Financial Constraints and Girls' Secondary Education : Evidence from School Fee Elimination in The Gambia

Blimpo, Moussa P. ; Gajigo, Ousman ; Pugatch, Todd

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: gender gap;    secondary education;    school fees;    school effectiveness;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7908
RP-ID  :  WPS7908

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This study analyzes the impact oflarge-scale fee elimination for secondary school girls inThe Gambia on the quantity, composition, and achievement ofstudents. The gradual rollout of the program acrossgeographic regions provides identifying variation in thepolicy. The program increased the number of girls taking thehigh school exit exam by 55 percent. The share of older testtakers increased in poorer districts, expanding access forstudents who began school late, repeated grades, or whosestudies had been interrupted. Despite these changes in thequantity and composition of students, there are robustlypositive point estimates of the program on test scores, withsuggestive evidence of gains for several subgroups of bothgirls and boys. Absence of learning declines is notable in asetting where expanded access could strain limited resourcesand reduce school quality. The findings suggest thatfinancial constraints remain serious barriers topost-primary education, and that efforts to expand access tosecondary education need not come at the expense of learningin low-income countries like The Gambia.