Efficiency in Education Sector: A Case of Rajasthan State (India)

Rajasthan being India's largest state comprising 10.4 percent of India's total area is located on the western side of the country. The state is divided into 33 districts. Over the 1990s and early 2000s, enrolment rates at the primary level were rising and gender gap converging, though female enrolment rate is still to catch up with that of male. There also exist considerable differential across districts in the State. As per survey in 2012, overall literacy varies from 55.58 percent (Jalore) to 77.48 percent (in Kota). In this paper, considering the district level variations in literacy and other pertinent socio-economic variables we explore whether efficiency in education in district level enrolments is merely a reflection of the other conditions or is it owing to lack of efficient utilization of available educational input variables. Thus we estimate district level efficiency in enrolments at primary and upper-primary levels, in government and private schools, in Rajasthan and look into reasons for their differentials. Using data for the period 2008-2012 and applying stochastic frontier analysis our results indicate that a strong role is being played by economic development parameters like income and urbanization. And simultaneously direct educational interventions seem to play a positive role in enhancing enrolments at different levels. Therefore an education policy should capture district specific gaps to strengthen the outcomes. This may thus necessitate more information at district level both in terms of educational and economic parameters and this information gap needs to be overcome through planning process.