Write Or Wrong

• An HRD ministry plan recommends private-public participation in running government schools
  
• It wants the proposal acted upon by April this year
  
• 2,500 schools will be covered under the scheme
  
• Critics fear that the move will pave the way for total privatisation, turning schools into teaching shops
  
• Industry, they feel, must only invest in infrastructure and not run schools

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"Private schools play a significant role in dispensing school education...their role must be recognised, and those providing quality education should be encouraged, especially when they cater to less privileged children."
—From a February 4 Knowledge Commission note to PM Manmohan Singh

The "opening up" of primary and secondary education in the country has always been a matter of much heated debate and controversy.

School education has Rs 17,000 crore riding it on annually. Reason enough for corruption, fear many.

Last week, the human resources development (HRD) ministry finally decided it was time to test the waters. Outlook has learnt that the ministry has chalked out a proposal which seeks to model close to 2,500 schools all over the country on the lines of the Kendriya Vidyalayas with the help of private players. "The proposal is to set up schools with the help of the industry. This public-private partnership (PPP) will lay special emphasis on opening schools at the block level," says Arun Kumar Rath, secretary, school education and literacy, at the HRD ministry. According to him, the partnership will be in consultation with state governments as it is they who will have to ink the partnership. "The private players will supplement the efforts of the state government with the latter providing the grant for education," adds Rath.

The modalities of the proposal are being worked out and it is learnt that the ministry is keen that the project takes off as soon as possible, preferably around April this year. Rath also says talks are on with the industry to gauge its willingness. But he adds this rider: "At no stage should this be construed as the state withdrawing from the key education sector. This should be read as a collaborative venture at best," says Rath.

At present, three models are being closely studied. These are:

• Fully-managed private schools.
  
• A joint venture where the state invests in infrastructure and frames the syllabus. The industry takes care of providing tuition to students and managing the welfare of teachers.
  
• Limited role for the industry under which it will provide and maintain school infrastructure.

While the Knowledge Commission is all for private participation and backs the HRD ministry's proposal, there are academics who strike a note of caution. They point out that it is the government's responsibility to provide education and it should not abdicate this. Krishna Kumar, director, National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT), has in a signed article questioned the wisdom behind the move. Notes Kumar: "While the rationale for PPP is government inefficiency, the means offered to overcome it actually promise no relief or improvement. It would not be wrong to view PPP as a renamed strategy to take advantage of the scarcity of educational provision in a society where education is in high demand."

The cynicism is not misplaced. Says Kumar: "There is no instance in the world where the state has withdrawn from the primary responsibility of providing school education." It is not as if the NCERT, in its criticism of private participation in education, sees no role for the industry. Kumar suggests that there are crucial areas like providing good quality laboratories in government schools. "Why doesn't a telecom company come forward and provide a telephone to a headmaster in a remote village-run school? What is required is a systemic partnership and a clear delineation of tasks that the private sector can perform," says Kumar.

There are many who even see in the HRD ministry's proposal a sinister design to privatise education to facilitate the gradual withdrawal of the government from the sector. Kumar cautions that ownership of schools by the industry will only accentuate the discrimination that exists now. Educationists say that after the initial tokenism, private players will treat education as a business and soon start looking at profit margins to justify their participation. Why else, asks Kumar, is the industry shirking from providing infrastructure to schools? Indeed the question concerned academics are asking is this: why is the industry keen on only taking over schools?

Supporters of the public-private (PP) initiative, on the other hand, armed with statistics, talk of the high dropout rates, absenteeism by teachers, and dismal quality of teaching as adequate reasons for private participation. Says Vijay Thadani, chairman, CII's National Committee on Education: "Given the high rate of dropouts and the need to provide basic infrastructure, there is obviously a case for both the private sector and the government to coexist." To reinforce his case, he says roughly Rs 10 lakh is required over a period of five years to run a school. If funds come from the industry, it could ease the pressure on the government.

Thadani points out that the CII is also trying to factor in a teachers training programme. "Teaching, particularly in schools, no longer enjoys the respectability it used to have. Close to two million trained teachers are required and the industry can play a role here in providing the infrastructure for training teachers," he says.

A public-private partnership that is cited as a success is the Chhattisgarh Soochana Sakti Yojana. Covering 1,189 schools—of which 1,051 schools are in rural areas, including 428 tribal schools—the niit has trained about 1,299 teachers to spread computer literacy among children. The project works on the following business model: the niit works on a grant of Rs 33 crore over a three-year period from the state to set up teaching infrastructure. Part of the grant also goes in paying salaries for the teachers. It also covers profit.

So is private-public partnership the answer to India's education problems? Experts tell you that practically every proposal looks perfect on paper. But it is the implementation that is cause for concern. The private player, they feel, has to show some level of commitment that is not always profit-driven. But with Rs 17,000 crore riding on school education annually, many fear that partnerships may end up with corrupt government officials sharing the grants with unscrupulous private players.