Can technology overcome social disadvantage and improve learning outcomes? Evidence from a largescale experiment in India

Abstract

Poor learning outcomes in developing countries are mostly attributed to low quality of teaching inputs in schools, primarily due to shortage of adequately trained teachers and rampant teacher absenteeism. Computer technology can be used to reduce these deficiency and provide high quality educational content even in schools in remote areas. We conduct a large scale randomized field experiment among 1823 rural government schools in India, in the state of Karnataka, where satelliteterrestrial technology is used to telecast additional interactive classes in english, maths and science. Results show that this intervention has a positive impact on student performance as measured through a standardized test in all three subjects. The improvement is most significant in science as compared to english and maths. The impact of the intervention is highest among the socially disadvantaged students particularly for girls from these sections of the society. We also find that schools with past performance level around or below the median tend to benefit most from the program.