ABSTRACT
There is an increasing acknowledgment that education is a fundamental right and that governments must ensure that universal primary education is achieved by 2015. Educational conditions varied between the countries involved in this study. Particularly Vietnam appears to have been successful in its primary school enrolment, and it even shows high levels of attendance in the secondary school system. Some other countries, however, particularly Burkina Faso, still present bleak statistics. Differences within countries are also signifi cant. In India, for example, the near perfect enrolment rates of the urban primary schools contrast sharply with those of the rural areas in the less developed states. Individual schools can be attractive, or unattractive, for many reasons. In this chapter, reasons for attending school or not will be explored.
