Can Information Campaigns Spark Local Participation and Improve Outcomes? A Study of Primary Education in Uttar Pradesh, India

There is a growing belief in development policy circles that participation by local communities in basic service delivery can promote development outcomes. A central plank of public policy for improving primary education services in India is the participation of village education committees (VECs), consisting of village government leaders, parents, and teachers. The authors report findings from a survey in the state of Uttar Pradesh, of public schools, households, and VEC members, on the status of education services and the extent of community participation in the public delivery of education services. They find that parents do not know that a VEC exists, sometimes even when they are supposed to be members of it; VEC members are unaware of even key roles they are empowered to play in education services; and public participation in improving education is negligible, and correspondingly, people's ranking of education on a list of village priorities is low. Large numbers of children in the villages have not acquired basic competency in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Yet parents, teachers, and VEC members seem not to be fully aware of the scale of the problem, and seem not to have given much thought to the role of public agencies in improving outcomes. Learning failures coexist with public apathy to improving it through public action. Can local participation be sparked through grassroots campaigns that inform communities about the VEC and its role in local service delivery? Can such local participation actually affect learning outcomes, and can any impact be sustained? The authors describe information and advocacy campaigns that have been experimentally implemented to address some of the problems with local participation, and future research plans to evaluate their impact.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Banerjee, Abhijit, Banerji, Rukmini, Duflo, Esther, Glennerster, Rachel, Khemani, Stuti
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2006-07
Subjects:	ACHIEVEMENT OF CHILDREN, ARITHMETIC, AVERAGE CLASS SIZE, AVERAGE STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO, BASIC ARITHMETIC, BASIC COMPETENCIES, BASIC EDUCATION, BASIC LEARNING, BASIC LITERACY, BASIC SERVICE, BASIC SERVICES, BASIC SKILLS, BLACKBOARDS, CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS, CLASSROOM, CLASSROOMS, COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, DECENTRALIZATION, DECISION MAKING, DESIGNING INTERVENTIONS, EARLY LESSONS, EDUCATION, EDUCATION DEPARTMENTS, EDUCATION OUTCOMES, EDUCATION SERVICES, ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, FUTURE RESEARCH, GIRLS, GOVERNMENT PRIMARY SCHOOLS, HEAD TEACHER, HEADMASTERS, HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, ILLITERATE CHILDREN, IMPROVING PRIMARY EDUCATION, INTERVENTIONS, KNOWLEDGE GAP, LEARNING, LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT, LEARNING LEVELS, LEARNING MATERIALS, LEARNING OUTCOMES, LET, LOW LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT, NUMBER OF SCHOOLS, NUMERACY, OUTCOMES OF EDUCATION, PAPERS, PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION, PRIMARY EDUCATION, PRIMARY EDUCATION PROGRAM, PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR, PRIMARY SCHOOL, PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION, PRIVATE SCHOOL, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, PUBLIC AGENCIES, PUBLIC FUNDS, PUBLIC PARTICIPATION, PUBLIC SCHOOL, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, QUALITY EDUCATION, READING, READING LEVEL, REGULAR ATTENDANCE, REPORT CARDS, RESEARCHERS, SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, SCHOLARSHIPS, SCHOOL AGE, SCHOOL CHILDREN, SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, SCHOOL HEAD, SCHOOL HEADMASTER, SCHOOL INSTITUTIONS, SCHOOL MAINTENANCE, SCHOOL MEALS, SCHOOL TEACHERS, STUDENT POPULATION, STUDENTS PER TEACHER, TEACHER ABSENTEEISM, TEACHERS, TEACHING, TEACHING MATERIALS, TEXTBOOKS, UNIVERSAL ENROLLMENT, VILLAGE, VILLAGE COMMUNITY, VILLAGE EDUCATION, VILLAGE EDUCATION COMMITTEE, VILLAGE EDUCATION COMMITTEES, VILLAGE MEETINGS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/07/6918316/can-information-campaigns-spark-local-participation-improve-outcomes-study-primary-education-uttar-pradesh-india https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8378
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