[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...

REIMAGINING INDIA
the reported low standard of government
provision. The Oxfam Education
Report prefaces the remarks quoted
above with the observation that ‘there
is no doubting the appalling standard
of provision in public education systems’
(Watkins, 2000, p. 230). Indeed,
the low quality of government schools
for the poor is one reason given for the
‘mushrooming’ of the private schools:
Venkatanarayana (2004) notes that the
‘failure of public school in terms of
meeting parents’ expectations/aspirations’
has led to a ‘growing demand’ for
private schools in rural Andhra
Pradesh, India (p. 40).
Are the low cost private schools as
bad as the development experts think?
I looked at the issue of quality in detail.
My researchers tested around
24,000 children in the global sample,
taken from stratified random samples
of schools within these poor communities.
Children were tested in key curriculum
subjects, and questionnaires
given to children, their parents, teachers
and school managers, and IQ tests
to children and their teachers, to elicit
data to control for a wide range of
background variables, including peergroup
variables. The results from Delhi
were typical. In mathematics, mean
scores of children in government
schools were 24.5 percent, while those
in private unrecognised schools were
42.1 percent and private recognised
were 43.9 percent. That is, children in
unrecognised private schools achieved
nearly 18 percentage points higher in
Low cost private schools are accountable to the parents –
who can withdraw their children if they’re not satisfi ed; the
entrepreneurs knows this, and knows he or she will feel
the pinch for each parents who doesn’t pay fees, so
makes sure things go well within the school
maths than children in government
schools (a 72 percent advantage!),
while children in recognised private
schools were over 19 percentage points
higher than children in government
schools (a 79 percent advantage). In
English, the performance difference
was much greater (children in unrecognised
schools gaining 35 percentage
points higher, while children in recognised
schools were 41 percentage
points higher). However, these differences
might be expected, given that
government schools are not providing
what parents want, English medium.
(On the other hand, they might not be
expected, given an oft-repeated criticism
that private schools are Englishmedium
in name only, that this is just
another way they pull the wool over ignorant
poor parents’ eyes. What we
found showed that the private schools
were in fact getting their children to a
much higher English standard than
what children might pick up in the environment,
through radio, television
and advertisements, for instance –
which is perhaps what the tests were
measuring for children in government
schools). But in any case, if more private
schools are English medium, this
might lead us to expect that government
schools would be superior in
achievement in Hindi: the opposite was
true. Children in private unrecognised
schools achieved on average 22 percentage
points higher than children in
government schools (an 83 percent advantage).
In recognised private schools,
children scored on average 24 percentage
points higher (an 89 percent advantage.)
Controlling for relevant background
variables, the differences
between government and private
schools were reduced but still hugely
significant: In Hyderabad, for instance,
a child attending a private unrecognised
school would be predicted to
gain 16.1 percentage points higher in
mathematics than the same child attending
a government school. In a private
recognised school, the difference
in scores would be 17.3 percentage
points. In English, the advantages
would be even greater –16.9 percentage
points higher in an unrecognised
school, and 18.9 percentage points in a
recognised school. In Urdu, after controlling
for the background variables,
there turned out to be no statistically
significant difference between government
and either type of private school.
More market, less government in education
– this appears to be how poor
parents see the way forward. And they
are doing it for a good reason – the low
cost private schools are better than the
government alternative. Presumably
they’re better because they’re accountable
to the parents – who can withdraw
their children if they’re not satisfied;
the entrepreneurs knows this, and
knows he or she will feel the pinch for
each parents who doesn’t pay fees, so
keeps a close eye on his teachers and
makes sure things go well within the
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