Policies

Provision of Free School Uniforms

Using the Free School Uniforms to Reduce Out-of-Pocket Expenditure for Low-income households in Kenya.

Background: This project aimed to address this gap by examining the outcomes of an educational intervention in Kenya that aimed to lower schooling expenses for children in impoverished areas by supplying them with school uniforms.

Solution Approach

The school uniforms distributed as part of the ongoing project range in price from 325 to 550 Kenyan shillings (equivalent to US$4.15 to $7.03) for girls and between 405 to 550 Kenyan shillings (equivalent to US$5.18 to $7.03) for boys. This price discrepancy is due to the fact that uniforms for each school necessitate distinct materials, and local tailors near each school were enlisted to stitch the uniforms, thereby contributing to varying costs.  The distribution mechanism of the uniform in this program used a lottery to determine who would receive a school uniform.

Impact

Receiving a uniform reduced school absenteeism by 37 percent for the average student (7 percentage points) and by 55 percent for children who initially had no uniform (15 percentage points). 

Analysis

Eight years after the program began, there is no evidence of the sustained impact of the program on the highest grade completed or primary school completion rates. A bounding exercise suggests no substantive positive, long-term impacts. These results contribute to a small amount of literature demonstrating the risk of fade-out of initial impacts of education investments.