Direct and indirect effects of the covid-19 pandemic and response in South Asia

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Chapter 2

Methods

Table 4: School dropout rates by child age, gender, and wealth quintile

Table 5: Median years of education completed by age and gender in six South Asian countries

We assumed that those who drop out in primary school would complete 2.5 years, and those who drop out in secondary school would complete 8.5 years of education. The corresponding years of education lost were calculated based on the highest median years

of education attained, irrespective of age and gender, for each country (Table 5). We estimated income loss

associated with reduced educational attainment by assuming that one less year of primary and secondary education reduces an individual’s income by 4.04% and 2.44%, respectively (38). The 2019 GDP per capita, in current US$, for each country was assumed as baseline. A discount rate of 3% was applied to calculate the present value of loss in lifetime earnings.