Social Divisions in School Participation and Attainment in India: 1983-2004

M Asadullah, Uma Kambhampati and Florencia Lopez Boo

No 6329, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This study documents the size and nature of "Hindu-Muslim" and "boy-girl" gaps in children's school participation and attainments in India. Individual-level data from two successive rounds of the National Sample Survey suggest that considerable progress has been made in decreasing the Hindu-Muslim gap. Nonetheless, the gap remains sizable even after controlling for numerous socio-economic and parental covariates, and the Muslim educational disadvantage in India today is greater than that experienced by girls and Scheduled Caste Hindu children. A gender gap still appears within as well as between communities, though it is smaller within Muslim communities. While differences in gender and other demographic and socio-economic covariates have recently become more important in explaining the Hindu-Muslim gap, those differences altogether explain only 25 percent to 45 percent of the observed schooling gap.

Keywords: social disparity; India; religion; gender inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2012-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2014, 38(4), 869-893

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Related works:
Journal Article: Social divisions in school participation and attainment in India: 1983–2004 (2014)
Working Paper: Social Divisions in School Participation and Attainment in India: 1983-2004 (2009)
Working Paper: Social Divisions in School Participation and Attainment in India: 1983-2004 (2009)
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