Is Private Sector Involvement Saving Education from Public Atrophy? Questioning pro-private assumptions on equitably and efficiently educating the disadvantaged

What is special about the best public secondary schools in Nepal? There has been a global debate on the rationale for and efficacy of public and private school systems. The dominant narrative in the Nepali context is that... [ view full abstract ]

What is special about the best public secondary schools in Nepal?

There has been a global debate on the rationale for and efficacy of public and private school systems. The dominant narrative in the Nepali context is that public schools have steadily lost ground to private schools over the past three decades due to poor quality and efficiency. This paper provides a different perspective to the discourse by focusing on the question, what is special about the best public secondary schools in Nepal, in two districts (Kathmandu and Chitwan) with high private market share.

Through detailed survey analysis, I find that public schools that were identified as the best schools in the district were more likely to have higher enrolment, be selective, and have higher mathematics test scores and high proficiency scoring students. My in-depth analysis of one best public school in each district reveals that the locality stakeholders highlight the best public school’s principal leadership and well-functioning team dynamics as the main reason for the school’s examination performance. School principals suggested that their success is linked to their adaptability, continuous relationship building with teachers and parents, use of regular examination analysis to monitor student learning, taking a child-centric approach and involving students in decision-making, and providing transparency on financial decision-making.

Thus, this paper provides evidence that goes against the dominant notion that public schools are generally perceived of as being worse than private schools, and highlights the heterogeneity of public schools, and the importance of dynamic public school leadership.

School Choice in Rural Nigeria? The Limits of Low-fee Private Schooling in Kwara State The rise in low-cost private primary schooling serving relatively poor clients is becoming well-documented. However much of this... [ view full abstract ]

School Choice in Rural Nigeria? The Limits of Low-fee Private Schooling in Kwara State

The rise in low-cost private primary schooling serving relatively poor clients is becoming well-documented. However much of this literature focuses on urban areas whose dense populations are favourable to market growth and competition. This paper goes some way to filling a gap in the literature on whether low-cost private schools are serving the needs of the poor in rural areas, taking the case of one Nigerian state. It contrasts the situation in rural areas with that of urban Ilorin, where private schools cater to over half of all enrolled children. The paper shows that private schooling is currently inaccessible to the poor, with only 3.3% of children in the poorest 40% of the population attending them, and only 13% of enrolled children in rural areas. The key message is that redoubled efforts are needed to improve government schools as providers of last resort to those bypassed by the market.

This paper examines the institutional evolution (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; North, 1990) of the low-fee private sector in parts of the Global South as an attractive sector for corporate business. The entry of ‘big’ corporate... [ view full abstract ]

This paper examines the institutional evolution (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; North, 1990) of the low-fee private sector in parts of the Global South as an attractive sector for corporate business. The entry of ‘big’ corporate capital, domestic and international, and the emergence of an ecosystem of allied service providers for this sector (e.g. education microfinance institutions, rating systems, scripted curriculum delivery systems, education technology providers, etc.), many of which are also corporate-backed or run, are markers of institutional evolution of the sector. Though the scale and reach of the sector is not as grand as corporate operators purport, the ‘second wave’ is entrenched in increased corporate engagement, business practice, and commercialisation. And this warrants serious attention.

The second wave sees a shift from ‘one-off mom-and-pop teaching shops’ in schooling micro-ecosystems (e.g. individual villages, slums, urban neighbourhoods), to their coexistence with corporate-backed school chains operating as part of a micro-system within themselves. They span geographical boundaries beyond the local (e.g. across districts, cities, and countries), and are supported by allied service providers.

The issue of whether or not there is an appropriate, or even necessary role for the private sector in education delivery in the Global South, is hotly contested. What is clear is that private schooling has expanded, often as a... [ view full abstract ]

The issue of whether or not there is an appropriate, or even necessary role for the private sector in education delivery in the Global South, is hotly contested. What is clear is that private schooling has expanded, often as a result of parental perceptions of government sector failure. Over the last two decades or more, a relatively new phenomenon of low-fee private schools targeting poorer communities has been increasingly documented in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.

Though the literature has raised serious equity concerns associated with increased private provision, increased private supply, in particular, the low-fee sector has been lauded by some influential advocates and investors as a grassroots movement for the poor, by the poor, to meet their own educational needs while their governments are failing them. Proponents argue that it is affordable enough to reach many of the poor, and there is demand, as demonstrated by increases in private enrolments and private schools. Proponents further argue that private sector demand is a result of inefficient and ineffective government schools, mired in inertia.

This symposium questions many of these assumptions drawing on examples of successful government provision in Nepal, evidence of the limits of low-fee private schooling in Nigeria, and emerging evidence on the growing involvement in education of for-profit actors, as well as investigating the increasingly use language of public-private partnership.