Implementing the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill (and thoughts about Public Private Partnerships in Education)

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Implementing the Right to Free and Compulsory
Education Bill (and thoughts about Public
Private Partnerships in Education)

• Sam Carlson
• World Bank

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Organization of the Presentation

• Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act
• Public Private Partnerships in Education
• World Bank Research (partial) on PPPs for
  education
• World Bank Lending for PPPs in education

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RTE

• Approved by Parliament in August 2009, but not
  yet made official through publication in the
  Official Gazette and provision of rules.
• Every child, aged 6-14, has a legal right to free
  and compulsory education at a neighborhood school
  till completion of elementary education.
• Compulsion is on the Government, not the parent,
  to provide education and ensure enrollment,
  attendance and completion of elementary
  education. (justiciable)

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RTE and Private Unaided Schools

• Private unaided schools shall admit in Class I,
  to the extent of at least 25 of the strength of
  that class, children belonging to weaker section
  and disadvantaged group in the neighborhood and
  provide free and compulsory elementary education
  till its completion.
• Private unaided schools shall be reimbursed
  expenditures so incurred by it to the extent of
  per-child expenditures incurred by the State, or
  the actual amount charged from the child,
  whichever is less.

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RTE and PPP

• If(and thats a big if) RTE is fully implemented,
  it will quickly result in the largest education
  sector PPP in the world.
• RTE represents a significant operational research
  opportunity, as disadvantaged children are
  supposed to be selected for private schools via a
  lottery.
• Households can choose to participate in lottery
• Can expect intense resistance from top private
  schools, which otherwise will seek ways to
  cream the best.
• Monitoring is responsibility of National and
  State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights
  (not quite prepared for this responsibility)

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The Schedule

• Number of Teachers (PTR 301) per school
  teachers must have minimum qualifications as laid
  down by an academic authority authorized by
  Central Government.
• One teacher for science/math, social studies,
  languages at upper primary (PTR 351)
• Building all-weather, barrier-free, separate
  toilets, drinking water, Mid-Day Meal kitchen,
  playground
• Minimum of working days (200-220)/instructional
  hours (800-1000)
• Minimum of working hours/week/teacher (45)
• Library and Teaching and Learning Equipment
• Promotion of activity-based, child-centered
  learning teacher training etc.
• But cant legislate teacher effort and
  effectiveness.

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Private School Recognition

• Private schools must obtain certification of
  recognition from appropriate Government or local
  authority, to be established OR function.
• Recognition requires fulfillment of norms and
  standards specified by the Schedule within 3
  years.
• Operation of school without recognition incurs
  liability of Rs. 1 lakh, and Rs. 10,000/day
  thereafter.

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Summary RTE and PPP

• The stakes are high and the scale is huge.
• The opportunity exists to improve learning
  opportunities for millions of disadvantaged
  students.
• The devil is in the details and the rules for
  implementation have not been issued.
• Could be very tough for private schools to adhere
  to all conditions for recognition, particularly
  concerning teachers and space, although could pay
  more and get Government UC reimbursement.

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Public Private Partnerships (PPP)

• Encouraging the private sector is critical.
  Surveys from several States in India show that
  private schools are more cost-effective.
• That is, on average, students from private
  unaided schools do not perform worse than
  students from public schools and typically
  perform better, although private school unit
  costs are typically much lower.
• However, there is a very strong student selection
  sorting effect students in private schools are
  typically from higher socio-economic households
  so a strict comparison is neither fair nor
  analytically correct.
• PPPs can leverage the incentives of the private
  sector to achieve public policy objectives.
• It should be possible to make the current
  grant-in-aid system (a type of PPP) more
  efficient, with real performance-related criteria
  for continued financing.

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Opportunity of PPPs

• Much of the potential of PPPs lies in the ability
  to align contract incentives with educational
  outcomes (public policy objectives), and maximize
  accountability for results.
• The actual market wage for academically qualified
  teachers is far below public sector salary
  levels, so there is an opportunity to achieve
  lower PTRs, increase cost-effectiveness of public
  spending and spend more on, e.g. learning
  materials, through PPPs.

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PPP Range of Possible Private Sector
Responsibilities

• School Facility Services (build and maintain
  schools)
• Provide non-educational services (e.g. catering)
  and support services (e.g. technology)
• Provide curricula and educational services
• Provide teacher training services
• Manage public schools
• Provide all teaching and non-teaching services at
  public schools
• Provide educational services to publicly-funded
  students at privately-owned and managed schools
  (Right to Education Act)

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PPP Government-Aided Schools in India

• Type of PPP needs reform
• Financing follows the teacher, not the student
  (in most cases State pays salary directly into
  teachers back account)
• No incentive to expand access or improve learning
  
• Lack of accountability to parents, head teacher
  or government
• Mixed evidence in terms of cost-effectiveness

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Bihar Example Output-Based PPP

• 1,000 private unaided schools/40,000 students
• For every student passing the Class 10 Exam
• Rs. 3,700 for first division
• Rs. 3,200 for second division
• Rs. 2,700 for third division
• Bonus for girls
• Rs. O for failure
• This deserves to be monitored and evaluated over
  time for possible scale-up and replication.

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World Bank Research and Lending

• Have committed an initial USD 300,000 to help ME
  of implementation of RTE
• What to do?
• Discussions underway with National Commission on
  Protection of Child Rights and MHRD
• Would like to focus on this PPP clause for 25 of
  private school seats.

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Phase I Feasibility Study for Expanded PPPs at
the Secondary Level

• Independent Survey of 1,400 private aided and
  unaided secondary schools across 10 States
• Identified underutilization of existing capacity
  (about 15-20 on average)
• Revealed high education and training levels of
  teachers and generally satisfactory school
  infrastructure
• Aided school teachers earn Rs. 14,600/month while
  unaided teachers earn Rs. 5,000/month, on average
• Majority of schools are willing to expand and
  engage in PPP under certain conditions

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Phase II of PPP Feasibility Study

• Follow Up of 200 private unaided schools to
  analyze financial accounts and calculate fair
  government financing levels (per student
  subsidies) for expanded PPPs.
• Related capital and recurrent costs to student
  performance on Board exams.
• Not much difference between costs of low and
  medium performing schools high performing
  schools cost more to build and run.
• Rs. 5,000 per student/year public financing of
  medium performing (60-95 pass rate on Board
  exam) private unaided schools would cover both
  capital and operating costs over 10-year period,
  compared to government school operating unit
  costs of Rs. 7-8,000.

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Phase II of PPP Feasibility Study (continued)

• Parents already pay about Rs 12,000/year in
  transportation, books, uniforms, private
  tuitions, study equipment/computers, etc.
• About 40 of parents of children attending
  government schools would like to send them to
  private schools because of perceived higher
  quality of teaching, and would also be willing to
  pay an additional Rs. 2,500/year to do so.

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World Bank Operational Support

• World Bank now preparing USD 750 million in
  additional financing for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
  (can be used for RTE if MHRD so chooses) and USD
  600 million project in support of Rashtriya
  Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)
• RMSA Two Components
• Programmatic support of RMSA, which is limited in
  the framework to government secondary schools
• Innovations Component (USD 100 M), which can
  support PPPs and any other State-level
  innovations (e.g. Bihars output-based mechanism)
  which generate learning for RMSA framework
  evolution.

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• Thanks

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Types of PPP Contracts
What Govt contracts for Definition Contract Type
Management, professional services (input) Govt buys private sector services (e.g. IT training) Management or professional services contract
Operational Services (process) Govt buys school operation services (Grant in aid) Operational contract
Education Services (output) Govt buys places in private schools (RTE) Contract for education of specific students
Facility Availability (input) Govt buys facility availability (leasing) Infrastructure services contract
Facilities and Services (bundle) Govt buys facility availability and services Infrastructure contract and services contract
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Procurement Processes

• For each of these contract types
• a competitive transparent process can be
  developed which puts extra weight on the quality
  of services (technical expertise) delivered but
  includes an incentive to keep costs down
• while building in contract performance criteria
  (validated by third parties) which rewards good
  performance and penalizes poor performance.