monitors its school enrollment records each year through site visits conducted by officials based in each region and in the central office, rather than relying on self-reports from school administrators. Nonetheless, in recognition of concerns about over-reporting we rely on enrollment data from the Ministry sparsely, largely for descriptive statistics. We address the potential bias from enrollment data used in more formal analysis when discussing results.

# _Descriptive Statistics_

Given our focus on grade 12 outcomes in this paper, it is instructive to understand how Gambian students’ progress through secondary school. The enrollment data do not track individual students over time, preventing us from constructing true grade progression rates. However, we can approximate progression through secondary school by comparing enrollment totals in grade 7, the first year of secondary school, with grade 10 enrollment three years later, when students transition from Upper Basic to Senior Secondary School. We can do the same for grade 12 enrollment and test taking five years later. Although these estimates will be biased due to mortality, migration, and grade repetition, they nonetheless give a sense of secondary school continuation and completion. For the seventh grade cohort entering in 2000, the year before the program began, enrollment in tenth grade three years later was only 29% of initial cohort size. Grade 12 enrollment and test-taking were each 25% of the initial seventh grade enrollment. These estimates suggest that secondary school progression is rare, but that students who persist to the upper secondary grades are likely to continue. Table S1 of the supplemental appendix presents these results, with additional breakdowns by gender, urban/rural, and region, as well as how grade progression changed over time for subsequent seventh grade cohorts.

The Gambia made considerable strides in reducing the gender enrollment gap since implementing the scholarship program. Figure 3 shows Ministry of Education data on enrollment in grades 7–12, aggregated across all public schools in regions 2–6. Panels (a)–(b) rescale time so that _t_ = 0 corresponds to the first year of program receipt. Panel (a) shows that female enrollment increased relative to the pre-treatment trend after introduction of the program, while male enrollment fell.<sup>12</sup> Panel (b) shows the resulting increase in the female enrollment share. This is suggestive evidence of the program’s effect on enrollment, consistent with Gajigo (2014), albeit subject to the potential bias in enrollment data discussed previously. Panel (c), which uses calendar time and disaggregates the data by grade, shows that the female enrollment percentage increased over time for all grades. It also shows that females comprise a lower share of enrollment as grade level increases (with only a few exceptions), meaning that females will be under-represented among test takers relative to their enrollment shares in their corresponding schools.

Figure 3(a)-(c): Secondary school enrollment, by gender (a) Enrollment, (b) Female enrollment proportion, (c) Female enrollment proportion, by grade. Figure shows secondary school (grade 7–12) enrollment. Data source: Gambia Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.

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