Private school education – only for the rich, or not?

Все повече хора осъзнават неефективността на обучението, предлагано от държавните училища. Най-очевидният знак за това е нарастващият брой на младежите, които плащат за частни уроци.¹ И учениците, и родителите им виждат, че е невъзможно да се получи качествена подготовка по даден предмет само със заниманията в училище. Желанието на управниците да подобрят образователната система е видимо, но адекватни реформи така и не се случват, а за да си вършат добре работата, учителите са принудени непрекъснато да се борят с неефективната система.

At the same time, however, misconceptions about the alternative to public schooling remain widespread – many people, for example, think that private education is only for certain people, distinguished by a special social status and relatively high incomes. In fact, there are many examples of the existence of private schools for the poor. A study by J. TOOLEY and P. DIXON from 2005 deals with the development of private alongside free public education in some of the poorest regions of the world – India, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya.

The study shows that most students in the poorest corners of the planet attend private schools. In Ghana, Ga region (a poor area around the capital Accra), only 25% of the 779 schools surveyed were public, and 64% of children attended private schools. In the other countries included in the study, the trend is similar. Fees in these schools are low and vary depending on whether they are recognized by the state, with licensed schools paying more. For example, in India, Hyderabad district, fees in a recognized school are $2.20 per month, while in an unrecognized one they are $1.57 per month, with the poorest paying either lower fees or free education. ²

The study also examines other myths about private education. Even in the poorest areas, parents are willing to give up some of the little they have to send their children to a good private school, and this trend is not new. Contrary to popular belief, some private schools existed long before free public education was introduced in these countries. The main motive for introducing public education in certain regions was to increase the number of children regularly attending school. However, the results are far from the intentions. Some children enroll in public schools only because it is free, but overall the number of students (total in private and public schools) is decreasing.

The fact that education is free is rarely an incentive for someone who does not value receiving an education. Parents who did not send their children to school before the introduction of public education will not start doing so just because it is free. Some parents decide to enroll their children, who have previously been in private schools, in public schools, so that more children are in the classroom at the same time and the quality of the education received drops significantly. After some time, after the influx to public schools, there is a movement back to private schools.

It is interesting what is the reason, given the availability of free public education, that these extremely poor people prefer private tuition for a fee? Of course, quality. One parent summed up the situation this way: “If you go to the market for fruit and vegetables and they give you them for free, they will be spoiled. If you want fresh ones, you have to pay for them.” It is a matter of personal choice whether you prefer your child to attend a free school with almost zero positive results, or to pay to give them the opportunity to receive a good education.

It should be clarified that “good” education is a subjective definition. A good education for one person does not always correspond to someone else’s idea of such. In this case, this definition is used because private schools in these poor areas offer a great deal of diversity. There are separate schools serving different religious groups, cultures, languages, philosophies, and approaches to education. This gives parents many options in choosing the best for their children, based on their specific characteristics.

For a more objective assessment, the study by J. TOOLEY and P. DIXON compiled questionnaires for students in different regions to assess their knowledge in basic areas – mathematics, English and one more subject depending on the region and the school. It turns out that children who attend private schools have significantly higher results. But parents do not need to see test results to decide where to send their children, it is enough to look at the crowded classrooms in public schools and the empty notebooks with which students return from there. In addition to private schools having better results, they achieve this at a much lower cost compared to public schools. In Kenya, for example, the average monthly salary of teachers in public schools is $155 compared to $52 in private schools.

There is still much to be desired in order for more children to attend school regularly and to improve the quality, but the very fact that there are now private schools that strive to serve the population as best as possible is encouraging. Not always the most funds allocated to education through the state budget increase the quality and the state cannot always provide the most appropriate education for everyone. The example of these poorest regions is indicative enough that people themselves know what is best for them and can provide it.

¹ The national representative survey "Bulgarian Youth 2013" by the National Center for the Study of Bulgarian Language and Literature shows that the relative share of young people who paid for private lessons increased from 41% in 2010 to 46% in 2013.

²  http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/tooley.pdf

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