Research

Working Papers

• Vernekar, Nisha, Pooja Pandey, Karan Singhal, Aditya Narayan Rai, and Avinash Reddy. “Parental Engagement in Early Childhood Education During COVID-19: Learning from Structured Tech and Teacher Support Programs in Urban Maharashtra”

  1. • Media/ Coverage: The Hindu (co-authored), Ideas for India (co-authored) 

Journal Articles

• Early Stimulation and Enhanced Preschool: A Randomized Trial, (with Meghir, C., Attanasio, O., Jervis, P., Grantham-McGregor, S., et al.). in Pediatrics, 151 (Supplement 2) 2023.

• COVID-19 and Exclusion of Children with Disabilities in Education: Insights from Four Indian States, (with Pandey, P, and Rai, A.N.). TISS Journal of Disability Studies and Research (p74), 2020.

  • Media/ Coverage: 

• Married Women’s Education Levels and Agency outside the home: Evidence from Rural India, (with Singhal, K). in Advances in Finance and Applied Economics 2018 (pp. 161-173). 

Work in Progress

• Deregulation of Night Shift Policies, Female Labour Force Participation, and Crimes Against Women in India

• To Hell with Good Intentions? Privileged researchers working in the field (with Singhal K)

Policy Reports

• Towards and Early Start: Mapping Inclusion in Early Childhood Education in India, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, 2024

• Clearing the Air: A Synthesised Mapping of Out of School Children during COVID-19 in India (April 2020-May 2022), Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, 2022 

• Passing the Baton: Understanding the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Model of Pre-Primary Education in Mumbai, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, 2021

• Starting from Scratch | The Role of Parents, Teachers, and Tech in Early Childhood Education during COVID-19, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, 2021

• COVID-19 and Exclusion of Children with Disabilities in Education: Insights from four states, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, 2020

• Landscape Analysis of Child Rights in Gujarat, Knowledge Management Information Centre (KMIC), UNICEF State Office for Gujarat, 2018

• Understanding and Changing Adversarial Parental Perceptions about Government Schools in Ahmedabad, Knowledge Management Information Centre (KMIC), UNICEF State Office for Gujarat, 2017

Chapters 

• Briefing Book (2022): From Rule by Law to the Rule of Law, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

  • Harmonise State Primary Education Laws with the Right to Education 

• Briefing Book (2021): Fifteen Suggested Legal Reforms for Maharashtra, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy 

  • Safeguarding the Right to Education for Transgender Children

  • Ensuring Inclusivity of Digital Education for Children with Disabilities in Maharashtra

• State of the Nation: RTE Section 12(1)(c) 2017, Centre for Policy Research and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

  • Gujarat: Shifting from Offline to Online; 

  • Implementation of 12(1)(c): Early evidence from urban Ahmedabad

Policy Briefs

• Interventions for Early Childhood Care and Education | Policy Brief: Reducing the Development Gap in the First 6 Years (2024), Submission to Secretary, ICDS Odisha, Government of India

• Right to Privacy in the Digital Age: Children’s Right to Privacy While Using Ed Tech Services (2022), Submission to UN Human Rights (OHCHR)

• How Accessible is Education for Students with Visual Disabilities (2021)

• In Transit | Special Educators in the Framework for Inclusion in Education (2021)

• Suggestions on Proposed Amendments to the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992, Submission made to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE), Government of India

Conferences Attended

• International Association for Research in Income and Wealth (IARIW) Luxembourg (2022) (fully funded, scheduled as plenary session)

• International Conference on Sustainable Development (2022)* (awarded best paper)

• Sustainability and Development Conference (2022)*

• British Association for International & Comparative Education (2022)*

• Fifth National Conference on Disability, Accessibility, Inclusion and Well-being, TISS (2022)

• Annual Conference on Economics and Public Policy, Jindal School  of Government and Public Policy (2021)

• CESI Conference: Mapping Education in Times of COVID-19 (2021)

• Gender and Education Association (GEA) Conference (2017), Middlesex University, London

• National Conference on Finance and Applied Economics (NCFAE, 2017), Marathwada Mitra. Mandal’s Institute of Management Education Research

• 3rd World Conference on Women’s Studies (WCWS 2017), Sri Lanka

* Presented by co-authors