ABSTRACT
Education is an essential resource for individuals and societies, and it plays a significant role in shaping the future of any nation. Depriving a generation of young children of their basic right to quality education can easily be regarded as the highest form of injustice in a society. Bihar, which was once the epitome of education and knowledge across the world, is now counted among the states with the lowest literacy rates and the poorest educational infrastructure. While a list of reasons can be enumerated behind this downfall, including historic and social reasons, it is prudent to act on those that we can effectively alter and improve upon, such as infrastructure and teaching quality. The quality of education provided to students is influenced by various factors, such as infrastructure, teacher quality, and student–teacher relationships. This study explores the moderating effect of infrastructure on the relationship between teacher quality and student outcome in secondary education in Bihar, mapping an intriguing contrast with Kerala, the state with the highest literacy rate in India. With the help of a simple moderation analysis and drawing on the resource dependency theory, our findings indicate that the moderation effect of infrastructure on student outcome is stronger in Bihar than in Kerala. This study highlights the urgent need to prioritise consolidating and enhancing the quality of education in schools in Bihar rather than adding up a number of concrete blocks.
