Choudhury, PK and Joshi, J and Kumar, A (2023) Regional and socioeconomic inequalities in access to pre-primary education in India: evidence from a recent household survey. In: International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 17 (1).
|
PDF
int_jou_chi_car_edu_pol_ope_acc_17-1_2023.pdf - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
In India, the National Education Policy 2020 recommends ensuring universal access to high-quality early childhood care and education for children aged 3–6 years by 2030. Using the 75th round of National Statistical Office data (2017–2018), this paper analyses the regional and socioeconomic inequalities in access to pre-primary education. Also, we investigate the specific role of households’ economic status and educational attainment in explaining these inequalities. We find considerable regional (rural/urban) and socioeconomic inequalities in access to pre-primary education in India, with girls and children belonging to historically disadvantaged social groups (scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) less likely to attend early childhood education, particularly in rural areas. We find that a substantial portion of the rural–urban gap in access to pre-primary education can be removed by controls for households’ economic condition and household head’s educational status. In addition, we find gender and socioeconomic inequalities in the household investment in early years education. These findings highlight the need to put policy efforts and commitments to reducing barriers to accessing pre-primary education for children in disadvantaged conditions in India.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Publication: | International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy |
| Publisher: | Springer |
| Additional Information: | The copyright of this article belongs to the Authors. |
| Keywords: | Household expenditure; India; Pre-primary education; Regional inequality; Socioeconomic inequality |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Chemical Sciences > Inorganic & Physical Chemistry |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Jun 2023 07:52 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Jun 2023 07:52 |
| URI: | https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/81865 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
