Impact of Private Tutoring on Learning Levels

Ambrish Dongre , Vibhu Tewary
(2014)

Despite widespread and substantial private expenditure on private tutoring outside the formal school system in many developing countries, not much is known about their effects on learning outcomes. The main challenge in estimating such an effect is that the decision to send the child for private tutoring is correlated with unobserved variables which are also correlated with learning outcomes. This paper utilizes a large household survey conducted in rural India, and employs Fixed Effect (FE) estimation to control for the effect of unobserved variables. We find positive and significant effect of private tutoring on learning outcomes for students at elementary level (Grades 1-8). This effect is equivalent to an additional year of schooling or being in a private school instead of a government school.