Accountability in Education in India

• In Event: Poster session I
  In Poster Session: Poster session 1

Proposal

This paper provides a literature review of recent research on the education system in India, with a focus on the impact of accountability – or lack thereof – on student learning. We first examine the notion of accountability and corruption in the Indian context, and explore differences that emerge from a Western focused definition. Given the breadth of interventions that have been explored, we provide a short overview of accountability theories, and describe the particular aspects that we will address in this work. Our goal is to synthesize the work that has been undertaken, identify the common themes across what is sometimes a disjointed and incomplete body of work, and critically to identify some important research gaps that exist that may prove fruitful to explore in order to improve accountability and student learning across India.

Given the size, variation and scope of the education system in India, we choose to limit the paper to public education in India. In addition, while there are myriad interventions that have been attempted, both centrally and in various states across the country, we choose to focus on: government accountability in education; accountability of school management; the implementation of teacher codes of conduct; and student self-accountability.

Our methodology is centered on a comparative systematic review with both qualitative and quantitative components. We identified specific databases to explore, with an openness to both academic journal papers and reports produced by international (and national) organizations. Using a limited set of keywords, we searched for abstracts, and then limited to scope of the paper based upon the context and relevance to our pre-identified focus interventions. The paper then integrates and discusses the key aspects of accountability and their implementation in India (nationally, at state level, and locally). We conclude by identifying particular areas for further research.

Authors

• Graham Harrison, The World Bank

• Maulshree Gangwar, World Bank