India Institute - RESEARCH | ADVOCACY | CONSULTANCY

On RTE, do the math

akumarjain — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:02:00 +0000

Published Article:

indian_express-2012jun01.pdf

Now that the SC has upheld the 25 per cent clause, Centre and states must work on implementation.

Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of reservation of 25 per cent of admissions at the entry-level in private unaided schools for disadvantaged sections, focus should shift to the implementation of this provision. The Right to Education Act stipulates that private unaided schools “shall be reimbursed expenditure so incurred by it to the extent of per child expenditure incurred by the state, or the actual amount charged from the child, whichever is less”. So if the state spends Rs 1,500 per child and a private unaided school charges Rs 2,000, the school would be reimbursed Rs 1,500 per child admitted under the reservation policy. However, to implement this clause effectively, we need to know precisely how much both state and private schools spend on a per child basis. Unsurprisingly, given the paucity of data, this information is difficult to find and hence has become a hotly contested issue.

Broadly, the Government of India (GoI) funds elementary education through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The average per child expenditure for the financial year 2011-12 can be calculated by combining SSA budget figures with enrolment data collected through the District Information System for Education. In 2011-12, GoI spent Rs 4,269 as its allocation per enrolled child. This number varies across states. For instance, Chhattisgarh spent Rs 7,037, while Gujarat spent Rs 3,049 and Meghalaya spent Rs 27,451. However, the GoI allocation barely touches the surface of total government spending on elementary education. State government allocations account for almost 70 per cent of the total education budget. When these allocations are taken into account, per child cost variations across states are even starker.

But state-level allocations do not offer an accurate picture of per child costs. Accountability Initiative’s calculations of per child costs (see table) at the district level point to significant variation in per child costs across districts. Thus, in thinking through the mechanism for arriving at per child costs for the purpose of reimbursements to private schools, the district rather than the state ought to be the unit of analysis.

However, calculating per child allocation and expenditure at district level is tricky, given the lack of budget documents at the district level and multiplicity of departments implementing various schemes for elementary education. Arriving at these numbers requires a great deal of creativity. Data in states that have computerised their treasuries, such as Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, are easier to ascertain. Here, the per child cost can be calculated by tracing transactions in the bank accounts of the Drawing and Disbursing Officers at the district level. But in states where this information is not collated, estimates had to be made based on the proportion of schools, teachers and students in a given district compared to those in a state.

Still, if the RTE provision is to be implemented seriously, this must be given priority. There should be clarity about which items are to be included while calculating per child cost — recurring costs or both recurring and capital costs, for example, and how the per child cost is to be adjusted from year to year. The suggestion of having a uniform rule for the entire country, decided by the Centre in consultation with state governments, is worth considering. All the data required to perform cost calculations should be made public, so that anybody can understand and replicate them.

There is even more ignorance about the other side of the coin — private unaided schools. With the exception of the elite schools that have dominated the public debate, relatively little is known about the day-to-day functioning of private unaided schools, and how much these schools charge per child. In fact, most people do not know that private schools in much of India spend far less per child than government schools. A recent study by India Institute shows that 69 per cent of private unaided schools in Patna charge less than Rs 300 per month, lower than Bihar government’s per child cost of Rs 4,705. But private school costs are no longer static. RTE regulations with regard to teacher wages and infrastructure hold implications for private school costs, which makes estimating the financial implications of the reservation clause difficult.

It will help if state education departments display a list of all private unaided schools that admit students under the 25 per cent category with details, including the number of students admitted, fees charged and amount reimbursed, on their websites. These schools should be required to submit a statement indicating their costs under different heads and the fees charged at least annually. This should also be made publicly available. The government should come up with a standardised format for such a statement. This will facilitate public scrutiny of expenditure undertaken by private schools, and meaningful comparisons across private schools.

Published in:

The Indian Express

1 Jun 2012

Publication url:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/on-rte-do-the-math/956315/0

Right to Education Act threatens education

akumarjain — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:39:23 +0000

Published Article:

right-to-education-act-threatens-education_the-economic-times_25apr2012.pdf

In analysing the Supreme Court judgment upholding the Right to Education (RTE) Act, television channels have focused too much on the 25% reservation of seats in private schools - including famous elite schools - for low-income children.

This minor social engineering has produced some ridiculous protests from the elite. Yet, equally ridiculous is the claim that this will significantly help the poor. Of India's hundreds of millions of schoolchildren, only a few thousand poor will enter the elite havens. The others will remain at the mercy of third-rate government schools that provide no worthwhile education.

Worse, the Act poses a huge threat to the poor because it mandates the closing of all private unrecognised schools by 2013. If implemented, this will be the greatest educational disaster to befall India.

In desperation, the poor have increasingly switched their children from free government schools to fee-paying private ones. Only a tiny handful of private schools are elite schools. Most are unrecognised, charging low fees of 300 per month or less. They are cheap precisely because they lack the expensive infrastructure and qualified teachers mandated by government rules.

The Act obliges private schools to match government school salaries and amenities or close down. If implemented, school fees will rise 560% in low-cost schools and 173% in higher-cost schools in Patna, says a recent study by Rangaraju, Tooley and Dixon ( The Private School Revolution in Bihar).

The Act obliges the government to finance the 25% of reserved seats in private schools based on government teacher salaries. But government payments are typically much delayed, and require the greasing of palms. Even after receiving payment for 25% of students, private schools will have to raise fees enormously for the remaining 75%. This will hit the poor.

The educational establishment is embarrassed by the failure of government schools, and the mass switch to unrecognised schools. But the Patna study suggests that the rise of unrecognised schools is more a matter for celebration than embarrassment. Though illegal, they are providing parents with choice and education that were unavailable earlier.

The study of Patna is a microcosm of the issues affecting the whole country. It suggests that 65% of all Patna children are in private unaided schools. There is hardly a street without such a school. This is not because of the lack of government schools. The study looked for private schools within a radius of 1 km of different government schools. It found a minimum of nine private schools, and a maximum of 93!

Children in unrecognised schools cannot appear for official school-leaving exams. Yet, the study showed that the majority of parents knew this and did not care. One reason was double enrolment: kids were enrolled in government schools but actually studying in private unaided schools. This was illegal, but enabled them to appear for exams, after greasing some palms. Once again, government failure was partly assuaged by a nominally illegal, but socially sanctioned market solution.

Many educationists expostulate that the bulk of these private schools lack qualified teachers, playgrounds and other infrastructure, and amount to exploitation of the poor. Many claim to be English-medium schools but have teachers that can barely speak or teach English.

The Patna study found that low-cost schools on average paid teachers 1,447 per month. High-quality private schools paid as much as 11,094. Government school teachers get far more in several states. Yet, the lowly-paid, unqualified teachers in private schools in Patna have on average produced better results than government schools.

An Aser study of Ward 60 in Patna compared learning outcomes in government and private schools, and found that the former lagged in virtually all indicators. For instance, the proportion of Class II children who could read at least some words was 30.6% in government schools and 87.5% in private schools. The proportion of Class III children who could recognise numbers up to 100 was 53.9% in government schools and 97.2% in private schools.

These figures should be used with caution. They may not apply to other states and cities. Some private schools may be useless.

Yet, on the whole, parents switching their children to private schools know what they are doing. Educationists wanting to close substandard private schools do not.

A Right to Education may be a good idea, but the actual Act provides no such right at all. It has no penalties or sanctions whatsoever for state governments that fail to provide schooling. It has no penalties for government schools and teachers that do not teach. It has no objection to schools that produce only dropouts and functional illiterates. The Supreme Court judgment pays no attention to this.

Private schools are illegally providing some sort of education, which the RTE Act is incapable of doing legally. That is India's tragedy. It will not be solved by ordering 25% reservation for poor children in elite schools. And it certainly will not be solved by closing down unrecognised schools, or forcing them to match government teacher salaries and, hence, quintuple school fees.

I don't often suggest the flagrant violation of the law. But state governments should ignore the RTE Act's provision to close private schools that do not measure up to desirable but unrealistic standards. Rather, state governments should recognise the value of 'unrecognised' schools, and devise ways to gradually integrate these into the formal system. If this means violating the Act, so be it.

Published in:

The Economic Times

25 Apr 2012

Publication url:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/columnists/swaminathan-s-a-aiyar/rig...

Pvt schools preferred for boys

akumarjain — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:04:16 +0000

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hindustan-times_2012apr12.jpg

PATNA: Arun Kumar: With close to 1.5 lakh children studying in unrecognised private unaided schools in Patna alone, the cost of shifting them to recognised schools at the rate of R4,705 per child per annum would be around R70-crore. For the entire state, the amount could be astronomical, running into several hundred crores per annum. These are the findings of the study, undertaken in all the 72 wards of Patna jointly by ‘The India Institute’, New Delhi and Newcastle University, UK. Maintaining that the state will require increase in its budget by around 200% just to educate all children, it calls for certain modification in the RTE to make it more feasible. The study says that private schools are preferred choice of parents, especially when it comes to male child. For girl children, government schools still remain the first choice. Around 53.80% of students in government schools are girls, compared to 43.40% in private schools. Further segregation of data reveals, that 45% of the students in the low cost private schools were girls and 42% in higher cost private schools.

According to the study, just 2.3% of the low-cost private schools were recognised, while the percentage went up to 17.4% in case of high cost schools. Still, these low cost schools are mostly located in the buffer zones of government schools. Out of 111 government schools, there were just three with less than 10 private schools in their buffer zone in Patna.

In contrast, there are three other government schools with over 90 private schools within one km radius in the state capital. There were around 17% government schools with up to 20-30 private schools, while another 17% had up to 50-60. Overall, the study found, there were 1054 private schools within a kilometer radius of 111 government schools. “Since unrecognised schools cannot send students to sit for class 10 and 12 board exams, they must also be enrolled in government schools or recognised private schools or national open schooling. Since fee structure in recognised private schools is high, we believe the data suggests high level of double enrollment,” says Baladevan Rangaraju, who undertook the study.

The study highlights that a majority of the low-cost private unaided schools, despite being unrecognised, have been running for up to 10-15 years. Some of them charge fee as low as R20 a month, while the maximum fee goes up to R290 a month. Another reason for attraction to private unaided schools is because they claim to be English medium. This is so, despite very low average monthly salary of barely R1250 in the low cost and unrecognised private unaided schools, though the salary structure was found to be higher in the recognised ones. In terms of basic facilities, more than 99% of the low cost schools had drinking water and separate toilet facilities.

Published in:

Hindustan Times (Patna Edition)

12 Apr 2012

Few takers for state schools: Survey

akumarjain — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:00:32 +0000

Published Article:

hindustan-times_2012apr10.jpg

PATNA: Arun Kumar: Sixty-five per cent of all Patna households have enrolled their wards in private unaided schools, with just 34% in government schools, says a very revealing survey, just released.

The comprehensive survey, which covered all 72 wards of Patna over a period of one year concludes that 70% of all parents, whose wards study in government schools, would prefer sending their children to private unaided schools if they could afford it. More than half the respondents do not think, that government schools impart quality education!

The survey was jointly conducted by the India Institute’, New Delhi and EG West Centre, Newcastle University, UK, with the approval of the government of Bihar. It underlined facts contrary to government statistics reflected in the district information system for education (DISE) of the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA).

Titled ‘The private school revolution in Bihar’, the study, undertaken by Baladevan Rangaraju, Professor James Tooley and Dr Pauline Dixon over a period of one year, has found that Patna has over 1,574 schools – government, private aided and private unaided against DISE statistics for just 350 schools. The study shows that three-quarters of the schools were excluded from DISE, which reflects omission of 2,38,767 school-going children out of 3,33,776!

The report, which used the global positioning system (GPS) technology to locate the spread of private schools in Patna, says that most of the missing schools are the unrecognised ones, which charge low fee and cater to the poor and low middle class, and are clustered around government schools. The survey was supplemented by household survey. Under the right to education act, 2009, which came into force in 2010, the unrecognised schools will be closed down if they fail to conform to the laid down parameters within three years, i.e. April 2013. The report has says this could not be the answer, as the private unaided schools make up for around 78% of the schools in Patna only and the trend could be similar in other parts of the state.

“Rather, there should be a graded system for recognition, with relaxation in infrastructural norms. The recognition should be based on learning outcomes of children through simple tests. The priority should be to reform government schools, but until that happens why penalize the poor by taking away one choice,” poses the report. Classifying private unaided schools into three categories – based on their monthly fee levels, the report highlights, that 69% of the private unaided schools are low cost, 22% affordable and only 9% high cost.

“GPS mapping showed, that there existed hardly a road or a street in Patna without a private school. Significantly, the number of private schools within 1 km radius of a government schools ranged between 9 and 93,” says Rangaraju, a native of Pondicherry.

“What is significant is the finding, that almost one-fifth of the parents, whose children were in unrecognized schools, were confident of getting a transfer certificate from a recognized school or a government school as and when they required. Many had enrolled in government schools, but were actually attending private unaided schools,” it added.

Published in:

Hindustan Times (Patna Edition)

10 Apr 2012

State of Education

akumarjain — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:28:22 +0000

Our study shows that closing unrecognised schools as mandated by Section 19 of the RTE Act will NOT be in the educational interests of lakhs of children in the country. Therefore, the need of the hour is to rate and recognize schools all schools, including state-run, based on learning outcomes, not input criteria alone.

Distribution of Private Schools

akumarjain — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:22:06 +0000

India Institute has for the first time in India analysed the distribution of private schools in a city (Patna) using GIS technology.

Patna Report Launch

akumarjain — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 01:20:06 +0000

The Private School Revolution in Bihar: Findings from a survey in Patna Urban, report of an India Institute study with Newcastle University, was released by Member of Parliament Mr N K Singh and noted author Mr Gurcharan Das on Feb 27, 2012.

2.4 lakh school-going children out of official data in Patna

akumarjain — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:15:40 +0000

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financial-express_2012feb28.jpg

New Delhi: The government may be hugely understimating the number of students enrolled in primary and upper primary schools in the country. A study by an independent public policy research firm has found that the actual student population at these levels in just one city - Patna - is 3.4 lakh, higher than the official estimate by about 2.4 lakh.

The study by India Institute has revealed that there are 1,574 schools as opposed to government statistics that shows only 350 schools in Patna. This study with EG West Centre of the Newcastle University has analysed the complete private schools’ landscape within one city in India.

Classifying private unaided schools into three categories, based on their monthly fee levels, the report noted that 69% of private unaided schools are low cost, 22% affordable, and only 9% higher cost. That is, the vast majority of private unaided schools found in Patna Urban were low cost, charging fees less than R300 per month. In fact, nearly 1 out of 3 children in Patna Urban attend a low cost private school. Incidentally, ’s recent study in one ward of Patna (number 60) showed that children in private schools had significantly better results in math and reading than government schools. "Concerning enrolment, we suggest fully 65% of schoolchildren in Patna attend private unaided schools, with just 34% attending government schools," said Baladevan Rangaraju, director and founder at India Institute.

Published in:

The Financial Express

28 Feb 2012

Publication url:

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/2.4-lakh-schoolgoing-children-out-of-offici...

In Patna, a low-cost private school revolution

akumarjain — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:01:39 +0000

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mint_2012mar22.jpg

The government may not agree but a low-cost and affordable private school revolution seems to be taking shape in Patna, although a bulk of it involves institutions that are not recognised by the government.

A study by education think-tank India Institute and the UK’s Newcastle University found 1,574 schools in Bihar’s capital city. Of these, 21% were government-run and the rest were private schools - at least three-fourths of which offered low-cost or affordable education.

This last category of schools, they found, had a better record of attendance and teaching, as measured by parameters borrowed from education non-profit Pratham’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER).

But many of the private schools were not recognized by any official body - which will put their students in a spot when trying to access mainstream higher education. The schools could also face closure under the Right to Education Act, or RTE Act.

According to the study, at least 65% of the school students in Patna studied in private institutions, against a national average of around 20%.

"What has been found in Patna is unlikely to be different from many parts of India. Our study data is a complete census of the schools in Patna," said Baladevan Rangaraju, head of India Institute.

The study team observed that about 30% of the students in the unrecognized private schools were "double enrolled" in government schools, he said.

Nearly 70% of the parents surveyed preferred to send their children to private unaided schools as in most of the cases the fees were affordable, the study found.

The report classifies private unaided schools into three categories based on monthly fees: 69% of them were low-cost schools collecting less than Rs.300 in fees; 22% were affordable with fees of Rs.300-500; and 9% were high-cost with fees exceeding Rs.500.

The study also showed a parental preference to provide boys, rather than girls, with better education, Rangaraju said.

He added that the teacher-student ratio of 1:22 and the 90% attendance of teachers in unaided private schools were better than in government schools. Several studies have indicated that teacher absenteeism is a huge problem in government schools.

Vinod Raina, an educationist and a member of the central advisory board on education (CABE), said that if the study says 78% of Patna’s schools are private then it’s a "junk study" as it has counted unrecognized schools as part of the system. "Anyone can not put a board saying it’s a school, come and take admission," he said.

CABE is an apex education advisory body that helps government in policy making.

Raina also argued that the quality of education in government schools was good. "The board results tell us that the top scores come from government schools," he said, referring to the Navodaya Schools and Central schools that have performed well in school board exams.

Rangaraju said closing schools for not adhering to the RTE Act may not be a fair assessment of reality. Under the Act, schools in cities need to have at least 800 sq.m. of space but that may not be feasible because of a scarcity of land and the not-for-profit nature of education, he said.

"RTE talks about input without emphasizing on outcome. This needs to change if we want to improve (the) quality of education," said Rangaraju.

The ASER study, Wipro Ltd’s Quality Education study, and the recently published Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), all point to one thing: the learning outcome of Indian students is much poorer than that of students in many other countries.

While the ASER study found that more than half of class V students surveyed were unable to read class II texts; the PISA report, following surveys in 73 nations, found the performance of Indian students to be worse than those in every other country except Kyrgyzstan.

Published in:

Mint

22 Mar 2012

Publication url:

http://www.livemint.com/2012/03/21231912/In-Patna-a-lowcost-private-s.html?atype...

Poverty no bar for quality-conscious parents as private schooling booms

akumarjain — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:47:56 +0000

Published Article:

financial-express_2012mar02.jpg

New Delhi: They may be poor, but they don't compromise when it comes to their children's education, show data on schooling compiled by a Delhi-based research firm.

A study conducted by the India Institute said in Patna, 65% of children go to private unaided schools while 34% attend government schools. The trend spans many states and is seen strengthening every year, even as the country tries to ensure free and compulsory education for all with a planned increase in spending on education. Observers said private schools are perceived as providers of high-quality education, driving more parents away from government schools.

"The Right To Education Act is still being implemented in many states and we expect increased migration from government to private schools because of the 25% reservation in government schools. The poor consider good education as a way out of poverty. They see limited outcome from government schools," said Bharat Gulia, senior manager at consulting firm Ernst and Young.

India's 2.6-2.9 lakh private schools form a fifth of all schools in the country. Student enrollment is close to 50% of the total 248 million from kindergarten to Class 12. Nationally, private school enrollment for the 6-14 age group is rising every year, up from 18.7% in 2006 to 25.6% in 2011.

In Kerala, Manipur, Gujarat and Maharashtra, more than 60% of students attend private schools.

"Even if government schools improve the quality of education they impart, their perception will take time to change. Parents never migrate their children from private to government schools," said Arvind Mohan, economist at Lucknow University. Another concern is the number of students who do not get included in official data.

The India Institute report said the government may be significantly underestimating the number of students enrolled in primary and upper primary schools. The actual student population in Patna is 3.4 lakh against the official estimate of 2.4 lakh, the study said.

"Some students are unaccounted because of the lack of standardised processes and quality. Right to Education is still new and there are no national guidelines on how it will count students. In fact, Bihar may be one of the states which is looking at this," Mohan added.

Between 30% and 60% of children in rural areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Punjab, J&K, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are enrolled in private schools. North-western states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana have had high enrollment in private schools as well.

"The RTE act, if seriously implemented, will make it impossible for ‘low-cost’ or ‘affordable’ schools to operate. But over the last six years, private school enrollment in rural India has gone up by 5.5 percentage points, which translates into an increase of just over 25%," noted Madhav Chavan, president of Pratham.

According to the Annual Status of Education Report, private school students have done slightly better than those of government schools. While 56% Class V government school students were unable to read Class III text, the number was 38% in private schools.

Published in:

The Financial Express

2 Mar 2012

Publication url:

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/poverty-no-bar-for-qualityconscious-parents...