A.1: Description of the Instrument: ASER Test

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Appendix A A.1: Description of the Instrument: ASER Test

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) test, an internationally recognized and validated instrument, [1] was first developed in India and was designed to measure children’s (5-16 years) foundational skills. ASER Bangladesh, a collaboration between the Institute of Informatics and Development (IID) and BRAC, adapted this tool to evaluate children in Bangladesh. As Figure 2 depicts, the literacy module is designed to assess foundational abilities at the grade 2 level (highest grade level), whereas the numeracy module aims to assess foundational abilities at the grade 4 level (highest grade level) (Mutum & Banerjee, 2015). These criteria can serve as a general indicator of a child's performance based on their grade progression and, thus, help in identifying potential gaps in their foundational competencies.

Figure A: ASER Proficiency Categories for Bangla, English, and Mathematics

[1] It has been successfully implemented in Pakistan (since 2008), Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda (since 2009), Mali (since 2011), Senegal (since 2012), and Mexico (since 2014) (Banerji et al., 2013) and validated (Johnson & Parrado, 2021; Ramaswami & Wadhwa, 2010; Vagh, 2012).

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A.2 Sample Characteristics

Table 1 below presents the characteristics of the sample. On average, households consist of five members, which is slightly higher than the figures reported in the 2016 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) and the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). It is important to note that our initial sample was collected in 2021, while the PREPARE survey was conducted in 2023. Consequently, our sample exhibits a slightly higher proportion of adolescents (aged 12 to 18 years) compared to the other two surveys.

Moreover, our study achieved an even distribution of households between urban and rural regions, whereas the estimates from the HIES and MICS for 2016 and 2019 were skewed toward rural areas.

Table A: Sample Characteristics (PREPARE, HIES, and MICS)

Category PREPARE, 2023 HIES 2016 MICS 2019

Number of households 2,957 46,068 (32,204 with 5–18 year olds)

61,242

Number of children (5-18 years old)

4,002 56,439 40,617 (5-17

years old)

Average household size 4.7 4.0 4.3

Gender (%)

Female 51.1 48.07 48.48

Age distribution (%)

5-11 years old 45.6 50.1 52.47

12-18 years old 54.4 49.9 44.80 (12-17

years old) Region (%)

Rural 52.95 70 79.52

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Education level (%)

Pre-primary (<Grade 1) 4.9 NA

Primary (Grades 1-5) 48.1 53.50

Secondary (Grades 6-12) (includes vocational)

46.9 46.50

Note: N of children reporting enrolment (PREPARE): 3,805.

Appendix B

Figure B1: Enrollment Status of Children (2022) Note: Overall N: 4,002; 5-11 years:1,825; 12-18 years:

2,177; Male children: 1,956; Female children: 2,046; Males (5-11 yrs): 918; Females (5-11 yrs): 907; Males (12-18 yrs): 1,038; Females (12-18 yrs): 1,139.

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Figure B2: Percentage of Students Who Were Categorized as “Proficient and Above” in the National Student Assessment, 2017.

Source: MoPME (2017, pp. 41-42)

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Figure B3: Bangla Proficiency Levels and Class Progression

Note: Total number of children = 3,688; Pre-primary = 182; Class 1 = 285; Class 2 = 383; Class 3 = 361;

Class 4 = 378; Class 5 = 370; Class 6 = 314; Class 7 = 302; Class 8 = 291; Class 9-10 = 658; Class 11-12

= 164.

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Figure B4: English Proficiency Levels and Class Progression

= 164.

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Figure B5: Math Proficiency Levels and Class Progression

= 164

.

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Figure B6: Bangla Proficiency Levels (L4) With Class Progression by Gender

= 164

.

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Figure B7: English Proficiency Levels (L5) With Class Progression by Gender

= 164

.

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Figure B8: Math Proficiency Levels (L4) With Class Progression by Gender

= 164

.

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Table B1: Differences in the Share of Children With the Highest Subject-Wise Proficiency by

Region and Natural Disaster Exposure

Panel A: By region

Share of urban children (1)

Share of rural children (2)

Diff. in proportions (1) – (2)

Bangla L4: Can read a short story in Bangla (=1)

0.590 0.498 0.0921***

(0.016)

English L5: Can understand a simple sentence in English (=1)

0.174 0.102 0.0718***

(0.011)

Math L4: Can solve a simple division (=1)

0.405 0.346 0.0583***

(0.015)

N 1,883 2,119

Panel B: By exposure to natural disasters in the last year

Share of children not exposed to natural disasters

(1)

Share of children exposed to at least one natural disaster (2)

Diff. in proportions (1) – (2)

Bangla L4: Can read a short story in Bangla (=1)

0.543 0.557 -0.014

(0.019)

English L5: Can understand a simple sentence in English (=1)

0.155 0.104 0.051***

(0.013)

Math L4: Can solve a simple division (=1)

0.392 0.359 0.033*

(0.019)

N 1,876 999

Note: This table displays the mean differences in outcomes by region and exposure to natural disasters.

Standard errors are in parentheses. ***, **, * indicate statistical significance at 1, 5, and 10 percent levels, respectively.