Exploring Relationship between Health Conditions, Chronic Absenteeism and Learning Skills: Evidences from Primary Grade Students

Charu Jain , National Council of Applied Economic Research, India
Ruchi Jain, National Council of Applied Economic Research, India

Worldwide, most of the developing nations are facing serious concerns of lower school attendance, which if not controlled on time, might pose serious repercussion. Based on the sample of 10,105 students in the age-group 8-11 years, drawn from IHDS Survey-II, this paper investigates the causes of chronic absenteeism among primary grade students in India with focus on child’s health conditions and school factors and further evaluating its implications on learning skills. Findings based on logistic regression reveal strong association between short-term morbidity and chronic absenteeism among primary students. Among school-related factors— school distance beyond 3 km, teacher’s unfair attitude, teacher’s absence and harsh punishments—bears strong influence on student absenteeism. In addition, significant differences are reported in learning skills of primary grades students who were chronically absent compared to those who were not. The findings are expected to help policy-makers in understanding the underlying concerns and finding the possible solutions.

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 Presented in Session P2. Poster Session Ageing, Health and Mortality