Children’s early foundational skills and education continuation in India: Heterogeneous analysis by caste, gender and location

Despite near universal access to elementary education in India, children’s foundational literacy and numeracy skills remain low, particularly for disadvantaged groups. In this context, we examine how the early foundational skills (i.e., reading and math scores) is differently associated with the education continuation of SC/ST (i.e., Scheduled Castes/Tribes) and non-SC/ST children, and its variation by gender and location. Using India Human Development Survey panel (2005 & 2011–12) data, we find that children from disadvantaged groups (such as SCs and STs) have significantly lesser chances of education continuation, post enrolment. The level of early reading and math scores are positively and significantly associated with the likelihood of students’ education continuation. In addition, using the interaction analysis, we find that the marginal effect of reading and math scores is significantly higher for SC/ST female and urban children than their non-SC/ST counterparts. The results of the study suggest that the increase in the level of children’s foundational literacy and numeracy skills will significantly reduce school dropout, particularly for disadvantaged groups.