Higher education and career aspirations among secondary school students in Southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT The objective of the present research was to identify the level of aspiration of secondary school students to join higher education and their career preferences. Quantitative data were collected from secondary school students in Wolaita Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia. The results have shown that students have high aspiration to join higher education institutions. While most students prefer to join public higher education institutions, larger number of students disclosed their interest to join higher education institutions located in/nearer to their locality. Furthermore, having the finding that most students choose to be remembered for being an outstanding student in the school added to increased consideration of reaching at the highest level of education as the most preferred avenue to upward social mobility, we found a higher place of academic achievement in the value system of high school students in the study area.


Introduction
In such an ever changing world, only high school completion is not sufficient to secure better-paying jobs and most of the fastest-growing jobs that pay reasonably well require at least some postsecondary education (Bangser, 2008). In today's economy, higher education is no longer a luxury for the privileged few, but a necessity that can provide an opportunity for individuals to enhance their socioeconomic status (US Department of Education, 2015;Temple, 2009). Higher levels of education are associated with higher income, a more prestigious career, lower risk of unemployment and an improved well-being; it is the key to economic success in the modern society, which has a substantial impact on occupational outcomes and mobility chances (Koo, 2003;Pawel, 2011). Hence, higher education remains the best investment a student can make in his or her future. Recognizing the growing importance of college education, it is not surprising that discussion and debate about student educational aspiration, achievement and success issues are at an all-time high (American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Higher Education, 2011).
Educational aspiration and its predictors has always been a topic of interest among sociologists, psychologists and economists for long. The theory of status attainment remained the dominant sociological explanation in which aspiration has been treated as a cognitive state that motivates young people to strive for an academic success (Khoo & Ainsley, 2005). Parents have been considered as 'significant others' playing the role of shaping aspirations in terms of providing opportunities, encouragement, and the necessary support for their children's learning. Economic theories, on the other hand, viewed educational aspirations as a purely rational assessment of pupils' economic and social circumstances (Buchanan, 1965). According to Parker et al. (2013), students' aspirations reveal their future preferences which reflect sociocultural judgements about the relative merits of imagined future social positions. Educational and career aspirations are the most relevant factors determining one's future educational attainment. Chawla (2018), for instance, found a positive correlation between educational aspiration and academic scores of secondary school students.
Individual aspirations and expectations are considered important because they might influence key choices, and outcomes such as educational achievement and occupational attainment (Gorard et al., 2012). Young people with higher educational aspirations and expectations have greater motivation and higher educational attainment than their peers with low aspirations and expectations. In addition, complete alignment between high aspirations, high expectations and high achievement is the most important predictor of future educational behaviour among students (Jacob & Wilder, 2010;Khattab, 2015). However, high educational aspiration does not necessarily guarantee a better academic outcome (Khattab, 2015). This phenomenon partly exists due to the aspiration-expectation gap, when one's desired goals do not coincide with the expected outcome due to the disbelief of a successful result (UK Essays, 2018).
Previous studies (e.g. Betts, 1994;Downey, 1995;Garg et al., 2002;Goel, 2004;Gupta, 1987;Mateju & Smith, 2008;Pierret, 2001;Sewell et al., 1970) reveal that gender, age, the presence and marital status of parents, socio-economic status, and lower family size, family structure, parents' educational achievement and occupational status, attitude towards education and the school's environment, and availability and level of social support expressed by parental involvement in the process significantly affect students' educational aspiration. Others (e.g. Gottfredson, 2002;Khattab, 2015;Marjoribanks, 2002) discussed the roles played by ethnicity, race, familial level of aspiration, parental education, student's self-concept, self-reliance, and low mature responsibility. Williams and Williams (2011) argues that students' motivation is the result of a combined effort of a well-trained and dedicated teacher, accurate and stimulating content, an encouraging and inventive method or process, and safe, accessible and empowering learning environment, above all a student who values education, having the required access, interest and ability to education. While educational aspiration may generally imply the tendency of students to consider academia as the most important avenue for upward social mobility, the present study is interested to specifically focus on pupils' aspiration to a higher education.
Students' incoming expectations of higher education came from family and friends; secondary schooling and further education, and the general media and political discourse (Gonzales et al., 2021;Kainuwa & Yusuf, 2013;Kandiko & Mawer, 2013;Temple, 2009). According to Aikens and Barbarin (2008), the school systems in communities with low socio-economic status are often under resourced, negatively affecting students' academic progress and outcomes. But students from higher social class backgrounds tend to be more successful in developing career aspirations and are generally better prepared for the world of work because of access to resources such as career offices, guidance counsellors, better schools, high level 'social actors,' and familial experience with higher education (Diemer & Ali, 2009). Whereas higher educational and career aspirations may lead to better educational achievement (Chawla, 2018;Khattab, 2015), a society characterized by such promising features should be accompanied by a labour market capable of adequately absorbing its graduates.
Despite economic recovery, unemployment remains high, and youth are more likely to be unemployed than adults around the world. Though there is a positive global economic outlook, it is not easy to be a young woman or man in the labour market today. On the one hand, youth are staying longer in education, and thus, human capital is increasing. On the other hand, once in the labour market, young people face significant challenges in finding employment, with unemployment once again on the rise, and employment quality is a major concern (International Labor Organization (ILO), 2017). Hence, there is a reasonable premise to anticipate that such scenarios may influence adolescents' college and career aspirations and the long-held value system towards considering education as the best avenue to lift oneself upwards on the success ladder. A slight calculation on the economic returns of investing in tertiary education, added to the current politics surrounding Ethiopian education, may also affect both students' and their parents' value system.
Most studies undertaken on the topic of school-going adolescents in Ethiopia mainly emphasize issues related to the exposure of adolescents to reproductive health risks (for example, Nicola et al., 2014;Sailaja & Nana, 2017;Zenebu et al., 2015). The topic of adolescents' value of educational achievements in general and college and career aspirations in particular, in Ethiopia has not yet been adequately researched. The few available ones are those published on the basis of data extracted from Young Lives longitudinal research project (e.g. Jones et al., 2019;Yisak & Tassew, 2012. Moreover, in a study undertaken by Predovic and Dennis (2020), it is shown that adolescent expectations have become more concentrated in fewer occupations, such that 47% of adolescent boys and 53% of adolescent girls in 2018 -compared to 38% and 49%, respectively, in 2000 -expect to be employed in one of just ten professions by the time they reach age 30. Furthermore, Abdulah et al. (2020) found the effects of sex, parental education, and students' academic performance on their career aspirations in which females, students with better educated parents, and those having high academic performance were reported to have high career aspirations. Nevertheless, both existing and changing occupational choices and expectations of adolescents in Ethiopia have not been adequately studied yet. While most previous studies have focused on examining the educational aspirations of students as a general theme of investigation, the present research specifically focused on assessing the aspiration of secondary school students to join higher education institutions given changing and recent political, social, and economic developments in Ethiopia. Moreover, issues related to students' career aspirations and professional preferences, including the place academic achievement in the value system of the students, have remained neglected enterprises among previous studies. We believe that empirical findings over such concerns would help to consider education policy and curriculum revisions at the national level. The purpose of the present research was, therefore, examining college and career aspirations and the perceived importance of education in the value system of school-going adolescents in Wolaita Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia.

Research design
An institutional-based cross-sectional study was undertaken in which both descriptive and explanatory research designs are employed. While the descriptive design was used to analyse and report summary data regarding the distribution of responses about higher education and career aspirations (Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), 2001; Pratap, 2019), the explanatory design was used to explain association between variables to find out the sociodemographic determinants of aspiration to higher education. Using a quantitative research approach, the present study involves the collection of data from a sample of school-going adolescents pertaining to college aspirations, professional preferences and the place of academic achievement in the value system of the research participants.

Method and procedures of data collection
Quantitative data were collected using survey research methods through distributing a structured and self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was adopted from Mateju and Smith (2008) and Colemen (1961in Ritzer, 2003 and contextualized and translated into the local language. Then, it was given to two language editors, both of whom teach at Wolaita Sodo University. After incorporating the feedbacks, 10% of the total sample size of the questionnaires was duplicated and pilot-tested. Then, with a 5% contingency of error copies and consideration of possible non-response rate, 403 (384 + 19) copies of the questionnaires were duplicated and prepared for distribution. Training was given to data collectors regarding the purpose of the research, the variables in the questionnaire, and the procedure to be followed during data collection. A cooperation letter was secured from the concerned body of Wolaita Sodo University. After obtaining permission from the principals of respective schools and vice directors, unit leaders and home room teachers were briefed about the research and why data collectors are there in the schools. Selected classrooms were identified with the help of the above stakeholders, students were contacted in their respective classrooms, and the questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected students who were voluntary to fill the questionnaire. In order to maintain the quality of data, students were briefly oriented about the research, their role in the process, the content and themes of the questionnaire, and how they are supposed to answer the questions. Above all, data collectors were guiding and following-up the respondents during the entire process of data gathering.

Sample and sampling procedure
For the purpose of determining the sample size of survey participants, among probability sampling; simple random sampling (SRS) was employed. In order to determine the appropriate sample size, the researchers applied Cochran's (1977) formula for calculating the sample size of an unknown population as, n ¼ z 2 pq e 2 ¼ 384; where n is the sample size, z is the selected critical value of the desired confidence level, p is the estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in the population, q = 1 − p and e is the desired level of precision. Among the seven administrative kebeles (the smallest administrative units in Ethiopia) found in Wolaita Sodo town, three were randomly selected. In the same manner, we have selected three secondary schools (two public and one private) located in these administrative units. Then, the final sample units from each school were chosen on the basis of probability proportionate to size sampling technique. From the distributed questionnaires, 366 were found to be correctly completed, making the response rate 95.3%.

Data analysis
From the collected questionnaires, the ones that are fully completed and correctly filled were first sorted and hence, data clearing was undertaken. Then, the completed questionnaires were inserted into SPSS software for further processing. Data analysis was conducted using statistical techniques, including percentages, frequency distributions, and chi-square tests. While the first two statistical techniques were mainly used to present data regarding the frequency and percentage distribution of responses. It is, for instance, used to show the distribution of socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, the level of aspiration for higher education of students, their professional preferences and the relative importance of education to other avenues for upward social mobility in the value system of students, etc. The chi-square test was used to examine the association between sociodemographic characteristics of respondents and their aspirations to join higher education.

Results
According to the data presented in Table 1, females have constituted the majority (54.9%) of the respondents. It is also shown that survey participants are predominantly (60.1%) followers of Protestant religion, followed by Orthodox Christians (29.2%) and Muslims (4.1%). Furthermore, data pertaining to the academic records of the respondents reveals that most of them reported to have stood a rank between 1 st and 18 th in the last semester in reference to the period of data collection, from which 39.1% were ranked 1 st to 9 th and 35.2% 10 th to 18 th . Moreover, parental level of education shows decreasing patterns as we move to the higher level of education and an increasing pattern to the lower level of education. For instance, it is shown that high school level of education (9-12) is the most frequently reported educational status of both fathers' (29%) and mothers' (27.9%) of respondents. Above all, it is found that the parents of the majority (81.1%) of respondents are still in wedlock.

Aspiration to join higher education institutions
Data presented in Table 2 reveal high aspiration of secondary school students in the study area to join higher education institutions. As shown in the table, 85% of respondents reported their decision to directly join higher education institution just after completing high school education and 71% of respondents replied the same being under circumstances where they get a chance to decide by themselves with no one influencing them. In addition, 76.2% of respondents said that they are planning to join higher education institutions in the future. Perhaps, one reason for such a high level of college aspiration might have emanated from the existence of family support as reported by 93.2% of respondents. Furthermore, for 19.9% of respondents who replied that they are not planning to join higher education in the future, fear of unemployment (4.4%), poor academic performance (1.9%), and lack of support (1.6%) are among the reasons for not being interested to join higher education.
Public higher education institutions are found to be the most preferred (85.2%) higher education institutions to the private ones (14.8%). The relatively higher tuition fees of private higher education institutions accompanied by the low financial capacity of parents to afford such expenses have been mentioned as one of the reasons research participants choose to be admitted to public higher education institutions.
In addition, the patterns of students' choice regarding the physical or cultural location of higher education institutions reveal that most (46.7%) of the respondents replied they would prefer to join higher education institutions located in their own locality/vicinity. Current social and political instabilities in Ethiopia and the need to stay near to family networks have been mentioned as the reasons for students' interest to be enrolled in universities located nearer to their localities. In addition, 35.5% of them choose the ones located far from their locality. The need for exposure to different cultures, interests of practicing independence by temporarily living away from families, financial interests, and demands of joining more reputable universities located in bigger cities were found to be among the reasons for students to bear the interest of joining higher education institutions located far away from their localities. Results of descriptive statistics from Likert scale data presented in Table 3 also confirm that respondents have high aspiration to join higher education (M= 3.49; SD = .630). As clearly shown, most respondents (M= 4.33; SD = .97) expect that the job that they will someday have will depend on their education. In addition, many of them believe that in order to achieve what they really want, they have to join higher education (M= 4.32; SD = 1.00). On the other hand, data have shown that only a few respondents reported that they would prefer to get a little paying job sooner than joining university (M= 2.25; SD = 1.407).  Table 4 presents data pertaining to the career aspirations and professional preferences of respondents. Accordingly, it is found that 84.4% of the respondents replied that they would like their main future career to rely on education. Moreover, health sciences are the most preferred (46.7%) fields that students aspire to study when joining higher education institutions, followed by businessrelated fields (13.4%), law (12.8%), and engineering (12.3%). In addition, most (36.3%) respondents disclosed that they want the health profession to be their future career or major source of livelihood, followed by 9.3%, 7.4%, and 6.8% of the respondents who aspire to join the banking, engineering and university instructor professions, respectively. In other ways, farming (0.3%), teaching (1.1%), authorship (1.1%), mechanic (1.9%), and driving (2.2%) are the least preferred types of professions, as shown Table 4. It is found that career preferences of students are partly influenced by discovery and selfconsciousness of certain natural talents within the students in the early years of school age. In this regard, the roles played by membership in to various clubs and associations in the schools have been noted. For some students, consciousness regarding possession of a talent that they become aware through participating in school clubs served as a point of reference in the preferences of future career paths. Above all, the motive of engaging in more than one professional activities with the aim of diversifying income sources has been reported by the research participants. The place of Academic Achievement in the Value System of Secondary School Students Table 5 presents data containing multiple-response items regarding survey participants' acceptable sources of success. According to the data, 80% of respondents perceive that reaching the highest level of education is the most acceptable source of success, followed by knowing where and how to make enough money (47.8%), having the right friend (42.5%), and getting along with everyone (40.6%). In addition, being a member of a certain ethnic group is the least valued (6.7%) source of upward social mobility among the respondents.

Career aspirations
Similarly, the data presented in Table 6 demonstrate that academic achievement has relatively the highest place in the value system of respondents. Accordingly, it is found that most (72.4%) of the respondents disclosed that they want to be remembered for being an outstanding student in their respective schools, followed by 9% of respondents who value leadership in activities and 6.8% of them who place a high value to being an athletic star.

Factors associated with students' aspirations to join higher education
Data presented in Table 7 show the association between respondents' aspiration to join higher education and their socio-demographic characteristics. Whereas sex, self-reported level of parental support, family encouragement, father's education, mother's education, respondents' academic performance, religion, and parents' current marital status were considered as independent variables to analyse their association with the dependent variable, we found that only parents' current marital status (11.906, P < 0.05), self-reported level of parental support (18.353, P < 0.05), and family encouragement (6.131, P < 0.05) have been found to be significantly associated with respondents' college aspiration. Accordingly, respondents whose parents are still in wedlock, those receiving relatively higher level of parental support, and respondents whose families encourage them to join higher education institutions better aspire to join higher education in the future compared to those whose parents are not in wedlock (divorced, widowed, separated or have passed away), receive little or no encouragement from families, and those that do not get adequate parental support.

Discussion
Educational aspiration and its predictors has always been a topic of interest among sociologists, psychologists and economists for long. The theory of status attainment remained the dominant sociological explanation in which aspiration has been treated as a cognitive state that motivates young people to strive for an academic success (Khoo & Ainsley, 2005). Chawla (2018) added that educational and career aspirations are the most relevant factors determining one's future educational attainment. Furthermore, individual aspirations and expectations are considered important because they might influence key choices, and outcomes such as educational achievement and occupational attainment (Gorard et al., 2012). Accordingly, the purpose of the present study was to examine the extent to which secondary school students aspire to join higher education institutions in the future, including their career expectations and professional preferences. To this end, we have gathered quantitative data from grade 10 students in Southern Ethiopia and analysed it using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The results of the study indicate that students have high aspiration to join higher education institutions. Data have shown that 76.2% of survey participants reported their plan to join higher education, while 19.9% answered that they do not have such a plan. The findings of the present study are consistent with the findings of other previous researchstudies. For instance, a study undertaken on some of the most disadvantaged adolescents (adolescents with disabilities, married girls and adolescent mothers, adolescents from pastoralist and remote rural communities, adolescents from internally displaced households and child-headed households) by Jones et al. (2019) found a high educational aspiration in which 95% of adolescents would like to attend at least some secondary school and 61% of them would like to attend university. Another qualitative study by Yisak and Tassew (2012) also found a high but changing with age, educational and occupational aspiration among children. In addition, Mateju and Smith (2008) undertook a study on 'The perceived value of education and educational aspirations in the Czech republic' and found that the perceived importance of higher education for life success has dramatically increased following society's socio-economic structural transformation. It is argued that complete alignment between high aspirations, high expectations and high achievement is the most important predictor of future educational behaviour among students (Jacob & Wilder, 2010;Khattab, 2015). However, high educational aspiration does not necessarily guarantee a better academic outcome (Khattab, 2015). Findings of the present research also revealed that secondary school students in the study area place a high value on education and academic achievement as the most important avenue to upward social mobility. For instance, data have shown that 80% of respondents perceive that reaching the highest level of education is the most acceptable source of success. Similarly, it is found that most (72.4%) of the respondents disclosed that they want to be remembered for being an outstanding student in their respective schools. Furthermore, we have also found that being a member of a certain ethnic group is the least valued (6.7%) source of upward social mobility among the respondents. The latest finding is somewhat striking given that ethnicity is at its boom in present-day Ethiopia, where most aspects of social interactions, including employment, promotion and business relationships, are constructed or at least assumed to be constructed on the basis of ethnic affiliations. The findings of the present research, nevertheless, contradict the ones found by Coleman (1961in Ritzer, 2003 who found a low standing of academic achievement in the value system of adolescents. It is argued that the low standing of academic achievement in the adolescent's value system is corroborated for both boys and girls by the questions about what it takes to belong to the leading crowd and what it takes to be popular; a good deal of the energies of those who could get high grades are distracted into non-scholastic activities. Students' preference of higher education institutions based on the criteria of ownership of the institutions shows that public universities are the most preferred ones where higher tuition fees and concerns pertaining to quality of education of private higher education institutions have been mentioned as the reasons. In addition, the patterns of preference of higher education institutions on the basis of physical or cultural location criteria reveal that most of the research participants would like to be admitted to higher education institutions located in their own localities. Here, current social and political instabilities in Ethiopia and the need to stay close to family networks have been mentioned as the reasons. Previous studies in Ethiopia (e.g. Abebaw, 2012;Abera, 2010;Bazezew & Neka, 2017;Yadessa, 2018;Yirga, 2013) reveal ethnic tension including ethnic conflict is a common problem among all Ethiopian universities. Because of this reason, many students may fear potential ethnic-based violence if they go to universities located in areas that are culturally different from their own. In societies, such as Ethiopia, where ethnically diverse people live, some conflict on identity-based cleavage is expected, especially under circumstances in which freedom of expression is not restricted (Varshney, 2009). According to Bekalu (2015), the federal structure that is based on ethnicity contributes to ethnic tensions and conflicts, widening the disparities among ethnic groups in the country. After witnessing frequent identity-based conflicts in Ethiopian universities and considering that the issue is threatening to the education process at large, the current Ethiopian government has decided that higher education institutions should be guarded by the federal security forces since 2020. It seems that the solution is effective in terms of not only reducing the problem but also in providing confidence of being protected to higher education students.
Assessments of the level of association between the dependent variable (students' aspiration to join higher education) and their socio-demographic characteristics have revealed that parents' current marital status (11.906, P < 0.05), self-reported level of parental support (18.353, P < 0.05), and family encouragement (6.131, P < 0.05) have been found to be significantly associated with respondents' college aspiration. Hence, high school students whose parents are still in wedlock, those receiving relatively higher level of parental support, and respondents whose families encourage them to join higher education institutions better aspire to join higher in the future. While these findings are partly consistent with some previous studies, most of the independent variables (sex, parental education, and academic performance) tested in the present study did not show significant association with the dependent variable. For instance, Temple (2009) stated that students' decision to attend higher education is influenced by factors such as socio-economic status, family relationships, social and cultural capital, high school experiences including interactions with teachers and administrators, as well as academic preparedness. Kainuwa and Yusuf (2013) found the role of parents' educational and socio-economic background in students' aspiration for higher education. On the other hand, limited opportunities due to documentation status, negative stereotypes directed at lower-income schools and neighbourhoods, family financial difficulties, and conflicting messages from parents, teachers, counsellors, and peers about whether community college or a four-year college or university was the best fit after high school have been found to be the barriers influencing college aspirations and plans for future (Gonzales et al., 2021). Overall, the present study is consistent with Kaur (2012) and Chawla (2018) who found no significant association between educational aspiration and gender.
The results pertaining to career aspirations and professional preferences of students have shown that 84.4% of respondents would like their main future career to rely on education, accompanied by health sciences being the most preferred (46.7%) fields that students aspire to study when joining higher education institutions, followed by Business-related fields (13.4%), law (12.8%), and engineering (12.3%). In other ways, teaching has been found to be the least (1.1%) preferred type of profession next to farming (0.3%). The latest finding is worth noting given its paramount educational and employment policy implications for Ethiopia. There used to be folks telling that teaching was the most valued of most other professions and teachers were highly respected in Ethiopia. In most country sides of the then Ethiopia, there have been wedding songs praising the bride because of how lucky she is to get married to a teacher. Whereas the existence of a generation gap in valuing teaching profession has long become a topic of widespread public discussion in Ethiopia, supporting the issue with empirical evidences would help it to get increased attention among policymakers. In a study undertaken by Predovic and Dennis (2020), it is shown that adolescent expectations have become more concentrated in fewer occupations, such that 47% of the adolescent boys and 53% of the adolescent girls in 2018compared to 38% and 49%, respectively, in 2000 -expect to be employed in one of the just ten professions by the time they reach age 30. Furthermore, Abdulah et al. (2020) found the effects of sex, parental education, and students' academic performance on their career aspirations in which females, students with better educated parents, and those having high academic performance were reported to have high career aspirations. According to Diemer and Ali (2009), students from higher social class backgrounds tend to be more successful in developing career aspirations and are generally better prepared for the world of work because of access to resources such as career offices, guidance counsellors, better schools, high level 'social actors,' and familial experience with higher education. Whereas higher educational and career aspirations may lead to better educational achievement (Chawla, 2018;Khattab, 2015), a society characterized by such promising features should be accompanied by a labour market capable of adequately absorbing its graduates.

Conclusions
In contrast to the researchers' expectation that school-going adolescents may have declining motivation to join higher education with rising graduate unemployment and underemployment in Ethiopia, secondary school students have high aspiration to join higher education institutions. In addition, while most students prefer to join public higher education institutions, larger number of students disclosed their interest to join higher education institutions located in/nearer to their locality. Moreover, having the finding that most students choose to be remembered for being an outstanding student in the school added to increased consideration of reaching at the highest level of education as the most preferred avenue to upward social mobility, we found a higher place of academic achievement in the value system of high school students in the study area. Such findings are highly promising and have the effect of encouraging especially for academicians and others working in the education system of Ethiopia. Furthermore, while health sciences are potentially the most preferred fields of study, students have shown the least interest to attend agricultural sciences during the time they join higher education. On the other hand, it is important that further studies need to be undertaken regarding the reasons students are less interested in teaching and agriculture-related fields of studies. Moreover, the finding that most students prefer to be admitted to public higher education institutions located only in or nearer to their own locality mainly due to security concerns suggests that the government should work to address security challenges in the country. The findings of the present study also made it clear that high school students whose parents are still in wedlock, those receiving relatively higher levels of parental support, and respondents whose families encourage them to join higher education institutions better aspire to join higher in the future. Hence, the results have also implied about the need to create a favourable and supportive home and school environment for students. Marriage counselling agencies, religious, family, school, media, and legal institutions, and all other concerned social structures should pay increased attention in this regard.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors
Bewunetu Zewude is a PhD candidate in the department of sociology at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He has served as an assistant professor of sociology at Wolaiata Sodo University. He has received Master of Arts degree in Sociology from Addis Ababa University and BA degree in Sociology & Social Anthropology from Wollega University. In addition, he has also been working as director of research and community service activities as a part-time-full-time employee at one of a private higher education institution in Shashemene town called Paradise Valley College. Along with the teachinglearning duties, he has always been undertaking various researches on diverse sociological topics most of which focus on public health and vulnerability issues, and published over twenty (20) articles on reputable journals. Moreover, he has contributed to science and academia through advising and examining graduate students, participating on national and international conferences, and serving as a reviewer of manuscripts submitted to journals for potential publications.

Mr. Tewodros
Habtegiorgis is an assistant professor of sociology at Wolaita Sodo University. He has received Master of Arts degree in Sociology from Addis Ababa University and BA degree in Sociology from Dilla University, both of which are public higher education institutions in Ethiopia. After completing his graduate studies, he has served as a lecturer and as an Assistant Professor in the department of sociology at Wolaita Sodo University. In addition, along with the teaching-learning duties, he has always been undertaking various researches on diverse sociological topics most of which focus on public health and vulnerability issues, and published over twenty (10) articles on reputable journals. Moreover, he has contributed to science and academia through advising and examining graduate students, participating on national and international conferences, and serving as a reviewer of manuscripts submitted to journals for potential publications. In addition to the research, Tewodros has also been massively engaging in various community service activities in Wolaita Sodo areas.

Availability of data and materials
The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Funding
This research was financed by the research and community vice president office of Wolaita Sodo university (grant number: WSU41/20/500).