Central Square Foundation and Omidyar Network
India Release
‘State of the Sector Report on Private Schools’
‘State of the Sector Report on Private Schools’
Report findings underline that the private school
sector educates nearly 50% of India’s school-going children and the need to focus
on improving their learning outcomes
Central Square Foundation, a non-profit
organisation that works towards ensuring quality school education, and Omidyar
Network India, an investment firm focussed on social impact, released the
first-of-its-kind report today on the state of the private school sector in
India. The report highlights the need to improve learning outcomes in private
schools which educate nearly half of India’s school-going children.
The report is a comprehensive analysis of
existing research and evidence on the sector. It suggests reforms to streamline
the operations of private schools with a focus on improving student learning.
It aims to be a ready reckoner for policymakers, academicians, researchers, philanthropists
and educationists amongst other stakeholders associated with the sector.
About 70% children in urban centres and a quarter
from rural households attend private schools. Over 50% students in 16 Indian
states are enrolled in private schools. The increased enrollment can be
attributed to the rising demand by aspirational parents. A large number of
parents — about 70% — pay less than Rs. 1000 per month as school fees. The
report finds that 73% of parents with children in private schools believe these
schools provide a better learning environment. However, student performance in
private schools is only marginally better than government schools after
adjusting for disadvantages in student backgrounds. About 35% of rural private
school students in Grade 5 are unable to read a basic Grade 2-level paragraph.
The report finds that parents lack the means to
make informed decisions while choosing schools based on learning performance.
Board Examinations, among the only few reliable and standardised metrics to
assess learning, are held in the last few years of schooling making it
difficult for parents to judge the quality of schools during the early years of
education. Moreover, nearly 60% of the private schools across India do not go
up to a Board Examination grade.
Amitabh Kant, CEO
of NITI Aayog, released the report at a digital event and said, “An educated and
literate India is not possible without the private sector working towards our
nation building. We must pay attention to getting it right. We need to bring
reforms using access, equity and quality as guiding factors. More importantly,
we need to shift the focus from monitoring of inputs to monitoring of outcomes.
Quality education has been this government’s priority and NITI Aayog is
drafting a model regulatory act in consultation with all stakeholders. We
believe we will see fruitful results based on the references and results
underlined in this report."
now to
institute a system that will give parents assessment-based information based on
key stage examinations at Grades 3, 5, and 8, as the NEP suggests. They can use
this information to compare school quality and pick the best school for their
child.”
And speaking about the creating a demand
for quality education among parents, Roopa
Kudva, Managing Director, Omidyar Network India, said, “We need to empower
parents to make informed decisions based on learning quality when choosing a
school. In the absence of meaningful information on how schools perform on
learning, parents tend to give weightage to tangible parameters like school
infrastructure or English as the medium of instruction. Philanthropy capital
can play a vital role in setting the ground in three main areas: greater
awareness building, increased transparency from the schools themselves and
improving the quality of engagement between parents and the schools.”
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