Principal investigator: Adriano Valladão Pires Ribeiro
Article title: CYCLING TO SCHOOL: INCREASING SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENT FOR GIRLS IN INDIA
Article authors: Karthik Muralidharan and Nishith Prakash
Location of the intervention: India
Sample size: 30.112 observations
Main theme: Education
Type of Intervention: Conditional transfer of assets (Conditional kind transfers)
Primary variable of interest: Enrollment of young women in secondary education
Evaluation method: Triple and quadruple difference
Policy Problem
Reducing the gender gap in education among young people is an important issue to overcome. In many countries, this problem means encouraging young women to enroll in and continue their studies, especially during adolescence. The state of Bihar, in India, launched a public policy in 2006 that provided bicycles to young women entering secondary school. This initiative reduces the costs for young women to attend school and thus helps to overcome this gap.
Evaluation Context
Bihar is the third most populous state in India with approximately 100 million inhabitants and, at the beginning of the 2000s, was among the most economically backward states and had one of the lowest average levels of education. The government elected at the end of 2005 prioritized improvements in law and order in order to mitigate corruption and improve the delivery of public services, in particular, a rapid increase in spending on education.
In general, in Bihar, school enrollment decreases with age for both sexes; that is, the older the young person, the less likely they are to be in school. The problem is exacerbated for young women, whose chances of being enrolled are even lower, with a notable difference between the ages of 14 and 15, the age of entry into secondary education. Among the causes of this situation, distance is identified as a significant barrier, since less than 12% of villages in the state had a secondary school, and the greater the distance from the nearest school, the lower the probability of a young person being enrolled or having completed the first year of secondary education.
Intervention Details
In 2006, the Bihar government launched the Bicycle Program, which provided bicycles to female students enrolled in the first year of secondary school to facilitate their commute to school. Eligible girls purchased their bicycles directly after receiving a sum of money (approximately 100 reais per student, converted at the 2006 exchange rate). The money was distributed to schools in public ceremonies, and in return, the state government required the school administration to collect purchase receipts and provide a certificate confirming the bicycle purchase. Between 2006 and 2008, eligibility for the program only required enrollment in secondary school; class attendance was not mandatory.
Several features of the program's design are worth highlighting. First, the design provided flexibility in purchasing a bicycle according to the participant's preferences. Second, it avoided the large-scale acquisition and distribution of bicycles by the state government. Finally, it ensured that the money would be spent in a way that would increase the demand for secondary education and reduce the daily cost of going to school.
The program was very well implemented; only 3% of families with potential beneficiaries did not receive the money to buy bicycles, and only 2% of those who received the money did not purchase a bicycle. The following are some reasons for the program's effectiveness: (i) the eligibility of any girl entering secondary school; (ii) the ease of monitoring the transfer of a single payment; (iii) participation in a public ceremony created popular pressure to spend the money on purchasing a bicycle; (iv) the difficulty for public officials to deny participation to the target audience; and (v) the commitment of political leaders to the program.
Exclusive
The variable of interest is whether a student enrolled in or completed the first year of secondary school due to the purchase of bicycles. The effect was measured in two ways, which will be explored below.
Using a nationally representative survey of families between 2007 and 2008 (approximately 18 months after the start of the Bicycle Program), it is possible to compare female family members aged 14-15, the typical age of entry into secondary school, to female family members aged 16-17. The comparison is made because the 14-15 year olds were eligible for the program, while the 16-17 year olds entered secondary school before the start of the incentive. Therefore, the treatment group consists of the 14-15 year olds and the control group consists of the 16-17 year olds.
The objective is to estimate the difference in average enrollment between these two groups to isolate the effect caused by the program. Part of the difference, however, may still be caused by other factors, since, as noted earlier, the state of Bihar was increasing spending on education during the period. Therefore, boys are also used as a control group, since they are affected by the increased spending but are not eligible for the program. A final factor must also be taken into consideration: the difference in enrollment numbers by gender. Because it is at a lower point, the hypothesis was that enrollment among young women would grow more rapidly than among young men.
In order to isolate the desired effect, the average enrollment of female students aged 14-15 in Bihar is compared, after subtracting the average enrollment of female students aged 16-17 and the average enrollment of male students, with the average enrollment of the same group after adopting the same procedure in the neighboring state of Jharkhand. The use of Jharkhand for comparison makes sense since both states had the same administration until 2001, when they separated, and had the same growth trend in enrollment rates pre-program.
The second approach goes further and explores the idea that the initiative had a heterogeneous impact on the students; that is, the farther they lived from a secondary school, the greater the impact, since the bicycle reduces the students' commuting costs. Therefore, in addition to the entire process described above, the students were classified into two groups, one that was more than 3 kilometers away from a secondary school and another that was less than 3 kilometers away. Discover the excitement of online casino games at prawdziwe pieniądze! We recommend that you find more information and detailed reviews about the best online casinos in Poland on the Rankingcasino.pl website. Visit Rankingcasino.pl Now, start your journey of entertainment and potential earnings! This rating allows you to capture the uneven effect of the program.
Results
First method: Enrollment in or completion of the first year of secondary education for young women increased by 5,2 percentage points due to the Bicycle Program. This figure represents 32% of the total increase in enrollments of young women aged 14 to 15. Furthermore, it is possible to compare enrollment growth trends between girls and boys and attribute 40% of the reduction in the gender gap to the Bicycle Program.
Second method: Taking into account the heterogeneous effect, the results suggest that the program's impacts are mainly due to those living more than 3 kilometers from a school. For young women living far away, the Bicycle Program increased enrollment or completion of the first year of secondary school by 8,75 percentage points. This value represents 87% of the total increase in this group and 54% of the reduction in the gender gap. On the other hand, for girls who already lived near a school, the program had no impact.
Lessons in Public Policy
The Bicycle Program was an innovative public policy with considerable visibility and some valuable lessons. First, transfer initiatives can go beyond simply giving money to families. Second, public policies that directly address the barriers to attending school are effective, as is the case with bicycles, which reduce transportation costs. Finally, the reasons for the success of the Bicycle Program can be applied to other contexts and help in formulating policies that encourage school attendance in other countries and regions.
Reference
Muralidharan, Karthik; Nishith Prakash. “Cycling to School: Increasing Secondary School Enrollment for Girls in India”, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 9 (3): 321-50. 2017.
