Peer-reviewed article
The Samata Intervention to Increase Secondary School Completion and Reduce Child Marriage Among Adolescent Girls: Results from a Cluster-Randomised Control Trial in India
Ravi Prakash, Tara S. Beattie, Prakash Javalkar, Parinita Bhattacharjee, Satyanarayana Ramanaik et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This report describes a cluster-randomised trial of the Samata intervention in Karnataka, India. The intervention combined structural and norms-based activities and aimed to increase secondary school completion and reduce child marriage among marginalised adolescent girls. At end-line, about a quarter of girls had not completed secondary school and about 10% were married, with no difference between intervention and control groups. The authors say low drop-out and marriage rates reflect large social changes and government programmes during the trial, so the intervention's value is hard to judge. A small increase in school completion was seen in one district only.
Key points
- 80 of 121 village clusters were randomly selected (40 intervention, 40 control); girls aged 12-13 from scheduled castes/tribes were enrolled.
- Secondary school non-completion at end-line was 24.9% in control and 25.4% in intervention.
- Marriage at end-line was 9.6% in control and 10.1% in intervention.
- No difference between arms in other schooling or sexual and reproductive outcomes.
- In Vijayapura district, secondary school completion was 73% in control and 77% in intervention, a small but significant increase.
Limitations
Only 72.8% of girls were interviewed at end-line, and drop-out and marriage rates were much lower than expected because of wider social change and government programming. The results cannot tell us whether the approach would work where drop-out and child marriage remain persistently high.
Abstract
Background: Secondary education and delayed marriage provide long-term socio-economic and health benefits to adolescent girls. We tested whether a multi-level, structural and norms-based intervention could reduce secondary school drop-out and child marriage among rural, marginalised adolescent girls in southern India. Methods: 80 of 121 village clusters in Vijayapura and Bagalkote districts, Karnataka State, were randomly selected (40 intervention; 40 control). Scheduled-caste/scheduled-tribe girls aged 12-13 years in the final year of primary school were enrolled into the study. The primary trial outcomes were the proportion of girls who (i) completed secondary school and (ii) were married, by trial end-line (15-16 years). <br>Findings: 92.6% (2257/2457) of girls at baseline and 72.8% (1788/2457) at end-line were interviewed. At end-line, a quarter had not completed secondary school (control=24.9%/intervention=25.4%), and 10% were married (control=9.6%/intervention=10.1%). These were lower than expected, with no difference between arms. There was no difference in other schooling or sexual and reproductive outcomes by trial arm. Stratified by district, there were small but significant increases in secondary school completion (control=73%; intervention=77%) among girls in Vijayapura. <br>Interpretation: Low school drop-out and marriage rates reflect large secular changes and government programming during our trial. This makes it difficult to assess the value of the intervention overall or the value of this approach in settings where school dropout and child marriage are persistently high. Further research is needed to explore interventions for the substantial minority of girls who remain at risk of marriage and school drop-out in this setting. <br>Funding Statement: Project Samata was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) as part of STRIVE, a 6-year programme of research and action devoted to tackling the structural drivers of HIV and ViiV Healthcare. <br>Declaration of Interests: The authors confirm no conflicting interests. <br>Ethics Approval Statement: This work complies with the Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health code. The study was approved by ethics committees at St John’s Medical College, Bangalore (Ref 111/2013), LSHTM (Ref 7083), and the University of Manitoba (Ref H2014:414).
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Samata, a multi-level, structural and norms-based intervention to keep girls in secondary school and delay marriage
- Population
- Scheduled-caste/scheduled-tribe girls aged 12-13 in the final year of primary school in 80 village clusters in Vijayapura and Bagalkote districts, Karnataka, India
Key finding
Secondary school non-completion: control 24.9% vs intervention 25.4%, no difference between arms.
Prakash et al. · Crossref · 1 Jan 2018