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The State of School Infrastructure in the Assembly Constituencies of Rural India: Analysis of 11 Census Indicators from Pre-Primary to Higher Education

Author

Listed:
  • Akshay Swaminathan

    (Quantitative Sciences, Flatiron Health, New York, NY 10013, USA
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Menaka Narayanan

    (Palantir Technologies, New York, NY 10014, USA
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Jeff Blossom

    (Center for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA)

  • R. Venkataramanan

    (Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK)

  • Sujata Saunik

    (Additional Chief Secretary, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Department, Mumbai 400021, India)

  • Rockli Kim

    (Division of Health Policy and Management, College of Health Sciences, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
    Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
    Harvard Center for Population & Development Studies, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA)

  • S. V. Subramanian

    (Harvard Center for Population & Development Studies, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
    Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA)

Abstract

In India, assembly constituencies (ACs), represented by elected officials, are the primary geopolitical units for state-level policy development. However, data on social indicators are traditionally reported and analyzed at the district level, and are rarely available for ACs. Here, we combine village-level data from the 2011 Indian Census and AC shapefiles to systematically derive AC-level estimates for the first time. We apply this methodology to describe the distribution of 11 education infrastructures—ranging from pre-primary school to senior secondary school—across rural villages in 3773 ACs. We found high variability in access to higher education infrastructures and low variability in access to lower education variables. For 40.3% (25th percentile) to 79.7% (75th percentile) of villages in an AC, the nearest government senior secondary school was >5 km away, whereas the nearest government primary school was >5 km away in just 0% (25th percentile) to 1.9% (75th percentile) of villages in an AC. The states of Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Bihar showed the greatest within-state variation in access to education infrastructures. We present a novel analysis of access to education infrastructure to inform AC-level policy, and demonstrate how geospatial and Census data can be leveraged to derive AC-level estimates for any population health and development indicators collected in the Census at the village level.

Suggested Citation

  • Akshay Swaminathan & Menaka Narayanan & Jeff Blossom & R. Venkataramanan & Sujata Saunik & Rockli Kim & S. V. Subramanian, 2020. "The State of School Infrastructure in the Assembly Constituencies of Rural India: Analysis of 11 Census Indicators from Pre-Primary to Higher Education," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:1:p:296-:d:303996
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Christina Paxson & Norbert R. Schady, 2002. "The Allocation and Impact of Social Funds: Spending on School Infrastructure in Peru," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 16(2), pages 297-319, August.
    2. Shenggen Fan & Peter Hazell & Sukhadeo Thorat, 2000. "Government Spending, Growth and Poverty in Rural India," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(4), pages 1038-1051.
    3. Esther Duflo, 2001. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 795-813, September.
    4. Nitya Mittal and J V Meenakshi, 2015. "Utilization Of Icds Services And Their Impact On Child Health Outcomes - Evidence From Three East Indian States," Working papers 247, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    5. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2007. "The progress of school education in India," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(2), pages 168-195, Summer.
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