That means that providing school uniforms cut absenteeism by 37%. Providing free school uniforms decreased absenteeism to 13% in the initial years of the program. That might sound low, but it means that the average child was missing one day of school every week. School absenteeism in these schools was about 20%. We use the lottery to compare children who “won” a school uniform to those that did not, to see whether it helped them to stay in school. (This was a child sponsorship program, but in this case, the main individual benefit that children received was a school uniform.) Because they had limited uniforms, the NGO provided uniforms to all orphans, and then they used a lottery to decide which of the remaining children in the first years of primary school would receive a uniform. What happened when students received free school uniforms in Kenya?Ī non-governmental organization (NGO) in rural western Kenya provided uniforms to primary school children over the course of several years. Most importantly, school uniforms will not solve the most fundamental challenges with quality education.īut the question we ask is, in countries where school uniforms are the norm – as in many African countries – does providing them for free help children to stay in school? Uniforms restrict students’ opportunity to express themselves. Of course, there are also potential downsides.

School uniforms reduce the time students spend deciding what to wear, allowing more time for sleeping or studying.

School uniforms may make it easier to identify unauthorized visitors to the school.

Through the increased sense of community and the reduced salience of economic inequality, uniforms could improve discipline.

School uniforms can instill a feeling of community among students.

Uniforms can downplay economic differences between students that would otherwise be more apparent. School uniforms mean that students aren’t competing in their attire, so hopefully more attention stays on their studies. But there are various arguments in favor of uniforms:

to Zambia, one might question the wisdom of requiring school uniforms in the first place. With controversy about policing students’ clothing from the U.S. Why would you want to make children wear school uniforms, anyway? In a new study, we examine the impact of providing free school uniforms to primary school children and observe how it affects their school participation in the short and long run. With the abolition of official school fees for primary school in most countries, the cost of uniforms can be one of the largest expenses for families.

Photos: World BankĪround much of Africa, children wear uniforms to school.

Children in uniform in (clockwise from top left) Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Ghana.

The Orphans by Mike Evans