GENDER DISPARITIES ON HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION EXPENDITURE IN SRI LANKA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO COLOMBO, BADULLA, KILINOCHCHI AND HAMBANTOTA DISTRICTS

Abstract

The total household level expenditure is shared by the households itself, public sector and voluntary organizations. The educational expenses according to the literature are generally brought under two main subthemes as public and private expenses. Moreover, the above sources of expenses are complementary to each other and in the absence of either of them, it is likely to be an under allocation of resources for education. The household expenditure on education is fully consummated by the individual households itself. Majority of the Asian region civilians consider the gender when spending money on education. They spend more on their male children than that of female children .This issue is very prominent almost in all the south Asian countries. Being a south Asian country Sri Lanka does not show the same trend when compared to the other countries. One major reason for this is the impressive record of educational attainments and the educational achievements in Sri Lanka, because Sri Lankans are privileged to receive the free education system. This study has used four districts from SriLanka, namely Colombo, Badulla, Kilinochchi and Hambantota.The main objective of this study is to assess the gender related disparities of household level expenditure on education. This study has used the t Test to assess the gender related disparities. The main findings of the research illustrated that there is a statistically significant difference between male and female children on mean preschool expenses, households spend more on their male children preschool education expenses than that of female children in these four districts. (Preschool expenses mean the expenses, which include only maximum of 2 years educational expenses for the nursery school fees, stationary item expenses, transportation fees). In addition, this study has found that there is no any such difference between male and female children on mean school level or higher studies expenses. Therefore, according to the previous studies’ findings on gender disparities on education, this study found out a very different finding on gender disparities on education in Sri Lanka.