Eligibility criteria
A village was potentially eligible if the following conditions were met:Village in Satna district, except villages in the tehsils of: Birsinghpur, Majhgawan and Raghurajnagar;Village population less than 2500;Village has more than 120 children under the age of 6 and at least 15 children eligible for the intervention;Village is accessible by road;Village centre is at least 5 km from a Community Health Centre (CHC);Village centre is at least 3 km from the centre of any other included village.A child was eligible if he or she was resident in a village within an eligible cluster at the time of enumeration, and fit the following criteria:He or she did not attend first grade or higher in the 2017 – 2018 academic year;He or she was expected to be resident in the village during 2018 – 2019:The child’s caregiver intended to enrol the child in the first grade in the 2018 – 2019 academic year;He or she was born between 16 June 2010 and 15 June 2013;The caregiver consented to allow the child to participate in the trial.A child was also eligible during the catch-up enumeration (carried out before randomisation) if:He or she was born between 16 June 2010 and 15 June 2013;He or she was enrolled in first grade in the 2018 – 2019 academic year or was planning to enter first grade in the 2019 – 2020 academic year;He or she was expected to be resident in the village during 2019 – 2020;The caregiver consented to allow the child to participate in the trial.