Learning Outcomes in Elementary Education in Rural India: An Inter-state Comparison

An investigation is done on learning outcomes among children of different states of India at elementary level. Here 24 major states of India are considered. The exercise is done on the basis of different ASER report from 2010 onwards whose informationis rural specific. Learning outcome index of the students of each state are here calculated both at standard III and standard V level. It is observed that in most of the states, the learning achievement of the children at elementary level is deteriorating but not rapidly. It has also come out that higher literacy among parents; availability of some school related factors like Mid-day Meal, proper drinking water, sanitation and playground facility can play a positive role to improve the learning achievement of the rural Indian children at elementary level.

in a significant increase in Govt. of India's (GOI) funding for elementary education. At the central and at the state level, allocation on elementary education increased more than two fold from Rs 68853 crores in 2007-08 to Rs 147059 crores in 2012-13. Budgets for specific initiatives aimed at improving learning quality accounts for less than 1 percent of SarvaShikshaAbhiyaanbudget [PAISA Report, 2012]. With passage of time, school enrolment is approaching towards 100%.According to Planning Commission report (2011), in most of the Indian states there is a gradual enhancement of both Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) and Net Enrolment Rate (NER) at elementary level.India is close to "schooling for all". But no proper enquiry has done to identify the learning outcome of the children at elementary level. Here it will be investigated after considering 24 major states of India 1 .

Research objective:
This paper will try to investigate the scenario of learning outcome among the children at elementary level in different states of India after implementation of SSA. Learning outcome is the best indicator of learning because it shows what learners have actually learnt after completion of the class. Actually if we want to remove vicious circle of poverty of an economy we should generate more skilled labour and that can be materialized if children can enhance their knowledge from elementary level.Besides that we will also try to investigate the possible factors which can influence learning outcome of the children at elementary level in rural India.

Data Source:
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is an annual household survey to assess children's schooling status and basic learning levels in terms of reading and mathematical ability. ASER survey has provided a mirror image of rural public education system. It collects data for a representative sample of children from every state and almost every rural district in India.On average ASER survey had reached over 560 districts each year, surveying on average of 650,000 children in more than 16,000 villages and 30 randomly selected villages in each district in the country 2 . This is about twice the size of the rural sample of the NSS survey. Data on reading and basic mathematical ability was collected every year for all 1 Sikkim is not considered due to unavailability of necessary data. 2 In each district, 30 villages are sampled from the census 2001 village list using Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) sampling technique. The sample design employs a rotation panel of villages. Each year, 10 villages from three years ago are dropped and 10 new villages are added. states in India, using household survey methodology. In ASER Report, education achievement in different states has been portrayed using two scale i.e. reading ability and mathematical ability.
Reading ability has been tracked using two parameter and they are: (i). Percentage of children in standard III who can read a standard II level text (ii). Percentage of children in standard V who can read standard II level text.
Mathematical ability of the students at elementary level is represented in ASER data in the following way: (i). Percentage of children who can do at least subtraction at standard III level.
(ii). Percentage of children who can do at least division at standard V level.
The present study is solely based on ASER report but we have considered the time period from 2010, the time period from which the Right to Education Act was implemented.

Methodology
Initially, we have arranged the state level data on reading ability and mathematical ability obtained by ASER household survey over the years (from 2010 to 2016).Then to get a proper indicator of learning outcome of the children at elementary level in different states and in different years, the Learning Outcome Index at standard III and standard V level will be calculated. This Index is a composite index obtained after taking the geometric mean of reading ability and mathematical ability of the children(in percentage term) in rural public school in each state. Relative picture of learning outcome of the children in elementary education among 24 major states of India 3 is shown by the Rank Analysis method. We have also calculated the Average Growth Rate(in %) at standard III level and standard V level among the different states of India.Later on, we want to investigate possible family related and school related factorswhich may influence learning outcome of the children in rural India on the basis of Panel data regression analysis.

Learning Outcome Index (LOI):
It is already mentioned that this index is an indicator of the learning abilityamong children enrolled in rural public school at standard III and standard V level.LOI1i=Learning Outcome Index for standard IIIlevel children of the i th state is calculated byusing the following method:    Next, the ranking ofdifferent states based LOI2 in different years will be considered  So from Table-3 and Table-

Possible factors (both household and school related) which may influence the learning outcomeof the rural children of India in elementary education:
Coleman (1966)  education. (Chevalier.Arnaud, 2004). If mother is able to read, then the child born to that mother is 50 percent more likely to survive to the age of five as educated mothers are more likely to immunize their children compared to illiterate mothers (UN Millennium Project, 2006). This is important because there is a high positive relationship between child's health and learning ability Mother education is divided here into four sections: Here data is collected in particular time period.

Fathers education:(FE):
Studies have also found that a strong link between the education as well as earnings of the father and his offspring. For example the intergenerational correlation in earnings between father and son varies between 0.40 & 0.50 in the U.S and 0.60 in U.K (Chevalier Arnaud et.al. 2005).
Father's education is also divided here into four classes: Pucca household may be an important parameter determining education quality in rural areas. It elevates financial status of the family. Actually a house is a "turning point" in the lives of the poor, which leads towards a better life and so 'Housing for All' scheme is launchedin June 2016. It actually gives security to a child particularly for the girl child. It is expected that a child in pucca house can devote more concentration in his/her study.

Percentage of households of the i th state who have electric connection (ECi):
Without electric connection,children face obstacles in completing their homework and preparing their lessons.Studying in kerosene lamp or candle light also cause stress to the child's vision.In India, students whose households are electrified are more likely to complete grade-appropriate tests successfully as compared to their counterparts whose households are not electrified (Kanagawa and Nakata, 2008). Thus proper electric connection provides a better ambiance for children in pursuing their education.

Percentage of households of the i th state who have proper sanitation (PSi):
Without proper sanitation, human waste goes into the water of the ponds, lakes or river.
This water is further used for washingclothes,dishes or even used for drinking purpose in rural areas. Thus many people are prone to many water borne diseases like diarrhoea, As information about income level of the sample household is not available, here we consider pucca household, electric connection and proper sanitation as a proxy variable of household asset as well as financial condition.Children from financially disadvantaged families appear to be less well prepared for the transition to school due to the impact of financial stress on family relationships, which affects children's social/emotional readiness (Smart et al., 2008).

Next we consider possible school related factors which may influence the learning outcome of the rural children of India in elementary education:
1. Pupil-Teacher Ratio(PTRit,) -Pupil-teacher ratio is the number of students who attend a school divided by the number of teachers in the institution. It is an indicator of the amount of individual attention any single child is likely to receive keeping in mind that not all class sizes are going to be same. The idea that teachers who have fewer students in their classrooms will be able to spend more attention to individual students which may improve his chances for academic success. Thus it is a tool to measure teacher workload as well as allocation of resources. RTE mandates an optimal pupil-teacher ratio of 30:1 for primary school and 35:1 for pre-primary school for all Indian schools. improved nutrition are more active in class which leads to improved learning outcome among themselves.Poor rural people are so poor that they are unable to provide two time meal to their children and so midday meal scheme will work as a catalyst to drive children to school.

Model 1:
The static panel regression model can be explained in the following way:

Result of Panel Regression Model:
Before going for regression analysis it is required to check whether there exists any problem of multi-collinearity among the explanatory variables mentioned in Eq.
So equation (1) can be expressed in the following ways to rule out the problem of multi-    Table-8

Concluding statements and Policy implications:
Here from the ASER data,it is found that parental education has a positive impact on child's education. Hence to improve the learning outcome of the children at elementary level, expansion of education among the parents is important. Availability of playground facility in the school, availability of mid-day meal, drinking water and proper sanitation at school creates a positive impact on standard V level children to improve their quality of education.
According to last NSSO Employment-Unemployment Report 2011-12, more than 80% worker of India are informal in nature. Their wage /salary income is not very high and a major part of their income is spent for consumption purpose. Very few amount of money is next generation, in her motherhood shetends to send her child in school to become educated because educated parents knows the importance of education so they aremore involved to their child's education.Actually, every child's first education begins at home then after attaining a certain age they take admission to school and their school based education starts.It is found that some of the intergenerational effects of education may be transmitted through parents. More educated parents provide an environment which improves their children's opportunities and decision process. A mother knows best, and the amount of education she attains can predict her children's success in reading and mathematical skill. So government apart from giving importance on child education should also give more stress on adult education mainly education among mothers. That can be done through Local panchayat or NGO's. Government need to take strong steps in this matter so that girls get proper education and thus their next generation receive proper schooling and can work as skilled worker in their adult age through improving their learning ability. According to RTE guidelines, a school must have playground, proper drinking water, sanitation, Mid-day meal facility but unfortunately some places are still lacking this amenities. This facilities in school can make a child more attractive to school andthus can devote more quality time in school education. It is required to find out whether the benefit of this policy reaches to every corner of the society.
The demographic dividend of India's population can be achieved if and only if the learning outcomes of the children improve so that in their adulthood they can work as skilled worker.