School Fees and Under-investment in Human Capital

Over half of girls enrolling in the first year of primary school in Uganda drop out before completing all seven years. This research examines a key factor in dropout decisions: school fees. Similar to many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, households in Uganda face term-by-term school fees, making seasonal income fluctuations potentially crucial in enrollment decisions. Existing research suggests that households often prioritize boys' education over girls' in response to income shocks, suggesting that seasonality may lead to differential dropout patterns across genders. This study proposes a randomized experiment to vary the timing of school subsidies across households in rural Uganda. Researchers target approximately 1,500 girls and 500 boys currently enrolled in the fourth and sixth years of primary school in the Eastern Region of the country. To their knowledge, the proposed study would be the first to provide experimental evidence quantifying the role of timing in school investment decisions.