Private Schooling in India: Size, Nature, and Equity Effects
Published educational statistics in India ignore 'unrecognised' private schools and include only the 'recognised' private schools, though all government funded schools are included. Moreover, enrolments in government funded schools are greatly over reported in education data. This article 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 exaggerate its OWfl contribution to school education, a system where fee levying institutions have a significant role in elenmentary education while seconidary education is largely state supported has perverse equity effects. The ar ticle also presents evidence to show that official enrolment statistics on which analysts, policy makers, and international studies rely, and which are used in parliamentary debates are gravely inaccurate.