The Economics of Elementary Education in India: The Challenge of Public Finance, Private Provision and Household Costs

The book is a very useful and timely publication. The book carries useful references for the interest of researchers. The authors deserve credit for their endevour in analysing various important dimensions of elementary education with a new approach.

— Review of Development and Change

This book is really interesting and useful for the people in the fields of primary and elementary education, health, welfare economics, education finance and funding. It may also be useful for the NGOs, administrators, donors and multilateral agencies active in the field of education.

— Indian Educational Review

The Economics of Elementary Education in India in India is one of the most recent detailed reports on education from India. In light of the limited availability of reliable, large-scale education data from India and from developing countries in general, this study is a welcome addition to the literature…. The extensive wealth of new information from the UNICEF survey, an excellent compilation of several existing sources of data on elementary education and education finance from India, and the insightful and scholarly analyses presented in this book make it a valuable resource.

— Comparative Education Review

Drawing on regional contrasts to the problem of State finances that seems to impede the goal of UEE, the [book] offers several interesting results and ideas on the “financing aspects” of elementary education…. Arguments and analyses presented in [this volume] are amply supported through copious evidence collected from a large-scale survey covering “more than 120000 households, and 1000 schools spread across 91 districts”.

— The Hindu

…given the scarcity of other recent, reliable and large-scale information on costs and finance of elementary schooling, it is a valuable resource for both policy and research audiences interested in the economics behind the failing of the elementary school systems; household demands for schooling ; public spending and external aid in India; and related issues.

— Journal of South Asian Development

The Economics of Elementary Education in India thrashes out key aspects of the economics of the elementary education system in the poorer and educationally backward states of India, also examining and comparing the former with the high-achiever states in terms of elementary education. — Dawn

This volume discusses the first state-by-state analysis of major cost and financing issues, based on data gathered from one of the most comprehensive surveys conducted in recent times on the key aspects of the economics of the elementary education system in the poorer and educationally backward states of India. The surveys and analyses of the type reported in this volume help policy-makers and scholars get a better picture of the ground realities. — www.hindustantimes.com

Dr Santosh Mehrotra is currently Professor of Economics, Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Prior to this, he was the Director General of Institute of Applied Manpower Research, New Delhi, the only research institute of the Planning Commission, Government of India. He was first Head of Rural Development Division, and then Head, Development Policy Division, Planning Commission, from 2006 to 2009. He was one of the authors of India’s 11th Five-Year Plan (2007–12) and of the 12th Plan, and also led the team on the  India Human Development Report 2011.

Dr Mehrotra held a three-year appointment at the Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, UK, as Parkin Visiting Professor (2010–13). He has worked with the United Nations Development Programme and UNICEF too. He is a human development economist, and his research interests have spanned industry and trade issues, the impact of macroeconomic policy on health and education,
the informal sector, and the economics of health and education.

His books include Asian Informal Workers: Global Risks, Local Protection (2007, co-edited); Eliminating Human Poverty: Macro-economic Policies for Equitable Growth (2007, co-authored); The Economics of Elementary Education in India (2006, edited); Universalizing Elementary Education in India: Uncaging the Tiger Economy (2005, co-authored); Development with a Human Face: Experiences in Social Achievement and Economic Growth (1997, co-edited, translated into French); and India and the Soviet Union: Trade and Technology Transfer (1990).

His latest books are: Seizing the Demographic Dividend: Polices to Achieve Inclusive Growth in India; India’s Skills Challenge: Reforming Vocational Education and Training; and Land Policies for Equity and Growth: Transforming the Agarian Structure in Uttar Pradesh. The current book is the third by Dr Mehrotra for SAGE publications.