Inside mathematics learning inequality: an analysis of Young Lives Survey data, India

ABSTRACT

This paper studies mathematics learning gaps within Indian children at two points in time. Dividing them into two groups, better performing and the rest, we investigate the causes of the difference in the average learning gap between them at those two points. We explore this question using the threefold Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition at these survey points (collected over a gap of four years). We find that when the children were younger the private schooling effect was the core contributor towards this learning gap. When these children got older, the effect vanished and the gap in average years of schooling, which has magnified during this time between these groups of children, contributes most to this learning gap.

KEYWORDS:

• Mathematics learning
• Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition
• endowment effect
• coefficient effect
• schooling

Acknowledgements

I must thank the two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments. I would like to acknowledge Prof. Laxminarayana’s guidance in this work and Prof. R. Vijay for his initial encouragement to proceed with this idea. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Irfan Ali Dr. Limakumba Walling for being so patient in reading and re-reading the initial draft and providing the insightful comments. I thank Prof. Renu Singh for pointing me in the right direction with some relevant literature and documents for this work. The data used in this publication come from Young Lives, a 15-year study of the changing nature of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam (www.younglives.org.uk). Young Lives is funded by UK aid from the Department for International Development (DFID). The views expressed here are those of the author(s). They are not necessarily those of Young Lives, the University of Oxford, DFID or other funders.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the author, upon reasonable request. The data used in this study were obtained upon request from the UK Data Service.

Notes

1. As per the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Educational Statistics at a glance, 2014 on Education and other departments.

2. The definition of first division children and rest of the children is same in both the rounds of this study. However, the children falling into these categories at both of these points are not necessarily the same. The total number of children are the same at both of these points.

3. The Indian state selected for this survey was Andhra Pradesh when the survey began in 2002. The state was bifurcated into two separate states in 2014, now the surveyed children belong to either one of the two states.

4. Or ‘cluster’ in the language of sampling.

5. The research re-ran the exercise for minor changes in the cut-off, at 55% and 65% marks. The number of F children reduced (increased) for 65 (55) percent cut-off or for R children increased (reduced) at those marks. The differences in the averages (of the background characteristics) between the groups at both of the points (for both these changes) remained significant as it is for 60% cut-off. Furthermore, the sum total of E+C+I at both the points also equals the total differences at these points on both of the minor changes. The order of significance of the three effects (C>E>I) at both points for both the changes did not change either, nor their level of significances. The contributors to these three effects also stayed largely the same as the results from 60% cut-off. In a nutshell, the results that has been obtained does not change to minor changes (±5%) in the cut-off, meaning the results are robust.

6. For more details on the interpretation and explanation of the negative value of interaction effect see Biewen (2012).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aquib Parvez

Aquib Parvez is currently teaching as guest faculty in the School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. He has an MPhil degree in Planning and Development from the Indian Institute of Bombay, Mumbai, India. He also holds an honours degree and a Master’s degree in Economics. His current research focusses on the mathematics learning inequality within Indian children.