Nearly 50% (12 crore) students in India today are enrolled in private schools, making it the third largest system in the world behind China.
Nearly 50% (12 crore) students in India today
are enrolled in private schools, making it the third largest system in the
world behind China’s education system and India’s public school system.
While the growth of enrolment in government schools dropped
from a little over 74% in 1978 to 52% in 2017, in private schools it grew from
just above 3% to nearly 35% in the same period. Even as it contributes nearly
Rs 2 lakh crore to the economy, the private school growth story is also
inhibited by low learning levels, lack of transparency and regulatory issues.
“The State of the Sector Report: Private Schools in India”, a comprehensive study by Central Square Foundation based on government data calls for transparency from private schools to improve their quality and for the
government to play a role in regulating their fees. Contrary to the perception
of being elite, the report highlighted that 45% of students in private schools
pay less than Rs 500 a month as fees and 70% pay less than Rs 1,000 a month as
fees. According to the report, enrolment grew by nine percentage points between
1998 and 2007, and ever more rapidly, by 16.6 percentage points, in the next
decade between 2007 and 2017.
However, the issue of low learning outcomes plague private
schools as well with 60% of rural private school students in class V unable to
do a three-digit division, 35% failing to read a basic class II level
paragraph, and average score for class X students in private schools dipping
below 50% in four out of five subjects.
Releasing the report on Wednesday, Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti
Aayog said: “There is an information asymmetry that exists. Though enrolment
has increased exponentially in private schools, the learning outcomes have
stagnated for a decade now. They have to really focus on learning outcomes as
that is critical. Various state governments also need to rethink on a
regulatory framework for private schools and focus on learning outcomes rather
than on any other inputs.”
As per the report, factors driving low learning levels are
lack of information around school quality with the only independent markers
being the board examinations. And with 60% of the private unaided schools
ending before the grade board exam testing, it becomes difficult for parents to
judge the quality of their schooling options. Also a far greater number (42%)
of private unaided schools offer English as a language of instruction as
opposed to 10% of government schools. But, schools which are English medium on
paper may not be so in practice.
See the full report “The State of the Sector Report: Private Schools in India
Courtesy- Times of India
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