Is educational wellbeing associated with grade repetition and school dropout rates among Indian students? Evidence from a panel study

Abstract

Despite the Indian government’s continuing efforts to encourage children to attend school, levels of educational wellbeing among some groups of children during their elementary schooling remain low. High school dropout and grade repetition rates are among the negative and deleterious outcomes of poor educational wellbeing in children that are rarely discussed as policy issues. Using the panel dataset of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) conducted in 2005 and 2012, this study explores the effects of educational wellbeing on children’s later educational outcomes, as measured by their school dropout and grade repetition rates. Variation in the educational outcomes of children across states was also examined. The results show that the children whose educational wellbeing index was below average during their elementary schooling were more likely to drop out of school or repeat a grade in early adolescence. For policymakers, this study highlights that the experiences of children during their elementary schooling merit more attention.