Brief description of DHS EdData and its linkage to the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program
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 What is the DHS?
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| The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) provides current and reliable information on key indicators of social development, including fertility levels and trends, family planning knowledge and use, infant and child mortality, and maternal and child health. The DHS also collects data on the percentage of school-age children attending school and on dropout and repetition rates by primary school grade.
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| What is DHS EdData?
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| DHS EdData is an education data collection activity supported by USAID and implemented by ORC Macro in conjunction with the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program. It is designed to provide accurate and timely data for education policy and program planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Under the DHS EdData Activity, the main type of data collection effort is the DHS EdData household education survey. This survey focuses on issues related to household demand for schooling, as in many developing countries, often little is known about the nature of this demand, apart from estimates of enrollment ratios and student flow rates. The intent of the survey is to provide information about the decisions households make about children's schooling.
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Specific topics in the DHS EdData core survey include:
- the reasons for school-age children never having attended school, having dropped out of school, and for overage first-time school enrollment
- household expenditures on schooling and other contributions to schooling
- parent/guardian perceptions of the benefits of schooling and of school quality
- distances and travel times to schools
- the frequency of and reasons for student absenteeism.
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| In addition to the core survey, additional sets of questions can be added to the survey in particular countries.
Information may be collected about children's eating habits, children's labor, and other topics of interest. For
instance, the 2001 Uganda DHS EdData Survey (UDES) included a set of questions on the policy of Universal Primary
Education and its effects. The 2002 Zambia DHS EdData Survey included sets of questions on anthropometry (weight
and height) for young school-age children and assessed the impact of HIV/AIDS on the demand for schooling.
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Other data collection efforts under DHS EdData include smaller-scale quantitative and qualitative data collection
efforts. For instance, in 2002 in Ghana, a study of decentralization in the education system was conducted.
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DHS EdData has been active in the following countries:
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