It has long been assumed that responsibility for meeting the educational needs of poor people lies with the state. Yet in India low-income families are turning to private providers to educate their children. Education authorities which are starved of resources struggle to deliver education for all (EFA), and private sector involvement in serving the educational needs of poor student deserves wider discussion.

A report from CfBT looks at evidence from Hyderabad in India in order to challenge the assumption that private schools serve only wealthy families and are thus irrelevant to poverty reduction debates.

The World Bank estimates that 27 percent of all Indian children enrolled in schools are being privately educated. Figures from education authorities in the state of Andhra Pradesh show that 61 percent of pupils in schools in the capital Hyderabad attend schools in the private sector.

Competition between private schools is intense, yet most make a profit. On average, each school charges the equivalent of about £2 per month and has a student to teacher ratio of 29:1. Most pupils’ fathers are daily-paid labourers or market traders earning considerably less than the minimum wage. Thirty percent of their mothers are illiterate.

Researchers talked with parents, pupils and teachers in 15 schools drawn randomly from the many hundreds of private schools meeting the needs of low-income families in Hyderabad. They found that:

• Even though some government schools provide free uniforms, lunches and books, instead of sending their children to these schools, poor parents choose to pay fees, even though the costs for each child may be a tenth of monthly income.
  
  
• Private schools cover the whole curriculum and offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities such as science fairs, general knowledge, sports, music and drama.
  
  
• Most teachers in private schools are female, graduates and reasonably experienced.
  
  
• Parents are actively involved in choosing the best schools for their children and they like the fact that private schools use English as the medium of instruction.
  
  
• Pupils are generally content, are regularly given homework and are assisted by their parents.
  
  
• Private schools are subject to a range of comprehensive regulations, many of which are waived due to payment of bribes.

The World Bank estimates that 27 percent of all Indian children are being privately educated.

Official reports acknowledge the failings of government education for poor students. A government-sponsored study (the PROBE Report published in 1999) in four Indian states found that in half of the government schools no apparent teaching activity was taking place and in a third that the headteacher was not present when visited. Education officials acknowledge that private schools for the poor are growing, partly in response to these shortcomings. Yet government and international agencies focus their attention on government schools as the only way forward to achieve education for all (EFA).

The authors of the CFBT report call on government and international agencies to:

• Initiate a state voucher scheme to assist the poorest students to attend private schools of their choice – this should provide incentives to improve quality in government schools.
  
  
• Explore the feasibility of establishing an education services company to provide information about schools (private and government) to prospective parents and to assist private schools to gain accreditation and raise standards.
  
  
• Establish an education loan company to allow schools to borrow to finance capital developments.
  
  
• Ease regulation for schools: private schools are currently not allowed to borrow money for investment as they are not legally allowed to make a profit.

Contributed by James Tooley and Pauline Dixon. Reprinted with permission from id21.

To read a far different Global Envision article about poor children in India, see Child Laborers in India: The Reality.