The Basic Math

• 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 schooleducation...their role must be recognised, and those providing quality education should beencouraged, especially when they cater to less privileged children."
—From a February 4 Knowledge Commission note to PM Manmohan Singh

• 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.