Household access to water and education for girls: The case of villages in hilly and mountainous areas of Nepal

ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of household water accessibility on children’s educational attainment in villages situated in the remote hilly and mountainous areas of Nepal. Educational attainment was measured based on school attendance, grade repetition, and completion of primary and lower-secondary schooling. The estimation results show that a one-hour increase in the time spent on a water-fetching trip will decrease the probability of girls completing primary school by about 17 percentage points (in the age group of 14–16 years). Although boys’ completion rate is less affected, they are more likely to repeat a grade. Additional analyses indicate that these results are driven by the increased participation of older boys and younger girls in household duties.