Education in India: Time for a Bold New Experiment
Public and private schools are failing to give children in India a good education—we need an alternative approach.
It rained hard last night in Delhi, and the narrow street in one of the city’s slum colonies—home to no less than four private schools—is ankle deep in mud. In one school at the far end of the street, I am helping nine-year-old Divesh Patel with his English class. The classroom is small and dingy—I count more than forty children crammed together on scruffy wooden benches. His young teacher is blessed with a cheery spirit that sparkles in contrast to her surroundings, but she has no teaching qualifications and a limited grasp of English.
Divesh comes from a poor family and wants to do well in English; he dreams of becoming an engineer. His father earns just 4,500 rupees (about $83) a month working as a cook in an affluent household in Delhi. Yet the Patels choose to spend more than a quarter of their income on private education for Divesh and his brother. They hope this education will give their sons opportunities and prosperity that their parents could only dream of. But will this school really give Divesh a route out of poverty?
Voting with their feet: the growth of the private sector
Progress in the education system in India could be regarded as miraculous. The number of children enrolled in primary school rose from 19 million in 1950 to 131 million in 2005. Unfortunately that miracle fades on learning that Indian students ranked 72 of 73 countries surveyed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The quality of public schools in India has led parents to vote with their feet; believing that the state has failed, they are turning in their millions to private education.
Data presented in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan joint review in 2013 showed that government school enrollment has decreased by 2.5 percent since 2007, while private school enrollment has increased by more than 50 percent. Even though the perceived superior quality of fee-paying schools is not conclusively evidenced—particularly when socio-economic variables are controlled—parents continue to pay. In fact, 40 percent of Indian families make some use of private education, believing that it is a quick route to prosperity—a heartbreaking trend when you consider that a high proportion of very meager incomes spent on schooling may not deliver better learning. Divesh’s parents are making big sacrifices to pay for his education, but the value of their investment is highly questionable.
The kindling of a bold new experiment
What Divesh’s parents do not know is that a clause now exists in Indian education policy that entitles them to free private education. The Right to Education Clause 12 has made it compulsory for every fee-paying school in India to admit at least 25 percent of its pupils from poor and low-income families, with the state government reimbursing schools for the fee. Clause 12 is a controversial policy. Some observers call it an open acknowledgement that the public system has failed and that the challenge of providing quality education is too great for the state to tackle alone. More fundamentally, Clause 12 begs the question: is this a well-intentioned experiment or a flawed policy that could enroll millions of children in low-quality, fee-paying schools?
Clause 12 alone is unlikely to solve the education crisis. Until transparent data that demonstrates the quality of provision by private schools is available, and as long as the perception that private schools are better continues, children could move from high-performing government schools into low-performing private schools.
But Clause 12 could also signal a first step towards a bold new experiment: a middle ground that merges the best of public and private education. Elsewhere in the world, schools that are privately managed, but state-financed and quality-assured, have shown promise. They enjoy greater scope for bottom-up innovation, and have autonomy over teacher hiring and management. In other words, they have freedom to experiment with initiatives to improve teacher performance and children’s learning outcomes.
We should be cautious of the notion that this is India’s panacea: the challenges are great, and the tale of privately-managed education is mixed. But evidence, including from ARK’s own experience in the UK, is encouraging. The greater autonomy and improved efficiencies arising from privately delivered models, when paired with rigorous quality assurance and accountability measures, can deliver better learning outcomes more cost-effectively than the top-down state system. Such an arrangement in India, offered to exceptional operators, could be a powerful vehicle for change.
Back in that dingy school in Delhi, the teacher tells the class to repeat words back to her: Tiger! Elephant! Goat! They chant. Her energy may be encouraging, but her pupils have yet to master basic literacy and numeracy. It is heart-wrenching that Divesh’s parents are paying so much for so little.
India’s children are India’s future. Something needs to change, and this experiment could help Divesh achieve his dream of becoming an engineer. The status quo is failing India’s children. Now is the time to be bold.
Susannah Hares (@ZannaTweets) is strategy director at ARK, a global philanthropic collective and the first nonprofit organization to operate schools for public benefit in the UK and Uganda. She also writes a blog. Prior to joining ARK, Susannah served as associate director of Global Community Investment at Barclays, where she worked on inclusive business models for low-income consumers.
Solnechny Mir (Our Sunny World) is a Russian rehabilitation center that hosts more than 250 children and their families each week.
With hard data and soft skills, Communities in Schools fine-tunes its model to reduce dropout rates.
Social Finance Inc. offers a network-based alternative to government-sponsored student loan programs.
Racial integration in US schools has declined in the wake of recent court decisions to release districts from earlier desegregation orders.
A cross-sector initiative aims to develop 21st-century skills in secondary school students—highlights from a recent survey.
Engaging communities of learners in massively open online courses to use their knowledge—and numbers—for good.
One of 16 special essays on how the field of social innovation has evolved and what challenges remain ahead.
The nonprofit Erste Foundation is an engine behind the for-profit Erste Group as well as its largest shareholder.
Many programs targeting low-performing students rely on data that doesn’t indicate a real understanding of impact on students’ lives.
COMMENTS
BY amitav virmani
ON March 14, 2013 07:02 AM
Spot on….It is time to be bold but how do we get our ‘Electorally inclined’ friends see the bigger picture and focus on RESULTS? Lots needs to be done - we need a REVOLUTIONARY to spearhead the efforts but till then OUR modest efforts will go a long way…..
BY Martin Threlfall
ON March 14, 2013 10:50 AM
I enjoyed reading this article. Have there been any signals so far that the Government of India is prepared to move from the status quo? Surely the shift to fee paying schools is a sign of discontent.
BY Robyn Garfield
ON March 15, 2013 05:56 AM
Depends whether you think the Government would actually abide by a policy like this. But as the author says - something needs to be done. Let’s go for it.
BY Caroline Blenheim
ON March 15, 2013 07:01 AM
The main problem in India is that teachers do not turn up to work and when they do they do not teach.
BY Andy K
ON March 16, 2013 04:49 AM
A really thought-provoking article. India has made great strides in terms of the quantity of children receiving an education; the next step must be ensuring quality. A system blending the best of private and public education should not be seen as an admission of failure by the Indian government, but as one way of tackling the issues at hand; educating such vast numbers of children would be a challenge for any nation. This approach, backed with transparent and rigorous data collection, has the potential to make a real impact.
BY Alastair
ON March 16, 2013 05:16 AM
Very interesting article, nicely written. It seems as though the challenge for the government will be finding a way that Clause 12 can be harnessed to stimulate the type of innovation needed. If private schools without any state link were unable to provide the high standards of teaching necessary, then how will the link to the public sector help? Through transparency and accountability?
Hope to read more about this and more from this author.
BY Kumar Surentha
ON March 16, 2013 06:19 AM
ARk getting good results in the Uk should not translate into an assumption that private is better. Education is a PUBLIC good and the government needs to give citizens that service. Lets be clear. Private is NOT better. For profit educationalists are only deepening inequalities and leaving the poor behind.
BY Sutha
ON March 17, 2013 10:09 AM
A well written blog.
From reading the article, I feel that the Indian Government’s decision to partner with low cost private schools is a step in the right direction to address the education gap, although it does prompt some more questions:
1. How likely is it that marginalised children will be able to be enrolled in the elite private schools in India? I can imagine this being blocked by various Parent Teacher Associations. If the government subsidy is lower than the average fee charged by an elite school, are parents of ‘non marginalised’ children expected to fund the shortfall in increased fees? This hardly seems fair.
2. I believe that current proposed RTE subsidies are not comparable to government school per student compensation levels and that huge discrepancies between states. Is this right? Again, hardly seems fair!
3. Is there any practical way that the government could impose an element of Quality Assurance to low cost private schools, so that RTE funding reciept is conditional upon passing Inspection? If so, RTE could perhaps be used as a tool to increase quality among low cost private schools.
4. Is the government going to fund ‘social integration’ programmes to help marginalised children culturally fit into their new, richer environments? No point getting the kids in, if they drop out after a few weeks due to bullying!
Looking forward to following the lively dialogue!
BY Pooja
ON March 17, 2013 10:29 AM
I am not sure that I agree with the author’s underlying thesis - data from private managed / state funded education is mixed (as is data from private schools more broadly as she rightly points out). For a massive country like India, will this work? Perhaps a better answer is radical and disruptive models for teacher training - Teach for India needs to get bigger and get better in my opinion (anyone else see the dreadful McDonalds adverts lately?). Anyway I agree that there is no panacea- although I wish there was one!
BY Kanupriya Misra
ON March 17, 2013 10:20 PM
Interesting perspective and I agree that the time to act is now. You have righty pointed out that the next generation is in classroom now. If we want to be the global power we need to ensure that these children are leaving school with skills that ake them ready , starting with the ability to read and write.
What we as a nation need to focus on is not the ownership of education but the results. The focus needs to be on quality. That however is not the starting point, we need to begin by defining quality. Moving away from a purely inputs based defination to one focused on outcomes and how children perform.
We need to look at other countries where PPP at the elementary level have resulted in better learning outcomes. A context similar to India would be that of Colombia. Where the Consession Schools have been a success in adressing the systems needs.
But yes, time to act is NOW!
BY Sharath Jeevan
ON March 18, 2013 08:03 AM
I agree with Kanupriya that this shouldn’t be about ideology. But the opportunity for Clause 12 and the wider PPP frameworks emerging in India to unleash innovation is really exciting. At STIR we have seen hundreds of experiments - we call them ‘micro-innovations’ - being unleashed by teachers and principals in both affordable private and government schools, aimed at improving learning outcomes. Legislation like this, combined with innovation in regulatory frameworks and systems, could provide much needed oxygen (whether in terms of recognition or funding) for such teachers and principals to innovate further, and for good models to spread.
BY Gaurav Bagdi
ON March 18, 2013 09:03 AM
Considering the fact, Ms. Hares is not Indian - i think this article could be a fair, neutral assessment of what exactly is wrong with the Education system in India, in a whole.
While, i was privileged enough to get a private school education during my early years, i wouldn’t go too far by commending it to be the best possible education system available for kids/students in India.
We have the likes of Kendriya Vidyalas, Pratibha Vikas Vidyalyas which are entirely owned and operated by the department of Education, with respect to different state governments, which are equally competitive in terms of their annual results with some of the top private schools/private education system in India. The issue lies in, the number of these schools are much lesser when compared to the general demand and the continuous degrading quality of education and image of teachers in regular/general govt. schools.
The point made in the article, with respect to the quality of education the private systems/schools are currently providing is definitely an eye opener.
Well, there is a problem. Nobody is denying that. Even the government. However, what i feel is, due the ever-growing number of population and demand, the education sphere, needs an uplift nothing short of a “revolution” to bring everything up to speed and of global standards.
BY Susannah Hares
ON March 18, 2013 02:47 PM
Hi Caroline -
Teacher motivation is certainly an important issue. This Young Lives research recently releases funded by DFID give some interesting insight into teacher motivation http://www.younglives.org.uk/files/working-papers/yl-wp91_singh_sarkar
Plus check out JPAL randomised trials on teacher performance and motivation in public versus private schools.
BY Susannah Hares
ON March 18, 2013 02:51 PM
Amitav and Robyn- pleased to hear enthusiasm for action! Agree that we need to consider the political economy very carefully. Convening the key players and speaking with a united voice is one strategy and I am encouraged to see many important players starting to align.
BY Susannah Hares
ON March 18, 2013 02:56 PM
Alastair and Sutha - you raise a critical issue on quality assurance. This needs to be at the backbone of a system like this. Academies could not have been rolled out I’m the UK without independent inspection, testing and accountability regimes that operate across all providers. ARK has started some interesting work on this very issue in Madyha Pradesh.
BY Susannah Hares
ON March 18, 2013 03:04 PM
Hi Kumar- I am not promoting for profit private schools. What I hope the blog suggests is a third way- non profit private providers, funded as quality assured by the state. ARK is a non profit organisation and our academies in the UK are not fee-paying. In fact our mission is to close the achievement gap. The quality of private schools in India is wildly inconsistent and I personally found it heart breaking that very poor families -like Divesh’s- are paying so much for such a low quality of education. Interested to know what you think about the future of the private sector - does it have a role in raising standards?
BY Kumar Surentha
ON March 19, 2013 12:50 AM
Susanna- yes I do believ that the government should provide education. The private sector is making the government sector worse for the poor. ARk has admirable track record in UK but India is very different story. Do not make mistake that many others have made before you and take the same school to India. It will not work. Thank you. Kumar.
BY Raj
ON March 19, 2013 02:14 AM
As an Indian living in Britain I agree that this writing poses questions about what children are actually learning in schools in India. This needs to be addressed to this is a welcome “call to action”. However I believe the “jury is still out” on whether accoutnability is higher or lower when part of government process. There are significant success stories that we hear about but do we hear as many cases of failure? How many academies in Britain have been closed down as a result of under performance? (Although I accept that the fact they have been closed down for under performance is part of Susannah’s argument about the need for Government-controlled quality and accountability.
Still. I agree in essence that RTE Clause 12 is controversial and that India needs controversy. I also agree that something needs to change.
BY James Mwangeri
ON March 20, 2013 12:08 PM
I am writing from Kenya. I would like to thank the STANFORD social innovation review for raising this important education subject. Our governments are FAILING our children. What is more important that our children?
Mr Raj, you question whether the private providers can do a good job but what we know is that our governments are not. In Uganda teacher attendance in government schools is 34% - where is the accountability there?
Mr Gaurev suggests REVOLUTION. We need nothing less and I believe a revolution could start here. Sussanna take note.
Thank you. Mwangeri James, Nairobi, Kenya
BY Marcus Venquisto
ON March 20, 2013 12:59 PM
We need to be bolder. That is the message from this article and seems to be supported by the majority of commentators. The questiion is: who is prepared to be bold?
Someone - a group of someones - needs to take on the electorally inclined.
BY Devanik Saha
ON March 23, 2013 07:48 AM
@ Susannah: Great article !. I believe the major problem with the Indian Education system is that its so complex such that each context presents its own set of challenges. What might work in area A might not work in Area B. Thus, the bold experiment could work in 20 districts but might not in the 40 more. But, that shouldn’t stop deter us from trying and innovating. Every area should have contextual solutions rather than a generic approach of solving educational issues everywhere which is where I believe majority of NGOs are committing errors.
BY sneha6858
ON April 19, 2013 02:22 AM
Very informative article, well written. I agree with all the points that government should provide education. One should be aware of all the information about the school before taking admission.
BY Pradip Kumar Srivastava
ON April 21, 2013 06:18 AM
Excellent job! This is actually the type of details that must definitely discussed through the World-wide-web. Outstanding and a incredible post. Amazing.. looking good!
BY Atul Singh
ON April 27, 2013 05:05 AM
ASER report shows that the learning level of children in rural areas of India is declining continuously over the years. I am pleased to work with ASER and in following link I have expressed some of my experiences while working for ASER.
http://lokkatha.com/150/index.php/education/283-the-joureny-of-aser-2012