Page 41 - EducationWorld September 2020

ments owing to private schools that Private schools: myths & facts
have admitted poor children under
s.12 (1) (c) have piled up to “lakhs of
crores”, which if paid would come in
very handy to BPS struggling to re-
main afloat following forced closure
of all education institutions during
the Covid-19 pandemic.
Curiously, although NEP 2020 Private schools are for rich elite 47.5% of all school-going children are
acknowledges that private schools households children enrolled in private schools
have suffered continuous discrimi-
nation, admits that there is “far too Private schools are expensive • 70% of private schools levy tuition
much asymmetry between regula- fees of less than Rs.1,000 per child
tory approaches to public and private per month
schools” and professes an intent to • 45.5% levy monthly fees of less
create a level playing field in preschool than Rs.500
to class XII education, there’s not a • Only 9.4% levy fees of more than
single line in the 65-page NEP 2020 Rs.2,000 per child per month
on ways and means to help BPS whose
number countrywide, according to the
highly-respected Delhi-based think Learning outcomes are poor in • 65.1% of class V children in private
tank Centre for Civil Society (CCS, private schools schools can read class II texts.
estb.1997), aggregates 400,000 with In government schools: 44.2%
an enrolment of a huge cohort of 60 • 39.8% of private school children
can solve simple division sums.
million children. Government schools: 22.7%
The clear intent of the educracy is to
force the mass shutdown of BPS under
s.19 of the RTE Act, which mandates The number of private schools is • Private unaided schools: 350,000
heavy fines for private schools that minuscule • Aided private schools: 84,000
fail to meet the stringent infrastruc- • Budget private schools: 460,000
ture and teacher-pupil ratio norms • Government schools: 1.20 million
prescribed, from which government Source: PSIR 2020
schools are conveniently exempted.
On the contrary, your editors have private schools are valuable education stan and in Sudan and Sri Lanka with
consistently suggested government service providers that give voice and the United Nations, a large number of
guaranteed soft loans for BPS to en- choice to parents, respond to the de- BPS countrywide are on the verge of
able them to upgrade and implement mand for English learning which is closure following issuance of kneejerk
the infrastructure norms prescribed the pathway to high wages and liveli- and confusing directives of state gov-
by s.19 of the RTE Act. hoods and also teach soft skills such ernments to parents to stop paying
fees to private schools during the pan-
as hygiene and personality develop-

“ THE OMISSION OF ANY ment not taught in the great major- demic shutdown. Simultaneously they
are forcing BPS managements to con-
worthwhile reference to the
ity of government schools. NEP 2020
country’s 450,000 private
— especially BPS — by repealing ss.18
schools and 400,000 budget should have enabled private schools tinue paying teacher and staff salaries.
“By definition, BPS are MSMEs
private schools is a blindspot of NEP and 19 of the RTE Act,” says B h u - (micro small and medium enterpris-
2020. Private schools should have v a n a A n a n d, director of research at es), but they have been disqualified
been graciously co-opted to attain the Centre for Civil Society, who has from loan moratoriums and special
the lofty goals of the new policy. Far intensively researched the contribu- credit under the Rs.20 lakh crore Co-
from being exploitative institutions tion of private schools towards the vid-19 stimulus package of the prime
from which parents need protection, national development effort. minister. All this is proof of deep gov-
70 percent of private schools levy less According to Anand, an economics ernment prejudice against private
than Rs.1,000 monthly tuition fees alumna of Mumbai and Tufts (USA) education institutions,” adds Anand.
as indicated in PSIR 2020, and they universities who acquired valuable Against this backdrop of pervasive
satisfy the equity, access and inclusion work experience with Deloitte Con- bias within academia and govern-
objectives of NEP 2020. The country’s sulting in the US, USAid in Afghani- ment and love-hate relationship of the

SEPTEMBER 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 41