Summary by Mara Estes, Research Assistant, TSEDEQ
January 2006
Determinants of School Enrollment in Indian Villages. Dostie, Benoit; Jayaraman, Rajshri. Economic Development & Cultural Change, 54:2, 405-421.
Despite the strong encouragement for states in India to provide education, the country suffers from a lack of school enrollment among children. Education, a key element of development, is particularly a rising issue of concern in small rural villages. The main factors that affect enrollment include school infrastructure, village conditions, as well as household and individual circumstances.Understanding the major determinants as to whether or not a child attends school gives way to making sense of the decreased participation. Furthermore this knowledge can help us realize what needs to be done to make school more accessible and adaptable to the situations of the villagers.
The authors analyze data from 120 villages in the Bihar region, a sample comprising 2,250 households and 14,493 individuals. The authors determine that the factors affecting the enrollment of boys and girls in school differs for each gender.Factors such as governmental and political participation were not highly influential. Road conditions, levels of wealth within the family and community, placement in the caste system, parent's education, and school infrastructure are a few of the characteristics that were found to be significant.
Road conditions strongly affect school attendance. In areas where there is easy access to village roads, it is cheaper for students to attend school, making enrollment more likely. Also, the more bicycles a family owns increases the likeliness of boys enrolling in school. Since girls are usually not allowed to ride bikes, this factor does not affect them. Another condition that has more of an effect on boy's enrollment is caste division. Villages in which there is a strong caste division actually encourages older boy's (11-14) school attendance, contrary to popular belief that deep caste systems hinder school enrollment. However, the individual caste level of the student is insignificant to school attendance.
Livestock ownership, piped water, and cattle ownership all have a negative effect on school enrollment of girls. Since girls are usually responsible for household chores that include caring for livestock and fetching water, these elements can hinder the ability for girls to attend school. Another element that is specific to girls is school infrastructure. Schools that have more classrooms and hold class inside increase the amount of girls in attendance.This may reflect a desire for gender segregated education on the part of parents.
A factor that affects both boys and girls is parent's education. Parents with more education are more likely to enroll their children in school. The education level of mothers, as opposed to fathers, has the greatest influence on the enrollment of girls. The wealth of the family also has a positive effect on school enrollment. Land ownership is another influential factor. Those who are without an allotment of land are less likely to attend school. Land distribution is a very controversial topic in India, making this element both crucial and sensitive. In addition, the overall wealth of the entire village is pertinent. This is due to the fact that wealthier villages usually have greater demand for highly skilled labor, hence making education more of a necessity to finding work.
With this information one can begin to understand what needed in order to encourage school enrollment and attendance in rural villages. Political and government involvement is a factor with respect to the quality of the road system (school accessibility) and the issue of land ownership. Otherwise, most of the factors affecting enrollment can be dealt with on a grass root level. These include access to transportation (i.e., bicycles), release from household chores (especially for girls), and gender segregated school facilities.Overtime, increases in the economic well-being of villages and in the education of parents will increase the demand for education and thus increase enrollment.