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Armed Conflict and Schooling : Evidence from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide

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2008-04
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2012-05-30
Author(s)
Akresh, Richard
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Abstract
Civil war, and genocide in particular, are among the most destructive of social phenomena, especially for children of school-going age. In Rwanda school enrollment trends suggest that the school system recovered quickly after 1994, but these numbers do not tell the full story. Two cross-sectional household surveys collected before and after the genocide are used to compare children in the same age group who were and were not exposed to the genocide - and their educational outcomes are substantially different. Children exposed to the genocide experienced a drop in educational achievement of almost one-half year of completed schooling, and are 15 percentage points less likely to complete third or fourth grade. Sustained effort is needed to reinforce educational institutions and offer a "second chance" to those youth most affected by the conflict.
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Akresh, Richard; de Walque, Damien. 2008. Armed Conflict and Schooling : Evidence from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4606. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6646 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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