Child marriage is the most common reason given for girls' schools dropout in Nepal in this study.
After fifth or sixth grade, girls are greater risk of dropping out school due to child marriage. This suggests that programmes should focus on girls from the fifth grade. Indeed, girls aged 15-17 in Nepal are 10 times more likely to leave school than their unmarried peers.
The research also suggest that poverty does not increase the risk of school dropout due to child marriage in Nepal. Thus, strategies using conditional cash transfers may not be effective in reducing child marriage. The researchers encourage organisations working to end child marriage in Nepal to address social norms around marriage, and to involve men and boys in their efforts.
Finally, the study calls for larger non-formal education programmes to reach married girls who have already dropped out school.