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The Present Scenario of Indian Primary Schooling Many western enthusiasts and some of their Indian supporters believe that only a private schooling system can save education from its very bad and depressing state which includes bad quality will make schooling available to the darkest and remote corners of the country which remain to be illiterate. If some examples are drawn from many urban and semi-urban areas and other third world countries some academics and journalists have highlighted the success of the private sector schooling and giving the presently existing public schooling policy in the hands of private people who will be able to manage it more efficiently than the government itself.

The main arguments that are usually given to support the above given notion are – • Government schoolings have done miserably and have failed to deliver the desired quality of education that is expected from them. • Private schools have been consistently yielding ‘excellent results’.

It is also argued on their behalf that privatization of school education would not only help to ensure and enhance the quality of education but also reduce the cost of education. Nonetheless, the issue has gardened the debate that it is a rightist agenda and it has been vehemently protested quite often on these grounds.

The emergence of private schooling in different parts of India, particularly in urban Indian is conspicuous. Some reports show that the ambit of private schooling is increasing in the rural areas of the country too. The states like Bihar and Andhra Pradesh are shoeing this trend. For example, the mushrooming of private schools can be seen remote areas.

While it is true to a certain extent that the lack of faith in government schools leads to the preference change and hence increases the ambit and existence of private schools. This can be seen as a litmus test or indicator for the performance or ‘non-performance’ of public sector schooling. The study of private schools and their merits and demerits is important to understand and compare the government machinery and find out the fallacy in it.

However, in many cases, the defenders of private schooling have selected the examples according to their convenience. For example, a mode of privatization pursued is an education voucher system which, “in the broadest sense is the payment made by the government to a school chosen by the parent of the child being educated; the voucher finances the all or most of the tuition fee charged.”

This system is also called the ‘funds-follow-the-child’ voucher, has claimed to have chosen or adopted by the developing countries with significant variation nature and extent from country to country. But some of the examples of the voucher system have certainly been cited in the wrong way or in a distorted manner. What has been called the voucher system in Bangladesh is in fact a kind of incentive provided to the girl students. This in strict sense cannot be exactly deemed into the category of the voucher system.

The efficiency and success of the voucher system would also be dependent on the extent of private schooling present in the country and its reach. Another important fact is that it can also lead to widespread misappropriation of public wealth because of the drop out rate and certain other factors which have been discussed in the subsequent chapters of this project.

Broadly speaking the feasibility of such a system would be dependent on three reasons :

• Private schooling would involve a far larger amount of parental expenditure than the vouchers could offer. • The possibility of establishing private schools in the rural areas and unprivileged areas of the country is nothing more than a delusion. • The quality of education which these schools provide would be very difficult to judge.

Different Primary Schooling Institutions and the Extent of Private Schooling

The number of primary schools operating in the country can be divided into two broad categories based upon their ownership. These categories are- government and non-government. The non-government schools can further be divided into two categories- namely private primary schools and other primary schools (NGO run, etc.) The source of funding is also an important issue that should be considered, the source of funds for the private schools owned by NGOs etc. have a better access to funds than the schools which are run by individuals for profit motive. Various parameters on which the schools are to be judged are

1. School Infrastructure and Teachers 2. Working Days, Time and Subjects Taught 3. Cost of Schooling

School Infrastructure and Teachers

Various studies that have been conducted suggest that the primary education schools have the school infrastructure which is far less adequate then the required level. Indian Primary Education System basically lacks facilities where state owned schools have problems of drinking water and proper toilets. Mandatory school infrastructures like black boards are also lacking and inadequate. However, almost all the government primary schools had adequate open space used as playground, which was not in the case of the private primary schools. In most of the non government schools children are caged in the class rooms.

As regards the number of teachers in primary schools, the government primary schools lag behind the private schools. The very high number of enrolment in the state-owned primary schools vis-à-vis the shortage of teachers has made the situation a lot more alarming. The private schools have a much better pupil-teacher ratio.

There is also a startling difference between the teachers of the government and non-government schools were in terms of the salary. While, the monthly salary of the government school teacher varies between Rs. 5,050 and Rs. 9,745. The variation in the non-government sector is even steeper Rs. 500 to Rs. 11,000. However, about 50 percent of the private school teachers received Rs. 500 per month. These statistics raises two important questions.

After such high average salaries of the school teachers, the productivity is less which shows the inefficiency of the whole system. Whereas, it also raises questions about the quality offered by the private schools as the teachers remain to be highly exploited and under-paid.

Cost of Schooling

It is an valid argument made that private schools have higher potential to deliver quality education at a much lower economic cost than in the government schools. But, this notion has various anomalies and various factors which support it too.

A study by Kumar Rana shows that, there is a huge difference in the annual cost of schooling in the government primary schools to the private primary schools. This stark difference is there because of the nature of the institutions involved. The average schooling cost of a child in the government primary school is Rs. 599; whereas it is Rs. 3396 in case of a private school. But, this is only when we take into consideration the economic accounting cost. But, there are other costs involved also.

Other costs are, the external help taken by students in case of less or inefficient performance of the governmental structure of functioning of the schools. Due to teacher absenteeism, the pupils have to undertake private extra school tuitions which hereby increases the costs involved manifold the school fees.

According to the IMF , The percentage of teachers absent in the following countries –

Peru 11 Ecuador 14 Bangladesh 16 India 25

A 10% increase in teacher absence is associated with 1.8% lower student attendance, as well as with a 0.02 standard deviation reduction in test scores on a simple 14-question test given to a sample of 4th-grade children.

With one in four government primary school teachers absent on a given day, and only one in two actually teaching, India is wasting a considerable share of its education budget, and missing an opportunity to educate its children.

While the results show that the system is broken, they can provide only tentative guidance as to how it may be fixed. One way of interpreting the findings is that overall teacher compensation has little effect on absence, since teachers cannot be fired and attendance rates do not affect compensation. On the other hand, factors that influence the daily costs and benefits of attending school have a much larger influence on absence rates. For example, better infrastructure provides a stronger incentive to attend school on a particular day.

Similarly, improving monitoring increases the marginal cost of teacher absence. While it is found that inspections are associated with lower absence in some specifications, little evidence is there to suggest that greater local ties are associated with lower absence. Teachers in private schools and contract teachers, who face very different incentives, have similar or lower absence rates while being paid a fraction of government teachers’ salaries.

This suggests it may be worth exploring a variety of potential reforms. These range in political difficulty from improving school infrastructure ; to increasing the frequency of inspections; to experimenting with new, potentially more effective forms of local control or contracting with teachers; to such fundamental reforms as increased use of private schools.

Chapter 2 Private Schools for the Poor and New Arena for Investors

The accepted notion says that poor people need billions of dollars more in donor aid for public education. But there is an ignorance of a reality that the poor parents are abandoning the government schools to send their children to so called ‘budget’ private schools which charge very low fees, affordable to the parents with low wages.

Extension of access to the private primary schools is the voucher system. This is one of the ways in which the government can assist the poor parents who wish to provide their children with good education. However, the fact is that these budget or small private schools are businesses, able to return viable surplus, means that they offer a new creative and upcoming frontier to the domestic investors because educational entrepreneurs, in operation are keen to enter into this segment.

There are three basic ways by which this may be achieved-

1. Budget School Infrastructure could be improved through the provision of micro-finance type loans. E.g. As it is happening in the neighboring Bangladesh. 2. Investment in improved curriculum could be undertaken. This can be achieved with co-ordination with the government agencies which already have specialized skills in this. 3. Investing in a brand known as primary education through a specialized educational fund could provide good returns to the private individuals and also provide much needed satisfaction to the poor parents, which they are not able to gather from usual method of public schooling.

For any investment opportunity to be a viable one, the most important requirement is the amount of time in which the returns can be gained. This is the most prominent concern of the investors.

Other macroeconomic factors can also be dealt with the help of such budget schools coming up. The other factor - it can provide employment to various individuals who otherwise will be unemployed or will be seeking government jobs. Also, the youth which have specialized skills in this profession can be absorbed by the industry itself.

Secondly, the arena of migration from towns to cities can be curbed with the help of these types of schools coming up. There are two reasons for it. 

1. Unemployed youth will have employment opportunities in the village itself, which will discourage them from moving out. 2. Students who migrate to urban or semi-urban areas from villages because of lack of education can be curbed.

Are Private Schools viable to the Investor(s)?

Let us take an example to find out whether the schools can be viable or not. This example is based on an example which was taken up in Somalia.

Rent for building Rs. 5000 Teachers’ Salary Rs. 6000 Basic Amenities Rs. 750 Other Expenses (black boards, chalks) Rs. 750

This is the expense plan for a primary school in a remote village, where fifty students are enrolled. The monthly expense of Rs. 5000 is required as the rent for the building or basically two rooms for running two classes. Also, the teachers’ salary have been assumed to be Rs. 3000 per month, which is above the average for a private school teacher. The basic amenities like toilets, cleaning etc. can be done for Rs. 1000 per month. Other aids of education like chalks, black boards, teaching charts etc. can be acquired at Rs. 750 per month. This makes the net expenditure on all the amenities at Rs. 12500 per month.

If we look at the number of students enrolled i.e. fifty; the fees which is drawn is Rs. 270 per month or Rs. 9 per day. The total revenue that is attained is Rs. 13500. This means a net profit for the investor stands at Rs. 1000. This makes a profit percentage of 8-10 per cent.

Parameter Rs. Net Revenue 13500 Net Cost 12500 Net Profit 1000

The question which looms at large is – How will it be viable to make profit of Rs. 1000 for fifty students and still sustain? The answer can be approached in two ways- 1. The teachers themselves become investors. Teachers are well qualified and can perform a dual task of an investor as well a teacher. Teachers forming a partnership firm can account for a good option. 2. A big investor can make it viable by operation of ten to twelve schools, which can earn him/her good profits and also the person can have specialized work of only managing such schools. 3. If the government decides to support some of the students or provide some kind of subsidy or any aid in form of providing land etc. can also benefit the investor. The voucher system can be a success for such schools.

Are Private Primary Schools viable for the Government ?

The government runs its own schools which has various positive points but the positive points are far less than the negative points that they bear. As mentioned in Chapter one of this project, the teachers in government schools are provided a salary of Rs. 8000 on an average. Also, according to the World Bank estimates as mentioned in the second chapter, the teacher absenteeism is about 25% in rural areas. Effectively if we take into consideration the economic cost of it, the government is effectively spending much more than what it is supposed to.

Whereas, in case of private primary schools, where the quality of education provided is better, the salary of a school teacher is around Rs. 3500-4000 per month. This is effectively half the salary given to a government teacher who remains absent for one-fourth of the time. The only advantage that the schools have is less fees and the mid-day meals programme which amounts as one of the factors for enrollment is government primary schools.

If looked closely, the government schools provide the commodity of ‘Education’ which is ‘Giffen good’. It is proved by a study conducted by Arindam Mukherjee , who finds that 32 per cent of the parents their wards to move away from government schools. The demand for government schools decrease as there is an increase in income levels.

If all the above factors are taken into consideration, then the government is basically running a company called education department very ineffectively and inefficiently. If the government decides to support the pupils, it should go in for the voucher system as adopted by Bangladesh on a pilot basis.

Chapter 3 Ways of achieving Public-Private Interface in Education

Joint Venture

The basis of any Joint Venture is specialization of the venturing companies in different sectors of the same field. This is a very apt saying in case of the education sector. This can be seen by analyzing, the structure of education system presently there. From the discussions made in the previous sections, it is evident that government primary schools have better infrastructure in terms of playground etc. and some other advantages such as a wide available network.

• The government schools have large play-grounds and better buildings, than the private sector as they are owned by the state and built on government land. • The government schools have a better reach in the rural areas which gives the brand a better reach into the market. Any firm which enters into a joint venture will automatically gain access to remote markets, which otherwise would be difficult.

Besides, this only inefficiency that has crept into the system is its inefficiency to perform up to the expectations. The private sector has other advantages namely,

• Better performing teachers which work for less wages and provide better output. (As proved in various case studies by the World Bank and IMF). • Specialized managerial skills by people will make schools better by giving the teachers or managers with accountability and keeping a close watch on teacher performance.

Thus, a Joint Venture between the government and private investors would be a ‘win-win’ situation for both government and the private investor, as it would provide benefits to both of them in their respective motives. i.e. Welfare and Profits respectively.

The Voucher System

The voucher system in the broadest sense means that, “payment mode by the government to a school chosen by the parent of the child being educated; the voucher finances all or most of the tuition fee involved.”

The voucher system shall provide funds to the child’s education in the indirect way by the government. The system employs issuing of vouchers which can be used at any private schools which will be widely accepted as money for fees, which will be reimbursable by the school from the government. Thus, the school receives indirect aid from the government.

The most prominent advantage of the voucher system is that, it will provide the parents of the child, an opportunity to select the best school amongst the given ones, besides the government schools. This will also act as an incentive to the private primary schools to higher their levels of working and performance in order to attract more and more students. So, it can be said that the voucher system is a double edged sword, which can help both the private schools as well as the parents of the teachers.

Examples of success of the Voucher system are many. The voucher system has been used in Bangladesh in order to provide incentive to the girl students.

But, then there is a problem? The problem of corruption or inefficiency might crop into the procedure and how will the poor parents decide which school to choose from? The practical problem is that the poor people do not have any knowledge about the working of schools and will not be able to distinguish between what is good and what is bad for their ward.

Quality Check on Education

Quality of education remains to the prime concern when an interface is sought between the private and the public sector. Also, whether the private primary schools are performing up to the expectations of the parents is a crucial factor that should be considered. All this can be achieved with the help of people’s participation in monitoring mechanisms.

The micro-monitoring of the village primary schools- both private as well as public should be done through a process known as the Village Education Committee or VEC. The Village Education Committee shall comprise of eminent people of the village, parents of pupils studying in the schools, school teachers. This committee shall be responsible for evaluation of the delivery of schools on various levels and provide a feed back to the government as well as the prospective parents to help them choose the right school for their child.

Flow chart for Village Education Committee (VEC) working.

Micro Regulator – VEC

This stage involves the creation of local agency or micro-monitoring mechanism which will monitor the working of the private as well as the government primary schools. It comprises of eminent people of village, parents and some teachers or learned people to assist them. They will provide dual purpose

Firstly, they will be acting as an independent feedback mechanism to the government for the working of the government primary schools which will put a tab on teacher absence and other information. The other information shall be about the lack of facilities and requirements of the school. The teachers can also approach them in order to get their problems solved.

Secondly, the Village Education Committee will be a rating method for the private schools. This will give the prospective parents an insight into the working if the schools working in that area, which will help the parents to choose from the available. This will have a very important implication. The implication is accountability. The private primary schools would start acting to the best of their capability in order to acquire better rankings and hence more students.

If in future the voucher system is implemented, then the Village Education committee will act as a feedback as well as a micro regulator for the education institutions which will ensure that the quality of education does not deteriorate in the future.

Conclusion

The present primary education system of the country has several inadequacies which make it very inefficient. The government primary schools have high rates of teachers being absent and lack of basic infrastructure like black boards etc. which makes their working even more inefficient.

The increased role of people can improve it. Education can be looked at as a viable investment opportunity and potential investors should engage in it. Education can prove to be a new arena for the entrepreneurs and they joint enter into joint ventures with government agencies in order to provide primary education. 

The government can regulate the role of the private sector in education by several means such as the voucher system and the village education committees. This will ensure that the consumers get good quality primary education and the ultimate target of ‘education for all’.

[edit] Primary Schooling in India

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