Abstract
This paper addresses the impacts of family and pupil characteristics on children's academic learning in primary schools in India. The present study focuses on the children who have dropped out before completing primary schooling. The study is based on a random sample of two hundred children from twenty villages in two districts in the state of Andhra Pradesh in south India. A special test was developed and administered to measure the academic achievement of the children. Our study found that education supplies and the sanitary facilities at home have a remarkable relationship with the academic performance of children. In addition, the locale of a child's home, its distance from the source of drinking water, the child's father's work status and literacy and the level (grade) of schooling that the child has completed before dropping out, also have significant influence on child's performance. Our study also found that the child's gender, age at enrollment, reason for dropping out, and parents' income, literacy and caste do not have significant influence on performance. These findings have important public policy implications for the provision of basic sanitary facilities to all households, subsidized educational supplies, free uniforms, text-books, and mid-day meals.
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Artikel befaßt sich mit den Auswirkungen der familienbedingten und charakteristischen Merkmale von Schülern auf das formale Lernen in den Primarschulen Indiens. Die vorliegende Studie ist auf Kinder ausgerichtet, die vor Abschluß der Primarschule abgegangen sind. Sie basiert auf einer Zufallsstichprobe von 200 Kindern aus 20 Dörfern in zwei Distrikten des Bundesstaates Andhra Pradesh in Südindien. Ein besonderer Test wurde entwickelt und ausgeführt, um die schulischen Leistungen der Kinder zu ermitteln. Die Studie zeigt, daß Bildungsmaterialien und sanitäre Einrichtungen zu Hause eine bemerkenswerte Beziehung zu den Schulleistungen der Kinder haben. Darüberhinaus haben die Umgebung der Wohnung des Kindes, die Entfernung bis zur Trinkwasserstelle, die Arbeitsstellung und Alphabetisierung des Vaters und der Grad der erreichten schulischen Bildung des Kindes vor dem Schulabgang, einen wesentlichen Einfluß auf die Schulleistung des Kindes. Durch die Studie wurde ebenfalls herausgefunden, daß das Geschlecht des Kindes, sein Alter bei der Einschulung, Gründe für den Schulabbruch sowie das Einkommen der Eltern, Alphabetisierungsgrad und Kastenzugehörigkeit, keinen bedeutenden Einfluß auf die Leistung haben. Diese Ergebnisse ziehen wichtige politische Auswirkungen in der Öffentlichkeit nach sich, z.B. Vorkehrungen zu treffen für die Grundlage sanitärer Einrichtungen in allen Haushalten, subventionierte Bildungsmaterialien wie Bereitstellung kostenloser Schuluniformen, Lehrbücher und Mittagessen.
Résumé
Cet article examine les incidences des caractéristiques de la famille et des élèves sur l'apprentissage scolaire des enfants des écoles primaires en Inde. La présente étude se focalise sur les enfants qui ont abandonné l'école avant d'avoir terminé l'enseignement primaire. Elle se fonde sur un échantillon au hasard de deux cents enfants provenant de villages appartenant à deux districts situés dans l'Etat d'Andhra Pradesh au sud de l'Inde. On a mis au point et fait passer un test spécial afin d'évaluer les résultats scolaires des enfants. Notre étude a révélé que la présence de fournitures scolaires et d'installations sanitaires à la maison a une relation étroite avec le travail scolaire des enfants. En outre, la situation de la maison d'un enfant, sa distance de la source d'eau potable, le statut professionnel du père, le niveau d'alphabétisation et de scolarité que l'enfant a acquis avant d'abandonner l'école ont également une influence importante sur le comportement de l'enfant à l'école. Notre étude a, par ailleurs, montré que le sexe de l'enfant, l'âge de l'entrée à l'école, la raison de l'abandon scolaire, ainsi que le revenu, le niveau d'alphabétisation et la caste des parents n'ont pas d'influence particulière sur le travail scolaire de l'enfant. Ces résultats ont des conséquences politiques importantes pour la fourniture d'installations sanitaires essentielles à tous les ménages, de matériels éducatifs subventionnés, d'uniformes, de manuels et de repas de midi gratuits.
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Additional information
Field work and empirical data collection for this study in India were supported by a Senior Research Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies. I am grateful for their support. I am also thankful to my research assistants, Mr. Assefaw Bariagaber and Mr. Ahrar Ahmad for their help in research and analysis. I alone am responsible for the views expressed in this article.
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Desai, U. Determinants of educational performance in India: Role of home and family. Int Rev Educ 37, 245–265 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00599682
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00599682