非政府立学校の拡大と女子教育

―マリ共和国のケース―

抄録

This paper aims to examine the impact of the expansion of non-government schools on female education in the Republic of Mali. In 1991, the government of Mali initiated institutional reforms for the democratization of the country and revamped its educational system as part of its decentralization plan. This process allowed non-government schools, including community schools, to be established with the purpose of promoting universal primary education. We used this reform program in the education sector to analyze the changes in girls' schooling and its influence on their marriage behavior.

The results of the estimates from our difference in differences (DID) analysis showed that the average years of girls' schooling in the beneficial areas of the program increased by 0.527 years. The instrumental variable analysis also revealed that an additional year of girls' education delayed the age at first birth by 0.485 and reduced the number of births before the age of 27 by 0.276. Because a lower fertility rate is expected to reduce population and support economic growth by accumulating human capital of the next generation in the long run, we may infer that this kind of policy reform resulted in favorable changes in promoting education for vulnerable groups such as girls.

Therefore, we can conclude that even in Islamic countries, the potential need for girls' education is high and the policy change of expanding non-government schools not only improved efficiency under severe fiscal constraints but also ensured equity and fairness in promoting girls' education.