Publication:
The Impact of Distributing School Uniforms on Children’s Education in Kenya

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2008-03-01
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2008-03-01
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Kremer, Michael
Ngatia, Muthoni
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Abstract
The authors evaluate the impact of an educational intervention, in which a Kenyan non-governmental organization distributes school uniforms to children in poor communities. The Nongovernmental organization (NGO) used a lottery to determine who would receive uniforms. Although compliance with the lottery was not perfect, we use winning the lottery as an instrumental variable to identify the impact of receiving a uniform. The authors find that giving a school uniform significantly reduces school absenteeism by 38 percent. Effects are much larger for poorer students who did not previously own a uniform: a 64 percent reduction in school absenteeism. Preliminary data suggest positive impacts of uniform distribution on test scores in core subjects.
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Kremer, Michael; Evans, David; Ngatia, Muthoni. 2008. The Impact of Distributing School Uniforms on Children’s Education in Kenya. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26453 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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