Inter-state differences and determinants of schooling at primary stage in North-East India

The states in the north-eastern region of India show low progress in education sector compared to other states in the country. The study of scenario of education of children using the data from household survey will be instructive in highlighting the challenges in achieving the set targets of universalisation of primary education under SSA. Keeping this in mind, the paper aims to estimate the trends and study the inter-state differences in primary school attendance, enrollment and drop-out rates and to study important ‘determents of school attendance’ for the states in the North-East India. Paper uses the data from three rounds of NFHS. Background factors considered for analysis are sex of the household head, sex of the child religion, caste, type of house, availability of electricity and SLI. The children included for analyses were aged 6-10 years at the time of the interview. The analysis uses the cross tabulation and logistic regression to estimate the effect of predictor variables on educational attainment. Fluctuating trends and interstate variations have been observed in respect of GER, NER, and drop-out rates for children. Sex of the household head, sex of the child, religion, caste, type of household, availability of electricity at household and SLI remain as important determinants of schooling.