Privatization of School Education: Expenditure and Enrolment Trends
Published by: Admin
Authors: Ranjeet Kaur, Gaganpreet Kaur and Shalini Sharma
Abstract
The privatization of school education has emerged as a significant feature of the changing educational landscape in India over the past two decades. The present study is an endeavour to analyse the expenditure pattern and enrolment trends in government and private schools. For this, secondary data was procured from reliable sources such as ASER report, UDISE databases, NSSO report and relevant research report and paper. The analysis showed a continuous decline in the number of government schools, whereas private schools experienced a growth of nearly 10 percent over the past one and a half decades, reflecting the expanding role of the private sector in school education. Data observed the huge difference between private and government school expenditure at all level of education. The data indicate that the average per-student expenditure at the pre-primary level was ₹12,834 in private schools, compared to only ₹1,030 in government schools, making private school expenditure nearly twelve times higher. Further, data showed gender wise enrolment in private schools which exhibited devastating results. The highest gender gap in school enrolment was observed in private unaided recognized schools, where it was approximately 12 percent at both the national level and in Punjab. This indicated a significant disparity in the enrolment of boys and girls in private educational institutions. Caste-wise enrolment patterns further revealed that students from the general category predominantly attend private schools, whereas a majority of Scheduled Caste students depended on government schools due to their relatively weaker economic conditions and the rising cost of private education. These findings highlighted the unequal access to quality education across social groups. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen government and government-aided schools through improved infrastructure, the appointment of qualified teachers, and adequate financial support. In addition, stricter regulation of private school fees is essential to ensure equitable access to quality education, particularly for girls and marginalized communities.