Does Sanitation Influence Upper Primary Educational Outcomes? Quantitative Evidence from DISE Data of Gujarat State

Education is one of the most effective development investments for nations. It produces similar outputs for girls and boys in terms of their future income and opportunities. However, educating girls has larger socioeconomic gains, which in turn benefits entire communities. Women with education enjoy improved health services and nutrition; have fewer children, are prevented health related costs of childbirth and experience better economic opportunities. There are several constraints to girls’ education which often relates to gender-insensitive environments and among them is the issue of availability of appropriate sanitation facilities like toilets to deal with menstrual hygiene. These affect girls’ attendance in schools-leading to high levels of absenteeism, poor performance and dropouts-decreasing their chances of finishing their education, and breaking out of poverty. The Millennium Development Goals has also highlighted the importance of girls’ education with a particular focus on educating pubescent girls, as they exhibit the highest trend in dropout rates. Worldwide, one in five children between the ages of 10 and 15 are out of school. These issues are of pivotal concern to the planners as adults’ economic and social lives are formed by his/her childhood access to education. With this backdrop there is a need to examine the state's efforts in providing school toilets and to see how it has impacted the educational attainment of pubescent-age females. This study attempts to establish a quantitative relationship between the availability of sanitation, and the enrollment and dropouts of female students in Gujarat using District Information System for Education (DISE) Data. Gujarat is one of the developed states of India and is acclaimed to have carried out Total Sanitation Campaign effectively. The study finds that while parents and wards are not influenced by the availability of toilets at the time of enrollment of children, there appears to be some relationship between students dropping out and the availability of sanitation. Girls appear to drop out because of the lesser availability of toilets than what is required