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The educational experiences of Indian children during COVID-19

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  • Andrew, Alison
  • Salisbury, Adam

Abstract

We explore the educational experiences of Indian children during the COVID-19 pandemic, using time-use and household expenditure data from a panel of over 110,000 households with school-aged children. We find that both 12–18-year old's average learning time and their average households’ expenditure on education more than halved following the March 2020 school closures. Both had barely recovered by the end of 2021 throughout a period of phased but incomplete school reopenings. Interpreting the changed patterns of educational investments through a simple model of skill formation suggests skill inequalities between cohorts may increase, while implications for within-cohort inequalities are ambiguous. Children from households who experienced more-severe economic shocks during the pandemic saw larger losses in inputs although heterogeneity by socio-economic characteristics is more mixed. Overall, differences in losses across subgroups are dwarfed the average losses: every subgroup we analyze experienced average falls in learning time and educational expenditure, respectively, of at least 42 % and 60 %.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew, Alison & Salisbury, Adam, 2023. "The educational experiences of Indian children during COVID-19," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:97:y:2023:i:c:s0272775723001255
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102478
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