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The Effect of Availability of School and Distance to School on Children's Time Allocation in Ghana

In this paper we present evidence on the impact of distance to school and school availability 
on households’ decisions concerning time allocation of primary-age children between work, schooling, 
and household chores activities using data from the Ghana Living Standard Survey 1998–99. Our results 
indicate that the increased and eased access to school has a well-defined impact on children’s time use. 
In particular, reducing the distance to primary school encourages children school attendance and 
reduces children work. Interestingly, the distance to middle school discourages children’s work and 
boosts household chores activities. Moreover, the availability of both primary and middle schools has a 
positive effect on schooling decisions, and having a primary school nearby discourages household chores 
activity. Our results are robust to controlling for the endogeneity of school placement and per capita 
expenditures. We also find that household decisions about children’s time use differ by children’s sex, 
suggesting that girls may be differently responsive to policy measures aimed at reducing work and 
household chores activities and at increasing their school attendance.