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Polarization in Indian Education: An Ordinal Variable Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Debasmita Basu

    (XIM University)

  • Sandip Sarkar

    (XIM University)

Abstract

This paper aims to see the direction in which the polarization of education in India is changing over time. The study is based on the five latest quinquennial rounds of survey data collected by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). NSSO provides information on different categories of educational attainment, which is an ordinal variable. Our approach is different from the existing literature in the sense that we use indices designed specifically for ordinal variables. We observe that polarization in education has increased at the all-India level and in rural India. Furthermore, polarization is increasing for disadvantaged groups like individuals from the poorest quantile, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, females, etc. On the contrary, polarization has either decreased or remains more or less unchanged over time for privileged groups like individuals from the richest quantile, forward castes, males, etc.

Suggested Citation

  • Debasmita Basu & Sandip Sarkar, 2023. "Polarization in Indian Education: An Ordinal Variable Approach," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 21(3), pages 569-591, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jqecon:v:21:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s40953-023-00356-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s40953-023-00356-9
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