Frictions to Remote Learning for Low Socioeconomic Status Students in India

School closures and the transition to remote learning around the world has disproportionately affected low socioeconomic status (SES) students. However, even within the low SES students, the frictions to learning largely vary based on whether they attend private or public schools. Another response is by parents who may or may not compensate for these frictions, and this may have implications on short- and long-term learning outcomes of children. Using access to administrative data that contains contact details of parents, the researcher plans to conduct phone-surveys of a random sample of low SES winners and losers who applied to grade 1 private school lotteries in the state of Maharashtra, India, in the current academic year. The goal of the survey is to understand what the barriers are, how they differ by school-type, and what the equilibrium parental investments in children in response to these frictions are. Findings from this survey will eventually inform the researcher's plan and design of a future RCT to mitigate learning losses due to these frictions.