Private school effects in urban and rural India: Panel estimates at primary and secondary school ages

Abstract

The author present the first value-added models of learning production in private and government schools in India using unique panel data from Andhra Pradesh state. He examines the heterogeneity in private school value-added across different subjects, urban and rural areas, medium of instruction, and across age groups. Further, he also estimates private school effects on children’s self-efficacy and agency. In rural areas, he find a substantial positive effect (gt; 0.5 SD) of private schools on English, no effect on mathematics and heterogeneous effects on Telugu for 8–10 year old students; at 15 years, there are modest effects