Revisiting the Role of Private Schooling on Children Learning Outcomes: Evidence from Rural India

Abstract

Learning outcomes among children play a major role in shaping up future individual earnings. Along with the demand side factors like parental income and education, supply side factors like school quality are important as well in shaping up learning outcomes. In the view of increasing preference of private primary schooling in India, using instrument variable regression this paper assesses its impact on learning outcomes on children from 8 to 11 years from rural households. Despite earlier attempts to study the issue, this paper stands out in two ways. It addresses the problems arising because of non-random selection of children attending private schools and then presents an all-India estimate unlike most studies which have dealt largely with few states. This is important as decisions on education policies taken at the central level are often based on aggregate effects. Our results show a private schooling premium for all except tribal children.