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Many Sub-Saharan African countries have instituted free primary education policies, and this has led to a significant increase in the primary school enrollment rate. However, many children who are in school are not learning. It is not clear whether free primary education policies have contributed to the decline in the quality of education and whether these learning effects are long-lasting. This paper addresses the latter question and estimates the long-term effects of free primary education on educational achievement in Lesotho where the program was phased-in on a grade-by-grade basis, beginning with grade one in 2000. The timing of the implementation created changes in program coverage across age (and grade) groups over time. A semiparametric difference-in-differences strategy is employed that exploits these variations to identify the long-term effects of the free primary education policy on educational achievement, using university examinations records data for student cohorts with and without free primary education. The results indicate that the effect of free primary education on academic performance is bounded between 2 and 19 percentage points, implying that the program increased enrollment without hurting education quality.

Economics Of Education --- Education Quality --- Education Reform and Management --- Educational Achievement --- Effective Schools and Teachers --- Free Primary Education --- Primary Education --- School Enrollment

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This paper estimates the impacts of secondary school on human capital, occupational choice, and fertility for young adults in Kenya. The probability of admission to government secondary school rises sharply at a score close to the national mean on a standardized 8th grade examination, permitting the estimation of causal effects of schooling in a regression discontinuity framework. The analysis combines administrative test score data with a recent survey of young adults to estimate these impacts. The results show that secondary schooling increases human capital, as measured by performance on cognitive tests included in the survey. For men, there is a drop in the probability of low-skill self-employment, as well as suggestive evidence of a rise in the probability of formal employment. The opportunity to attend secondary school also reduces teen pregnancy among women.

Academic year --- Adults --- Average schooling --- Basic education --- Catholic schools --- Childbearing --- Class size --- Class-size --- Cognitive performance --- Cognitive test --- Development goals --- Development policy --- Disasters --- District education --- Early marriage --- Educated parents --- Education --- Education for all --- Education investments --- Education offices --- Education policy --- Education system --- Educational attainment --- Educational participation --- Effects of education --- Examination --- Fees --- Female education --- Female schooling --- Fertility --- First births --- First child --- Free primary education --- Gender parity --- Girls' schools --- Grade repetition --- Health, nutrition and population --- High school --- HIV --- Human capital --- Human capital accumulation --- Human development --- Impact of education --- Infant --- Infant health --- Labor market --- Labor markets --- Learning --- Learning outcomes --- Level of education --- Literacy --- Low-income country --- Marriage --- Millennium development goals --- Mother --- National boundaries --- National schools --- Natural disasters --- Number of schools --- Number of students --- Older men --- Parents' education --- Policies --- Policy --- Policy change --- Policy discussions --- Policy research --- Policy research working paper --- Population --- Population growth --- Population policies --- Populations --- Pregnancies --- Pregnancy --- Pregnancy by age --- Primary education --- Primary education policy --- Primary education system --- Primary school --- Primary school leaving examination --- Primary schooling --- Primary schools --- Private schools --- Private secondary schools --- Progress --- Public examination system --- Public schools --- Public services --- Publishers --- Rates of population --- Respect --- Returns to education --- Rural areas --- School --- School administrators --- School attendance --- School completion --- School construction --- School enrollment --- School entry --- School fees --- School leaders --- School leaving examination --- School participation --- School quality --- Schooling --- Schools --- Secondary education --- Secondary school --- Secondary schooling --- Secondary schools --- Sex --- Sexual behavior --- Skills --- Spouse --- Student achievement --- Students --- Teachers --- Teen --- Teen pregnancy --- Teens --- Tertiary education --- Textbooks --- Universal primary education --- Urban centers --- Values --- Vocational education --- Vocational schools --- War --- Women --- Young adults --- Young men --- Young women