Kingdon, GG; (1996) Private schooling in India - Size, nature, and equity-effects. Economic and Political Weekly , 31 (51) pp. 3306-3314.

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Abstract

Published educational statistics in India ignore ëunrecognisedí private schools and include only the ërecognisedí private schools, though all government-funded schools are included. Moreover, enrolments in government-funded schools are greatly over-reported in education data. The paper argues that, as a result, official education statistics are seriously skewed: they exaggerate the size of the free, government-funded elementary school sector and greatly understate the size of the private fee-charging elementary school sector. While it may be expedient for the state to under-enumerate fee-charging schools and exaggerate its own contribution to school education, the fast-growing role of unrecognised private elementary schools should not be ignored because of important equity-related reasons: a system where fee-levying institutions have a significant role in elementary education while secondary education is largely state-supported has perverse equity-effects. The paper also presents evidence to show that official enrolment statistics - on which analysts, policymakers, and international studies rely, and which are used in parliamentary debates - are gravely inaccurate.

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