Publications

Educational Decisions in the Context of Urban Marginalisation in Mumbai, India

Compare, December 2023, [Link]

Abstract: This paper illuminates the direct and profound implications of urban marginalisation on educational decisions. Using survey and interview data from Mumbai, we trace the distinct profiles of families who select public, private, and aided schools. Our effort to look closely at the distinct lives of these families and our conceptual framing, drawing on capability approach and multidimensional nature of poverty, however, accentuates what these families share amidst their distinctions. We find that structural, multidimensional, and pervasive experiences of urban marginalisation as capability deprivation envelope and at times entirely overwhelm differences in these families. We argue that understanding the implications of urban marginalisation is crucial to frame the discourse on educational decision-making in urban poverty.

Family Matters: Adult Involvement and Early Childhood Outcomes across Low- and Middle-Income Countries

ProQuest doctoral dissertation, August 2022, [Link]

Abstract: Nourishing care through caregiver involvement helps children grow and thrive to their full potential. Caregiver involvement develops different aspects of children’s development, such as their motor, cognitive, and socio-emotional skills. Extensive research establishes that early childhood care and education (ECCE) is closely linked to children’s environments, involving their caregivers and immediate surroundings, and also their socio-cultural interactions, overarching identities, values, and cultures in which children are embedded. Yet, the bulk of the existing literature on caregiver involvement in ECCE is based on Western countries. I address this gap in the research through three studies based in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Through a literature review, in the first study I analyze the conceptualization and measurement of parental involvement in ECCE in LMICs. In the second study using UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) data, I quantitatively analyze home-based parental and adult involvement in ECCE across Ghana, The Gambia, and Zimbabwe. In the third study, I analyze parental perceptions of early childhood education (ECE) in the context of increased global recognition of the need for responsive parental involvement. Through qualitative interviews with eighteen parents living in a low-income urban settlement in Delhi, India, I analyze parental perceptions, beliefs, and expectations of ECE.

Child labor as a barrier to foundational skills: Evidence from Bangladesh and Pakistan, with Amita Chudgar, Shota Hatakeyama, and Aliya Bizhanova

Prospects, August 2022, [Link]

Abstract: According to the International Labor Organization, at least 160 million children ages 5 to 17 around the world were involved in some form of child labor at the beginning of 2020, including 79 million children performing hazardous labor. This article uses recent representative data from Bangladesh and Pakistan to investigate the relationship between foundational skills and child labor engagements for 12- to 14-year-old children. It found a consistent negative association between child labor and reading and numeracy foundational skills. In particular, it found that engagement in hazardous child labor had large negative associations with reading and numeracy foundational skills. It also found negative associations between engagement in economic labor and reading foundational skills. Finally, the article found that intense engagement in household labor was also negatively associated with foundational skills. It discusses the implications of these findings which paint a deeply concerning picture of the challenges ahead of the global community to ensure that all children acquire foundational skills (and beyond). It notes that systematic efforts to define, document, and measure child labor will be crucial to better understand the negative implications of child labor for foundational learning and the potential policy solutions to address these impacts.

The Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) Composite Survey 3 with Shefali Rai and Jana Bischler

Enugu State Report [Link], Kwara State Report [Link]

Abstract: The Education Sector Support Program in Nigeria (ESSPIN) (2008–17) seeks to improve learning outcomes for children of basic education age in six Nigerian states – Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara and Lagos. The aims of the ESSPIN Composite Surveys are to assess the effects of ESSPIN’s integrated School Improvement Program (SIP), and to report on the quality of education in the six ESSPIN-supported states. ESSPIN is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and managed by a consortium led by Cambridge Education. The Composite Survey has been carried out for ESSPIN by Oxford Policy Management (OPM). These reports present findings for Enugu and Kwara states from the first, second and third rounds of the ESSPIN Composite Survey (CS1, CS2 and CS3) that took place in 2012, 2014 and 2016, respectively. The survey covered a wide range of indicators at the teacher, head teacher, School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) and pupil levels. The aim is to understand how schools in ESSPIN states are changing over time and whether schools which receive ESSPIN interventions are working better than those which do not.

Summative Evaluation of UNICEF India’s Cotton Corridors Project: ‘Preventing Exploitation and Protecting Children’s rights in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.’

Oxford Policy Management, July 2016 [Link]

Abstract: This report presents findings of an independent summative evaluation conducted in 2015– 2016 by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and Glocal of the Cotton Corridors Project. The Project ran between June 2008 and December 2014, funded by the IKEA Foundation, and implemented by UNICEF India and the state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The Cotton Corridors Project aimed to create improved systems and structures for addressing the issues of child labor and child marriages in the two states. The evaluation partners, OPM and Glocal, used contribution analysis to assess the project’s contribution to key outcomes by examining the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and replicability, along with the equity and gender aspects of the project. Evaluation findings indicated that the project was highly relevant to global, national and state priorities, and to the needs of children in the states. In terms of effectiveness, some activities were extremely effective, but others were limited by funding and operational problems. There were some positive changes in attitudes towards schooling, but practices in child labor and child marriage did not change sustainably.

Bihar Child Support Program: Midline Impact Evaluation Report

Oxford Policy Management, June 2016 [Link]

Abstract: The Bihar Child Support Programme (BCSP) was a conditional cash transfer pilot implemented by the Government of Bihar. It was targeted at pregnant women and mothers of young children, with the aim of reducing maternal and child undernutrition. The BCSP was accompanied by an a mixed-methods evaluation conducted by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) in order to measure the impacts of the cash transfer on child nutrition and maternal health status, to inform scale-up decisions by the Government and contribute to the national and international evidence base and policy debate. The quantitative evaluation was based on a quasi-experimental design through a difference-in-differences methodology, and the qualitative evaluation was based on interviews with front-line workers and program beneficiaries. At the midline, findings indicated a strong validation of the two pathways to impact – that the cash will be used in a way that increases expenditure on food, healthcare, sanitation/hygiene and childcare, and diversifies food consumption – and that the conditions will incentivize the uptake of community health and nutrition services. However, the effect of the conditions on nutrition-sensitive behavior, the accountability effect , and the empowerment effect was limited given the duration of implementation.

Impact Evaluation of the Norway India Partnership Initiative Phase-II for Maternal and Child Health

Oxford Policy Management, November 2014 [Link]

Abstract: The Norway-India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) is a bilateral partnership between the Government of Norway and Government of India, contributing towards the 4th and 5th Millennium Development Goals to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health. The NIPI program provides catalytic support to the Government of India’s flagship National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) by piloting potential innovations across four States (Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Odisha). Oxford Policy Management Limited in collaboration with Sambodhi Research and Communications is carrying out the impact evaluation. The evaluation has three components: evaluation of impact, evaluation of cost effectiveness, and a qualitative evaluation. Baseline findings for the evaluation design in this report show that matching of treatment and control areas is consistent and robust, a component of the first phase of the program is a confounder for two interventions in the second phase, low coverage levels of first phase interventions raises concern for achievement of sufficient coverage for the second phase interventions. Baseline data indicates that qualitative work at the end line should focus more on understanding issues around the broader motivation and incentive framework facing frontline health workers.

Breaking Out: Education and the child in poor households

Young Lives student paper, September 2013 [Link]

Abstract: School completion plays a crucial role in shaping the child’s future economic opportunities and social destiny. Moreover, children are deeply affected by their home environment and the social and economic disadvantages faced by families are bound to be passed onto the younger generations. This paper, therefore, believes it important to study child and household factors that determine educational outcomes of children. Using cross-sectional and panel data analysis, enrollment, and standard test scores of children in Andhra Pradesh (India) are analyzed. Results from the study confirm the established positive effects of household wealth and parental education. Caste, ethnic and religious inequalities are also important determinants of educational outcomes. Amongst child characteristics, age, gender, and innate ability have a significant impact on school enrollment and learning.

Research in progress

Experimental Effects of Full versus Half-Day Pre-K on the Home Lives of Young Children and their Families, with Allison Atteberry, Katie Malhotra

[Under Review]

Abstract: We analyze effects of randomized offers of full- versus half-day pre-K on family outcomes, including (1) childcare arrangements and costs; (2) parent employment and stress; and (3) parent interactions and routines with the child at home. Full-day pre-K reduced children’s time in non-family and paid care by about 3 hours each and cut weekly childcare costs by $40. The largest change, however, came from a 10-hour decrease in time spent in parental care. Effects on parent’s employment and stress are closely linked to the household composition. Full-day pre-K increases likelihood of both parents working and reduces parental stress only in families where the focal child is the youngest in the household. While some positive impacts are seen on children’s socio-emotional outcomes, the strongest effects emerge in home routines like sleeping, napping, and television time. These findings provide district leaders and policymakers with evidence that full-day pre-K can be a strategic investment in both child development and family support.

Examining parental perceptions of early childhood education in low-income urban settlement areas in Delhi, India

Presented at Virtual EECERA 2021; Virtual CIES 2022

Abstract: Responsive parental caregiving during children’s early years helps develop children’s cognitive and socio-emotional abilities. The early childhood education (ECE) literature disproportionately reflects the perceptions of parents in countries of the Global North, whereas perspectives of their counterparts in countries of the Global South remain understudied. To address this gap in the literature, I examine parental perceptions of ECE in the context of a low-income urban settlement in Delhi, India. I qualitatively analyze 18 interviews conducted with parents living in a low-income urban settlement in Delhi with their young child attending some kind of ECE institution. Study findings based on a thematic qualitative analysis methodology indicate that parents prefer a cognitively focused early childhood education, which drives their behaviors in creating an academic environment, for example through tuition classes and opting for private preschools that seem to focus heavily on academic teaching as well. Although parents have a clear vision of ECE for their child, parental school-based involvement is limited given unbalanced power structures between parents and schools, and perceived limited abilities of parents to engage more with teachers. This study also finds a deep disconnect between international and national ECE policies on one hand, and ECE provider practices and parental expectations on the other hand.

Parental involvement in early childhood care and education in Ghana, The Gambia, and Zimbabwe

Presented at Virtual CIES 2021; Virtual AEFP 2021; PAL Conference 2021

Abstract: In many LMICs, extensive community networks and strong ties with extended families imply that multiple caregivers beyond parents respond to and interact with young children. However, there is limited research on interactions between non-parental adult members and children in the household. This study quantitatively analyzes patterns in home-based parental and adult involvement in Ghana, The Gambia, and Zimbabwe. Utilizing UNICEF’s MICS data for the three African countries, I conduct descriptive and multi-variate regression analysis to examine the variation in parental involvement, child and household factors that influence involvement, and associations between involvement and children’s early development outcomes (literacy and numeracy, socio-emotional, learning, and physical development). Study findings show expected patterns in how parental involvement varies and positive, significant associations between mothers’ involvement and children’s literacy and numeracy development. The primary contribution of this study is the careful exposition of the role other household members play in children’s development. In looking beyond traditional notions of stimulation that parents provide, this study reveals substantial engagement of other members and its positive, significant association with children’s literacy and numeracy development, executive functioning, and overall development.