16 The findings associated with indigenous people have been verified in previous analyses, especially for Guatemala. Rojas (1991) found that being "non-white" significantly affects educaticnal attainment in Guatemala. Carvajal and Morris (1989/1990), analyzing 1986 data from Guatemala's _Programa Nacional de Educacion Bilingue_ (PRONEBI) from 297 communities and from a questionnaire administered to the same communities, found sizable differences _anong_ indigenous groups' with respect to grade repetition and dropout, ranging from 30 to 46 percent repetition, and 6 to 16 percent drop out rates. The authors attempted to explain the differences with the use of community socioeconomic characteristics and differences among indigenous groups. It was found that bilingualism improves grade repetition and drop out rates, and that the opportunity cost of child labour should be taken into account when devising school schedules. In a country where more than 40 percent of the population begins school without knowledge of Spanish, there is a serious need for teachers with indigenous language knowledge. The promotion standards in Guatemala have been found to be unrealistic. It is usually necessary for first grade students to learn to read and write Spanish or else they repeat the grade; this, no doubt, is very difficult for those who do not know Spanish when they enter first grade. The Bilingual Education Project had a significant impact on promotion rates, more than nine percent higher for bilingual students relative to the control group in the first grade in 1983 (Townsend and Newman 1985).

Region of residence also has a significant and large impact on repetition rates. _Departamento_ of residence in urban Bolivia showed great differences, as did rural/urban sector in Guatemala. The probability of repetition is considerably lower in urban Guatemala.

The number of brothers and sisters one has also has a positive and significant impact on being a repeater. The probability of being a repeater in Bolivia for those with no siblings is only 16 percent, while for those with 6 siblings the probability of repetition is over 26 percent. In Guatemala, this ranges from 62 to 89 percent.

Attendance in a private school has a very large, negative and significant impact on being a repeater in Bolivia. The difference between public and private school repetition probabilities is great, at only 14.9 percent for private school students, and over 25 percent for public school students. We do not have information on type of school attended for Guatemalan children.

In Bolivia, female headed households are associated with higher probabilities of repetition, compared with male headed households. The opposite relationship holds true in Guatemala, however, and the reasons are unclear at present. In addition, the probability of repetition was less for those Bolivian children where the household head was an employer, compared with the other occupational categories controlled for in the analysis. Mother's years of schooling also had a negative and significant impact on repetition, the probability of repetition in Bolivia declining from over 33 percent when the mother had no schooling, to less than 17 percent when the mother had 12 years of schooling. In Guatemala, the probability of repetition There are 25 different indigenous language **s** poken in Guatemala (Carvajal and Morris 1989/1990).