Can Non-formal Education Keep Working Children in School? A Case Study from Punjab, India

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of non-formal schools for working children in Jalandhar, Punjab, India, in mainstreaming child laborers into the formal education system through incentivised, informal schooling. Using a family fixed effects model and sibling data as an equivalent population comparison group, I find that the non-formal schools effectively provide an alternative to formal primary education and also show high success rates of mainstreaming and maintaining children into post-primary education relative to the control group. I find that the children within the non-formal schools are 40.47-50.07% more likely to still be studying relative to the sibling-inclusive control group, and have on average a 3.45 years less of a gap in educational attainment.

I conclude that the child labor schools are serving a useful function in helping poor children attend school, regardless of their labor status. The policy implications explored suggest that aspects of the techniques used in the non-formal schools should be applied more broadly to the formal schooling system, including eliminating hidden costs of schooling, accommodating to poor and working children, and increasing teacher accountability.