Education enables individuals and societies to make a better use of their resources and to realise their potential.

At the individual level, the degree of educational attainment is usually associated with socio-economic status.

At the societal level, the educational rank of a group or a community is associated with particular levels of socio-economic development.

Impact of Mother’s Education on Family Size

Introduction

Education is one of the most important means to improve the quality of life of society and thus increased education is an integral component of social and economic development.

Education is a major engine of modernisation; thus, societies may use their educational institutions as important instruments to accelerate the process of social change.

It has been observed that the education level of societies is related to different stages of the demography transition.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE• With a population of 1.1 billion in 2013,

Africa’s population is projected to increase to 2.4 billion by 2050; making an addition of 1.3 billion which will be the largest addition for any world region.

• The population of Sub-Saharan Africa was growing at 2.7 per cent a year in 2013; as against 1.2 per cent for the world.

• Similarly, the sub-Saharan African region has the highest fertility rate in the world; a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 5.2 per woman which more than doubled the TFR of 2.5 for the world, and is far more than the TFR of 2.9 for West Asia, the region with the second highest in 2013(PRB, 2013).

POPULATION GROWTH IN THE GAMBIA

The population of the Gambia was 1,882,450 people according to the 2013 census preliminary results (GBoS, 2013).

“On average, the population of The Gambia has been growing at the rate of 3.3 per cent per annum during the inter-censal period 2003-2013” (GBoS, 2013).

This growth rate is the second highest in West Africa exceeded by only Niger with a natural increase rate of 3.8 (PRB, 2013).

The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) was 43 per thousand while Total Fertility Rate (TFR) was 5.8 in 2013.

Crude Death Rate was estimated at 10 per 1000 in 2013.

The 2013 world population data sheet shows that 46 per cent of the population is below 15 years, whilst only 2 per cent is above 65 years.

EDUCATION AND FERTILITYA large body of research over the years has

revealed that in almost every setting, regardless of region, culture or level of development, well-educated women have a greater say in their life, including their reproductive life, and bear fewer children than do uneducated or less educated women (UNFPA,1991).

In settings where income and literacy are low there appears to be threshold levels of education that must be reached before change in fertility and other aspects of reproductive behaviour can occur (Ahmad et al., 1995).

Several studies revealed an inverse relationship between education and fertility; that is, fertility decreases with increase in educational level.

Generally, women with four to six, and seven or more years of education has substantially lower fertility than those with less education but the range of values varied from country to country (ESCAP, 1989).

The expected negative relationship did not occur until a woman had completed four to six years of education in Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia and Pakistan. In these countries short duration of schooling appeared to increase fertility, whilst longer duration tended to depress fertility (ESCAP, 1989).

A World Fertility Survey (WFS) in Indonesia found no difference in fertility between women with no education and women with seven or more years of education.

The anomalous relation was ascribed to the fact that, for the purpose of the survey, years of exposure to religious education (Madrassa) was equated with formal education.

It is considered that the longer the duration of religious education, the more conservative and traditional will be a woman’s values and attitudes (ESCAP,1989).

STATEMENT OF THE OBJECTIVESThe primary objectives of this study are:To identify the relationship between the

mother’s level of education and family size.To identify the minimum period of schooling

required by the mother to make an impact on family size.

To identify the relationship between the type of school (English or Arabic) attended by the mother and family size.

The indicators used in this study for assessing the objectives mentioned above are:

• age at first marriage,• age at the birth of the first child,• number of children,• duration of schooling, and• the type of school attended.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDYo Considerable variations in fertility across the

country have been observed in the Gambia.

o According to the preliminary report of the Gambia’s Demographic and Health Survey of 2013, “TFR for the three-year period before the survey [was] 5.6 for the country as a whole, 6.8 in rural areas, and 4.7 in urban areas” (GBoS, 2013).

o Unfortunately, the report did not capture the fertility differentials with respect to the levels of education; though it observed that “Women with secondary or higher education are more likely to use a modern contraceptive method [than those] with less education” (GBoS, 2013).

o So in order to get a better understanding about the impact of education on fertility a micro level study is necessary where all the respondents share the same geographical setting.

o Accordingly, in this study an attempt has been made to find out the effect of education on fertility by examining the extent to which the levels of education attained by women influences family size.

o Thus, this study can serve as a useful indicator of direction to pursue more rigorous studies on the impact of mother’s education on fertility in the Gambia.

METHODLOGYTo collect information about ‘The Impact of

Mother’s Education on Family Size’ the descriptive survey method of collecting data was employed.

The main tool used for data collection was that of questionnaire survey.

Here, data collection is based mainly on personal information collected from mothers of different categories (Illiterates with no formal education, Basic Cycle School Graduates Arabic & English, Grade 12 Graduates Arabic & English, and Tertiary Institution Graduates).

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDYThe study is confronted with certain

limitations such as lack of adequate resource and time for effectively carrying out the study.

Due to these constraints the data collection was done by geography students on voluntary basis; as a result, the convenience of getting the data was given more importance than carrying out any formal sampling procedure.

. Coupled with these problems, the sample size is also small (being a micro level study) hence the results of the study is applicable only to the study area.

RESULTS OF THE STUDY The age at first marriage is of particular

significance in understanding fertility levels as well as trends, since child bearing begins when marriage takes place. Although some child bearing occurs before marriage, it is not common in the Gambian society.

 Categories

 

14-19 20-25 26-30

  No % No % No %

No Formal Education 8 13.3 2 3.3    

Basic Education Arabic

9 15 1 1.7    

Basic Education English

6 10 3 5  1 1.7 

Secondary Education Arabic

7 11.7 3 5

Secondary Education English

4 6.7 5 8.3 1 1.7

Tertiary Education 2 3.3 5 8.3 3 5

Total 36 60% 19 31.7 5 8.3

No Form

al Ed

ucation

Basic

Educa

tion Arabic

Basic

Educa

tion Engli

sh

Seco

ndary Ed

ucation Arab

ic

Seco

ndary Ed

ucation En

glish

Terti

ary Ed

ucation

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

14-19 years 20-25 years 26-30 years

From the figure, it can be seen that all the respondents in three of the categories (mothers with No Formal education, mothers with basic Arabic and Secondary Arabic education) got married before reaching the age of twenty six years.

In fact 90% of mothers with Basic Arabic education, 80% of mothers with no formal education and 70% of mothers with secondary Arabic education have reported to have got married before the age of 20.

Similarly majority of mothers with Basic English education (60%) got married before attaining twenty years.

It is only among the mothers with secondary education in English and tertiary education that majority (50% each) reportedly got married between 20 and 25 years of age.

The age at first marriage for mothers with no formal education ranges from 14 to 22 and the mean age at first marriage for the group is only 17.4 years, the lowest for all the categories.

In the case of mothers with Basic Arabic education the age at first marriage ranges from 14 to 21 years. As a result the mean age at first marriage for this group is also low at only 17.7 years.

Although the mean age at marriage is slightly higher than that of mothers with no formal education, a higher percentage of this group got married in their teens (90%) than those with no formal education (80%).

For mothers with secondary Ara bic education, the age at first marriage ranges from 15-23 years which is higher than the range for the first two categories.

Consequently, the mean age for the group is 18.5 years.

The age range for mothers with basic education in English is from 18 to 26 years which is slighlyhigher than the range for the first three categories. As a result the mean age at first marriage for the group is higher at 19.5 years.

The age range at first marriage for mothers with secondary education in English is 18-26 years just like that of mothers with basic education in English. However, the mean age is higher at 21.3 years.

The age at first marriage for mothers with tertiary education ranges from 18 to 29 years; consequently the group has the highest mean age of 23 years.

 Categories

 

15-19 20-25 26-30 31-35

  No % No % No % No %No Formal Education 7 11.7 3 5    Basic Education Arabic

6 10 4 6.7    

Basic Education English

3 5 6 10  1 1.7 

Secondary Education Arabic

5 8.3 4 6.7 1 1,7

Secondary Education English

4 6.7 4 6.7 2 3.3

Tertiary Education 0 3.3 7 11.7 2 5 1 1.7Total 25 41.7 28 46.7 6 10 1 1.7

No Form

al Educa

tion

Basic E

ducation Arab

ic

Basic E

ducation Engli

sh

Seco

ndary Educa

tion Arabic

Seco

ndary Educa

tion English

Tertiary

Education

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

15-19 years 20-25 years 26-30 years Above 30

 Categories

 

1-2 3-4 5-6 Above 6

  No % No % No % No %No Formal Education 3 5 4 6.7  1  1.

72 3.3

Basic Education Arabic

6 10 4 6.7    

Basic Education English

6 10 3 5  1 1.7 

Secondary Education Arabic

4 6.7 4 6.7 2 3.3

Secondary Education English

4 6.7 5 8.3 1 1.7

Tertiary Education 5 8.3 3 5 1 1.7 1 1.7

Total 28 46.7 23 38.3 6 10 3 5