[01] Barthelemy Mahugnon Senou, National School of Applied Economics, Management, University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Republic of Benin.

The important role of education in economic growth has long been recognized in econonic literature. The aim of this study was to analyze the dropping out phenomenon in primary school during the year in Benin by identifying its causes. The study used individual data about school children and classes, which enabled a close examination of the causes of each individual case in dropping out of school. With a multinomial logit model, we estimated the probability that the school child would be found in one of the three situations which are “to attend school regularly”, “to take to absenteeism”, and “to abandon school altogether”. The results obtained showed that variables such as the level of health, student’s doing activities outside school hours, level of household, the quality of education and teachers' absenteeism are determinants of dropping out during the year, and that the phenomenon of dropping out is more pronounced among girls compared to boys. In view of these results, policy issues have been formulated to slow the phenomenon of dropping out.

Dropping Out, Education, Quality, Logit Multinomial

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