Using a Returns to Education Campaign to Avoid School Dropouts: A Pilot Replication in Times of COVID-19

Ongoing school closures in Chile due to the COVID-19 pandemic are threatening the education of millions of students in the country and increasing the probability of dropout cases, especially among the most vulnerable population. Leveraging an ongoing partnership with the Chilean Government and its priority to ensure continuous access to education, J-PAL LAC and affiliate professors are working with the Ministry of Education to implement a pilot replication of a successful information campaign on the returns to education to reduce dropout rates, previously evaluated at scale in the Dominican Republic and in Peru, and scaled by the governments of the two countries. The campaign provides information to students from 6th to 12th grade through telenovela-style videos and group discussions on economic returns to education, career pathways and financial aid opportunities. The team will provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Education to set up technology-based innovations aimed at engaging students’ parents and improve the implementation system of the pilot.  These activities will lay the groundworks for a robust monitoring and implementation system that will be leveraged for the program scale up.