Making the Grade? Private Education in Northern India

Efforts to promote literacy and other forms of educational achievement in India have in recent years entailed policy reforms aimed at de-regulating the provision of primary and secondary education, especially in rural areas. In many States, deregulation has entailed the active promotion of privately-funded education, raising concerns about the motivations and qualifications of private schools and teachers, about social streaming and about the impact that privately-funded schools will have on the government system. Drawing upon a case study of private education in the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh, the following paper explores the ways in which the establishment of four privately-funded schools affected the socio-economic composition of students, the quality of teaching, the involvement of parents and caregivers and the performance and accountability of private school teachers and administrators. As we might expect, enrolment was biased strongly in favour of boys from forward castes, especially after Grade 5. However, the evidence also reveals that the private schools provided important opportunities for girls and children from lower caste families. Moreover, and on the basis of surveys and interviews we conducted with teachers, administrators and parents, the combination of temporary contracts and private payments appears to have created a situation in which teachers and administrators were explicitly concerned about the perceptions and expectations of parents, and parents were involved - or at least interested in - the education of their children. Whether such findings reflect the miracle of 'market-based approaches'- as opposed to the values and aspirations of higher income families - the findings provide ample justification for further empirical study.