Infrastructural Development and Enrollment in Elementary Education in Odisha

The role education plays in socio-economic progress of a country cannot be undermined as minimum educational attainment has a direct and positive bearing on efficiency in resource allocation leading to higher income and an equitable distribution of such income thereby reduces inequality. (Tilak1978, Psacharapolous and Woodhall, 1995). An attempt has been made in this paper to construct a composite infrastructure index for primary education level and also tries to find out the role infrastructure plays in promoting the enrolment in primary schools in the state of Odisha.Secondary data relating to population, number of schools, gross enrolment ratio, availability of infrastructural facilities for the year 2015-16 have been collected from Census Reports, Government of India, Directorate of Elementary Education, Directorate of Mass Education, Government of Odisha and the District Information System for Education data (DISE) published by National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. The study covers entire 30 districts of Odisha.The physical infrastructure index for primary schools of Odisha is constructed using the technique of Principal Component Analysis on the basis of which the districts are ranked. The impact of school infrastructure facilities on the gross enrolment in primary schools is studied by using multiple linear regression model