FACTORS AFFECTING QUALITY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION: AN EMPRICAL STUDY OF URBAN INDIA

The expansion of primary education in India over the last decade has been phenomenal. Quality of primary education in India has been a major cause of concern. Navi Mumbai is a planned city adjacent to Mumbai - a financial capital of India. The student’s educational outcome and academic success is greatly influenced by the three factors namely type of school (public or private), class size and teachers. A sample of 20% schools was selected from 3 types (Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Zilha Parishad and private) of school management in Navi Mumbai. This study examines the academic achievement of 11,484 students studying in 24 primary schools (class 1 – class 7) having 281 teachers. The academic performance of students, class size, student teacher ratio and number of trained and untrained teachers was collected from primary schools in Navi Mumbai. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple classification analysis (MCA) were used to analyse the data. The study showed that despite better infrastructure and other facilities in private schools, the quality of education was better in public schools. Academic performance of students was significantly influenced by class size (low, medium, high), trained teachers (more, less).