Cost of Menstrual Hygiene Practices in Gujarat, India

Menstrual cycles are an integral part of a nearly two-third of a woman’s life, and occur every month. Menstruation is a public health concern because irrespective of whether a woman can afford hygienic absorbents or not, she undergoes menstruation phase every month. Therefore, menstruation requires to be examined from public health policy perspective. Choice of menstrual products is not only subject to budget constraint but also to “other regarding preferences”, as can be explained by behavioural economics theories. This study therefore, seeks to get insights into the determinants of choice of menstrual product. The study attempts to devise a method of estimating the minimum yearly cost of menstrual hygiene and also provides an estimate for the same, which can be helpful for the policy prescription. The study is undertaken in Gujarat (India), from a cross-section of districts (developed, developing and tribal), and also a cross-section of socioeconomic status and age. A total of 1025 responses are collected and analysed to get insights into product preferences and resultant cost. The study finds that it is economical to make use of menstrual cups, however, cultural constrains might restrict its use

Cost of Menstrual Hygiene Practices in Gujarat, India

Menstrual cycles are an integral part of a nearly two-third of a woman’s life, and occur every month. Menstruation is a public health concern because irrespective of whether a woman can afford hygienic absorbents or not, she undergoes menstruation phase every month. Therefore, menstruation requires to be examined from public health policy perspective. Choice of menstrual products is not only subject to budget constraint but also to “other regarding preferences”, as can be explained by behavioural economics theories. This study therefore, seeks to get insights into the determinants of choice of menstrual product. The study attempts to devise a method of estimating the minimum yearly cost of menstrual hygiene and also provides an estimate for the same, which can be helpful for the policy prescription. The study is undertaken in Gujarat (India), from a cross-section of districts (developed, developing and tribal), and also a cross-section of socioeconomic status and age. A total of 1025 responses are collected and analysed to get insights into product preferences and resultant cost. The study finds that it is economical to make use of menstrual cups, however, cultural constrains might restrict its use

Pilot study report 2020 : Assessing Early Years Schooling, Access and Student Outcomes (AESAS): Establishing routes for sustainable education in Pakistan and India

AESAS project is an opportunity for us to investigate the importance and function of school in children’s lives in the two largest regions of Punjab, Pakistan and State of Gujarat, India. AESAS is a comparative study of children’s learning outcomes in the 3.5 to 6 years of age. We are assessing children in this study regardless of their school enrolment status so that we can compare the learning levels of children who attended early years of formal education with those who have had no chance of attending formal education. This comparison will carefully match children based on their family socioeconomic status, family size, parental education, access to schools and regional characteristics. The analysis of these factors will give us an indication of differences among children and their learning patterns and how much early years of education can determine children’s readiness to attend formal school

Does school matter for early childhood education? Assessing cognitive and wider development of children in the Province of Punjab, Pakistan and State of Gujarat, India

School is a long-term intervention in children’s lives. Children spend many hours in school where the expectation is that the activities will boost their natural growth and academic potential in the most receptive years of development. However, learning a combination of cognitive and non-cognitive skills is also a natural process. Assuming that these only or even mostly occur at school could be a fallacy. How can we “partition” the effect of schooling? Schools also provide a social service in developing economies and emerging modern labour markets where household income needs, social progress and economic well-being demands workforce participation from parents, and sometimes children. State level investment in the school infrastructure builds a compelling case to investigate the efficacy of school as a policy level intervention. The existing evidence on school effect on children’s learning remains unclear because of methodological limitations of clear comparisons of children exposed to school with their counterparts never exposed to school. Moreover, it is not feasible to allocate children to school or not as a long-term intervention. However, as here, a quasi-experiment based on naturally occurring comparisons is possible and ethical. This study looks at the impact of school on children’s learning and general life experiences in early years of childhood (at age 3 to 8 years of age) by drawing a comparison with children who never or briefly attended school. The study is an opportunity to assess the importance and function of school in children’s lives in two largest regions of Punjab, Pakistan and State of Gujarat, India. Not all children attend school in these two regions. The natural settings gave access to a sufficient number of cases for a reasonable calculation of effect sizes that are meaningful for interpretation. We assessed 1,123 children regardless of their school attendance status, on tasks of basic numeracy, literacy, and social-emotional learning using a standardised measure of assessment, implemented at two points in time with a gap of 12 months. The learning attainment comparisons accounted for family socioeconomic status, family size, parental education, access to schools and regional characteristics. The analyses of these factors gave us an indication of differences among children’s learning patterns and how much school intervention in early years can assist children’s cognitive and non-cognitive learning. The study also collected in-depth and narrative data from parents and children which provided context and valuable understanding of the role of school and sometimes the benefits of the absence of school in children’s life

Interim project report on ECE project in India and Pakistan

We are pleased to report that the project has been successfully launched in the State of Gujarat, India and the province of Punjab, Pakistan under most unfortunate and critical circumstance due to the Covid 19 crisis. Before the global pandemic hit these two regions, we were able to complete the preparatory work such as identification of regions for sampling, development of assessment tools, signing memorandum of understanding with partners, website development, ethics approval, and approval from the local government regions to conduct this activity. In addition, we completed a comprehensive pilot of the instruments in Gujarat and Punjab. A report of this pilot study has been published Reference: Siddiqui, Nadia, Bulsari, Smruti, Gorard, Stephen, See, Beng Huat, Dixon, Pauline, Pandya, Kiran, Saeed, Saba & Saeed, Sahar (2020). Pilot study report 2020 Assessing Early Years Schooling, Access and Student Outcomes (AESAS): Establishing routes for sustainable education in Pakistan and Indi