The Impact of a National Early Childhood Development Program on Future Schooling Attainment: Evidence from ICDS in India

Abstract

Evidence on the long-term benefits of early-life interventions remains inadequate in developing countries. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), a national program of supplementary nutrition and health services, on schooling. Using national survey data and employing age-state and village or city ward fixed-effect regression, we find that non-migrant 15- to 54-year-old men and 15- to 49-year-old women who were exposed to an ICDS center during the first three years of life completed 0.1–0.3 more grades of schooling than those who were not exposed. The effect is stronger among women than men.

Keywords: India; ICDS; Intergrated Child Development Services; nutrition; child development; education

JEL Classification: I25, I15, I18