Chronic Absenteeism and Its Impact on the Learning Outcomes of Primary Grade Students in India

Charu Jain and Ruchi Jain
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Charu Jain: Charu Jain (corresponding author) is a Fellow at National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, India. E-mail: cjain@ncaer.org
Ruchi Jain: Ruchi Jain is a Senior Research Analyst at National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, India. E-mail: rjain@ncaer.org

Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, 2023, vol. 17, issue 1-2, 124-162

Abstract: This article addresses one of the most critical yet overlooked problems of the excessive absence of students in primary grades in India. Considering the intuitive link between students’ attendance and achievements, this article empirically investigates the incidences and causes of chronic absenteeism while examining the variations in the attainment of foundational skills of primary students. Using data from the India Human Development Survey, round II, the authors find a continuous decline in the attainment of foundational skills among students as the absenteeism rate increases from ‘normal’ to ‘chronic’, clearly indicating that attendance works! Further, the logistic regression model shows that poor health conditions of a child, larger school distance, extra school working hours, teaching factors and harsh punishments are among the major contributing factors leading to chronic absence among students. Early attention and strict policy interventions are required due to their direct implications on the cognitive growth of young minds and the quality and productivity of the overall school education. JEL Codes: I21, I24, I28

Keywords: Attendance; Learning Outcomes; Primary Education; Chronic Absenteeism; Gender; Human Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:mareco:v:17:y:2023:i:1-2:p:124-162

DOI: 10.1177/00252921231197536

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