Determinants of Education Development Index – A District Level Comparison of West Bengal and Kerala

The Education Development Index (EDI) is a vital metric for assessing regional educational progress by incorporating both access and outcomes in primary education.Indicators representing Spatial density and availability of primary schools per 10000 populations has been given importance as access and enrolment of girls, backward caste children along with overall enrolment and primary completion rate has been incorporated in the Education Outcome Index.This study constructs a composite district wise EDI with the help of factorial analysis for Kerala and West Bengal over the period 2006-2016, using two sub-indices: Access Index and Education Outcome Index.Both states and their referred districts have been ranked in terms of Access, Outcome as well as Education Development Index.Whether inequality among districts is increasing or decreasing or remain stable over the years in terms of the composite index, coefficient of variation has been computed.A panel data regression is conducted to identify key socio-economic, policy, and infrastructural determinants affecting district-level education development.