Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Educational Development journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev The chronic absenteeism assessment project: Using biometrics to evaluate the magnitude of and reasons for student chronic absenteeism in rural India Yanis Ben Amor a, *, Justine Dowden b , Klubosumo Johnson Borh b , Emma Castro c , Natasha Goel d a Center for Sustainable Development, Earth Institute | Columbia University, 475 Riverside Dr., Ste. 1040, New York, NY 10115, United States b Center for Sustainable Development, Earth Institute | Columbia University, 475 Riverside Dr., Ste. 401, New York, NY 10115, United States c Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Biostatistics, 722 W 168thSt., New York, NY 10032, United States d Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, 420 W 118th St., New York, NY 10027, United States ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Attendance Educational policy Attendance patterns Measurement techniques Indians Educational research ABSTRACT In India, student absenteeism is particularly acute but little is known about its reasons. This study investigated the magnitude and causes of chronic absenteeism in ten schools in rural Telangana state using a biometric attendance system paired with home visits. 75.4 % of students missed 10 % or more of all school days and 56.2 % missed 15 % or more. Common reasons for absence as reported by students were illness, menstruation, going to family functions, and a death/illness in the family. Being female and of higher social standing were protective factors against chronic absenteeism. The biometric system paired with home visits show potential to decrease absenteeism. 1. Introduction Student absenteeism hinders youth development, community vi- tality, and social and economic development. Poor school attendance can impact learning outcomes and lead to dropout, which has life-long implications for health, financial stability, and underemployment, particularly among populations who are already low-income or dis- advantaged (National Collaborative on Education and Health, 2015; Uppal et al., 2010; Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE, 2011; Mehra and Agrawal, 2004). Failure to complete secondary school in particular is associated with negative outcomes for the individual student and widens existing social and economic inequalities (Chugh, 2011; Sikdar and Mukherjee, 2012). In India, emerging evidence suggests that student absenteeism is particularly acute. One study in rural Telangana found that a quarter (24.7 %) of students were absent on the day of an unannounced su- pervisory visit (ASER, 2017). That study found considerable variance throughout the country. In southern states bordering Telangana, be- tween 31.7 % and 13.1 % students were absent, whereas states like Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh ranged from 40 % to 50 % (ASER, 2017). Awasthi and Sharma (2004) arrived at comparable re- sults in Uttar Pradesh using similar methods; over 70 % of students (n = 227) had been absent at least once in the three months prior to data collection. In Kolkata, Ghosh and colleagues (2018) found that 43 % of students had missed two or more days in the previous month. In New Delhi, 48 % of surveyed students had been absent the same amount (Uppal et al., 2010). These figures begin to show that even though free and compulsory education is provided by the Indian gov- ernment as a part of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (2009), a document which also commits the government to ensuring school attendance, students are not attending school reg- ularly leading to poor learning outcomes. A step toward fulfilling this promise could be developing a better understanding of the reasons behind these absences and the full extent of the problem. Although there is a wide body of research about reasons for dropout and limitations to accessing education (Kishore and Shaji, 2012; Amirtham and Kundupuzhakkal, 2013; Gouda and Sekher, 2014; Hunt, 2008; Malik, 2013), less is known about reasons for student ab- senteeism (Uppal et al., 2010; Havik et al., 2015; Bowen, 2018). Re- search has previously shown that menstruation, migration, disinterest in school, social beliefs (Uppal et al., 2010), weather, and illness (Ananthakrishnan and Nalini, 2002; Government of India, 2010; Ghosh et al., 2018) are associated with frequent student absenteeism. How- ever, more research is needed to provide insight into absenteeism of https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2019.102140 Received 9 November 2018; Received in revised form 22 July 2019; Accepted 11 November 2019 Abbreviations: ASHA, accredited social health activist; BC, backward caste; CA, chronically absent; CAAP, chronic absenteeism assessment project; CRP, community resource person; EEW, education extension worker; IRB, institutional review board; OC, open caste; OpASHA, operation ASHA; QQ, quantile-quantile; SC, scheduled caste; ST, scheduled tribe ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: yba2101@columbia.edu (Y. Ben Amor). International Journal of Educational Development 72 (2020) 102140 0738-0593/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T