New Delhi: The government is considering a proposal to allow full autonomy to a little less than half the 6,000 so-called model schools that are to be set up jointly with the private sector all over the country, attempting to give the poor access to quality education.
Contested template: Under the new model, the government would sponsor students and pay a fee per child, subject to some performance criteria. Madhu Kapparath/Mint
The schools, designed to prevent teenage dropouts and encourage sponsored studies for the poor, were promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Independence Day two years ago.
While 2,500 schools are to be set up under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, the rest would be set up by state governments with help from the Centre.
The template, termed Whole School Management (WSM) in a draft paper on the PPP concept reviewed by Mint, is one of the four key models being considered by the ministry of human resource development, which oversees education, for the schools.
The paper likens the WSM model to the School Voucher System in countries such as Chile, where parents are given vouchers to admit children to a private school of their choice.
“This is at the proposal stage and opinions from all stakeholders have been invited for consideration,” a person familiar with the plan said. The person didn’t want to be named.
The WSM model, if approved, would hand over complete management of the schools to the private sector partners, including appointment of teachers and other staff and infrastructure creation, while allowing the government to sponsor the education of all or a certain percentage of students.
Under the model, the government would sponsor students and pay a fee per child, subject to some performance criteria that may include the attendance of students and teachers, teachers’ qualifications, school infrastructure and services, and examination results. Such a system may be adopted for schools in urban areas where parents have a choice of private schools for their children, people familiar with the plan said.
Critics question the proposal, arguing that the effectiveness of the voucher system is still being debated in nations such as Peru, Chile, Columbia and Sweden and is the source of bitter legal battles in the US.
“This system has no merits at all. There are major problems with the voucher system—it distracts the government from paying serious attention to improve its own system, which is the only way to provide good quality education to all children,” said Anita Rampal, an educationist and professor at Delhi University.
Within the WSM model, the government is considering two variations: the school could either admit a fixed percentage of students as nominated by the government while retaining a management quota for admissions on higher tuition fees, or all the students could be sponsored by the government.