Private schools for the poor

James Tooley, Professor of Education at the University of Newcastle-0n-Tyne, has researched private schools for the very poor in developing countries. Typically these are small, shabby operations, sometimes occupying a sinlge classroom, staffed in some cases by just the teacher-proprietor and an assisant. Fees can be less than ten US cents per day. Despite the fears of some aid organizations, these schools:

...everywhere were outperforming the government schools in the key curriculum subjects – even after controlling for background variables.

Even when the per pupil teacher cost was calculated "private schools came out less expensive: In the government schools in Lagos State, for instance, per pupil teacher costs were nearly two and a half times higher in government than in private schools."

For me, these results point to the need to solutions beyond the control of the public sector. It is not, or doesn't have to be, a case of government versus private sector, though that is unfortunately how research like this is often interpreted. Rather it indicates the need to abandon ideology when targeting broad social goals, such as universal literacy for a developing country.