Assessing the most effective ways to reduce secondary school dropouts in rural Burkina Faso: a pilot randomized controlled trial (ReduceDropouts)

Last registered on September 04, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Assessing the most effective ways to reduce secondary school dropouts in rural Burkina Faso: a pilot randomized controlled trial (ReduceDropouts)
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010289
Initial registration date
October 22, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 31, 2022, 3:31 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
September 04, 2026, 1:34 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Burkina Faso
Region
Province of Kossi

Primary Investigator

Name
Jan-Walter De Neve
Affiliation
San Diego State University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Günther Fink
PI Affiliation
Swiss TPH
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PI Name
Ali Sié
PI Affiliation
Centre de Recherche en Santé de Nouna
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-10-30
End date
2024-12-20
Keywords
Education, Health
Additional Keywords
Secondary school, out-of-school adolescents, human capital development
JEL code(s)
C93, I2, I1, J24
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Educational attainment is a key determinant of health and economic outcomes. The period of late adolescence is a critical period of development when changes in educational processes can have dramatic consequences over the life course. However, despite major progress made in primary education, only around 40% of adolescents reach the last grade of lower secondary school in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) today. Average educational attainment remains lowest among women in SSA, particularly in central and western SSA.

The primary objective of this project is to identify the most effective strategies to reduce these disparities and to improve secondary school attendance. Building on the key insights and recommendations of the 2020 Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel, we will conduct a pilot study with at least about 15 (out of 25+) secondary schools in Nouna, rural Burkina Faso, which has one of the lowest secondary schooling completion rates globally. The study setting is representative of many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where secondary school enrollment is persistently low, and increasing access to secondary schooling is a major national policy objective.

Through a randomized pilot study, we will assess the feasibility and potential impact of three interventions, including:

(i) economic support and incentives;
(ii) tailored tutoring to support learning;
(iii) providing information on the economic and health benefits of secondary education;

We expect that the findings of our pilot study can guide the development of future schooling interventions to reduce the wide existing disparities in education and health outcomes often originating from adolescence. In addition to that, we hope that the findings can be translated into practical guidance for governments and other stakeholders seeking to promote schooling in LMICs.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
De Neve, Jan-Walter, Günther Fink and Ali Sié. 2026. "Assessing the most effective ways to reduce secondary school dropouts in rural Burkina Faso: a pilot randomized controlled trial (ReduceDropouts)." AEA RCT Registry. September 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10289-1.4
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
- Study arm 1: economic support or reward
- Study arm 2: tailored tutoring for learning support
- Study arm 3: information on the economic and health benefits of secondary schooling
- Study arm 4: control
Intervention (Hidden)
The Centre de Recherche en Santé de Nouna (CRSN) will implement the following interventions:


- Study arm 1: economic support or reward

Conditional cash transfer to parent and/or child of up to about 100 USD per child - e.g., 50 USD at time of intervention and 50 USD if the child is able to regularly attend secondary school until the end of the school year (July 2023).

- Study arm 2: tailored tutoring for learning support

Private tutoring worth up to about 100 USD per child - e.g., an older student or external teacher who tutors 1-2 hours per week for 2-3 months in total prior to, for instance, major exam periods.

- Study arm 3: information on the economic and health benefits of secondary schooling

Short video supplemented with paper-based information on the economic and health benefits of secondary schooling. Estimates of the benefits of schooling are “local” because they are informed by data from the study area itself (Werner et al., 2022; Sié et al., 2010).

- Study arm 4: control


References:

Werner LK, Ludwig J-O, Sie A, Bagagnan CH, Zabré P, Vandormael A, et al. (2022) Health and economic benefits of secondary education in the context of poverty: Evidence from Burkina Faso. PLoS ONE 17(7): e0270246.

Sié A, Louis VR, Gbangou A, Müller O, Niamba L, Stieglbauer G, et al. The Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) in Nouna, Burkina Faso, 1993-2007. Glob Health Action. 2010 Sep 14;3
Intervention Start Date
2022-11-25
Intervention End Date
2024-12-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Not more than 2 weeks of unexcused absences of school continuously between March 1st and May 31st 2023.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary school completion
Number of days attended during school year
Academic motivation
Academic performance
Perceptions of schooling
School expenditures
Time-use
Household characteristics (e.g., wealth)
Self-reported general health
Sexual and reproductive health
Diet, hygiene, and infectious diseases
Health services utilization
Anthropometric measurements
Plans for the future
COVID-19 and schooling
Number of out-of-school adolescents identified and visited at home
Uptake of the intervention (i.e., study participant interest in the proposed supporting intervention)
Costs of providing the intervention to the government and additional costs to households
Health, behavioral, economic and social outcomes that are routinely collected by the Nouna HDSS over time
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Pilot randomized trial to determine the feasibility and potential impact of the interventions to increase secondary school attendance.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer or tablet during field work.
Randomization Unit
Individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Design is not clustered.
Sample size: planned number of observations
300 out-of-school adolescents.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
75 out-of-school adolescents control, 75 out-of-school adolescents economic support or reward, 75 out-of-school adolescents tailored tutoring support, and 75 out-of-school adolescents information on the economic and health benefits of secondary school.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
For this pilot study, we chose a sample size of 300 out-of-school adolescents pragmatically to balance resource and logistical constraints with the objective to provide a first approximate estimate of the increases in secondary school attendance that can be achieved with the interventions. These estimates will be critical for designing and powering subsequent larger trials.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Heidelberg University Hospital Ethics Commission (Germany)
IRB Approval Date
2022-06-09
IRB Approval Number
S-362/2022
IRB Name
Comité d'Ethique pour la Recherche en Santé (Burkina Faso)
IRB Approval Date
2022-09-21
IRB Approval Number
2022-09-203
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
December 20, 2024, 12:00 AM +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
December 22, 2023, 12:00 AM +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
Despite major gains in primary school enrollment across low- and middle-income countries, secondary school completion remains low. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso to evaluate the effectiveness of three interventions designed to reduce early secondary school leaving: (i) information on the economic and health returns to education, (ii) tailored tutoring, and (iii) conditional cash incentives. The cash intervention significantly increased school enrollment, any school attendance, and regular attendance, and reduced the total number of school days missed. Tutoring significantly increased school enrollment, while its effects on regular attendance and academic progression were imprecisely estimated. The information intervention generated limited evidence of impacts, with no statistically significant effects on the primary outcome or academic progression and only marginal evidence of an increase in any school attendance. Financial and academic support can help adolescents who left school early re-enroll, but larger studies are needed to identify which interventions most effectively sustain regular attendance.
Citation
De Neve JW, Zabré SP, Fink G (2026). Reducing early secondary school leaving: experimental evidence on information, tutoring, and incentives from Burkina Faso. World Development, 209, 107535. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2026.107535.
URL
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X26002251

Reports & Other Materials