Human Development in India - NCAER

84 human development in indiaTable 6.2Private Schooling Costs for ChildrenAged 6–14 by StatePrivate School Annual TotalEnrolmentExpenses(%) Government PrivateAll India 28 688 2,920Jammu and Kashmir 47 1,045 3,719Himachal Pradesh 19 1,709 6,273Uttarakhand 27 972 3,422Punjab 52 1,444 5,160Haryana 47 1,043 4,372Delhi 28 1,044 5,390Uttar Pradesh 43 427 1,733Bihar 18 704 2,466Jharkhand 32 502 2,932Rajasthan 32 676 2,612Chhattisgarh 15 317 2,039Madhya Pradesh 27 333 1,935North-East 34 1,441 4,237Assam 6 371 1,636West Bengal 10 1,136 5,045Orissa 8 612 2,851Gujarat 22 766 4,221Maharashtra, Goa 20 599 2,370Andhra Pradesh 31 574 3,260Karnataka 28 638 3,848Kerala 31 1,537 3,259Tamil Nadu 23 606 3,811Source: IHDS 2004–5 data.for this phenomenon have been offered in the literature.Some studies suggest that teacher absenteeism in governmentschools is to blame. Others suggest that teacher indifferenceand corporeal punishment in government schools may beimplicated. 11 Box 6.2 indicates some of the differences in thecharacteristics and facilities of the private and governmentschools surveyed by the IHDS.The differences between government and private schoolsin skill acquisition point to a core dilemma facing Indianeducational policy. Parents choose to send their children toprivate schools, often at a considerable financial sacrifice,with expectations that private schools will impart a bettereducation than government schools. The results presentedabove clearly show that children in private schools performbetter than children in government schools. At the same time,parents who send their children to private schools have greaterresources, both in terms of monetary resources and their owneducation. Hence, their departure from government schoolreduces the most vocal and active parents who are capableof demanding accountability from schools and able tocompensate for teacher deficiencies through home teaching.The departure of these children from government schoolsmay well diminish the pressure on government schools to beaccountable and reduce the quality of the classroom learningenvironment. Thus, once the middle-class exodus fromgovernment schools begins, schools could easily get caughtBox 6.2Characteristics of Government and PrivateElementary Schools(in percentage)GovernmentSchoolsPrivateSchoolsTeachers present in school at the time ofthe visit 87.6 89.4Teachers have training 85.9 43.8Teachers with college degree 43.7 64.4Students present in school at the time ofthe visit 86.9 91.9Some subjects taught in English + 26.8 51.1English instruction begins in Standard 1 53.2 88.2No. of classes meeting outside 0.7 0.3No. of Mixed standard classrooms 0.9 0.6Any toilet facility 60.9 78.3Chairs/desk for all students 29.2 63.5Blackboard in all classrooms 95.4 98.1Computer available for student use 5.9 29.2School has fans 28.4 63.3Kitchen for cooked meals 41.3 10.8Cook employed by school 74.9 11.1Any teaching material on the wall 77.3 78.9Children’s work on the wall 67.6 73.9No. of Schools Surveyed 2,034 1,748Notes: IHDS selected one predominant private and one governmentschool per village/urban block. The school sample is nationwidebut not nationally representative.+ Many schools teach some subjects in English and others invernacular languages.Source: IHDS 2004–5 data.11See Muralidharan and Kremer (2008) and Desai et al. (2009).