Assessing the primary schools—A multi-dimensional approach: A school level analysis based on Indian data

Primary education is essential for the economic development in any country. Most studies give more emphasis to the final output (such as literacy, enrolment etc.) rather than the delivery of the entire primary education system. In this paper, we study the school level data from an Indian district, collected under the official DISE statistics. We use several indicators to capture the multi-dimensional aspects of primary school education system in India. Our analysis reveals serious discrepancies in deprivation, social and policy indicators that infringes upon efficiency in a negative way.

► Emphasis on the micro-level approach. ► Emphasis on a multi-dimensional approach to understand the issues of primary education rather than focusing on a few outcome parameters (such as literacy rate, enrollment etc). ► To build a taxonomy for understanding various features of primary education-resource constraint, efficacy, public support, quality etc. ► To relate these parameters in a systematic way.