Determinants of average class size of a school: A case study in west Midnapore district of West Bengal

Student inflow in a school can be treated as an essential schooling output as it reflects the functional capacity of a school. Parents’ choice in selecting a school for their children largely depends on a school’s functional capacity. This paper aims to measure regional variations regarding the availability of various school inputs and student inflow in a school and determine the essential determinants affecting the student inflow of a school. For this purpose, we have collected the DISE block level & unit level data for 2012-13, West Midnapore district in West Bengal, India. The study only considered the information about rural schools providing elementary education. Main findings from regression exercises are that availability of core facilities, basic facilities, grants and incentives, status and availability of teachers, and monitoring agents’ functions positively impact the average class size. Moreover, all the associations, except the relationship between average class size and monitoring agent functions, are statistically significant.