Efficiency analysis of schools using DEA: A case study of Uttar Pradesh state in India

Pradesh state in India Preeti Tyagi , Shiv Prasad Yadav , S. P. Singh b a Department of Mathematics, IIT, Roorkee, India b Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, Roorkee, India Abstract This paper assesses the technical efficiency and efficiency differences among 348 elementary schools of Uttar Pradesh state in India by a linear programming based technique, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We have assessed the schools with eight inputs and three outputs. Inputs include school resources (teaching, physical and ancillary facilities, teachers’ qualities) and home environment of schools’ students (parents’ education and occupation) while output comprise school wise average marks in environment studies, mathematics, language. In preparing these inputs and outputs, Principal Component Analysis is used. Mixing these input-output, four models are used to analyze the performance of schools. All four models are based on the assumption of Constant Returns to Scale (CRS). Average efficiency in most extensive model (model 4) is 70.58, ranging from 19.44 to 100 per cent. According to this model 67 schools (19.25%) are efficient (efficiency score = 100%). The analysis also provides school wise planning information to policy makers. As far as our knowledge concern, this is the first application in elementary education sector in India using DEA technique.