What are the dichotomies/difference considered in analyzing equity in education?

a. Gender
Disparities between the education available to males and females especially in higher
education cultural and economic considerations account for the part of the diversity but
schooling conditions are probably important.
When an educational holding power is extremely weak due to exceptionally poor quality,
girls tend to suffer more than boys especially at the primary level. This strengthens
representation as learners’ progress up the educational pyramid. In 1986, female
representation in the three levels of education was;
Primary 49%
Secondary 46%
University 28%
Females are also grossly underrepresented in maths and science based as well as
technological courses. Disparities still exist in the teaching force e.g. in 1996,at the
primary level there were 184,393 teachers with women accounting for 41.2% of the total
teaching force which showed an improvement from 37.3% in 1990.
At the secondary level, there were 41,280 teachers out of which women accounted for
33.8%.In Management of education gender disparities still persist e.g. only 7% of the
primary school heads are women according to the 1997 M.O.E records.

b) Social income groups (socio-economic disparities)
The most deeply rooted and widespread inequalities especially in higher education in
both developing and developed countries are those arising from socio-economic status.
AB- Upper socio-economic group.
C1-Middle upper
C2-Middle lower
D-Lower social class
E-Lower-lower social class
The children of upper income groups tend to get more years of schooling than the lower
income children. Students of higher income origin have a greater chance not only of
access to education but also promotion within the system due to their socio-economic
profiles in relation to dropouts, repeaters and successful students in LDC’S.
Generally middle and upper income groups are represented in higher education in Kenya
just as it is in other developing countries. The education system also shows an elitist bias
favoring the urban upper and middle income groups at the expense of the rural and urban
poor (World Bank 1974).
The concept of tuition fee which was intended to ensure equality of opportunity operated
as a mechanism by which income was transferred from lower income group to middle
and upper income categories especially at university level in Kenya where the public
subsidy per student is particularly high.

c) Levels of education.
Disparities exist in the distribution of resources across levels of education as measured by
resource intensity (unit cost) coverage and extent of government subsidies. Resource
intensity reveals the relative concentration of resources per pupil by level of education.
In most LDC’S resource intensity rises with rising levels of education indicating a definite bias towards higher education levels. Today educational structures in most developing countries are strained just as other resources are.
Note (According to the 1995 world bank overview of the education sector, public
spending per student in higher education is generally above 44 times higher than the
student spending in primary level and this has even increased since the beginning of the
free primary education in 2003 in Kenya)

d) Rural-urban inter-regional (Regional disparity)
Inequalities in the provision of education exist between urban and rural areas and also
between different provinces. Inequalities exist in the provision of educational facilities
and also in expenditure on the schools in the different geographical settings. In Kenya
national figures on access to primary education indicate greater difference exist between
provinces whereas in central province enrolment is 100% in the school going age. Coast
and NEP have enrolment rate of c.35% .To reduce such imbalances, government policy
involving reallocation of resources is crucial and also a survey of schools should be
undertaken to ascertain this which should include,
a. The amount of resources such as facilities, equipment, and teacher quality
some schools have.
b. Achievement.
District Schools which had low performance and low level of school resources should be
singled out for special assistance. Schools should not be singled out unless they had low
performance and low resources.
This will ensure that the country does not bear the burden of supplying assistance to a
region which did not have less resources but whose performance for some other reason
was low or supplying unnecessary financial assistance to a region with a low level of
materials but a high performance.

e) Age
This dichotomy focuses on the disparities in educational resources available for people of
different ages e.g. opportunity for school age going children against young adults who
did not have a chance to education. Pre-school children opportunities Vis a Vis school
age children opportunities.

---

NatalieR answered the question on June 20, 2022 at 07:22