School choice, gender and household characteristics: Evidence from a household survey in a poor area of Monrovia, Liberia

This research set out to investigate how, in a post conflict area, parental preferences and household characteristics affect school choice. A multinomial logit is used to model the relationship between education preferences and the selection of schools for 1236 households in Monrovia, Liberia. There is a large statistically significant preference for community and faith based schools where the school being safe and close to home is important to parents. Government schools are favoured over other types by parents who state that affordability is a main preference. The more children in the family and the older the child the likelihood increases of attending a government school. Occupation and higher parental educational attainment are not significant characteristics in this school choice model.