[go: up one dir, main page]

IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/injoed/v56y2017icp42-51.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Learning in India’s primary schools: How do disparities widen across the grades?

Author

Listed:
  • Alcott, Benjamin
  • Rose, Pauline
Abstract
Using a large-scale household survey, we investigate how disparities in learning change over the primary school cycle. Even controlling for other factors, household wealth and parental schooling drive sizeable gaps in learning, increasing in magnitude over the school grades. Gender gaps also widen, although only among the poorest. In contrast to other countries, overage status is positively associated with learning early on, but its importance dissipates by later grades. While the importance of factors varies across states, household wealth predominates. The analysis highlights the importance of tackling disadvantage associated with poverty early, to avoid its effects on learning becoming entrenched.

Suggested Citation

  • Alcott, Benjamin & Rose, Pauline, 2017. "Learning in India’s primary schools: How do disparities widen across the grades?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 42-51.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:56:y:2017:i:c:p:42-51
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.05.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059316303807
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.05.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Shawn Cole & Esther Duflo & Leigh Linden, 2007. "Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1235-1264.
    2. Nicholas Spaull & Janeli Kotze, 2014. "Starting Behind and Staying Behind in South Africa: The case of insurmountable learning deficits in mathematics," Working Papers 27/2014, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    3. Priyanka Pandey & Sangeeta Goyal & Venkatesh Sundararaman, 2009. "Community participation in public schools: impact of information campaigns in three Indian states," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 355-375.
    4. Pedro Carneiro & James J. Heckman, 2002. "The Evidence on Credit Constraints in Post--secondary Schooling," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 705-734, October.
    5. Azam, Mehtabul & Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi, 2013. "Are Girls the Fairer Sex in India? Revisiting Intra-Household Allocation of Education Expenditure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 143-164.
    6. Carneiro, Pedro & Heckman, James J., 2003. "Human Capital Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 821, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman & Susanne M. Schennach, 2010. "Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(3), pages 883-931, May.
    8. Sarmistha Pal, 2004. "How Much of the Gender Difference in Child School Enrolment Can Be Explained? Evidence from Rural India," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 133-158, April.
    9. Rob French & Geeta Kingdon, 2010. "The relative effectiveness of private and government schools in Rural India: Evidence from ASER data," DoQSS Working Papers 10-03, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    10. Edward C. Norton & Hua Wang & Chunrong Ai, 2004. "Computing interaction effects and standard errors in logit and probit models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(2), pages 154-167, June.
    11. Monazza Aslam, 2009. "The relative effectiveness of government and private schools in Pakistan: are girls worse off?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 329-354.
    12. Sangeeta Goyal, 2009. "Inside the house of learning: the relative performance of public and private schools in Orissa," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 315-327.
    13. Ambrish Dongre & Vibhu Tewary, 2014. "Impact of Private Tutoring on Learning Levels: Evidence from India," Working Papers id:5940, eSocialSciences.
    14. Pritchett, Lant & Beatty, Amanda, 2015. "Slow down, you’re going too fast: Matching curricula to student skill levels," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 276-288.
    15. Spaull, Nicholas & Kotze, Janeli, 2015. "Starting behind and staying behind in South Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 13-24.
    16. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    17. John Jerrim & Anna Vignoles, 2013. "Social mobility, regression to the mean and the cognitive development of high ability children from disadvantaged homes," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(4), pages 887-906, October.
    18. repec:bla:econom:v:70:y:2003:i:277:p:73-97 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Singh, Renu & Sarkar, Sudipa, 2015. "Does teaching quality matter? Students learning outcome related to teaching quality in public and private primary schools in India," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 153-163.
    20. Rose, Pauline, 2015. "Three lessons for educational quality in post-2015 goals and targets: Clarity, measurability and equity," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 289-296.
    21. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Yalonetzky, Gaston, 2012. "Inequality of Educational Opportunity in India: Changes Over Time and Across States," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1151-1163.
    22. G. Gandhi Kingdon, 2002. "The Gender Gap in Educational Attainment in India: How Much Can Be Explained?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 25-53.
    23. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon & Nicolas Theopold, 2008. "Do returns to education matter to schooling participation? Evidence from India," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 329-350.
    24. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2007. "The progress of school education in India," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(2), pages 168-195, Summer.
    25. Deon Filmer & Lant Pritchett, 2001. "Estimating Wealth Effects Without Expenditure Data—Or Tears: An Application To Educational Enrollments In States Of India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 115-132, February.
    26. Kelly, Orla & Krishna, Aditi & Bhabha, Jacqueline, 2016. "Private schooling and gender justice: An empirical snapshot from Rajasthan, India's largest state," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 175-187.
    27. Kausik Chaudhuri & Susmita Roy, 2009. "Gender gap in educational attainment: evidence from rural India," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 215-238.
    28. Abhijeet Singh, 2014. "Emergence and evolution of learning gaps across countries: Linked panel evidence from Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam," CSAE Working Paper Series 2014-28, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    29. Karthik Muralidharan & Venkatesh Sundararaman, 2013. "The Aggregate Effect of School Choice: Evidence from a Two-stage Experiment in India," NBER Working Papers 19441, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Maitra, Pushkar & Pal, Sarmistha & Sharma, Anurag, 2011. "Reforms, Growth and Persistence of Gender Gap: Recent Evidence from Private School Enrolment in India," IZA Discussion Papers 6135, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    31. Ottar Hellevik, 2009. "Linear versus logistic regression when the dependent variable is a dichotomy," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 59-74, January.
    32. Peter Glick & David E. Sahn, 2010. "Early Academic Performance, Grade Repetition, and School Attainment in Senegal: A Panel Data Analysis," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 24(1), pages 93-120, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Buhl-Wiggers, Julie & Jones, Sam & Thornton, Rebecca, 2021. "Boys lagging behind: Unpacking gender differences in academic achievement across East Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Bhattacharya, Nilanjan & Pakrashi, Debayan & Saha, Sarani & Sahoo, Soham, 2023. "Impact of Early Childhood School Intervention on Enrollment and Learning Outcomes: Evaluation of a Public Program in India," IZA Discussion Papers 16167, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Varughese, Aswathy Rachel & Bairagya, Indrajit, 2020. "Group-based educational inequalities in India: Have major education policy interventions been effective?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Chandan Jain, 2019. "Analysing Changes in Gender Difference in Learning in Rural India over Time," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 17(4), pages 913-935, December.
    5. Akmal, Maryam & Pritchett, Lant, 2021. "Learning equity requires more than equality: Learning goals and achievement gaps between the rich and the poor in five developing countries⋆," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Debasmita Basu & Sandip Sarkar, 2023. "Polarization in Indian Education: An Ordinal Variable Approach," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 21(3), pages 569-591, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kelly, Orla & Krishna, Aditi & Bhabha, Jacqueline, 2016. "Private schooling and gender justice: An empirical snapshot from Rajasthan, India's largest state," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 175-187.
    2. Singh, Abhijeet, 2015. "Private school effects in urban and rural India: Panel estimates at primary and secondary school ages," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 16-32.
    3. Dahal,Mahesh & Nguyen,Quynh T., 2014. "Private non-state sector engagement in the provision of educational services at the primary and secondary levels in South Asia : an analytical review of its role in school enrollment and student achie," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6899, The World Bank.
    4. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2020. "The Private Schooling Phenomenon in India: A Review," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(10), pages 1795-1817, October.
    5. Servaas van der Berg & Chris van Wyk & Ronelle Burger & Janeli Kotzé & Marlies Piek & Kate Rich, 2017. "The performance of low fee independent schools in South Africa - What can available data tell?," Working Papers 01/2017, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    6. Rashmi Rashmi & Bijay Kumar Malik & Sanjay K. Mohanty & Udaya Shankar Mishra & S. V. Subramanian, 2022. "Predictors of the gender gap in household educational spending among school and college-going children in India," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Goodnight, Melissa Rae, 2022. "“We went in favor of rebellion”: The decisions that made India’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    8. Somdeep Chatterjee & Prashant Poddar, 2021. "From Safe Motherhood to Cognitive Ability: Exploring Intrahousehold and Intergenerational Spillovers," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(352), pages 1075-1106, October.
    9. Nandi, Arindam & Sahoo, Soham & Haberland, Nicole & Ngô, Thoại D., 2023. "A glass ceiling at the playhouse? Gender gaps in public and private preschool enrollment in India," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    10. Marine de Talance, 2017. "Quality Perceptions and School Choice in Rural Pakistan," Working Papers hal-01663029, HAL.
    11. James J. Heckman & Stefano Mosso, 2014. "The Economics of Human Development and Social Mobility," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 689-733, August.
    12. Chakraborty, Tanika & Jayaraman, Rajshri, 2019. "School feeding and learning achievement: Evidence from India's midday meal program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 249-265.
    13. Karthik Muralidharan & Abhijeet Singh & Alejandro J. Ganimian, 2019. "Disrupting Education? Experimental Evidence on Technology-Aided Instruction in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(4), pages 1426-1460, April.
    14. Stephan Klasen & Janneke Pieters, 2015. "What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 449-478.
    15. Amita Majumder & Chayanika Mitra, 2017. "Gender Bias in Education in West Bengal," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 15(1), pages 173-196, March.
    16. Servaas van der Berg & Gabrielle Wills & Rebecca Selkirk & Charles Adams & Chris van Wyk, 2019. "The cost of repetition in South Africa," Working Papers 13/2019, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    17. Maitra, Pushkar & Pal, Sarmistha & Sharma, Anurag, 2016. "Absence of Altruism? Female Disadvantage in Private School Enrollment in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 105-125.
    18. Ian K. McDonough & Punarjit Roychowdhury & Gaurav Dhamija, 2021. "Measuring the Dynamics of the Achievement Gap Between Public and Private School Students During Early Life in India," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 78-122, March.
    19. Marine de Talance, 2017. "Wealth Inequalities in Perceptions of School Quality in Pakistan," Working Papers hal-01662698, HAL.
    20. Martins, Pedro S., 2017. "Can Non-Cognitive Skills Programs Improve Achievement? Quasi-Experimental Evidence from EPIS," GLO Discussion Paper Series 105, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:56:y:2017:i:c:p:42-51. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-educational-development .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.