of Francisco Morazán and Intíbuca. Save Grade 1–3 (Salvemos Primer Ciclo) targets department of Comayagua. This study's targeted area is not included in them.

Additional information

Funding

This study was partly aided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (22402054) and JSPS Fellows (246060).