This blog was written by Alessandro Kosak (Education and Impact Associate) and Ndumba Chisengi (Senior School Support Specialist) at Promoting Equality in African Schools (PEAS).
Introducing PEAS’ new learning series: evidence from our evaluations, shared with the sector. Each piece will explore specific finding or themes from our data and examine what it tells us – not only about our own schools and partner schools, but about the broader challenges facing low-cost education in sub-Saharan Africa.
What causes a student to leave school? Financial pressure, pregnancy, health problems – the data from a recent external evaluation of PEAS, PEAS-partner, and government schools in Zambia points consistently to external constraints, not disengagement. Of the out-of-school students interviewed, 88% expressed a desire to return; none described losing interest in learning. Drawing on baseline survey results and qualitative interviews across the evaluation sample, this blog examines why students drop out, how leaving school reshapes their ambitions, and why girls bear a disproportionate share of that risk.
Drawing on interviews with students and out-of-school young people, alongside baseline survey data, this blog explores two closely-linked questions: why students drop out, and what this means for girls in particular. The barriers that push students out of school don’t affect boys and girls equally, and neither do the costs of leaving school.
Dropout is rarely a choice
The most consistent finding from the qualitative data is that dropout was overwhelmingly linked to external constraints rather than a lack of motivation. Of the out-of-school youth interviewed, the reasons given for leaving included financial difficulties, pregnancy and health problems. None described losing interest in school. As aforementioned, 88% of the students interviewed who had dropped out expressed a desire to return, with some indicating genuine regret about having left. Whilst their aspiration for education remained the same, their access had diminished.
The baseline data adds to this picture. Among surveyed students in the final grade of upper secondary school, 84% anticipated financial constraints being the biggest challenge they would face following graduation, pointing to how acutely economic pressure is felt even among students who have not dropped out. Additionally, 34% of all students surveyed engage in informal work alongside study, and 26% run small businesses whilst still in school. Many of these students are already managing difficult economic realities, and the pressures they face can make staying in school impossible.
Family support structures also emerge as a significant factor. Parental or guardian support was cited by 56% of students as their primary source of support, followed by other family members (17–19%). The inverse implication – that students without strong family support networks are at considerably higher risk of dropout – is consistent with the findings from the report. When financial pressure combines with limited family support, students become far more vulnerable to dropping out, regardless of their own aspirations.
What happens to aspirations after dropout
Among students who remain in school, aspirations are specific and career-focused. 84% of in-school students interviewed named concrete career goals – teacher, doctor, engineer – and many described a clear pathway: complete secondary school, then progress to college or university.
For out-of-school youth, that pattern shifts. After dropping out, goals become less specific and more centred on financial independence around farming, small businesses and informal work. This is not the absence of aspiration, but aspiration redirected by necessity, focused on economic survival rather than professional identity. The gap between what students once hoped for and what now feels possible offers one window into the cost of early school exit.
Girls, pregnancy and dropout risk
50% of girls interviewed who were out of school cited pregnancy as a reason for leaving, pointing to a specific and gendered barrier that shapes the trajectory of girls in education.
Pregnancy-linked dropout removes girls from school at critical moments, often during secondary school, when in-school adolescents’ professional aspirations are being formed and consolidated. The shift in goals observed across the dropout group – from career-oriented to income-generating – is likely to be more pronounced for girls who leave because of pregnancy, given that caregiving responsibilities compound the constraints that already make returning to school difficult.
The baseline data offers important context here: 94% of female students surveyed reported an entrepreneurial interest, compared to 90% of male students. Girls are not entering school with lower expectations of themselves. They are encountering barriers within and around education that boys, on average, face less acutely. The data also shows that 59% of male students hold leadership positions in school, compared to 49% of female students. This gap does not reflect lower ambition but rather the dynamics within the school environment that make it harder for girls to step into leadership roles, even when their underlying drive is equal.
One student account from the baseline speaks directly to this. She describes her PEAS school as a place where she developed confidence, gained important skills and through the girls’ club, learned about puberty and menstrual health in ways that prepared her to face challenges she would not have been equipped to handle otherwise. For girls who leave school before this development is complete, those supports disappear often at the very moment they are needed most.
What the data asks of the sector
The findings here do not point to a problem of motivation. They point to a problem of material conditions, structural inequity and the compounding risks that fall disproportionately on girls. Students who drop out want to be in school. The aspiration to return is there, seven out of eight out-of-school students expressed it directly. The question is whether the systems around them make that return possible.
That is why PEAS operates a dedicated re-entry policy for new mothers in Zambia and Uganda, supporting students to attend for as long as they are able before taking a period of leave, and return with flexible timetabling and remedial support. Re-entry provision is important, but it does not address the full challenge. Future research, both through this evaluation and beyond, could explore how re-entry rates vary by reason for dropout, and how school staff can be supported to better identify and prevent students at risk of dropping out. The evidence points to where the pressure points are; fuller understanding of what works at each of them remains an area for further learning.
