Learning Beyond School: Another Chance for Out of School Adolescent Girls

Despite substantial increase in primary school enrollment in Pakistan, 59% of girls do not complete primary school. Scant research exists on improving learning and later life outcomes for out of school female adolescents. We request funding for a 300-village randomized controlled trial that will test the effect of a remedial learning and functional literacy program aimed at females aged 9 to 19 in southern Punjab (Pakistan) who have never attended school or have dropped out. We will test the program’s effects on female learning, future enrollment, and educational aspirations, empowerment, and the broader values and perceptions of female roles of
both participants and their household and village members. The research will answer questions crucial to the welfare of some of the most marginalized and disadvantaged members of low income countries. Moreover, improving the position of young females can have strong spillovers through their roles as siblings and mothers.