Page 44 - EducationWorld September 2020

Cover Story

“Competition is the best protection against commercialisation”

Dilip Thak ore interview ed A s h is h the country’s 1.20 million government education and has called for action to
D h a w a n , founder- chairman of the schools. What’s your comment? ease the promotion of new schools.
Central Square F oundation, Delhi. The government operates at an As a guiding document, it has
Ex cerpts: enormous scale, and the National given clear policy directions. We are
Education Policy 2020 has highlight- hopeful that early next year, when
ed the government’s commitment we have specific rules there will be
to strengthen and improve learning significantly greater autonomy for
outcomes in government schools. private schools to work towards bet-
However, this report is focused ter learning outcomes.
on improving learning outcomes in
private schools — an important and Some educationists believe that NEP
independent pursuit from the need 2020 mandates greater regulation and
to improve the quality of the govern- control of private schools than before. To
ment school system. Given that what extent, if any, do you agree with this
parents have voted with their feet opinion?
and nearly 50 percent of children are On the contrary, NEP 2020 acknowl-
in private education, it’s not in the edges there is overemphasis on non-
The voluminous State of the Sector Report national interest to get mired in an contextual input-based regulations
on Private Schools in India (PSIR 2020) ideological debate. Instead we should relating to land and infrastructure.
is an impressive and unprecedented work to strengthen the system to It says that “the regulatory over-
research study. What was the motiva- improve learning outcomes of all emphasis on inputs, and the mecha-
tion and objective of commissioning this children. While the report calls for nistic nature of their specifications
study? common standards for evaluating — physical and infrastructural — will
Nearly 50 percent of all children in learning outcomes in private and be changed and requirements made
India are enrolled in the country’s government schools — which NEP more responsive to realities on the
4.5 lakh privately managed schools. 2020 promises. It is necessary to ac- ground.” However, the new policy
We felt this sector doesn’t get atten- knowledge that governance systems has missed the opportunity to legiti-
tion proportionate to its scale. The required in government and private mise for-profit schools governed by
report’s objective is to generate wider schools are different. appropriate financial and taxation
understanding of the contribution of rules.
private schools by synthesising data The National Education Policy 2020
and research relating to this sector. scarcely acknowledges private schools With the economy in the doldrums, how
except to say that parents need protection confident are you that the 6 percent of
How satisfied are you with PSIR 2020? from commercialisation and exploitation GDP expenditure commitment for public
To what extent has the study attained its by private schools. What’s your comment? education of NEP 2020 will be fulfilled in
objectives? NEP 2020 has acknowledged that the foreseeable future?
While there is a great deal of re- almost half the children in India are According to the Economic Survey
search still to be done in this sector in private schools. It also admits that 2019-2020, the Central and state
— including issues such as institu- private schools should be granted governments spend 3.1 percent of
tional constraints and regulatory greater autonomy through contextual GDP on public education includ-
systems for poor learning outcomes and pragmatic regulations, acknowl- ing higher education. This doesn’t
— the report covers the funda- edges that the regulatory regime has include private expenditure on
mentals of this important sector in often discouraged public-spirited education — by way of school fees
primary-secondary education. It private schools and that there is of children in private schools and
answers questions like how many regulatory asymmetry between pri- higher education institutions and
private schools exist in India, who at- vate and public schools. private tuition fees paid by parents,
tends them, what drives the demand We believe private schools need which aggregates another 3 percent
for them, what are their learning to be allowed to work towards im- of GDP.
outcomes and how they can improve. proving learning outcomes of their A commitment to increase public
The report through media sur- students without getting stuck in a funding i.e, government expenditure
round sound has been able to high- regulatory quagmire. Competition is on education, to 6 percent is made
light the problems of private schools. the best protection from exploitation in NEP 2020. We believe that first
However, the report will have and commercialisation as we have current budgetary outlays should be
achieved its objectives if it results in seen in other sectors of the economy. effectively utilised to improve quality
a policy environment that improves Transparent and above-board of education. But having said that,
learning outcomes of all children in competition has driven down prices it is also necessary to attract credit
government and private schools. and improved quality. NEP 2020 has and finance into private schools, and
clearly acknowledged the need to ex- remove barriers to credit and finance
Some academics have discerned an periment with alternative models of inflow into all education initiatives.
implicit criticism and rubbishing of

44 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2020