Under-financing education and the rise of the private sector: the case of India

Abstract

The logic of ‘scarce resources’ has been used to mobilise increased action by private non-state actors in education in parallel (perhaps, seemingly paradoxically) with a concerted programme for universal elementary education, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) from 2000, and the newly legislated Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, 2009 (RTE Act). Concerns for political expedience led to under-financing of the RTE Act in favour of increased private sector engagement, presumed to meet additional capacity. Increased private non-state engagement was encouraged by macro-planning processes and frameworks that were enthusiastic about such involvement, particularly through public-private partnerships (PPPs). This has led to the emergence and increased engagement of ‘new/non-traditional’ private non-state actors in education. There may be ensuing tensions regarding the roles that the private non-state sector can play in view of the legal compulsions of the RTE Act.