Historical data for Secondary 3 students in Rwanda shows a persistent divide in the pass-rates between girls and boys in STEM subjects. The gap has narrowed over the years, from 16 percentage points in 2008 to less than 5 percentage points since 2016. During this period, the exam pass rate for boys has remained relatively stable, while the pass rate for girls has steadily increased, plateauing after 2016.
A review of STEM examination outcomes
Laterite used data provided by the Ministry of Education of Rwanda the National Examination and School Inspection Authority to investigate ways to explain the gender divide on pass rates.
The main take-aways from our analysis are:
- The gender gap in STEM is better explained by child-level factors compared to school-level factors
- The gender gap is wider in high-performing schools
- The higher the proportion of female teachers in the teaching staff, the smaller the gap between girls and boys in STEM subjects
More information
You can read more in this recently published policy brief:
