{"id":1339,"date":"2015-06-17T16:03:36","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T16:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developmentdebate.in\/2015\/06\/18\/turning-back-to-basic-responsibilities\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T08:26:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T08:26:40","slug":"turning-back-to-basic-responsibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developmentdebate.in\/?p=1339","title":{"rendered":"Turning its back to the basic responsibilities by the state government"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Proposed Privatization of Health and Education services in Rajasthan:\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
Turning its back to the basic responsibilities by the state government<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Nesar Ahmad<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Rajasthan government seems to be taking the
\nprivatization route of health, education and social services in full swing and it\u2019s in
\ncontinuation of the pro-private sector policies like changes in labour laws,
\nattempts to bring state specific land acquisition bill, and promoting Public
\nPrivate Partnership (PPP) in all areas. <\/span>
\nYesterday the state cabinet took a decision to hand over the primary health
\ncentres (PHCs) to the private players in the name of adopting public private
\npartnership (PPP) mode. The government has assured that even when privatizing
\nthe PHCs the government run schemes including free medicine and diagnosis,
\nimmunization, 104 and 108 ambulances will continue to run. In the first phase
\n90 PHCs, where medical and non medical staffs are not available as per
\nstandards, out of total 2082 PHCs are to be run under PPP mode.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Though the other details of introducing PPP in running the
\nPHCs are yet to be known, the government of Rajasthan has already come out with
\na draft \u201cPolicy for Public Private Partnership (PPP) in School Education 2015\u201d<\/a>
\nwhich proposes to open the door for private participation in school education
\nin the state. The rationale behind this shocking proposal is \u201cDespite increased
\nstate expenditure in education sector, quality of education in government
\nschools has been deteriorating in compared to private schools.\u201d \u00a0<\/span>The draft policy document claims that there is
\n\u201cbetter learning outcome in private schools despite lower per student
\nexpenditure\u201d.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The draft policy proposes to have four kind of partnership
\nin running the government schools with the registered not-for-profit companies
\nand organizations, societies, trusts etc. First, the existing schools will be
\ngiven to the private partners on \u2018first come first serve\u2019 basis to the private
\npartners in which 100% students will be sponsored by the government; second
\nwill be existing schools given to the private partners through bidding, in
\nthose schools also 100% students will be sponsored by the government; third
\nwill be opening new schools in \u201cblocks other than educationally backward
\nblocks\u201d in which government will sponsor only 40% students and rest 60% will
\nhave to pay fees as decided by the private party running the schools; and
\nfourth, opening of new schools in Educationally backward blocks.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What is interesting is the policy document does not even
\nmention the Right to Education Act passed by the parliament. It is also not
\nclear that what will happen to the existing government teachers and
\nnon-teaching staff. The draft policy states that government will provide free
\ntext books, mid-day meal and other benefits to the students. The government
\nwill reimburse per student annual fee determined by the bidding process.
\nHowever the government will not provide any staff to the schools.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The claim of better education outcome in private school
\ndespite increasing government expenditure on education and despite lower per
\nstudent expenditure in private schools requires proper scrutiny. The policy
\ndocument mentions no study in support of these claims. The increase in
\ngovernment budget towards education has been at the rate of about 10 to 15% per
\nannum on an average during the last five years barring one time exception. But
\nif we compare the total allocation to the budget by the state government with
\nthe Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) the allocation actually declined from
\n3.03% of GSDP in 2010-11 to 2.97% in 2013-14. In the 2014-15 BE the allocation
\nincreased to 3.99% of the GSDP thanks to the fund received from the centre for
\nSSA and other centrally sponsored schemes now being routed through the state
\nbudget. But when the budget 2015-16 was presented the figures for education
\nbudget for 2014-15 was revised to be lower by about Rs. 2300 crores and in
\npercentage to GSDP terms the allocation declined from 3.99% to 3.58%. The
\nallocation for 2015-16 also saw a routine increase of just about Rs. 1000
\ncrores compared to 2014-15 BE and it stands at just 3.48% of the GSDP (for data see Budget Samachar April-June 2015).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The claims of better performance of the private schools and
\nlow per student expenditure are also not based on any empirical studies as
\nsuch. The per student cost in low costs private schools might be lower than per
\nstudent costs in the government schools but there is no study to support that
\nlearning outcome of those schools are better than the government schools. The
\nper student cost in the elite high end schools are certainly higher than the
\ngovernment run schools.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The ASER survey suggests that the learning outcome in
\nprivate schools are, though, better than the learning outcomes of the government
\nschools in rural areas but the learning outcome of both private and government
\nschools are on decline. In fact in 2014 the learning outcome of the government
\nschools in rural areas has improved marginally compared to 2013 while it has
\nworsened for the private schools. As per ASER data<\/a> the percentage of standard V
\nchildren in rural areas who can read standard II level text increased from 41.1
\n% in 2013 to 42.2% in 2014 in government schools while in declined from 63.3%
\nto 62.5% in the private schools in the same period. The yearly trends show the
\ndecline in the learning outcomes \u00a0<\/span>in both
\npublic and private schools during last\u00a0 <\/span>5
\nyears the percentage of standard V children who can read standard II level text
\nhas declined from 50.7% (2010) to 42.2 (2014) in government schools and 64.2
\n(2010) to 62.2 (2014) in private schools.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As for the per student cost of the schooling in rural
\nprivate and government schools, we must also consider the increasing cost of
\ntuition in the private schools. Percentage of children taking tuitions in rural
\nareas has increased for private schools while there is no increase in tuition
\ntaking students of the government schools. As per ASER report the percentage of
\nchildren in class I-V in private schools who are taking tuition increased from
\n5.7% in 2011 to 8.1% in 2014, while it remained at about 15% in case of
\ngovernment schools.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Obviously, the better learning outcomes are affected not
\njust by the type of schools. The parents of the students in private schools are
\nbetter off economically, socially and educationally and that is why they can
\nafford to send their kids to the private schools. An analysis of 2009 ASER data
\nshow that the learning outcome gap between the private and government schools
\nreduces considerably if the other factors are controlled in analysis. ASER 2014 report <\/a>suggests that two-third of the learning differences between the students
\nof public and private schools can be attributed to other factors than the type
\nof school.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Additionally, the participation of private players in the
\nschool education will also open the door for the all kind of politically and
\nideologically motivated organizations to take over the government schools and
\nprovide the students kind of education which may not necessarily be in accord
\nwith the Constitutional and democratic values the country stands for.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Obviously the government of Rajasthan is acting in haste
\nwithout properly analyzing the situation. The need of the hour is strengthening
\nthe government schools by increasing budget, properly implementing the Right to
\nEducation Act, strengthening the school management committees, and increasing
\nthe participation of the people. Similarly improvement in community monitoring of
\nhealth services, as envisaged in the National Health Mission, beside increased
\nbudget and improved infrastructure, will go a long way in improving the rural
\nhealth services. Another kind of PPP is required to improve
\nboth government heath centres as well as the school education i.e.
\npeople-public-partnership. If the participation of people in the villages whose children
\nare to be educated and who are to be given health services are increased in an
\neffective manner, government will not require to involve the private players in
\nproviding theses basic services, which are prime responsibility of any elected
\ngovernment in the first place.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n