The impact of eliminating primary school tuition fees on child marriage in sub-Saharan Africa: A quasi-experimental evaluation of policy changes in 8 countries.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Child marriage harms girls' health and hinders progress toward development goals. Randomized studies have shown that providing financial incentives for girls' education can effectively delay marriage, but larger-scale interventions are needed in light of slow progress toward curbing the practice. Many sub-Saharan African countries eliminated primary school tuition fees over the past two decades, resulting in massive increases in enrolment. We measured the effect of these policies on the probability of primary school completion and of marriage before 15 and 18 years of age.

Methods

We used Demographic and Health Surveys to assemble a dataset of women born between 1970 and 2000 in 16 countries. These data were merged with longitudinal information on the timing of tu

SUBMITTER: Koski A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5967724 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature