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Disruptions to early childhood preschool services during a pandemic: Evidence from India

Author

Listed:
  • Saravana Ravindran

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Manisha Shah

    (University of California
    National Bureau of Economic Research)

Abstract

Much less is known about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of early childhood preschool services relative to research on school closures. We conducted surveys of more than 5000 early childhood service providers and leverage temporal and spatial variation in India’s intensity of lockdowns to quantify disruptions to preschool services under the world’s largest early childhood development program between areas with different strictness of lockdown measures. We document a 23 percentage point reduction in the provision of preschool services in red zone lockdown areas (strictest measures) relative to green zone lockdown areas (least strict measures). We find that pre-COVID measures of high worker locus of control and public service motivation offset the reduction in differential preschool service provision by 27–37%.

Suggested Citation

  • Saravana Ravindran & Manisha Shah, 2024. "Disruptions to early childhood preschool services during a pandemic: Evidence from India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 1-20, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:37:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s00148-024-01026-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-024-01026-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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