Evaluating After School English Programs for Youth: A Pilot of Freedom English Academy

Hard skills such as fluency in English are associated with better labor market outcomes in India (Chin et al., 2013). Soft skills such as grit are also valuable in the labor market (Heckman and Kautz, 2012). However, the lack of these skills may be particularly acute among youth from disadvantaged areas. We partner with the Freedom English Academy (FEA), an Indian NGO that aims to improve the English language and soft skills (such as self-confidence) of youth from disadvantaged areas of Delhi. After-school programs, such as those run by FEA, have the potential to complement the formal secondary school education to impart such skills. However, training programs suffer from low attendance and high dropout rates. We propose a series of pilot activities to refine and test different interventions to reduce dropout and support the design of a larger evaluation.