Unpacking reasons for girls’ school drop-out in West Nile, Uganda

Ensuring that all young people receive a quality education is one of the world’s great development challenges. While tremendous progress has been made in closing the gap between boys and girls in education at the primary level, girls still lag behind boys in secondary school enrollment and completion in several regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Decades of evidence have shown that education at the secondary level is critical for girls’ empowerment.

Secondary education is also an engine of economic, social and political development. In Uganda, the gender gap in primary school enrollment has completely closed; however, for every 10 boys enrolled in secondary school, there are only eight girls enrolled. In the West Nile sub-region, where decades of conflict and displacement have stunted economic and infrastructural development, the situation is even more dire: for every 10 boys enrolled in secondary school, only five girls are enrolled.

The beginning of secondary school usually coincides with the onset of adolescence, a time when girls become more vulnerable to sexual coercion, violence, pregnancy and forced marriage. Pregnancy, in particular, is often blamed as a cause of school drop-out. While we know that sexual debut, pregnancy and drop-out often occur very close in time, so far the global evidence base has not conclusively established to what extent pregnancy alone causes drop-out. 

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and our partners wanted to take a closer look at the causes of dropout, and in particular to test the hypothesis that both pregnancy and drop-out are driven by pervasive gender-inequitable attitudes, beliefs and practices instilled in girls by their families, communities and classrooms.

Initial findings and policy recommendations are included in this early analysis of the data.