The main objective of this study was to examine the current status of school agernchildren's participation in primary education in the nomadic areas of Borena,rnidentify the major problems, i.e., school related and out of school factorsrn(economic, social, cultural and development constraints) and indicate thernalternative strategies that need to be designed by addressing the major issues tornbe dealt with by the regional policy makers and educational planners. Arndescriptive survey method was employed to gather the necessary data for thernstudy. Data from the documents was obtained from the annual statistical abstractrnof the MOE, OEB and the 1994 Housing and Population Census. Moreover,rnquestionnaires and structured interviews were administrated to 80 teachers, 516rnstudents and 80 elders. The results of the study showed that school relatedrnfactors such as distance from home to school and lack of water in the schoolrnwere found to be the common obstacles for increasing access to primaryrneducation. Moreover, weak school-community relationships and absence ofrnflexible time schedule and calendar were identified as the prominent factors inrnhindering students' participation. Furthermore, lack of separate toilet for girls,rnand shortage of student textbooks were found to be the other major constraintsrnfor increasing access to primary education.rnThe results of the study also indicated that sociology-economic factors such as thernneed for child's labor by parents, mobility of the people, and lack ofrnunderstanding of the value of education by parents were identified as the majorrnobstacles. On the other hand, cultural factors were found to be the mainrnhindering factors. Besides absence of development programs designed for thernpastoral nomads such as range land development program and extension andpackage programs were also identified as the major constraints. Moreover,rnshortage of marketing services, and shortage of basic services such as educationrnand health were found to be the main obstacles. Furthermore, sparse settlementrnof the people and shortage of road were also identified as the major hinderingrnproblems.rnAs a result, it is concluded that school related and out of school factors as well asrndevelopment constraints are the hindering factors to bring about improved accessrnto primary education in the pastoral nomadic areas of Borena. On top of this, it isrnrecommended that the regional state policy makers and planners should giverngreater attention to improve the existing situation so that an increase in therndemand for primary education would be improved and an increase in access isrnrealized.