Child Schooling and Child Work in India: Does Poverty Matter?

Abstract

This paper examines the differentials of school attendance patterns. i.e. never attended, entered into school, dropout rate, repeating, left school two or more years ago and child work by economic condition of household in India. The wealth index is used to understand the economic differentials in child schooling of households. The study findings suggest that children belonging to the poorest wealth quintile of households are significantly more likely never to have attended school, have higher dropout rates and be over-age compared to children belonging to wealthier and the wealthiest quintiles. The states’ differentials in child school attendance patterns showed that the state of Bihar has the highest proportion of children never having attended compared to lowest proportion for Kerala (39 percent vs. 2 percent). The working children among poor households are more deprived to attend school compared to children from wealthier households. This paper concludes that economic conditions of the household are the main determinant of child schooling in India.