The Effect of Early Childhood Developmental Program Attendance on Future School Enrollment and Grade Progression in Rural North India

This paper examines the effect of prior participation in early childhood developmental programs, considered endogenous, upon 7-19 years olds' school enrollment and grade progression in rural North India. It hopes both to extend to less developed countries recent influential research on the long-term benefits of early childhood interventions in the United States, and to make a case for the inclusion of such interventions amongst developing nations’ policy initiatives toward expanding schooling. Analysis of data from the World Bank's 1997-98 Survey of Living Conditions in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar yields the findings that early childhood developmental program attendance at ages 0-6 raises the probability of school enrollment among average 7-19 year olds by 31 percentage points, and that this beneficial early experience also significantly hastens students’ grade progression.