1 © 2024 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. Demand for secondary schooling in Pakistan: A cross income group analysis Kazim Ali Competition Commission of Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan. Email: a.kazimali@gmail.com ABSTRACT Article History Received: 19 October 2023 Revised: 4 December 2023 Accepted: 14 December 2023 Published: 22 December 2023 Keywords Determinants of demand Education Household characteristics Human capital Income groups Logit estimation Pakistan PSLM SDGs Secondary schooling. Secondary education for all is one of the UN’s attainable goals. Many countries, including Pakistan, are struggling to achieve this target. Earlier research has attempted to analyze the determinants of secondary schooling by taking the total income of households. However, households of different income groups respond differently to varying socio-economic factors. This study attempts to identify the household-level socio-economic determinants of secondary schooling across different income groups in Pakistan. It utilizes national survey data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey 2019-20. We selected households from the dataset that had at least one member of secondary school age (13-20 years). Households that enrolled a secondary school-age member in school or whose member achieved secondary schooling were categorized as having demand for secondary schooling. Furthermore, instead of taking the total income of households, study takes six categories of income. The results of logit estimation show that demand for secondary schooling increases across successive income groups, indicating secondary schooling is a normal commodity. The proportion of male school-going age members and having a female head increase the likelihood of demand for secondary schooling. The study recommends that policies to increase enrollment at the secondary level may focus more on lower-income groups and on the education of females. Contribution/ Originality: This study takes six income categories of households and analyzes the effect of these categories on the demand for secondary schooling. Furthermore, it divides households into six categories and analyzes the impact of socio-economic factors on the decision to demand for secondary schooling separately. 1. INTRODUCTION Education is considered a way out of the vicious circle of poverty. It helps in determining the productivity level of an individual. Highly educated people tend to be more productive in comparison to their counterparts (Kampelmann, Rycx, Saks, & Tojerow, 2018). The pioneering studies focusing on human capital identify investment in education as the major factor of higher production (Schultz, 1961). An investment in an additional year of schooling constructs human capital and causes an increase in efficiency; therefore, an additional year in school results in increased income for an individual (Card, 2018). Similarly, differences in the training of labor force participants are the major factor of differences in personal income distribution (Becker, 1962, 1964; Mincer, 1958). We find many examples in our daily lives supporting this notion. For instance, the salary of a college lecturer, with the same working hours, is much higher than that of a primary school teacher. This difference is the result of the difference in the qualifications of the two workers. The data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Asian Journal of Contemporary Education ISSN(e): 2617-1252 DOI: 10.55493/5052.v8i1.4950 Vol. 8, No. 1, 1-18. © 2024 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved.