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The Effect of the Free Primary Education Policy on School Enrolment and Relative Grade Attainment in Lesotho

Author

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  • Ramaele Moshoeshoe
  • Cally Ardington
  • Patrizio Piraino

Abstract

We examine the impact of Lesotho’s Free Primary Education (FPE) programme on enrolment and relative grade attainment. The programme was sequentially implemented by first abolishing school fees in grade one in the year 2000. The timing of the implementation created changes in programme coverage across age groups over time. We employ a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits these variations to identify the effects of the FPE policy. Using data from the 2000 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey and the 2002 Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire survey, we find that the FPE policy increased enrolment of primary school-age children by 19.1 percentage points between 1999 and 2002. We also find that the policy had a negative effect on relative grade attainment: post-FPE, children had 0.15 fewer grades per year of age compared to pre-FPE. We do not find evidence of sibling effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramaele Moshoeshoe & Cally Ardington & Patrizio Piraino, 2019. "The Effect of the Free Primary Education Policy on School Enrolment and Relative Grade Attainment in Lesotho," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 28(5), pages 511-532.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:28:y:2019:i:5:p:511-532.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jae/ejz007
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Martin Mwale & Dieter von Fintel & Anja Smith, 2022. "School drop out and farm input subsidies: gender and kinship heterogeneity in Malawi," Working Papers 01/2022, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    2. Filmer, Deon, 2023. "Long-lived consequences of rapid scale-up? The case of free primary education in six Sub-Saharan African countries," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Alam, Gazi Mahabubul & Parvin, Morsheda, 2021. "Can online higher education be an active agent for change? —comparison of academic success and job-readiness before and during COVID-19," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    4. Moshoeshoe,Ramaele Elias, 2020. "Long-Term Effects of Free Primary Education on Educational Achievement : Evidence from Lesotho," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9404, The World Bank.

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