Major Factors Leading to out of primary school in Myanmar : A Case study of Non-Formal Primary Education Programme in Dala Township Yangon

This paper examines the major factors which forced children out of school. The sample survey and in-depth interviews were conducted at Dala Township. It is a poor area although near center Yangon it is not easily accessible to business district owing to location and transportation across the river. Following most of literatures, we have tested the determinants that have driven children 10-14-year-old to be out of the school system. The econometric estimation is applied to test the impacts of households’ head decision. Main reasons that lead to out of school are income level, family size and background of parents respectively. According to our findings, it is confirmed that children have to drop out of school or never have a chance to attending schools is because they have to help housework and taking care of younger siblings at home while parents seek jobs outside. The unstable family income is thus one of the major other than the family size. The trial program of education to let these drop out have second chance in the ‘Non-formal primary education programme’ with life skills confirmed the ability of learning and skills formation of these children. Hence, providing knowledge to parents on the accessibility to this non-formal education is essential to a human capital investment decision of family. If our findings would be generalized by Myanmar education policy other challenges such financial constraint the socio-economic hardships and poor infrastructure would need to be critically examined for actual implementation.