UNESCO report calls for stronger regulation of private actors in education

NEW DELHI : The private primary schools have grown faster in South Asia than in any other region in the world with the highest involvement of non-state actors in every aspect of education systems, says a new report.

Examination pressures, dissatisfaction with public schools and parents’ high expectations in this region have led to the highest levels of enrolment in private institutions in primary and secondary education than in other regions, according to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report released on Wednesday.

The report focuses on South Asia which is home to one fourth of the world’s population. The report has covered nine countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report, South Asia Non-State Actors in Education: Who Chooses? Who Loses? found that the share of private institutions doubled in primary education in 20 years – both worldwide from 10% in 2000 to 19% in 2020, and in South Asia from 19% to 38%. The share of private institutions in secondary education is 27% globally and 50% in South Asia.

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With the help of private parties, access to education has grown faster in South Asia than than any other region of the world, but learning levels are more than one third below the global average and growing more slowly than in the rest of the world. The report has asked the governments of South Asian countries to consider who loses when choices of different forms of education are made available depending upon different factors including family income.

“Households are burdened by expenditure due to inadequate government financing. Poor learning outcomes lead households to pay for better education. Public institutions are often not free. High spending by wealthy families creates major inequality in education opportunities between richer and poorer households,” it said.

The report has called for a review of existing regulations on non-state actors and how they are enforced. The policy-oriented recommendations suggest calling on policymakers to see the education system as one, to revisit and question relationships between state and non-state actors, deepening existing debates with an emphasis on equity and inclusion objectives

India and NEP 2020

The UNESCO report has been prepared with the help of six partners including two from India – Center for Policy Research and Central Square Foundation. They conducted over 450 interviews and four focus group discussions. Surveys on perceptions of desired roles of non-state actors in education were administered to around 250 state and non-state respondents.

The Indian Constitution says that it is the duty of the state to secure the right to education by providing free and compulsory education but National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 seeks a “shift from a dominant central ‘government’ role in education to a focus on ‘governance’ to facilitate private engagement in education”. According to the UNESCO report, some consider that NEP 2020 “conceives students and parents to be consumers and education a private good.”

There was generally strong support for public education in the 35 countries covered in the report but in India, only 46% of adults said that the primary responsibility for providing school education was with the government. This the lowest share amongst 35 middle and high-income countries, according to an analysis of the 2016 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP).

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Private schools, English-medium

Out of all new schools established in India since 2014, seven in 10 are private independent schools. There has been an increase in demand for English-language education and 67,000 of the 97,000 schools established since 2014 have been private and unaided.

About a third of students in India are in private schools that receive no state assistance. The data showed that 46% of private school students paid less than Rs 500 a month in fees and 70% paid less than Rs 1,000 a month, suggesting that the majority of the large private schooling sector is low-fee.

Private schools advertise themselves as being English-medium and according to the report, parents value English because “they perceive it as boosting their children’s advantage in labour market competition”. English functions as a symbol of class in South Asia region due to a long colonial history and globalization. English-medium schools have been a way to maintain an elite system and class structures in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

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The dominance of English usage means that members of disadvantaged social groups, such as Dalit and Madhesi communities in Nepal and Scheduled Castes and Tribes members in India, are under-represented among successful candidates as they are likely to attend public schools, report said.

Students from richer households are more likely to enroll in private institutions in India for higher education.

The report also found that the non-state actors are heavily involved in teacher education in the region. “More than 90 percent of the 32,751 recognized pre-service teacher education institutions in India were privately funded and running on student fees in 2020,” it said.

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Private tutoring

Shadow education or private tutoring – “coaching” as it’s most commonly known – is rising with high-stakes examinations at the end of secondary education in India and entrance exams for engineering, medicine and universities.

The report has called for governments to develop regulatory frameworks to prevent private tutoring from undermining the quality and equity objectives of the formal schooling system.

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“In a region with an extremely competitive landscape for education and employment, online and offline private tutoring have greatly expanded. The priority should be addressing the root causes of private tutoring demand and supply, such as low teacher pay, curriculum pressures and the high-stakes nature of final examinations,” it said.