Does Abolishing Fees Reduce School Quality? Evidence from Kenya.

From:
Department for International Development
Published
1 January 2011
Country:
Kenya
Document Type:
Working Paper
Theme:
Economic Growth
Authors:
Bold, T., Sandefur, J., Kimenyi, M., Mwabu, G.

Abstract

In 2003 Kenya abolished user fees in all government primary schools. We find that this Free Primary Education (FPE) policy resulted in a decline in public school quality and increased demand for private schooling. However, the former did not reflect a decline in value added by public schools - as anticipated if fees contribute to local accountability - but rather the selection of weaker pupils into free education. In contrast, affluent children who exited to the private sector in response to FPE benefited from a strong, causal effect on their exam performance which is robust to selection on unobserved ability

Citation

CSAE Working Paper WPS/2011-04, 47 pp.

Does Abolishing Fees Reduce School Quality? Evidence from Kenya.

Published 1 January 2011
Contents