Teachers, Electoral Cycles, and Learning in India

Teachers are central for learning, but their hiring and management can be influenced by political factors, especially when they are civil servants. Using an administrative school-level panel data set for India, we find significant increases in teacher transfers and moderate increases in hiring after state elections. The timing of these elections is pre-determined and staggered across states. The reorganization of teachers is partly related to political turnover. Pupils’ test scores are also up to 0.15 standard deviations lower in the post-election phase. Following a range of estimations for alternative explanations, we conclude that the reorganization of teachers can disrupt learning.