Report No. 4 37835 South Asia Human Development Sector Equity in Enrolment and Completion in Elementary Schooling in India Evidence from recent household surveys December, 2003 Discussion Paper Series Equity in Enrolment and Completion in Elementary Schooling in India: Evidence from recent household surveys CRITICAL ISSUES IN REFORMING STATE EDUCATION SYSTEMS South Asia Human Development Sector The World Bank December 2003 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 11 Introduction 13 The Framework For Analysis Data Sources Structure of the Note Section 1 Overview 16 Rules of the Game Trends in Education Expenditures on Education Outcomes in Literacy, Enrollment and Completion Section 2 Equity Across Space 23 Regional Disparity in Literacy Spatial variations in Enrollment Variations across states Urban-Rural Disparities Special Variations in Enrollment Spatial variations in PCRs and UPCRs Urban-Rural Differences in Primary Completion Urban-Rural Differences in Upper Primary Completion Section 3 Equity Across Sexes 28 Gender Disparity in Literacy Gender Disparities in Enrollment Primary Completion Rates Across Gender Upper Primary Completion Across Gender Section 4 Social Inequities 33 Social Disparity in Literacy Disparities in ASAR Disparities Across Social Groups in Primary Completion Disparities Across Social Groups in Upper Primary Completion Section 5 Inequities Across Economic Classes 37 Disparities in Primary and Upper Primary Across Income Quintiles Disparities in Completion Across Income Quintiles Section 6 Private and Public Expenditures on Schooling 42 Private Expenditures on Schooling Public Spending on Education Appendix- A note on the Benefit Incidence analysis Section 7 Summary 51 REFERENCES 55 List of Figures Fig. Description Page 1. Expenditure on Education in India 18 2. Share of Expenditure on Elementary, Secondary and Higher Sectors in the total 18 Education Expenditure in the Five Year Plans 3. Center-State Shares in Education Expenditures 18 4. Number of Recognized Primary and Upper Primary Schools in India 19 5. State wise percent of villages served With Schools 19 6. Percent of Rural Habitations with Primary schools within and a Distance of 1km 19 7. Literacy Rates for Selected Years (1881-2001) 20 8. GER in Elementary Education 1950-51 to 2000-2001 20 9. Primary Net Enrollment Rate for 6-10 years 21 10. Upper Primary Enrollment-ASAR-11-13 years 21 11. Primary Completion Rates (12 years) 21 12. UP Completion Rates (for 16 years) 21 13. Literacy Rates Across Indian States, 2001 23 14. Rural-Urban differences in ASAR-6-10 years:1999 24 15. Rural-Urban differences in ASAR -11-13 years-1999 25 16. PCR and UPCR - 1999 26 17. PCR-12 years old-Rural ­Urban differences 26 18. UPCR-16 years old 1995-96-Rural-Urban differences 27 19. Number of Non-Literates by Gender (1981-2001) 28 20. Literacy Rates by Gender (1951-2001) 28 21. Enrollment Rates- Girls and Boys 29 22. Gender disparities in ASAR in 6-10 age groups-1999 29 23. Gender disparities in Upper Primary enrollment-1999 30 24. Primary ASAR, CR and Actual CR ­ Boys 31 25. Primary ASAR, CR and Actual CR ­ Girls 31 26. Social disparities in ASAR-6-10 years-1999 34 27. Social disparities in ASAR-11-14 years-1999 34 " 28. Social disparities in PCR of 12 year olds ­1999 35 29. Social disparities in UPCR of 16 year olds ­1999 36 30. Primary Enrollment Rate-6-10 years ­ Expenditure quintile wise 37 31. ASAR (6-10 years)- Rural Across Income groups 38 32. ASAR (6-10 years)- Urban Across Income groups 38 33. ASAR 6-10 years across the lowest and highest groups of expenditure quintiles 39 34. PCR ­ Income group wise- Rural 39 35. PCR ­ Income group wise ­Urban 40 36. UPCR ­ Income group wise ­ Rural 40 37. UPCR ­ Income group wise ­ Urban 41 38. Income intensified gender differences in PCR 41 39. Per student yearly average household spending on elementary education 43 40. Per student yearly average expenditure on elementary education by School type 43 41. Per student yearly average household spending ­ Rural Boys 43 42. Per student yearly average household spending ­ Rural Girls 44 43. % of students enrolled in government Primary schools 44 44. % of students enrolled in government Upper Primary schools 44 45. Public Spending in Education as percentage of GSDP 46 46. Per student subsidy for primary education ­ across income groups-1996 47 Tables 1. Intra-Sectoral allocation of Plan Expenditure in Education in India in the Five Year Plans (Rs. In 10 million) 16 2. Percentage Distribution of Public subsidies to rural Primary schools 47 3. Equity Study - Summary 52-53 # ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was co-authored by Deepa Sankar and Venkatesh Sundararaman, with inputs from Vandana Sipahimalani-Rao, in her capacity as task-manager. The work was initiated by Sajitha Bashir under a broader set of proposed studies on "Critical Issues in Reforming State Education Systems". Renu Gupta and Karthika Nair provided the necessary logistical support. Much of the background analysis was completed even before the two principal authors came on task and we gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Professor A.B.L. Shrivastava, and of Laveesh Bhandari and Peeyush Bajpai of Indicus Analytics. The authors acknowledge the comments, suggestions and encouragement received from Christine Allison, Sadia Chowdhury, Amit Dar, Anil Deolalikar, Charles Griffin, Venita Kaul, Qaiser Khan, Madhu Raghunath, Michelle Riboud, Kin Bing Wu, and Nobuo Yoshida. We are also grateful to Zafiris Tzannatos and Robert Prouty for being the peer reviewers and for their insightful comments and suggestions on the study. ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AP Andhra Pradesh MS Mahila Samakhya ASAR Age Specific Attendance Rate NER Net Enrolment Rate ASM Assam NFHS1 National Family Health Survey 1 BIA Benefit Incidence Analysis NFHS2 National Family Health Survey 2 BIH Bihar NPE National Policy of Education CG Center Government NSS42 National Sample Survey 42nd round CR Completion Rates NSS52 National Sample Survey 52nd round CSS Centrally Sponsored Scheme NSSO National Sample Survey Organization DPEP District Primary Education Program OBB Operation Black Board EFA Education for All OR Orissa GDP Gross Domestic Product PA Private Aided Schools GER Gross Enrolment Rates PCR Primary Completion Rates GOI Government of India PNJ Punjab GUJ Gujarat PUA Private Un-aided Schools HAR Haryana RAJ Rajasthan HP Himachal Pradesh SDP State Domestic Product JNV Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas SG State Government KAR Karnataka SSA Sarva Shiksha Abhyan KER Kerala TN Tamil Nadu KV Kendriya Vidyalayas (Central Schools) UEE Universal Elementary Education MDMS Mid Day Meal Scheme UP Upper Primary Schools MH Maharashtra UP Uttar Pradesh MHRD Ministry of Human Resource UPCR Upper Primary Completion Rates Development WB West Bengal MP Madhya Pradesh EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This policy note analyses the evidence on the various progress in primary education participation and equityissuesrelatingtotheparticipationandcompletion completion in most of the states. Not only the current of elementary school education in India is based on the level of participation in upper primary education is not data collected by the National Sample Survey (NSS) up to the desirable level and below that of primary and National Family Health Surveys (NFHS), the latest education, the progress made during 1987- 99 period year being looked at is 1998-99. This documentation has also been not satisfactory and not kept with the of state-wise regional, community, gender and income pace of that primary education. However, this is inequities therefore do not take into account the understandable since only those who complete primary progress made by states in reducing the inequities under education can go to upper primary education and the the District Primary Education Program (DPEP) progress and level at the upper primary level mainly program for the last 8 years. In fact, some of the rests upon the primary education participation and issues which comes out of this study and needs attention completion rates at a period prior to that. Same is the is probably already addressed under some of the new case with primary and upper primary completion rates. programs already being undertaken by the MHRD, such States which had already achieved higher levels of as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). However, by school participation and completion rates showed lesser filing these issues in a systematic manner, we hope to progress during the decade under study, as they have draw continued attention to the status of these issues already reached the near optimal level in educational in the programs. development such as Kerala and Himachal Pradesh. On the other hand, though states like Andhra Pradesh, The participation and completion of elementary Madhya Pradesh and Rajastan showed greater education here is analysed using a few standard progress in educational attainments from their lower indicators derived from the household surveys such as levels in mid-1980s, they have a lot more to go before the Age Specific Attendance Rate (ASAR) for both reaching the desirable levels. However, the states on primary and upper primary and Primary and Upper the Gangetic belt such as Bihar and UP are still laggards Primary Completion Rates (PCR and UPCR). in spite of their progress which is well below the Analysing the data from both the conglomerative desirable levels. perspective (captures the advances made by the society as a whole) and deprivational perspective (assess the Another major aspect examined in this policy note is status of the deprived in the society, such as SC, ST, the rural-urban disparities. While the developed states females, rural poor etc), it is evident that the gender, have negligible differences between their rural and regional, community and income disparities are still urban areas, the poorer performing states had the serious issues in elementary education participation and maximum disparities. In some progressing states, the attainments. However, all these disparities are disparities got deepened mainly because of their faster deepened by the state-level differences since the states improvements in education participation in urban areas which are at the lower end of the education attainments compared to rural areas. Similarly, the participation are the ones where the disparities were also a serious andcompletionofschoolingamonggirlshaveincreased, problem. however, in many states, the increase has been not enough to catch up the pace of increase in boys' While participation in schooling have increased, those schooling outcomes, thus resulting in a gender gap in who complete the expected levels have not increased educational outcomes. While this problem is less severe as fast as the participation rates, mainly due to the less in urban areas, in rural areas, there is much to be significant success in reducing the drop outs. The improved. The story of socially disabled communities disaggregated analysis of elementary education into and those in the lower strata of economic hierarchies primary and upper primary shows that participation in also do not differ much from such deepened inequity upper primary education is still a serious concern in problems. The social and economic disparities are many states, even though there has been considerable further complicated by the distribution of educational investments among the beneficiaries by government removing inequalities at all levels of economic, social educational spending. and regional strata in order to improve educational outcomes. Further, the documentation of the equity The importance of this analysis is mainly at the disparities from household survey data during 1980s academic level, that they address the educational and 1990s would facilitate a comparison with the outcomes in terms of participation and completion in progress made during the current decade as and when schooling at the disaggregated level. The analysis the latest household survey data are made available. shows that educational reforms should be aimed at INTRODUCTION "Education, in the present day context, is perhaps the single most important means for individuals to improve personal endowments, build capability levels, overcome constraints and in the process, enlarge their available set of opportunities and choices for a sustained improvement in well-being.........." Human Development Report, India. 2002 Education is recognized as a driving force for human program to achieve universal elementary education development, through the creation of choices and (UEE), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, specifically increases opportunities for people. It acts as a catalyst for social resource flows into primary and upper primary mobility and aids in the upliftment of weaker sections education. This is further evidence of the government's of society by providing them with a set of useful and determination to achieve universalization of basic marketable skills that help in increasing employment education in a time bound manner. Many of these goals opportunities, and thereby reducing an individual's have been pursued by the government since vulnerability to poverty. Traditionally, education has independence in 1947, unfortunately they have proven beengivenhighimportanceinIndiansocieties,although to be elusive. Many factors determine the literacy in these societies access to educational opportunities rates1, enrollment or attendance, and completion rates weredefinedalonglinesmirroringtheethnicandsocietal in India. and religious fragmentation of that time, whether for Today, while India can boast of having one of the Brahmin children through agraharas (community world's largest pools of technical manpower, it is also groups for religious learning) or for Muslim children home to the world's major pool of illiterates. Although through madrassas (Islamic religious schools), or for schooling standards for Indian children in many of the other children belonging to other groups through their major metropolitan cities are some of the highest in the own societal and skill based guilds, education has been world, the quality of schooling, teacher effectiveness emphasized in historical India. There is ample and academic content for the vast majority of India's archaeological to support the claim that India has been children leaves a lot to be desired. While the country a center of learning for much of history, with subjects has one of the largest school networks in the world, it as diverse as mathematics to drama being taught at is also true that many of these schools lack even basic various institutions, the most famous of which are the facilities. These discrepancies have led to significant Buddhist institutions at Takshashila and Nalanda. and persistent gaps in literacy levels, enrollment and English education was introduced with the arrival of completion at all levels of schooling, across many English missionaries and has since taken a firm root in different socio-economic dimensions of the population, the Indian system. including gender, space and geography, social and India has made steady progress in education since its economic classes. independence in 1947. Growth in literacy rates since India is a land of tremendous diversity and contrasts then has been impressive, particularly the gains in because of the range of its people, languages, cultures literacy that have been achieved in the nineties. The and religions. This diversity that defines India, is also number of children enrolled and attending school, boys reflected in its social indicators. There remain and girls, rich and poor, and upper caste and lower tremendous disparities in the provision of, access to, caste children, has increased significantly over the years and participation in or utilization of key social services and India is poised to achieve universal literacy and in health and education, as in the case of the distribution primary enrollment in the future if successive governments continue to exert concerted effort in this 1Literacy rate is a very crude indicator to use in India. Literacy direction. Governments, both at the Center and in the figures as obtained from decadal national population censuses, is states, have enacted policy reforms, increased resource obtained by asking the main respondent in each household as to flows into all levels of education. India's new flagship the number of members in the household who are literate, and not based on any tests of reading proficiency. ! of economic resources. The eradication of these access to various levels of schooling, participation and discrepancies and contrasts in the socio-economic completion. status of the population is a fundamental objective of Socio-cultural equity addresses the disparities in the Government of India (GOI). Many studies have educational opportunities available to the socially investigated the factors contributing to the current disadvantaged groups. The historical biases in providing position of education indicators. For example, Jabbi and educational access to specific social groups has led to Rajyalakshmi (2001) state that "a review of the existing significant and persistent discrepancies in literacy, literature shows that the important gaps in education in enrollmentandcompletionofdifferentlevelsofschooling India are due to caste/tribe status, gender and poverty". in India. The key objective of the study is to document trends Income Equity refers to the differences in schooling and achievements in enrolment and completion of enrollment and attainment in India due to differences primary and upper primary schooling in the major states in access to economic resources and incomes. of India, specifically, to present an analysis of the disparities across space, gender, social and economic The equitable distribution of schooling aspects across groups. While doing this, the study also aims to special, gender, social and income classifications are document changes in the sector over time and the gaps investigated by observing various educational in education participation and attainment of parameters such as literacy rates, the Gross Enrollment disadvantaged groups (such as, rural girls, children Rates (GER) and the Age Specific Enrollment Rates belonging to back classes, and children of poor (ASARs)2,3. GERs address enrollment rates without households across these major states). By identifying taking into account age-specificity, while ASARs look those regions and groups for which progress has been at enrollment ratios within an certain age groups. slow, and by assessing the extent to which public Completion Rates refers to the completion of a certain spending on education has benefited the poor and level of education in terms of number of years socially disadvantaged groups, we will be able to further completed (I-V grades in the case of primary education refine existing policies to achieve the desired objectives. completion and VI-VIII grades in the case of upper A key aspect of this note is therefore to present a benefit primary education). ASAR is computed as the incidence analysis of public expenditures. percentage of children of age 6-10 attending school compared with the total population in age group 6-10. The Framework For Analysis GERs also capture this statistic to a certain extent, except that they include students enrolled in school who The framework of this analysis is broadly based on the are not in the 6-10 age group. GERs presents a picture equity issues related to various aspects of education. on current enrollment that includes both overage and The equity issues looked at are: (a) regional or spatial underage enrolment, and hence, very often GERs can equity (b) gender equity, (c) socio-cultural equity issues be greater than 100 percent in value. and (d) Income equity. Regional or Spatial Equity refers to the disparities in Data Sources educational opportunities available and availed off by Four different data sets are primarily used for the the disadvantaged and underdeveloped regions analysis in this note. These include two National Sample compared to better-endowed regions. This could be Surveys, the 42nd and the 52nd Rounds4 and two Family looked at across states, across districts within the states, National Family Health surveys5. The NSS-42 and and across rural and urban areas within the States. The issues related to regional equity also addresses 2Similar to Net Enrollment Rates (NERs), the difference being the question of physical access to schools, which that net enrollment rates looks at (primary) school aged children implies looking at whether certain regions are better enrolled in (primary) school, while ASARs presents the ratio of endowed with schooling facilities than are other regions. (primary) school aged children enrolled in any class to the total number of primary school aged children in the population. Gender-Equity refers to the disparities in opportunities 3ASAR is computed as shown here: ASAR = [No. of children of of the traditionally disadvantaged gender group, i.e., age 6-10 attending school/Population in age group 6-10]*100 4 females, compared to males, in their literacy levels, Henceforth referred to as NSS42 and NSS52. 5Henceforth referred to as the NFHS1 and NFHS2. " the NSS-52 were conducted in 1986/87 and 1995/96 completion rates, each section also provides a glimpse respectively and are carried out by the National Sample at other indicators whenever appropriate, such as, Survey Organisation (NSSO). The NFHS1 and the literacy, drop outs and repetition, expenditures, etc. In NFHS2 were conducted in 1993/94 and 1998/99 many ways, the disparities in literacy, enrollment, respectively. Furthermore, secondary data from the attendance and completion, witnessed among the various government documents have also been used. population, are closely correlated to factors such as With these four surveys, we have information on better access to primary schooling, gender, caste groups, schooling and completion of 6-14 year olds for four birth order, parental education background and time points from 1986-87 to 1998-99.6 occupation, region of residence, etc. The remaining sections are presented according to regional or spatial Structure of the Note disparity, gender disparity, social class disparity and economic class disparity. Each of these will be The structure of the note is as follows. The paper looks presented in Sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Section at equity issues in school participation and completion 6 will present an overview of the financing of education, across different time points, gender, income groups, and the private and public expenditures on education social groups and states. Section 1 provides a brief and this section we will also present the results of the historical overview on the progress that has been made benefit incidence analysis of public expenditures on with regards to literacy, enrolment, completion and the schooling. Section 7 will present some conclusions and provision of schooling services in India. Although the questions that need to be addressed further. primary aim is to look at schooling enrollment and 6Greater emphasis is also placed on NSS52 round on Education for the purpose of analyzing the determinants of schooling enrollment and completion. # SECTION 1 : OVERVIEW Basic education is a catalyst to social change, and it While significant improvements in the primary and can be considered as an important ingredient to building upper primary sectors have taken place since then, human capabilities (as advocated by Dreze and Sen; many of the concerns that were raised four decades 1995), which is essential for any society's economic ago mirror the concerns of today and have yet to be growth. The government has a role and duty in the dealt with adequately. For example, the 2nd Five provision of basic education, as it is a merit good, so Year Plan raises concerns over (i) inadequacy of that the both public and private returns are maximized. schooling facilities, (ii) drop outs in the primary cycle, The Directive Principles of State Policy of the Indian (iii) social and cultural factors that inhibit girl's Constitution assures the citizens of India that they are education, (iv) lack of qualified teachers and women entitled to the "provision of free and compulsory teachers in particular and (v) considerable disparities education" and the "promotion of education and across gender, regions and socio-economic groups. economic interests of the Scheduled Castes, Schedule Many of these issues continues to plague the Tribes and other weaker sections". Furthermore, Indian education system today7. lawmakers of the time, through Article 45 of the Consecutive Five-Year-Plan documents have Constitution, further committed themselves to ensuring highlighted concerns related to enrollment and that universal elementary education will be achieved completion, and have flagged the grave disparities within the first ten years of the drafting of the across gender, regions, social and economic classes Constitution. for marked attention. However, the goal of providing In the early years after independence, emphasis was universal basic education has proven to be difficult to laid on the development of schools that provided "basic attain, and as the Tenth Plan admits, concrete plans of education" and in the area of higher education as this action, gained greater momentum only after the was seen as the avenue towards the country's self NationalPolicyofEducation(NPE),1986,(andmodified sufficiency. Table 1 presents the outlays for education in 1992) and the World Declaration on Education for under the First and Second Five Year Plans. All (EFA) adopted in Jomtien in 1990, which brought Considerable focus was placed on tertiary education, into focus basic education in all its facets (including the and specifically, technical education. Table 1: Intra-Sectoral allocation of Plan Expenditure in Education in India in the Five Year Plans(Rs. In 10 million) Five year Elementary Adult Secondary Higher Technical Grand Total % of total Plan Plan outlay I 85(56%) 5(3%) 20(13%) 14(9%) 20(13%) 153(100) 7.86 I I 95(35%) 4(1%) 51(19%) 48(18%) 49(18%) 273(100) 5.83 I I I 201(34%) 2(0.3%) 103(18%) 87(15%) 125(21%) 589(100) 6.87 Annual Plans 75(24%) - 53(16%) 77(24%) 81(25%) 322(100) 4.86 I V 239(30%) 6(1%) 140(18%) 195(25%) 106(13%) 786(87%) 5.04 V 317(35%) 33(4%) 156(17%) 205(22%) 107(12%) 912(100) 3.27 V I 883(30%) 156(3%) 736(25%) 530(18%) 324(11%) 2943(100) 2.70 V I I 2849(34%) 470(6%) 1829(22%) 1201(14%) 1083(12%) 8500(100) 3.50 Annual Plans 1734(33%) 376(7%) 1079(20%) 595(11%) 848(16%) 5318(100) 4.20 VIII 8936(42%) 1808(8%) 3498(16%) 1516(7%) 2786(13%) 21217(100) 4.50 Source: Five year Plans, Annual Plans, Analysis of Annual Plan, Education Sector (Various years) of GOI and Tilak (2002) $ equity and quality considerations). These international District Primary Education Program (DPEP) and the events, coupled with many developments on the current Sarva Shiksha Abhyan (SSA), have all been domestic front, recognized basic education as a under the CSS category. Through the use of these fundamental right of every citizen, and the most crucial programs, the CG can influence to some extent SG investment in human development to the center stage8. priorities so as to achieve national policy goals. Other The thrust areas in the Ninth plan included Universal examples of similar programs, would include public Elementary Education (UEE), girls education, and once works, child nutrition, and other poverty alleviation again, the issue of literacy. Numerous schemes and schemes. programmes aimed at achieving these goals, such as, the Operation Black Board (OBB), the Mahila Trends in Education Samakhya (MS), the Mid-day meal scheme, and the The status and conditions of access to, and demand District Primary Education Program were for, primary education in India is so heterogeneous, that operationalized during the Ninth Plan period. This any unique action plan for providing universal initiative for UPE has recently received another boost elementary education needs to be contextualized by through a Constitutional Amendment Bill (2001), for taking into account equity considerations. Literacy rates enacting the Fundamental Right To Free And and schooling patterns vary substantially across gender, Compulsory Education for children in the age group of different regions, social and economic groups. The 6-14 years. extent of these disparities, and the manner in which Rules of the Game they affect school participation and completion needs to be assessed for the reform of the systems in order According to the Constitution, matters pertaining to to be able to achieve the objectives of universal primary education fall under the concurrent jurisdiction of both education and completion. In this sub-section, we the Central and the State Governments. Historically, present some macro-trends in educational expenditures, the two authorities have played fairly distinct roles in physical access, and outcomes. the education sector with the Central Government focusing more on tertiary, particularly, technical and Expenditures on Education medical education, and leaving primary, secondary and Public expenditures on education both as a percentage non-technical tertiary education to the States. of total government expenditure across all sectors, and However, given that the States' are unable to raise as a percentage of GDP has increased since 1950- taxes in accordance with their spending, the Center 1951. This is quite evident from Figures 1 and 2 which provides support through a complex system of fiscal transfers (Bashir, 2000). These transfers are also fairly well mandated in the IC. 7It is interesting that the target set for achieving compulsory and free education under the Directive Principles of the Constitution While the states are largely responsible for primary, was not only allowed to slip, but was endorsed in the Second upper primary and secondary education, the Center Plan as follows "it will be seen that the goal set in the Constitution about free, compulsory and universal education is does enhance and promote policy reforms through yet far away... It is, however, necessary to make every possible centrally sponsored schemes and programs. The effort to fulfill the directive of the Constitution within the next ten number of centrally sponsored schemes in the area of to fifteen years." basic education has increased considerably since the 8The Supreme Court of India observed in the Mohini Jain case in 1992 that the Directive Principles, which are fundamental in early nineties. The induction of external financing in a the governance of the country cannot be read separately from the substantial way into the elementary education sector Fundamental Rights. The more notable part of the judgment was was also a fairly radical exercise that began in the its insistence that the right to education be read as an integral nineties. Under the CSS, the entire activity may be part of the right to life guaranteed under Article 21, Part III. In 1993, the Supreme Court reiterated in the Unnikrishnan vs. State driven by the Center or there may be some state of Andhra Pradesh case that the right to education indeed flowed contributions in a share that is decided through mutual directly from the right to life; therefore, the state is under an consultation between the Center and the States. Many obligation to provide basic education to all citizens during their of the recently initiated primary education schemes at childhood. The enactment of 93rd Constitutional Amendment Bill (2001), culminated in making free and Compulsory Education the national level, such as, Operation Blackboard, for children in the age group of 6-14 years a fundamental right. % Figure 1 Expenditure on Figure 2 Share of Expenditure on Education in India Elementary, Secondary and higher sectors in the total education expenditure in the Five Year Plans Source: Annual Financial Statistics, MHRD depicts education expenditures in India between 1951- It is only in the Ninth Plan that the emphasis on primary 52 to 2000-2001 and across all the Plan periods. education was restored. The percentage of education and training expenditure Expenditure shares on education by State and central to total expenditure across all sectors has increased governments are shown in Figure 3. As stated earlier, from about 8 percent to a little under 14 percent over the enter does make fiscal transfers aimed at helping this period, or amounting to an annual growth rate of weaker states with their development goals9. about 0.13 percent. Education and training expenditure as a percentage of GDP was below 1 percent in 1950- Physical Access 1951, and by 2000-2001 had reached a high of 4.11 Accessibility to education can be defined as physical percent, though education expenditure as a percent of or spatial access, financial or economic access, social GDP was much more volatile, with irregular increases and falls over the years. Figure 2 illustrates the share 9These extent of these transfers is based on what is referred to as that primary education has attracted over the various the Gadgil formula. V.N. Gadgil, Former Deputy Chairman PC. FYPs. From here it is evident that there was a dip in Population and per capita income have a weight of 85 percent the emphasis on basic education across the plans as under the Gadgil formula. The remaining 15 percent weight is equally divided on the basis of state performance in the secondary and tertiary education gained in importance. achievement of priority national objectives and in addressing special problems of the states. Figure 3 Center-State Shares in Education Expenditure Source: MHRD & access or even access to quality education. We refer Figure 4 Number of Recognised Primary to physical or spatial access to primary and upper and Upper Primary Schools in India primary schooling infrastructure, and not to the participation of this infrastructure. Spatial access is perhaps most important since having these facilities is the first step in availing of the services provided. Between 1950-51 and now, the number of primary schools in India has increased three-fold, from about 210,000 to a little over 640,000 schools by the end of thelastcenturyandthenumberofupperprimaryschools has increased by almost 15 times from 13,600 to almost 200,000 schools over the same period. Similarly, access to Secondary and Tertiary institutions has also improved over this time. Considerable successes have taken place due to these efforts, particularly in the nineties which has been referred to as a "watershed decade as Source: MHRD far as basic education is concerned" (Planning there should be a primary school within 1 km of any Commission 2001). Figure 4 shows this trend in habitation with a population of 300 or more10 and that schooling infrastructure provision. there should be an upper primary within 3 km of any Across regions, however, this increase in infrastructure habitation of 500 or more. In the mid-nineties, over 94 has not been even. Standardizing the access across the percent of all habitations had a primary school within 1 states in terms of area coverage, we find that some states km of it. The two figures above depict the tremendous arebetterendowedandbetterservedwithschoolfacilities variation across states in their coverage and accessibility than others. We can see from Figures 5 and 6 that access to primary and secondary schooling infrastructure. to primary schooling is quite substantial in most of the Many states have almost succeeded in meeting this 1 states with 75 to 95 percent of villages across these states 10 having a primary establishment within the village itself. The SSA being a centrally sponsored scheme, while the conceptualization of the framework would have been prepared in Under the new school mapping exercise undertaken consultation with the states, it merely provides a framework with which the states can act, some states have used a norm of 200 as part of the SSA framework, the norms suggest that per habitation instead of the 300 stated above, for example, Figure 5 Starewise percent of villagers Figure 6 Perdent of Rural Habitations with served with schools primary schools within and a distance of 1Km Source: MHRD Andhra Pradesh. ' Figure 7 Literacy Rates for Selected Years (1881 - 2001) km norm, for example, Tamil Nadu, states that 98 groups. Notwithstanding the considerable successes percent of its habitations of 300 or more are now served that have taken place, nearly 300 million people in the with a primary school within 1 km of the habitation. 7+ age group are illiterate. However, states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Figure 8 shows that GER has been increasing over the Bengal still seem to be a considerable distance from years, and that GERs are higher in primary schools reaching this target. than in upper primary schools. GERs were highest Outcomes in Literacy, Enrollment during the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, a and Completion weakness with GERs as a measure is that both over- age, and under-age admissions are included in the Literacy rates in the country have increased from 18.30 estimates. percent to 65.38 percent between 1951 and 2001 as To address these concerns and to obtain a more shown in Figure 7. In the nineties alone, literacy rates disaggregated picture of enrollment, Net Enrollment appear to have increased by about 13.51 percentage Ratios (NERs) or the Age Specific Admission Ratios points. (ASAR) are presented in Figures 9 and 10 for primary Universal literacy, however, is still a distant dream, and and upper primary schooling respectively. ASARs have there continues to be sharp discrepancies across definitely increased between 1986/87 and 1995/96 (and regions, and between gender, social and economic between 1992/93 and 1998/99) at both the primary and Figure 8 GER in Elementary Education - 1950-51 - 2000-2001 Source: MHRD Figure 9 Primary Net Enrollment Rate for Figure 10 Upper Primary Enrollment 6-10 years ASAR - 11-13 years the upper primary level as is evident from the survey enrollment, thus helping narrow the gap. Primary and results. upper primary enrolment in rural areas has increased substantially, as has enrolled in these two levels of SC The increase in NER has been higher for primary grades and ST children. Changes in SC enrollment in the than for upper primary grades. The disparities in NER primary and upper primary level from the NSS data between gender, social communities and area (location) sets shows a 15 and 22 percentage point gain across have also been lower for the primary grades than for the two data sets. The NFHS datasets reveals more the upper primary grades. Both sets of data reveal modest gains in enrollment. ST student enrollments that ASARs have increased, but they also reveal across the two NSS dataset also reveals fairly considerable discrepancies across gender, urban and substantial gains in both primary and upper primary rural residents and across social groups. Average levels amounting to about a 20 and 18 percentage point figures masks considerable variation at higher levels gain across these surveys. of disaggregation. As in the case of enrollments, completion rates have Girls enrollment at the primary and upper primary level also been increasing, and are higher at the primary level increased by almost 20 percentage points between the compared to the upper primary levels. These are two rounds of the NSS and has grown faster than boys Figure 11 Primary Completion Rates Figure 12 Upper Primary Completion Rates (for 10-12 years) (for 13-16 years) illustrated in Figures 11 and 12 respectively. There are many studies that have looked at the determinants of school participation using various Substantialgainsincompletionratesattheprimarylevel surveys; for example, the studies by Duraiswamy and are seen for girls, SC students and ST students from Duraiswamy (1991), Kingdon (1994, 1996, 1998), the NSS-42 and NSS-52 surveys. The NFHS1 and Jayachandran (1997), Sipahimalani (1998), Dreze and NFHS2 however do not reveal the same gains with Kingdon (1999) etc. Their studies have brought out the regard to SC and ST completion at the primary and important supply side and demand side factors that upper primary levels respectively, and instead show a fall in completion rates for these groups.11 influence the school participation in India. However, this paper is not an attempt to duplicate their studies, Overall, the picture is that of an improvement in rather, keeping those results in mind, it tries to bring out schooling attendance and completion rates over the the various inequities in the school participation and periods under reference and across all groups. While attainment as evident from the recent household the overall disparities across gender, space and surveys. The results help to focus on the targets where community is visible, the range and spread variations the school participation determinants are to be and improvements across states need to be carried out improved. to address the micro-level issues in educational parameters. 11This comparison might not be strictly valid considering that the validity of estimates on completion rates from NFHS1 were in question. For the purposes of this study, completion rates are defined as proportion of the relevant age group (10-12 years for primary and 13-15 years for upper primary) that complete primary and upper primary school. SECTION 2 EQUITY ACROSS SPACE Spatial equity can be broadly classified under Figure 13 Literacy Rates Across Indian States, 2001 two separate categories, (i) urban-rural disparities and (ii) disparities across regions, districts, taluks1, villages within a state and across states. Spatial equity issues relate the geographical access and achievement issues, and hence highly related to the provisions of the education facilities. Although both the number of habitations, and the population of the country has increased steadily over the years, by 1993/94 over half the villages in the country had a primary school within the village, and about 83 percent of all habitations had a primary school within one kilometer of the habitation (Planning Commission 2001). Although tremendous progress has been made in the 9th FYP, there are presently at least 100,000 habitations that Source: India Census 2001 do not have a school within the prescribed norms; there are still many out of school children in Overall literacy increased unambiguously across all these underserved communities; drop out rates are also states between 1991 and 2001, with the states of very high in these areas and completion levels are much Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh, showing an increase of over lower. twenty percentage points during this period. In four districts however, literacy rates seemed to have declined Regional Disparity in Literacy during the period, although these are in states very high initial rates of literacy. These include districts in the Any regional analysis of education should start with an states/UTs of Kerala, Tamil Nadu (in fact, the capital understanding of the patterns of the literacy rates in city ­ Chennai), Daman and Diu and Pondicherry. the regions since the literacy rates is an indication of the general education standards of a locality. Since the Rural-Urban Disparities nationwide averages mask stark disparities across states, and across districts, it is important to look at Literacy rates also vary considerably across rural and regional disparity in education. Bihar continues to be urban locations. Across all rural and urban areas of the state with the overall lowest literacy rates in 2001, India, the literacy rate varies between about 50 percent with a literacy rate of about 48 percent, while Kerala and 70 percent respectively. Rural literacy rates in continues to be on the other end of the spectrum with a Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are about 43 and 35 percent literacy rate of almost ninety percent. Further respectively, while urban rates are about 60 and 61 disaggregating provides evidence of significant within- percent respectively. These wide discrepancies in state variations. For example, the district of Dantevada literacy across rural and urban areas often mirror the in Chhattisgarh reports a literacy rate of only 30 wide discrepancies in access to schools across these percent, while the district of Rajnandgoan (also in regions as well. Chhattisgarh) reports a literacy rate of 77.58 percent. Figure 13 presents a picture of the literacy rates across 1An administrative unit like block consisting of many villages. the various states. ! Spatial Variations in Enrollment Figure 14 : Rural-Urban Difference in ASAR for 6-10 years old - 1999 Variation Across States Coming specifically to the education indicators, it could be seen that there is considerable variation in ASAR for 6-10 year olds across the states. For example, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana have almost achieved universal ASAR in this age group, while states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and Rajasthan are still lagging behind. Even these seeming enormous statewide variations are considerably narrower than they were at the start of the nineties. The growth in ASAR has been slower in the better performing states like Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala (due to the high ASAR base, there is limited scope for improving ASAR over time), and higher in ASAR across states are not uniform, the differences the poorly performing states like Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar in high performing states, like Kerala, Haryana, Punjab Pradesh and Orissa (due to the low ASAR base to and Tamil Nadu, are markedly lower than the start with, even a slight improvement has a greater differences in lower performing states like UP, growth value to it in these states). For example, the Rajasthan and Bihar. However, even in the states with ASAR for 6-10 year olds in Bihar more than doubled wider regional disparities, the continued gap seems to from 30 percentage points to 62 percentage points be more a function of their base line, as there has been between 1985/86 and 1998/99, the two most extreme a considerable narrowing of the urban-rural gap in surveys temporally2. State-level variations in ASAR enrollments. This therefore suggests greater thrust in are also evident for the 11-13 year old cohort. There is on-going efforts to reduce and rationalize these almost a 35 percentage point difference between the disparities. For example, in Andhra Pradesh the urban- best and worst state-level ASAR in Kerala (97.59 rural gap has declined for 6-10 year old enrolment from percent) and Bihar (64.28 percent) respectively. Gujarat about 25 percentage points in the NFHS-1 round (1993/ is the only state that shows a decline in ASAR between 94) to a little less than 8 percentage points as per the the NFHS1 and NFHS2, all other states show an 1998/99 NFHS-2 datasets. In Bihar, across the same unambiguous increase in ASAR between these two two datasets, the urban-rural gap has declined from surveys. From the NSS 42nd and NSS 52nd rounds, we about 30 percentage points to about 16 percentage find that the difference between the best performing points. The results in Orissa are quite staggering across (Kerala) and the worst performing state (Bihar) in the two NFHS surveys with a decline in the urban- terms of ASAR has reduced to almost 40 percentage rural enrollment gap from about 15 percentage points points from an almost 50 percentage point difference to almost no statistical difference. The results clearly between the same states in the 42nd NSS Round. suggests that the urban-rural gap has decreased in many states although the decreased across states has not Urban Rural Variations been uniform. Figures 14 and 15 show ASAR for 6-10 year olds and Enrollment in the 11-13 year old age groups also display 11-13 year olds from the NFHS II by region of considerable narrowing of the gap between urban and residence, i.e., urban and rural. Data from the two sets rural regions, although the changes have not been as of surveys, suggests that ASARs across rural and urban dramatic as the changes in the 6-10 year old category. areas for the 15 major states, have narrowed Enrollment of 11-13 year olds has increased steadily considerably within the state and across states. In all across the two sets of data. The urban-rural gaps in states the gap between ASAR in rural areas and ASAR in urban areas in the 6-10 age group has 2Though these surveys are not strictly comparable, there is an unambiguous rise in enrollment rates across the country across narrowed considerably. Rural-urban differences in these two sets of data. " 11-13 year old enrollments have also diminished over Figure 15 : Rural-Urban Difference in ASAR the same periods, although a sizeable and persistent 11-13 years olds - 1999 gap remains in some of the states. The urban-rural gap has closed much faster in the lower performing states as compared to the higher performers. A similar examination of older cohorts suggests that urban-rural disparities are higher for older cohorts. The fact that even the 11-13 year old group displays relatively high urban-rural differentials, although this has narrowed considerably for the 6-10 year old cohort, suggests that the intensive focus of expanding access to primary and upper primary education through a number of recent schemes finally appears to be providing results. The successes at the primary level is increasing the pressure at the Upper Primary level and in the demand for secondary and higher education. Why are there factors includes the development of the state in terms such discrepancies across districts and states? The of economy, industry, service sectors and equity in terms possible reasons for such differential educational of rural-urban divide etc. These factors play a key outcomes across and within states are numerous. For role in improving participation rates as witnessed example, some of these factors could be classified as positively in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, etc., and in poor (a) historical, (b) political factors, and (c) economic outcomes in states like Bihar and UP. and development factors. Historical factors include the roles of previous rulers, the damages and Spatial Variation in Primary contributions made by the colonial legacy; the political Completion Rates (PCRs) and Upper factors include the role of democratic governments, Primary Completion Rates (UPCRs) 3 the focus of state governments in terms of social sectors There are significant differences in PCR and UPCR such as health and education, and the level of state across the states. This is illustrated in Figure 16. level spending; and finally, economic and development Figure 16 : PCR and UPCR - 1999 # There are six states with PCRs lower than 50 percent- Figure 17 : PCR of 12 years that is, only one out of two children enrolled in class 1 completes primary education: Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. PCRs and UPCRs in Kerala are well above 90 percent. Completion rates in ASAR-wise better performing states like Kerala, Maharasthra and Tamil Nadu are high, and in lower performing states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, completion rates are very low. With increasing PCRs and UPCRs, there will be a growing need to meet demands for entry into the secondary and higher cycles of educations in the higher performing states and for access to Upper Primary facilities in the states that are now increasing their PCRs. The gap in PCRs and UPCRs is however very large across the states as illustrated in Figure 16. This gap needs to be eliminated and states like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan need to adopt strategies that will not only help enroll children in schools as they have done women are about half of the completion rates urban in the last couple of decades, but also keep them through women, and the completion rates for rural women are the elementary cycle at the very least. The factors significantlylowerthanthoseforruralmen. Urbanwomen that lead to high dropouts and poor retention are further too display lower completion rates than urban men in all analyzed in the multivariate analysis in Section 7. In the datasets, except for the NFHS 2 survey where urban the case of UP, educational management problems have women seem to have a higher completion rate. been cited as a key factor in the poor performance of the state4. Efforts to improve matters of governance Primary school completion rates (PCR) have been as it pertains to the education sector at the state and computed for 12 year olds from both the NSS and lower levels are already underway in some of the more NFHS data sets for each year available. This is reform minded states with states like AP and Karnataka illustrated in Figure 16. In Kerala, Maharasthra and taking some very clear policy positions on matters such Tamil Nadu, the PCRs were high, especially in accord as transfers and redeployment of teachers. with their high enrollment rates. In other states, enrolment may be high , but completion may only be Urban-Rural Differences in Primary Completion Primary school completion rates (PCR) have been 3Completion rates for primary schooling is defined as the ratio computed for 12 year olds using the NSS and NFHS data of the number of 12 year olds who have completed primary sets for both rural and urban areas in each major state schooling to all the 12 year olds in the population. 4In a recent interview with the Times of India, the Indian studied here. In Kerala, Maharasthra and Tamil Nadu, Minister for Human Resources Development, Mr. M.M. Joshi, for example, both enrolment and completion rates are cited the frequent transfers of individuals involved in the very high. In other states, enrolment may be high, but state's education ministry as one of the reasons for the poor completion may only be moderately high (such as in performance. Interestingly, while the Center can acknowledge this problem, its hands are tied because the decision on transfers Punjab5),andinyetothers,bothenrolmentandcompletion and personnel related issues in education falls under the mayberelativelylow,suchasinUttarPradeshandBihar. jurisdiction of the State government. Gender disparity in PCR is evident for some of the states 5In Punjab, the NSS data reveals that completion rates like Uttar Pradesh, but only in rural areas. In urban Uttar improved by almost 17 percentage points between the 42nd and the 52nd Rounds. However, the NFHS 1 and 2 datasets reveals Pradesh, although completion rates are very low, there is that completion rates have actually fallen. The rural completion noclearcutdisparitybetweenPCRsformenandwomen. rates from NFHS 2 are much lower than even the NFHS 1. This InBihar,therearesignificantdisparitiesacrossbothgender is not easy to explain. and rural-urban differences. Completion rates for rural $ moderately high (such as in Punjab6), and in yet others, Figure 18 : UPCR for 16 year olds - 1999 both enrolment and completion may be relatively low, such as in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. UPCRs have also been computed for 16 year olds completing middle school from both the NSS and the NFHS data sets. These are illustrated in Figure 18. The urban-rural differentials in UPCR are quite significant. Interestingly, completion rates also seem to be higher in rural areas of Kerala than in urban areas. In states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, completion rates in rural areas are much lower than completion rates in urban areas. UPCRs are very high in Kerala while for most other states the UPCR are considerably lower than the PCR. This sharp fall in completion rates for many states is indicative of poor access to Upper Primary facilities, whether that access be physical, economic or socio- cultural in nature. While increasing completion rates Theanalysisofspatialdiversityineducationparticipation at the primary level has increased the demand for upper and completion so far has clearly brought out the rural- primary, the ability of students to progress from one to urban disparities and disparities across states in the another is not seamless and efforts to bridge this divide schooling parameters. are necessary. It is expected that the new framework proposed and initiated by the GoI, the SSA, will address The issue of spatial equity is being addressed quite this issue as upper primary education has been brought markedly under the new government initiative, the SSA. within the fold of this program. The urban-rural divide Under this program, a school mapping initiative has in PCRs and UPCRs will require both physical and been undertaken with the objective that there should qualitative inputs to ensure its closure. While the be a primary school within one kilometer distance of physical input requirements are being met through the any habitation in the country with a population of 300 on-goingschoolmappingexercise,thegreaterchallenge or more7. Upper primary institutions are to be located will be to enhance the quality in the provision of primary within 3 kilometers of a habitation of 500 or more and upper primary education services. people8. 6In Punjab, the NSS data reveals that completion rates improved by almost 17 percentage points between the 42nd and the 52nd Rounds. However, the NFHS 1 and 2 datasets reveals that completion rates have actually fallen. The rural completion rates from NFHS 2 are much lower than even the NFHS 1. This is not easy to explain. 7While the population of 300 is a central government stipulated norm, many states have set the bar a little higher and have insisted that there should be a school within a kilometer of any habitation with a population of 200 or more. 8While these norms have been followed quite rigorously in many states, they are often relaxed in hilly terrain or other inaccessible areas. % SECTION 3 EQUITY ACROSS SEXES As stated earlier, gender equity refers to the disparities in Figure 20 : Literacy Rates by Gender opportunities of the traditionally disadvantaged gender (1951 - 2001) group, i.e., females, compared to males, in their literacy levels, access to various levels of schooling, participation and completion. In this section gender-related discrepancies in literacy, enrollment and completion are presented. A persistent and significant gender gap is an unfortunate feature of the education sector in India and is evident in all indicators pertinent to education, such as, literacy, enrollment, retention, dropouts, and learning achievements. When combined with other factors, such as, socio-economic classes or region of residence, this gender gap typically tends to widen even further1. populationtodaydisplaysfunctionalliteracy,whileabout Gender Disparity in Literacy half the women are said to be literate. In 1951, less The number of literates in the country has increased than a tenth of the women were said to be literate and byten-fold,from52milliontoabout570millionliterates only about a quarter of the men were considered since 1950. However, during this time the number of literate. The gender gap widened initially and now with illiterates in the country in absolute numbers has also a concerted effort by the Central and State increased. The number of illiterate males and females Governments, this gap has started to narrow towards in India today stands at a staggering 191 million and the end of the last decade as illustrated in Figure 20. A 269 million respectively. Figure 19 shows the male little over a third of the non-literate population can be and female illiterate population in the country between found in UP, Bihar and Orissa2. The gender gaps in 1981 and 2001. So while there have been considerable literacy are reflective of the poor base from which improvementsinliteracyandtheprovisionofeducation, efforts to improve this began, and is a function of the population has increased at a faster rate, adding to the continued poor enrolment and completion of girls in the number of illiterates. primary cycle. Though the gender gaps in both enrollments and completion have narrowed over the Provisional results from the National Population Census years, they have not completely closed and particularly (2001) suggests that over three-quarters of the male in states like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan, which also have large populations. Figure 19 : Number of Non-Literates by Gender (1981 - 2001) Gender disparities in enrollment TheparticipationofgirlsineducationinIndiahasincreased unambiguously since independence across all levels of education. This can be seen from Figure 21. The percentage of girl's enrollment to total enrollment has increased from about 28 percent in 1951 to a little under 1The only exception is in high school pass rates in standardized tests (10+2 examinations) in the major metropolises where girls out-perform boys very consistently. 2Not taking into account Uttaranchal and Jharkhand. & Figure 21 : Enrolment Rates - Girls and Boys Source: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation 44 percent in 2001 in primary schooling, and from 16 Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are not percent to 41 percent in Upper Primary, from 13 percent very large. A key observation that needs to be made to 39 percent in Secondary and Higher Secondary, and from this graph, is that the average discrepancy in all from 10 to 37 percent in higher education over the same of India is considerably high amounting to almost 20 period. In terms of absolute numbers, girls enrolment has percentage points. This almost entirely reflects the been consistently lower than that of boys over this period discrepancies in the five poorly performing states listed across all levels of education. above, which also happen to be large states in terms of By the late nineties most states had achieved GERs of their populations, and thus the combination of poor nearly 100 percent for boys, and for girls many had performance and large size in these states offsets any exceeded GERs of 80. The two worst performing positive developments in the other states and renders states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, had girls GERs of the overall performance as quite poor. about 49 and 59 percent respectively. While some states Figure 23 shows gender disparities in enrollment for an were close to achieving parity between boys and girls older cohort of 11-13 year old children for Upper (for example, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Maharashtra) Primary classes. The disparities across gender widens for many of the states there remains significant gaps between male and female enrollment. For example, GERs for boys in Bihar was around 90 percent, while Figure 22 : Gender disparities in ASAR of 6-10 years old - 1999 GERs for girls was about 59 percent, similarly the GER of boys in Uttar Pradesh was 75 percent in contrast with the GERs for girls which was about 49 percent. The gaps between boys and girls in ASAR for the 6- 10 year old as evident from the recent most household survey of NFHS II (1999) is illustrated in Figure 22. The gaps in enrollment are quite large for the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, and Madhya Pradesh. On the other hand, Kerala for seems to show a higher girl's ASAR than for boys. The differences in enrollment between boys and girls for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, ' Figure 23 : Gender Disparities in ASAR of and girls decreases between the two rounds. This 11-13 years old - 1999 suggests a considerable expansion of schooling access in rural areas relative to the expansion of access in urban areas in these well performing states. Among the poor performers also there is an unambiguous convergence between rural and urban disparity by gender, although evidence from the NSSs 42nd and 52nd rounds negate this for UP, Bihar and Rajasthan where the urban-rural gap in enrollment widens for girls. This widening is a cause for concern and needs to be studied more carefully. Numerous attempts have and are being made with internal and external support to ensure that girls not only have equal access to schooling, but have preferential access to schooling as a part of a disadvantaged group. The widening of the gap would suggest that these efforts are not paying off and need at this higher level enrollment suggesting that the the design of these interventions need to be revisited. retention rate among boys is higher than for girls, and that more girls drop out of the educational system during Primary Completion Rates Across the transition from Primary to Upper Primary classes. Gender This is true in almost all states except for a few, such as, Kerala, Punjab, Assam and Haryana. The disparities Primary completion rates across gender varies widely in Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh at this level are across the states, and within the states across rural tremendous. The graph also illustrates that the girls and urban regions. The different surveys show that find it more difficult to make a transition across the there are fairly wide discrepancies between the barriers between Primary and Upper Primary schooling. percentage of boys and girls completing primary schooling depending on the state where they live and Further disaggregating the available information to look on the region of residence. at enrollments across different age groups, by gender and by the location of residence, i.e., urban or rural West Bengal shows very poor completion rates in rural resident, illustrates the vulnerable nature of girls in areas in the NFHS 2 survey with just a fifth of all general, and in particular the vulnerable nature of rural women reporting completion, while about a fourth of girls. Rural girls have the lowest ASAR across all all men, and of men and women combined, reporting possible categories, viz., rural girls, rural boys, urban the same. The discrepancies across the rural-urban girls and urban boys, across all four surveys. The sole divide are much greater than the discrepancies across exception is in Kerala from the NSS 52nd Round, where gender. Across all four surveys, the difference between rural girls enrolment exceeds enrolment for urban girls rural women and urban women in terms of primary by 1 percentage point. For the better performing states, completion varies between 13 and 30 percent, while such as Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, and the difference in primary completion between rural and Tamil Nadu, the differences between ASAR for 6-10 urban males varies between about 15 and 30 percent. year old girls across urban and rural areas has The differences between men and women on the basis decreased over the years. For example, the 1985/86 of their region of residence varies between 2 and 14 NSS 42nd Round survey finds that about 85 percent of percent, including from the urban areas of the NSS the girls aged 6-10 years old in urban areas of Punjab, 42nd round and the rural areas of the NFHS 1, where attended primary school, while only about 62 percent the percentage of women completing primary schooling of girls of the same age, living in rural areas of Punjab ishigherthanthatofmencompletingprimaryschooling. attended primary school, and in the 52nd Round, these In most of the poorly performing states, the discrepancy numbers were 86 percent from urban areas and 83 in completion rates across men and women is higher in percent from rural areas. The NFHS also reveal a rural areas than it is in urban areas. For example, similar trend. The gap between urban and rural boys discrepancies in completion rates between rural men and ! women in Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh varies Upper Primary Completion between 11 and 30 percent, 20 and 28 percent, and 10 Across Gender and 28 percent respectively. The discrepancies between male and female completion rates in urban areas of the Upper primary completion rates are significantly lower same states are between 3 and 20 percent, 2 and 24 than primary completion rates across the country, percent and 2 and 8 percent in Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar except in Kerala where both primary and upper primary Pradesh respectively. Gender disparity in PCR is evident completion rates are very high. Upper primary for some of the states like Uttar Pradesh, but prominently completion varies widely across gender in almost all inruralareas. InurbanUttarPradesh,althoughcompletion the states, and within the states across rural and urban rates are very low, there is no clear cut disparity between regions. The different surveys show that there are PCRs for men and women. In Bihar, there are significant fairly wide discrepancies between the percentage of disparitiesacrossbothgenderandrural-urbandifferences. boys and girls completing upper primary schooling Completion rates for rural women are about half of the depending on the state where they live and on the region completion rates urban women, and the completion rates of residence. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, upper for rural women are significantly lower than those for primary completion rates in rural areas are low for rural men. Urban women too display lower completion women across all the data sets, and the urban-rural rates than urban men in all the datasets, except for the gaps on female completion are high across all surveys. NFHS 2 survey where urban women seem to have a From the NFHS 2 a little over a fourth of all women higher completion rate. reporting completion, while more than half of all men report the same. The gap across the rural-urban divide In the best performing states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu are much greater for women than for men. Across all and Maharashtra, there has been a convergence in four surveys, the difference between rural women and completion rates both across the sexes and across urban women in terms of upper primary completion region of residence. While in both Tamil Nadu and varies between 27 and 36 percent, while the difference Maharashtra the earlier rounds of both data sets depicted in upper primary completion between rural and urban fewer women completing primary schooling in rural males varies between about 2 and 11 percent. The areas compared to the men from these areas, the more differences between men and women on the basis of recent surveys indicate near parity in male-female their region of residence varies between 23 and 34 completion in both urban and rural areas. In addition, percentage points in rural areas across all four surveys, the gap in completion between urban and rural residents and from 2 to 16 percentage points in urban areas across has also narrowed considerably. all four surveys. In fact, the NFHS 2 actually shows Figure 24 : Primary ASAR, CR and Figure 25 : Primary ASAR, CR and Actual CR - Boys Actual CR - Girls ! that in urban areas of UP, the percentage of 16 year marriage3. Other demand side correlates for low oldgirlscompletingupperprimaryschoolis4percentage enrollment and poor attendance include the number of points higher than for men. While the UP data displays hours spent on housework, the household size, social a narrowing of the gap for men between urban and caste, literacy status of the head and spouse of head, rural areas across all four surveys, in Bihar male and main economic activity of the household. discrepancies in upper primary completion does not Supplysidefactorsarealsoveryimportantindetermining seem to change much across the surveys. female enrolment and attendance, and these include As already explained in the case of spatial completion quantitative inputs as well as qualitative ones. For rates among the children considered, there is also the example, the proportion of female teachers has been case of actual number of girls and boys enrolled and found to be a significant correlate of female student completed. Since the CR is measured on the basis of enrollment, the availability of single-sex schools, the the GER, the actual CR among all children will be less distance of the school from the home, and the than the CR as explained earlier in this note. Figure's availability of separate amenities, such as, toilets 24 and 25 shows the CR and actual CR among boys reservedforgirls. Thisisparticularlytrueforenrollment and girls and it shows that the number and percentage and attendance for upper primary and middle school of children who complete schooling are indeed low that students. In addition to these factors, classroom the non-enrolled and drop outs are quite large. practices are also important. The value placed on the education of girls at the household level (as mentioned As seen in an earlier section there are significant above) is also to some extent mirrored in classroom variations in literacy across gender groups. Further, practices, with female students receiving less attention disaggregation of data on men and women by where from the teacher than male students. they live, their social caste and their earning abilities, provides insight into how these factors work together Numerous programs have been initiated by the to influence educational attainment. The factors governments at the Center and State levels to enhance contributing to this continued disparity in literacy across the enrollment, attendance, retention and completion of gender are numerous and include the poor literacy base female students across all levels of schooling and among from which women started, the continued social, allpopulationgroups. Theresultsaremixed. Whilethere religious, cultural and economic biases against women is no doubt that literacy, enrollment, retention and and their education. Historical factors also play a keen completion have improved across most states, there are roleinthedeterminationoftheliteracyand/orenrolment still pockets (fairly sizeable pockets) of tremendous status of populations. Economic factors and a lack of discrepancies across gender. The GoI through its interest are often cited as key reasons for girls not Programme of Action (PoA), 1992, acknowledges the being enrolled. The lack of interest is almost certainly importance of girls education by stating "it is impossible a reflection of parental attitudes towards their children, to achieve UEE unless concerted efforts are made to and not the attitude of girls towards schooling. There reach out to the girl child". The strategies adopted have is evidence from states in India that suggests includedraisingcommunityawareness,provisionofchild considerable difference in the attitude of parents caresupport,transportationsupportforgirlsandresidential towards the education of their sons and daughters. The schools, increasing the proportion of female teachers, differences in gender related outcomes stems from provisionofamenitieslikeaseparategirl'stoiletinschools, differences in decisions on investment arrived upon in and more direct forms of intervention such as financial the household, and on the value placed on the schooling support to the household for girls enrolment, notebooks of boys and girls. Educating boys is seen as an and textbooks provision and uniforms. Different states investment since boys are the main source of old age have even adopted flexible schooling schedules to allow support, while investment in girls' education is seen as girls to combine household chores with school work. a benefit to the family into which she marries, and not her own family. Furthermore, the purpose and value placed in the education of boys is based on the expected earnings or lifetime returns of the son(s) in the future, 4Anecdotally, this is true even for economically well-off whereas the value of educating their daughters is households and to those belonging to forward castes. traditionally seen on how it improves her likelihood of ! SECTION 4 SOCIAL INEQUITIES Unlike many other countries of the world, where social respectively. The Census 1991 results however show inequities in access to educational services usually that this pattern cannot be generalized across all states. revolves around the access of such services to minority For the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Dadra groups, social inequities in India are closely intertwined and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu the overall withthesystemofcastes. Althoughmembersbelonging literacy rates are lower than the literacy rates among to these groups of often lumped either as Scheduled SCs. In all states except Mizoram and Sikkim, the Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Castes, literacy rates among STs is lower than the national in reality there are almost 2000 Scheduled Castes and average. In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tribes in India. Discrimination against under-privileged and Sikkim, the literacy rates among STs tends to be groups in schooling inputs is endemic in India, although higher than the literacy rates among SCs. Several various governments in India have committed studies have confirmed the existence of such wide gaps themselves to eliminate discrimination across caste in educational outcomes across caste groups, like the lines1. Such discrimination manifests itself in many study by Acharya (2001) on literacy in Maharashtra. ways, for example, the kind of schooling to which Furthermore, districts with large SC and ST populations children have access, the physical infrastructure in also show lower overall literacy. The difference schools based on student characteristics, and to even between overall male literacy and ST female literacy the direct discrimination of children that exists within is almost 50 percentage points. classrooms and bureaucracies. This further impacts The lowest literacy rate recorded from the 1991 Census upon the achievement levels of disadvantaged groups. was for ST women in Rajasthan with a little over 4 Given the large number of castes and tribes, percent of the women being literate. This compared intervention that is tailor-made for these sub-groups to a overall literacy rate of about 55 percent for men in would likely be needed to see appreciable changes in 1991. Similarly, ST women in Andhra Pradesh (9 outcomes. percent) and SC women in Bihar (7 percent) and Social Disparity in Literacy Rajasthan (8 percent) too show evidence of very low literacy. There is some evidence of students being India has always been identified with its social castes segregated by castes into different schools. The and caste is a fundamental institution of both traditional PROBE (1999) report mentions dalit students in some as well as modern India. Furthermore, caste politics villages of Mirzapur being sent to government schools, haveplayedanimportantpartindeterminingtheliteracy while most high-caste students attend private schools. and educational achievements of the country's This could also mean that higher caste families are population to a large extent. The opportunities to attend richer, and spend more to send their children to private school and benefit from government programs are schools, but there are signs that an even bigger problem critically influenced by social, cultural and traditional could be emerging on this front. In a short survey of perceptions. There is some evidence that literacy and schools in different parts of the country, Ramachandran education programs targeted at some of these groups (2002)writes"thereisadividebetweentheGovernment may have had a positive impact, particularly on the Primary School (GPS) located in the Dalit basti and participation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes the GPS in the forward caste hamlet ­ only SC students in schooling activities. attend the former school, while the latter have very few SC students." This issue has also emerged in Although the literacy rates by caste groups are not yet focus group interviews with households with members available from the most recent census, the results from belonging to one of lower castes stating that they were the 1991 Census reveals that while the overall literacy rate for the country was 52.2 percent, the literacy rate 1Tamil Nadu has had much success in eliminating for SCs and STs was only 37.4 and 29.6 percent discriminatory practices against groups that were traditionally disadvantaged. !! openly advised against enrollment in particular schools higher for men than for women across all these social on account of their caste, although in household surveys groups, with the disparities widening among SC and poverty is still identified as the key stumbling block and STpopulations. Similarly,acrossallsocialgroups,there caste status or tribe status being given much less are significant differences in urban-rural discrepancies importance. in literacy indicators and in enrollment and completion, but the discrepancy associated with the region of Evidence from the PROBE report also suggests that residence is higher for SCs and STs as compared to there are considerable differences in schooling the rest of the population. infrastructure quality across different regions depending upon the proportion of scheduled caste or tribe members While it is difficult to extract a common picture of in that population. The report also adds that even in a attendance ratios for SCs and STs in the states across city like Delhi, there are significant differences in the all the different datasets, one clear trend does seem to quality of government schools depending on the social emerge ­ the attendance ratios of both SCs and STs composition of the neighbourhood in which those increase unambiguously between the two NSS rounds schools are found. and the two NFHS rounds for almost all fifteen states. Kerala again performs very well with very high SC Disparities in ASAR and ST attendance of above 90 percent for 6-10 year olds. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra illustrate lower Evidencefromthevariouspopulationcensuses,theNSS attendance ratios for STs between 80-90 percent2. and the NFHS, all suggest that school participation by Andhra Pradesh shows the greatest disparity between both SCs and STs is significantly lower than those by SC and ST attendance rates for any state using the other groups. Figure 24 illustrates the disparities across NFHS 2 data set, with attendance ratios for SCs being social groups in ASAR for 6-10 year olds from the in the high eighties and attendance ratios for STs falling 52nd Round of the NSS. to about 50 percent. Bihar is the worst performer As was seen in an earlier section, gender and region from among the fifteen states in terms of ASARs for related discrepancies can be seen in education and SCs and STs. Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra literacy data from all over India. Gender and region have done extremely well in 6-10 years ASARs with related discrepancies can also be viewed through a reported attendance of over 90 percent from the NFHS lens on social differences. Literacy indicators, 2. Three states that are traditionally considered as enrollment and completion indicators are systematically weaker states, AP, Orissa and West Bengal according Figure 26 : Social Disparities in the ASAR Figure 27 : Social Disparities in ASAR - of 6-10 years old - 1999 11 - 13 years old - 1999 !" to the NFHS 2 have 6-10 year old ASARs of above Figure 28 : Social Disparities in PCR of 80 percent. 12 year olds - 1999 Figure 25 presents a picture of the gaps that exist in upper primary attendance rates from the NSS 52nd Round. It is again difficult to establish any clear, coherent, picture at this higher schooling level across the states. High performers, like Kerala, that have done well continue to do so with attendance rates well above 90 percent for both SCs and STs. States like Bihar who have consistently done poorly, again fare poorly in upper primary attendance among social groups. There are significant discrepancies in attendance between SCs and STs in states like Tamil Nadu and Haryana and Andhra Pradesh, with gaps between SC and ST attendance in the order of 20-30 percentage points. The caveat remains that some states like Kerala, Haryana and Tamil Nadu have small tribal populations and the number of observations in the sample is very small. Disparities Across Social Groups In Upper Primary Completion. Disparities Across Social Groups in Differences across social groups in completion at the Primary Completion upper primary level reveals a smaller range across Primary completion rates vary starkly across states, with a clustering towards a lower average (except for Kerala). UPCRs are significantly lower different social groups. In Kerala, PCRs are high across all social groups (and for the population in than PCRs for most states. Kerala demonstrates very high rates of upper primary completion across all social general) with more than 90 percent of all children and all SC children completing primary schooling, groups particularly from the latter rounds of the two sets of data. and more than 80 percent of all ST children completing the primary level. In Tamil Nadu, The same is not true across other states, for example, completion rates are above 80 percent when looking in Tamil Nadu, while about two-thirds complete the at the general population, and for SC children. The upper primary level across all groups, and a similar small population of STs in the state, however, do not proportion of SCs also complete upper primary perform as well and display significantly lower schooling. The completion rates for STs drops quite completion rates3. Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and precipitously to about 39 percent in Tamil Nadu Maharashtra have similarly high completion rates in however from the NFHS 2. For Tamil Nadu, the NSS both the NSS 52nd round and NFHS 1999 for the overall population, and for SC populations. For ST 2Haryana, Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have small ST populations, the rates of completion are not so high. populations, and the sample on which the above claims are made From the NSS 52nd round, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, is very small as well and therefore does not really allow for any West Bengal are seen to perform very poorly with conclusive observations. 3There is a tremendous discrepancy between the completion completion rates lower than 10 percent. Surprisingly, rates for all children and for all SC children compared with ST this is one statistic where Bihar is not seen to be the from the NFHS 2 survey. While completion rates for all children worst performing state. There is a fairly consistent and all SC children is above 80 percent, completion rates for ST trend when comparing the two NSS surveys with children is seen to be lower than 10 percent. The accuracy of this information might be in some question. From the 52nd Round of each other and comparing the two NFHS surveys the NSS, the differences in completion rates between the overall with each other and one sees a trend where population of children and all SC children is of the order of 15-20 completion rates are increasing across the surveys. percentage points. !# Figure 29 : Social Disparities in UPCR of data reveals no improvement in UPCR across the both 16 years old - 1999 rounds, while the NFHS data sets actually show a decline in UPCR. The difference between PCRs and UPCRs is very high across most states and is in the order of 10 to 20 percentage points. For the worst performing states, like Bihar, UP, and Rajasthan, the overall UPCRs are between 20 and 50 percent, with no clear trend emerging across the four data sets. For example, in the case of Uttar Pradesh, while the UPCRs for SCs are higher than the UPCRs for STs across the two NSS rounds, the reverse seems to hold true for the two NFHS rounds. !$ SECTION 5 INEQUITIES ACROSS ECONOMIC CLASSES Income poverty or lack of access to economic Disparities in Primary and Upper resources is often cited as the factor that most influences Primary Enrollment Across Income literacy and schooling attainment in India. Poverty Quintiles impacts upon educational attainment both at the level of the household and at a more macro level. At both Figure 30 illustrates the primary enrollment rates across these levels, poor educational attainment reinforces urban and rural areas of India. The total population income poverty, thereby creating a vicious loop of has been divided into five economic or income quintiles poverty and low educational attainment. The role of (Q1-Q5)2, using data from two different surveys, the the public sector in mandated elementary education is NSS52 and the NFHS23. The graph shows that across often justified on the grounds that equity in enrollment both the NSS52 and the NFHS2 surveys, enrolment at and completion would be inherently more difficult in the primary level increases unambiguously across less developed countries if the responsibility for the income quintiles from the poorest quintile (Q1) to the provisionofeducationservicesdidnotprimarilyinvolve richest quintile (Q5). However, the enrolment rates in the government1. urban areas have always been higher than that of the rural areas across all income quintiles. The increase Povertyhasbeenseentoimpactoneducationalattainment over the two survey periods have been higher for the in many ways including, (i) through the direct costs of lower quintiles, and across all quintile groups in rural schooling(e,g,throughtuitionpayments,costsoftextbooks, areas as their base levels are low, uniforms,transportationcostsandotherdirectandindirect costs), (ii) through the indirect costs of schooling on poor Further disaggregating primary enrollment rate for 6- families(opportunitycostofchildlabortopoorerfamilies), 10 year olds across states and by rural-urban and (iii) lower expected benefits of elementary schooling classification reveals that the disparities across income forchildrenofpoorerfamilies.Therefore,simplyproviding quintiles were more prominent in rural areas than in free and universal primary education will not eliminate urban areas and that across the same quintile levels, the disparities that exist today in educational outcomes the urban children got enrolled more than the rural ones. acrossincomeclassesinIndiatoday. Economicconditions For example, in Bihar, the ASAR of rural children in have often been cited by households as one of the key factors affecting their ability to send children to school. Even in areas where access to a free, government Figure 30 : Primary enrollment rate - 6-10 years - Expenditure Quntile wise supported public school system may be available, households face direct costs (such as, costs of uniforms, meals/lunches, transportation costs, etc.) and indirect private schooling costs (opportunity cost of child labor andhouseholdchoressuchaschildcarebyyounggirlsof theirevenyoungersiblings). 1Of course, the same argument holds true for richer countries, with households found in pockets of poverty and deprivation, who would still it difficult to send their children to school without public assistance as in inner-cities of the United States. 2Q1-Q5 denotes the five income quintiles. The placing of an R or U prior to the Q will denote Rural and Urban quintiles respectively. 3For the NSS52, income quintiles are defined using consumption expenditure, and for the NFHS2, income quintiles are obtained using asset index. !% Figure 31 : ASAR (6-10 years) - Rural across income groups the highest quintile groups were less than 70 percent, high overall level of rural enrollment. These are while that in the urban areas were more than 90 percent. illustrated in Figure 31. State-wise primary enrollment This shows that the disparities in enrollment across rates for 6-10 year olds for urban areas reveals very income groups is further deepened by their residential high enrollment rates for those in the highest income status and the facilities in their locality. Similarly, not all quintiles. Only a fifth of the states, have enrollment children in the rural areas or lower quintiles in all states rates less than 60 percent for the lowest income are deprived of the schooling facility. In Kerala, the quintiles. The discrepancies across quintiles are very ASAR or children in the lowest income quintile in the pronounced in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West rural areas is quite high, around 97 percent, as evident Bengal amounting to about 55, 55 and 45 percentage from the graph, compared to the children belonging to points. Except for Kerala, in all other states the urban the highest income quintile in Bihar, whose ASAR is ASARs are unambiguously higher than rural ASARs only around 70 percent. So it is not only the income with the difference being as little as 4 percentage points and residential profile, but the region they belong to in Tamil Nadu to a little less than 30 percentage points also matters in the enrolment rates. The discrepancies in Rajasthan. across quintiles are very high in states like Bihar, Orissa The range of disparity between the richest and poorest and Rajasthan amounting to about 40, 55 and 47 in terms of enrolment across rural-urban and states percentage points. In Uttar Pradesh although the have been shown in graph 30. It substantiates our difference between the enrollment rate of the highest argument that disparity is a cumulative factor, and those quintile and lowest quintiles is about 30 percentage states where the disparities are prominent across the points,onlyabout70percentofindividualsinthehighest rich and poor are the states where the disparities within quintile in rural areas are enrolled. Tamil Nadu and an income group across rural and urban areas also get Kerala are at the high end of the enrollment spectrum deepened. with less than a 10 point difference in enrollment across the highest and lowest income quintiles, and a very Figure 32 : ASAR (6-10 years) Urban Across Income groups !& For all states, ASARs are significantly larger for the Figure 33 : ASAR 6-10 years across the lowest higher income quintiles than for the lowest quintiles. and highest groups of expenditure quintiles In Kerala, the gap between RQ1 and RQ5 is less than a percentage point for the NSS52. Very large disparities in ASAR between RQ1 and RQ5 are evident in states like Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar with differences between 35 and 42 percentage points, however, the overall ASAR in Andhra Pradesh from the NSS52 is about 72 percent compared with Rajasthan and Bihar, where the overall ASARs are 54.72 and 43.85 percent respectively. These two latter states have the lowest ASARs in NSS52. Kerala and Tamil Nadu are on the other end of the ASAR spectrum with the highest rural ASARs of 98.31 and 90.25 percent from NSS52. Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana have rural ASARs between 80 and 90 In contrast to rural areas, where most states displayed a percent, while Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and wideningofthegapbetweenRQ1andRQ5acrossNSS42 Assam have rural ASARs in the range of 70 to 80 and NSS52, in urban areas, most states show a decline in percent, finally, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa ASAR across UQ1 and UQ5. The only states where and Uttar Pradesh have rural ASARs between 60 and the gap between UQ1 and UQ5 has increased are Assam, 70 percent. UttarPradesh,Gujarat,Kerala,andMadhyaPradeshfrom about1percentagepointinKeralatoabout23percentage It is of particular concern that for many states the gap points in Assam. The gap between UQ1 and UQ5 for between the NSS42 and NSS52 in ASAR has bothNSSroundsisthehighestinBihar equaltoabout50 increased between RQ1 and RQ5, except for Gujarat, percentage points in each round. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, where there was a decrease in the gap In a couple of the states, viz., Karnataka and Rajasthan, between the poorest and richest quintile. For those within quintile increases have happened mostly in the states where there was an increase in the gap between higher quintiles in rural areas, and within quintile RQ1 and RQ5, the increases range from 5 to 26 increases in urban areas have occurred mostly in the percentage points, and for those states that witnessed poorest quintiles. What this might suggest is that while a decline in the gap between RQ1 and RQ5 between access has increased in both rural and urban areas, the NSS42 and NSS52, the decline ranges from 1 benefits of increased access in rural areas are being percentage point in Uttar Pradesh to 18 percentage captured by the relatively more wealthy, and the benefits points in Gujarat. Orissa displays the largest gap of increased access in urban areas are being captured between RQ1 and RQ5 for NSS52 amounting to a little by the relatively poorer quintiles. over 54 percentage points. Figure 34 : PCR among income groups - RURAL !' Figure 35 : PCR across income quintiles - URBAN Disparities in Completion Across Another dimension to the disparities due to economic Income Quintiles and Across status is the impact of it on the enrolment ratios of girls Regions and boys. While the completion rates are higher for boys compared to girls in most of the states, that is not Primary completion rates across income quintiles are entirely true across all income groups. In the highest shown in Figures 32 and 32. Clearly, in many states quintile groups, the differences between girls and boys the completion rates are closely associated with the are much smaller than that in the lowest quintile groups. income quintile of the household. The changes in To qualify that, in some of the states, girls have a higher completion are considerably high when we go from completion rates than boys among the rich (Q5), as in Q1 to Q5, with states like Orissa and Rajasthan showing the case of states like Punjab and Kerala. So in the increases in completion rates by almost 80 percentage lower income quintiles, it is not only a problem of lower point. The gap across income quintiles is more completion rates, but of lower gender equity in pronounced for rural dwellers than it is for urban completion rates. dwellers, with very low completions rates in MP, AP, However, income inequalities have to be qualified by Orissa and Bihar. another dimension ­ that is the expenditure on The case of upper-primary completion rates also education. India's education sector is not purely produce similar results and the graphs are self- government. A sizeable part of the education ­ even in explanatory. the elementary section is provided by the private sector. Figure 36 : UPCR across income quintiles - RURAL " Figure 37 : UPCR across income quintiles - URBAN In various states, there are different policies towards The analysis of the disparities in education spending the role and participation of the private sector. In some across these various groups are looked at in the next states, the private sector is encouraged by the state by section. providing grants-in-aid facilities. So, the private sector itself is varied with both private aided and unaided schools. The households spent differential amounts on education of the children depending on various factors. Figure 38 : Income-Intensified Gender differences in PCR - RURAL " SECTION 6 DISPARITIES IN THE PRIVATE AND PUBLIC EXPENDITURES ON SCHOOLING Though elementary education is a public good that referred to as non-fee expenditures, and fees- merits government provision, the private provision in expenditures are incurred on items, such as, tuition fees, this social sector has been on the rise in India. Some examination fees5, fees for extra-curricular activities, statesinIndiafacilitatetheprivateprovisionineducation informal payments to teachers, etc. These private by providing grants-in aid, the unaided private sector expendituresonschoolingvarybythelevelofschooling, provision, both recognized and unrecognized, are also by location and region of the schools, the type or flourishing in many developed areas of the country, management of the school (i.e., PAs or PUAs) and by especially in urban areas, notwithstanding the inequity socio-economic characteristics of the households whose questions that surface due to their increasing presence. children study in these schools. These payments can restrict access for those unable to pay for participation At the outset, the Indian education structure is and completion at different schooling levels. comprised of five school types, these include (i) central government schools, (ii) state government schools, (iii) Private household expenditures differ across schools local government school, (iv) private aided schools and on the basis of the type of school the students attend, (v) private unaided schools. Centrally managed schools and within that they vary across states. The household include the system of Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) and expenditure on children attending schools have been the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV)1. Most generally high in rich states like Punjab and Haryana recognized primary and upper primary schools are run and in education wise, traditionally well-ahead states directly by state and local governments, state schools like Kerala and Himachal. Parents spend slightly more are funded, managed and operated schools by the state on the education of boys than in girls, which was found governments and local government schools are funded, to be a universal phenomenon. managed and operated by municipalities or panchayats. Precisely, it is due to these private expenditure issues Private-aided schools (PA) are those that are managed that the presence or absence of private sector schools by private educational societies, but receive funding and their locations becomes an equity issues. While 3/ from the State governments for upto 95 percent of 4th of the students in elementary education are enrolled recurring expenditures. Private unaided schools (PUA) in government and local body schools, around 15 % on the other hand, are privately funded, managed and are enrolled in private aided schools and the rest, in operated2. PA and PUA schools play a significant role in providing access at the Primary level, although PUAs are not very relevant at the upper primary level. 1KVs are schools that were established across the country Indian lawmakers have committed themselves to largely to cater to children of government employees to ensure providing all citizens with free primary (and recently, that transfers from one part of the country to another does not result in a dislocation in the education of their children. JNVs upper primary) education, and thus, theoretically, are special residential schools aimed at poor children in rural primary education should be accessible at no cost to all areas. These schools were set up to attract children from less whodemandit. Inreality,however,privateexpenditures accessible areas to a central location. 2 on education is sizeable across all levels of schooling. PUAs are not fully included in government statistics on educational institutions since a large number of PUAs are Private expenditures on schooling are incurred on two unrecognized by the government and thus do not figure in the categories, fees expenditures and non-fees overall assessment of the size of private provision of education expenditures3. This is true even in government schools services. 3 that do not charge a fee, and which in many cases also Sometimes fees and non-fees expenditures are also referred to as school and non-school expenditures respectively. provide free meals4, textbooks, and uniforms. These 4Under the Mid­day meal schemes, the government schools items, such as, books, uniforms, transportation, are often provide free meals to all its students. 5This is particularly true for students in unrecognized PUAs. " Figure 39 : Per student yearly average household spending on education Figure 40 : Per student average household spending on education by school type - for Rural boys Figure 41 : Per student average household spending for education by school type - for Rural girls "! Figure 42 : % of students enrolled in Figure 43 : % of students enrolled in Government Primary schools Government schools - Upper primary unaided private schools. However, in rural areas, 86 attend private schools more than the students from % of the students are enrolled in government schools poorer background and this is true cutting across all as against 55 % in urban areas. The enrollment of states. It is also true that students from the deprived students in government schools also vary across the communities attend government schools more than states and in terms of their socio-economic status. In those from the other communities. states like Kerala, Punjab and Haryana, the enrollment in government schools are less as the aided and unaided Public Spending on Education private schools are attracting students for various Elementary education is a merit good. It has the reasons ­ reasons relating to various types of accesses characteristicsofpublicgood,atthesametime,provides ­ geographical, economic, social and cultural ­ which private benefit to individuals by enhancing their are not addressed in this paper. capabilities. In the welfare paradigm of political It is also interesting to see that as expected, the students economy,statehastheresponsibilityanddutytoprovide who hail from higher economic background mostly education to the needy, thus facilitating universalisation Figure 44 : % of students enrolling in govt. schools by expenditure quintiles - Primary "" of education, at least at the elementary level. In India, However, there are many who argue that public education is placed in the concurrent list and the state subsidisation of education produce perverse effects governments are given the authority to decide how on distribution. It is argued that, public subsidisation much to spend on their education budget, most often of education, especially higher education, would be supported by the central grants. This is to facilitate regressive, increasing income inequalities by states at different levels to plan according to their transferring the resources from the poor to the rich, needs. However, different states have placed education as the education (particularly, but not exclusively at different levels of priority in their investment plans higher education) subsidies accrue more to the rich and this is visible in the state spending on elementary than to the poor (Psacharopoulos, 1977; Blaug, 1982, education. The implication of such spending is also 1992; Mingat and Tan, 1986a, b;Jimenez, 1987, 1994; not unique or uniform across states, and the people World Bank, 2000, p.80). Reduction in education who benefit out of state spending on education varies subsidies in general is also advocated arguing that in their socio-economic background. One of the education subsidies, including some specific subsides rationale for and expectations of public spending is that in basic education, could be targeted to the poor it benefits the poor and socially disadvantaged in the only (World Bank, 1994). The debate between the society to participate and complete school education. two sides, familiarly known as liberal versus neo- However, as evident from the school enrolment and liberal groups,is intensifying in the recent years completion analysis, the states differ enormously in all (Hinchliffe, 1993). aspects and with regard to different social and economic as well as gender groups. Trends in government expenditures on education is presented in an earlier section. Figure 30 shows public Government can use the resources at its disposal in expenditure by state as a percentage of GSDP. It is many ways to achieve the education objectives through obvious that Himachal and Kerala spend the most as a its spending mechanism. Subsidies could be used as a proportion of their GDPs on education. Although this powerfulwelfareaugmentinginstrumentoffiscalpolicy might explain their success in achieving near universal (see GOI, 1997 for further details). Subsidies aim at literacy (at least Kerala) and enrollment, the same is reducing the price of the goods, so that they are not true for the other two big spenders, Orissa and available to larger sections of the population. Bihar. These two states are characterized by poor Government of India (1997) identified in a White Paper outcomes across most of the indicators that have been a large set of social and economic services, classified looked at. The problem with such a measurement of them into public goods, merit goods and non-merit public expenditure as percentage of GDP is that it is goods, and proposed to reduce subsidies to non-merit heavily dependent on the level of GDP and Bihar goods. In case of the education sector, education up obviously does not figure in the list of states with high to elementary level is considered as a merit good, and incomes, and hence, actual levels of expenditure on education beyond elementary level, i.e., secondary and education is low. higher education, is labeled as a non-merit good, as falling outside the ambit of merit category. Subsidies Public expenditures on elementary education in the in education are also advocated on the grounds of major states of India have also been assessed on the providing equality of opportunity. Ensuring equality of basis of a benefit incidence analysis (BIA) or an opportunity in education to every one irrespective of assessment of the incidence of education expenditure not only social background, but also economic relative to the incomes of user households. For the background is considered an important function of the purpose of the BIA, information on public expenditures modern State. Education is found to be an effective on education has been collected from the Analysis of instrument of equity. In the absence of public subsidies, Budgeted Expenditure on Education6 by the Indicus only those who could afford to pay would enroll in schools. The concern for equality of opportunity has 6Published annually by the MHRD and contains information on led to almost universal agreement that the government government expenditures on elementary and secondary should subsidise education. education. "# Figure 45 : Public Spending in Education as percentage of GSDP Analytics group (in a consultancy work carried out for The analysis of per student subsidy across income the World Bank). Their study then combined this with groupsintheprimaryeducationsectorinruralandurban information on household expenditures from the NSS42 areas across states highlights the important roles of and NSS52. These datasets also allow us to estimate governments in these states. The analysis reveals that the number of enrollees in different quintile groups, : (a) In almost all states, there is a progressive across different levels and by type of institution as they subsidization across income groups, that is, the poorer are representative at the national, state and region level7. get more subsidies than the rich, (b) children in rural A description of the methodology of BIA and its areas get more subsidized than those in the urban areas limitations are included in the Appendix8 at the end of across income quintiles, (c) the disparities between this section. government subsidies received by children in different income quintiles are the least in rural areas while they While the government spending on education as a are of the widest range in the urban areas, (d) the above percentage of State Gross Domestic Product depict two results are the outcomes of the fact that children the commitment of the states in terms of allocating the in lower quintiles get enrolled more in the government resources to education from its overall kitty, they don't schools compared to the rich who gets enrolled in the reveal the per capita expenditure on education. Ana private sector and the children in rural areas generally analysis of the per student subsidy on primary education enrolled in the government schools as there are very using NSS 52nd round for rural and urban areas shows few private facilities available even for the rural rich in that states like Himachal and Kerala heavily subsidizes their locality. primary education (in rural areas, the subsidy amounts to more than 2000 rupees per year) while a rich state The disparities across states in the level of subsidies like Punjab hardly subsidizes primary education, provided and the kind of distribution of subsidies across especially in the urban areas. income quintiles that have taken place provide interesting analysis. The distribution of subsidies across While public expenditures do play a redistributive role income quintiles (see table) are often misleading if we in most states, in many of them these expenditures are only weakly pro-poor, and therefore there is 7A region is not an administrative classification, but represents a considerable scope for improving the pro-poor bias of set of districts within a state across which most NSS datasets are representative. these expenditures, and hence an analysis of the 8The Benefit Incidence Analysis was carried out by Indicus incidence of the public subsidy across income groups Analyticus headed by Dr. Laveesh Bhandari. are important. "$ Table 2 : Percentage Distribution of Public Subsidies to Rural Primary Schools 1 lowest 2 3 4 5 highest Andhra Pradesh 21 23 22 17 17 Assam 16 20 22 22 20 Bihar 17 16 20 24 23 Gujarat 22 19 24 21 14 Haryana 15 24 25 18 19 Himachal Pradesh 17 23 19 22 17 Karnataka 18 22 22 22 16 Kerala 25 22 22 19 12 Madhya Pradesh 17 22 21 20 21 Maharashtra 19 23 20 20 17 Orissa 14 21 26 20 19 Punjab 48 31 27 26 -31 Rajasthan 17 20 20 22 20 Tamil Nadu 23 22 22 20 13 Uttar Pradesh 17 22 23 21 17 West Bengal 18 20 20 23 19 Source: Indicus Analytics (2003) compare it with the levels of subsidies provided (see in the country. This is also because of the extent of the figure 46. private sector in providing education in these states, which is not taken into consideration here. On the other A state like Punjab transfers almost half of its subsidies hand, the share of total subsidies that the students to the lowest quintiles, and taxes the highest quintile belonging to the lowest income quintile groups in students for facilitating this cross-subsidization. Himachal Pradesh is less than 1/5th of the total (17 However, the amount (level) of subsidies they provide percent) and as such it might look as if the poor are not are the lowest in the country and as such, the per student getting any better deal than the rich in the state. subsidy a poor student in Punjab receives is the lowest However, the per student subsidy that a student Figure 46 : Per student subsidy for primary education across economic quintile groups - 1995-96 (Pink-Rural, Red-Urban) "% belonging to any income quintile groups in Himachal other states received more than 30% of the total Pradesh receives in an year amounts to more than subsidy. In fact this is probably a result of the fact that Rs. 2500. children who enroll in secondary school are typically from the higher income quintiles. In the urban Even the weakly pro-poor expenditure patterns that is secondary school sector, Himachal Pradesh received seen in both rural and urban expenditures on primary maximum share of subsidies (24.19%). Nine states schooling, vanishes at the secondary level. The share where the poorest quintile received less than 10% of of subsidy received by the lowest quintile is generally the total subsidy. On the other hand Andhra Pradesh low in all the states. Even at the secondary level, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh are the two states where the transfer to the poorest quintile the highest amount of richest quintile received comparatively lower shares 14.04%, while West Bengal had the lowest share going of subsidies (less than 15%). The richest quintile in to the poorest quintile with an amount of 2.01%. A Rajasthan received the maximum share among all the substantial portion of the subsidies went to the richest states (31.15%). Overall, we find that states that are quintiles and clearly fails to meet the equity criteria. economically better off tend to have a more equitable Kerala, which received the minimum share of subsidy distribution of subsidies across quintiles. This might be was as high as 21.08%. The topmost quintiles in all the Appendix A Note on the Benefit Incidence Analysis due to the fact that better economic status allows them socio-economic group should benefit mostly out of it ­ to charge higher amounts from at-least the better off. which means that the highest subsidies should go to them. On the other hand, from the government's Welfare function of a government oblige them to spend financial management view, it is important that the on merit goods such as health and education. In India, government generate some revenue to run their social sectors like health and education are in the machinery for providing these services. This would concurrent list and the state governments are in charge mean that those who can afford to "buy" the services of providing most of the services, whether it is using should pay for it, hence, should be charged some fees. their own resources or using the funds that come to This basically involves the cross subsidy issues. them through a Centrally Sponsored program. In order to make these services (which provide both public and However, in reality, this need not happen, especially, private benefits) to the needy and the most vulnerable, different states have different expenditure levels and who probably cannot "buy" the services in a market enrollment levels by socio-economic groups. And the situation due to various causes (including the degree and magnitude of costs and subsidies, and hence affordability and accessibility questions), government benefits vary across different states of India. The has to provide for them. Many times, it is not only in analysis here is aimed at providing some broad ideas the form of government expenditure, but a lot of direct on this direction. This approach that has been adopted and indirect subsidies since the beneficiaries need not to evaluate the distribution of government subsidies in pay back the costs incurred. However, not all those education among students from different quintile groups who deserve gets all the benefits, nor do all the of population is referred here as "Benefit Incidence beneficiaries are the one who are to be most concerned. Analysis". Therefore it becomes important to know how the The term `benefit' to captures the enrollees who benefit government expenditures on education are utilized by from the `subsidies', and incidence refers to as the various socio-economic groups and how many of them amount of subsidy received. This paper studies the benefit. distribution of both. This essentially involves allocating The major objective for arguing that government should the subsidies to different quintiles groups based on their provide services which come under the public/ merit utilizationofthesubsidiesi.e.enrolmentinthoseschools goods category is that those who belong to the lowest having access to government subsidies. This will help "& us analyze whether the subsidies are reaching those Secondly, although we had similar data in both 42nd who require them the most. In this paper we have and 52nd rounds, the 42nd round does not provide a conducted this analysis for 16 major states in break up for private aided and private unaided schools. India. The dataset contained only two broad categories for thevariable"Typeofinstitution",namely"Government" There are two broad categories of schools through and "Private". But as a considerable share of the which subsidies are provided ­ government and local government subsidies goes to private aided schools as body schools, and private schools that receive some well, this information is essential for the analysis. In aid from the government (henceforth referred to as other words, since we are looking at how the private aided schools). government subsidies are utilized by various quintiles it will be incorrect if we only consider the subsidies Source of data received by government schools. As a result, the National Sample Survey Organization had conducted comparison of the subsidies as well as beneficiaries two large education based surveys in its 42nd and 52nd across time could not be conducted. rounds conducted in 1986-87 and 1995-96 respectively in all the states of India. The datasets have been used Methodology to calculate the number of enrollees across different Who are the beneficiaries? quintile groups and in different levels and types of institutions specifically for three reasons. One, these All the enrollees in Government, Private-aided and are large datasets with significant sample sizes and Local Body schools were combined into one group and two, such fine break-ups on the characteristics of the were considered to be the beneficiaries as were students are not available in other data sources. And accessing the government subsidies because of the type three, these datasets have information that will help us of institution they are enrolled in. This was done as we evaluate private expenditure on education that directly have used the total budgetary expenditure on schools goes to the school authority. For data on Government at this aggregate level. Enrollments are also available expenditure on education we are using data contained separately for elementary and secondary schools in in "Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education" rural and urban areas across quintiles and gender. The published by "Ministry of Human Resource and quintile groups have been generated on the basis of Development, Government of India". The publication per capita household expenditure separately for rural contains government expenditure (revenue account) and urban areas in the individual level. There will not data on education separately for elementary and be more number of people in the lower quintiles in rural secondary education across states every year. The areas which would have been the case had we same have been used for the years 1986-97 and 1995- generated the quintiles in the household level. This is 96. mainly because the household sizes tend to be larger in rural areas as compared to the urban areas. Therefore Limitation of data equal number of individuals (not students) will be there in each of the quintile groups. At the outset, it should be mentioned that the latest data on education expenditures by households How is subsidy calculated? disaggregated at the gender, and other socio-economic The overall government subsidy was available from groups could be made available latest for the year 1996 government state budget documents separately for and not after that due to the lack of education surveys elementary and secondary. The distribution of these that are collected at household level. Though the subsidies were made according to the manner in which consumer expenditure surveys of the NSS collect data the distribution of enrollment of students belonging to on education expenditure at some aggregation, since the different expenditure quintiles were in government they don't really provide the information as to whether and government aided schools. This distribution, as the children in the household are attending government explained earlier, was calculated using the NSSO 52nd or private schools, it is not possible to use the data for round data. In other words, the Government finding out the incidence of government education expenditure for elementary and secondary education expenditures. for each state has been sub-divided across various "' quintile groups, sector and gender using the same (respondent) reported government revenues is distribution in which the beneficiaries are distributed. therefore not the same as the government expenditures To calculate government revenue from education, (distributed purely on the basis of enrollment). From private expenditure on tuition fees, examination fees, the above two steps we get two similar tables for and other fees in the last academic year has been used. government expenditure and revenues from education This data was also available from the 52nd round NSSO sector. Subsidy is then calculated by subtracting revenue data.Thisalsoallowedustohaveastate,quintile,sector, from expenditure in the corresponding category. After and gender distribution of government revenues as that we have calculated the percentage distribution of reported by each respondent. The distribution of total the subsidies across all the quintiles in the respective categories. # SECTION 7 : SUMMARY The development of school education, participation and especially in the upper primary stage. (f) the SC/ST completion is characterized by disparities across socio- children are getting enrolled more, but still they are economic, gender and regional disparities. The equity way behind the other general communities. (i) in all issues are often masked due to the averages resulting areas, in both gender and in all communities, children from extreme inequalities in education indicators. The from a higher income background get enrolled as well efforts to reduce the disparities across gender, caste as complete schooling more than that of the lower and economic classes are not met with uniform success; income groups. (j) inter-stage disparities are wide and rather, the vicious circle of inequities and unequal the some states like Kerala, Maharashtra and Punjab progress across various groups continue to haunt the do better in most of the indicators while Bihar, UP and states with lower and higher education indices. The Rajasthanlagbehindothersconfirmingtheirtraditionally higher performing states have been continuously been held status as "bimaru1" states. (k) the rural-urban, reducing most typical of inequities and the have been gender, caste and income disparities are least in better moving higher on education ladder while the efforts of performing states while they are worst in the poorer poorer performing states are not enough to enable them performing states. to break the vicious circle of lower education Now given the current trends and patterns in schooling attainments and higher inequities and move ahead. attendance and completion rates, and also the disparities Indeed, the growth of education sector in India has that exist across states, and within states, across rural- been an inequitable one, one that is characterized by urban, gender, social and economic classes, there are unbalanced growth. Now to facilitate the under- many sets of questions that arises which needs to be performing states to catch up with the better performing answered, either through governmental efforts, or states, a huge effort is needed,. To rectify these equity privateinitiativesorcommunitymobilization,orthrough gaps, a "big push" to education in these disadvantaged a combination of all these. Though finding answers to regions/ gender/ community/ economic groups and these questions or providing policy prescriptions will much better targeting is necessary. be beyond the scope of this documentation, it is A summary table at the end of this paper summarises important to identify these gaps and follow up questions the findings from this study. The facts that come out so as to ensure that future efforts shall be directed or of the summing up is as follows: (a) the level of ASAR evaluated based on the progress made on these issues. and the progress in ASAR are not synonymous. (b) One important factor that comes out of the study is The level as well as the progress (and the pace of that even though most children get enrolled in schools, progress) in ASAR in the primary stage and upper there is a sizeable number of children who never got primary stage are not of the same range. (c) It is easier enrolled, thus did not even have an opportunity to see to get children enrolled in school, but difficult to retain what schooling is all about. It is important to identify them there to complete that level, as evident from the the size of these children and get details as to what relatively lower completion rates, both at the primary could be the factors that prevent them from being in as well as upper primary levels. (d) As in the case of school. Many times, the domestic and family factors ASAR, the CR is better for primary level compared are reasons for their being out of schools. Social with UP. (e) rural ­urban disparities still persists and deprivations and gender factors within family often rural areas are yet to catch with the ASAR (and PCR intensify the problem. Economic factors could be as well as UPCR) in the urban areas, especially in the another major reason. Many children are out of schools upper primary stage of education (f) Though the rural in order to supplement the family income by engaging ASAR is progressing fast, it needs further momentum in activities that fetch some wages. Other family to reach that of the urban ASARs. (g) PCR and UPCR responsibilitiesofhelpinginhouseholddutiesandsibling progress are less than that of the ASARs across all groups (h) Gender disparities are also evident, with male 1A term coined taking the first few alphabets of the states who children getting enrolled more than the female children, were really backward, and the term means "sick" in India. # care also have been important factors in preventing For example, the quality of education, which cannot be children attending schools or dropping out. Lack of captured through a household survey like NSS or NFHS opportunities and access is hindering many a children's as the perception and importance of quality in relation education and hence future. Physical disabilities and to availability and accessibility is a relative one. other health factors could be another hindering factor. However, while addressing the question of low completion rates and socio-economic disparities, the There are miscellaneous issues which are not directly quality issues also become an important factor to be related to schooling participation trends and completion looked at rates. However, they could be the most crucial aspects. Table 3. Equity Study Summary Education Across Scenario Scenario across Better Worst Type of indicators Education across surveys states performing performing attention category states states needed Level of - High in the -increasing over Some states like Kerala Kerala, Punjab, Bihar, UP Increase level of ASAR primary level; the years; high for have already reached Tamil Nadu, ASAR, especially not so in the primary ASAR high ASAR while some Maharashtra in the Upper Upper primary compared to states are laggards Primary level level. Upper Primary like Bihar ASAR. Progress in Primary ASAR The rate of Increase in ASAR have AP, MP and Bihar, UP and Need for special ASAR has increased increase in ASAR been different across Rajasthan started at Orissa started at focus to increase faster compared have been states states at low level and have low level and yet the enrolment in to Upper Primary different across 4 already higher level of high rates of to speed up their states with low ASAR survey time points ASAR had little to growth in ASAR pace of ASAR levels of ASAR as improve while the increase. well as where states at bottom have the increase in improved their ASAR States at a high ASAR is not up to considerably, though level of ASAR have the desired level they are yet to achieve lower growth in the desirable level ASAR over the survey time as they have little to improve Rural-urban Rural urban Rural ASAR lower Regional variations in -States like Kerala, Bihar and UP had Need for focus disparity in disparity is than Urban ASAR rural-urban ASAR are and TN have huge rural-urban to improve level ASAR evident in both evident. Though the always had lesser disparitiesThese and pace of primary and Progress in ASAR rural urban gaps have rural-urban gaps. - states have also ASAR in worst Upper primary is more in rural been narrowing down States like Haryana been less performing ASAR; areas as Urban in better performing and Punjab have successful in states, especially ASAR has already states, the gap has been successful in reducing the rural- in their rural Disparity is been on high and been on increase in narrowing down urban gap over the areas. higher in Upper increased at states with low ASAR as the rural-urban two decades of Primary ASAR slower pace at the progress in urban gaps faster in the 80s and 1990s. that level areas are faster here last two decades. and ASAR progress in rural areas are not enough to catch up with that of the urban areas. Gender Gender disparity Over the period, Some states have -Kerala, Punjab and High gender gaps Need for focus disparity in highly visible in the ASAR of both lesser gender disparity TN have lesser in BiharMuch to be on girls ASAR the Upper boys and girls in ASAR than some gender gaps in desired in Bihar in education in # Education Across Scenario Scenario across Better Worst Type of indicators Education across surveys states performing performing attention category states states needed Primary ASAR have been other states ASAR.-Haryana and terms of the most of the states, compared increasingGenerally Punjab, along with progress in especially in to the primary more boys get MP and Rajasthan, reducing gender States where the ASAR. enrolled than the have progressed in gaps gender disparity is girlsThe increase reducing gender so stark and the in ASAR of girls gaps over the progress in and boys have not decades gender equity is been uniform slow during the 80s and 90s Caste- Scheduled Though the ASAR ASAR among SC/ST Kerala and TN have Haryana and More education disparity in Tribes ASAR increase over the lower in most of the high ASAR rates for Punjab, along facilities for ASAR lower than that period, the gap states compared to the SC/ST caste groups with Bihar, UP children born to of SC, which in between different general population. and also more and Rajsthan under-privileged turn is lower groups dont get Some states have better equitable ASAR show low ASAR communities and than the general reduced, though at equity among social across caste groups among SC/ST special grants/ community the primary level, groups in ASAR groups as well scholarships, fee it is not so. as wider caste waiving etc disparity in needed ASAR. Disparity Primary Over the years, Wide inter-state Kerala Q1 to Q5 Bihar Q1-Q5 across enrolment ASAR of children variations in the level have high ASAR. ASAR is well Economic disparities are from lower as well as disparities in Disparities are less. below the quintiles in lesser across quintile has ASAR of the economic TN & Gujarat desirable levels. ASAR economic increased faster quintile groups. Urban disparities are less The disparities groups than the than the higher areas having less across quintile between Q1-Q5 upper primary quintile, as higher inequities and higher groups is also large. ASAR quintile children levels of ASAR for all Also, large rural has already a high quintile groups urban ASAR and the compared to rural. differences. lower ones were catching up with them Completion Low compared Increase over Inter-state disparities Kerala, Tamil Nadu Rajasthan, Bihar Reduction in drop Rate Level to ASAR.UPCR time; but the are wider than that of and Maharashtra and UP. out rates; bringing better than PCR increase is much the ASAR. Generally back the children because there slower than the UPCR is higher in states who are dropped are more ASAR. where PCR is also high. out children enrolled In states where PCR is in PCR who drop at a higher level, UPCR out. is less than PCR, and in states where PCR level is low, PCR is below the UPCR. Rural-urban Urban CR is Increase in PCR Inter-state disparities Rural-urban UP, AP and Increase the disparities better than the and UPCR over are wider for UPCR disparities are least Orissa for PCR retention rates in in CR rural CR. time is higher in compared to PCR. in Kerala and MH.. and AP, Rajasthan rural areas to urban areas than For PCR, it is less and Haryana for bridge the rural- in rural areas in TN and Punjab UPCR urban gaps in along with these certain states in states. CRs #! Education Across Scenario Scenario across Better Worst Type of Education across surveys states performing performing attention states states needed Gender Generally boys Gender gap in Gender gaps across Kerala, TN and Bihar, Rajasthan disparity in CR is more CR and UPCR states exists.. Gender Punjab has lesser and UP CR than girls in are coming gaps are higher in gender disparity in both PCR and down. Gender states where the sex completion rates. UPCR gaps more ratio is highly skewed pronounced for and states where the the UPCR sex ratio is favor of girls, the CR among girls are better. Caste- SC/ST students CR among SC/ In some states, the Kerala, Assam The Bimaru disparity in CR is low ST is improving CR among SC/ST is among the bigger states where the CR compared to over time better than other states as well as conditions of the general states. States with the North Eastern the SC/ST in better CR in general states (not general leaves have more SC/ST analysed here in much to be CRs also. detail) where the desired also proportion of ST is have lower CR higher as well as among the where the general states education indicators are also better Economic PCR disparities Over the years, Wide inter-state Kerala Q1 to Bihar Q1-Q5 class are lesser PCR of children variations in the level Q5 have high CR. 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