DOES COST OF LIVING AFFECT THE ENROLMENT OF PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN NIGERIA?

Abstract

This study used the bounds testing (ARDL) technique to cointegration to explore the effect of cost of living on primary school enrolment in Nigeria from 1970 to 2019. The model was built to determine the link between these two variables while also taking into account the interactions with control variables such as total education expenditure, remittances, and investment. When primary school enrolment is the dependent variable, the bounds tests show that the variables of interest are bound together in the long run. Primary school enrollment is a basic survival need in Nigeria, hence some interesting observations were made. It was observed that an insignificant relationship exists between inflation which is a proxy for the cost of living on primary school enrolment. The speed of adjustment to equilibrium is 106% within a year when the variables wander away from their equilibrium values. The study recommends that government should increase their enlightenment programme on the benefit of education to reach those children who are least likely to receive an education as a result of lack of interest in schooling, negative attitude towards education by both parents and children.