iitm_voucher_based_education

Towards an Educated India

सफलता की पर्ची........

Team: Abhijit Singh | Dhruvil Patel | Dhiraj Kumar | Saumil Mehta | Deep Shah

College: IIT Madras

TOWS Matrix/Current situation

Strengths – S

• High Enrollment

• Accessibility of

schools

Weakness – W

• Quality of education

• Infrastructure

• Lack of motivation

and accountability

teachers

• Dropout ratio of the

students

Opportunities- O

• Participation of

private players

• Increase in

education

expenditure as

a % of GDP in

future

SO

• Implementing PPP

model in the

government

schools

WO

• Private players will

bring in more

accountability

• Improving the quality

of education

imparted

• Infrastructure

improvement

Threats – T • Perception

towards

government

schools

• Degrading of

moral values

ST • Implementing

the model will

increase the

quality of

education and

change the

perception

WT • Focusing on

reducing the drop

out ratio

• Increasing the quality

of education and

infrastructure

Proposed Solution(1/3) Objective: Towards improving the quality of education in the

government schools through Public private partnership (PPP)

and voucher based fee payment

Scope: Government schools in Urban cities

What is a Voucher ?*

A certificate or a card which promises to pay the holder of

the same a certain amount of money

Eligibility: Children belonging to the backward economic

class

Reasons for initiating voucher schemes in urban areas first

are as follows:

• More qualified teachers are currently available and can

be quickly ramped up through training

• Better basic infrastructure (e.g. electricity, sanitation)

exists – hence learning is not disrupted by students

leaving the school to return home

• A competitive market with a pool of quality schools is

likely to already exist

• Entrepreneurs and investors who might actively help

develop the market further are present.

*Idea inspired from: Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman’s Voucher based model

Execution:

Each student will eligible for one voucher per

year

Parents need to submit the vouchers instead

of the fees

Parents can choose from a pool of

government schools

Proposed Solution(2/3) Gains

For Education System

• Schools compete with each other for more students

• Competition among schools increases which improves the performance and hence the quality of the education

Parents:

• Choose that school which provides the best quality of education

Private Player:

• Lower entry barrier for them to enter in education

• Immediate returns on investment through vouchers

Working of PPP Model • Administration and the running of the government

schools to be outsourced to the private players • Basic infrastructure like land, building, school

facilities already in place

• The private players to make capital investment in improving and building the necessary infrastructure needs

• Government will bear 35% cost of this capital investment but it will spread over a period of 5 years

• The amount of the voucher will be set in such a way that it will help the private players in covering their cost expenses

Teachers • Mandatory biennial training for all teachers • The performance report on the government

teachers to be submitted to the government after annual performance appraisal cycle

• Schools will be allowed to add private teachers on their own cost

Proposed Solutions (3/3)

• Independent rating agency

which will rate the schools

on different factors

• Dropout Rate

• School Infrastructure

• Teacher Performance

• Student Learning

Assessment/Achieveme

nts

• Student Teacher ratio

• Based on the rating schools

and teachers will get

recognition

Features of Voucher

• State governments could

distribute non-transferable

vouchers (for each child) to

parents in urban centres

that meet certain pre-

requisites

• Regulatory institutions are

required to monitor the use

of the voucher scheme –

e.g. actual attendance,

literacy outcomes, the

qualifications of teachers,

non-discriminatory

admission policies, etc.

Impact Assessment Outcomes Indicator

Baseline - 2013-14 Target - 2016-17

Achievement - 2016-17

Frequency of Report

Data Collection Instruments

Responsibilities of Data Collection

Infrastructure - 20% increase Annual

As per Right To Education(RTE) standard

State, central and independent

Quality of Teachers - Performance efficiency should increase by 30% Biennial

>Assessment Test at the end of training >Peer feedback


Pupil Teacher Ratio(PTR) 34/1 25/1 Annual

Independent Sample study instruments


Reduction in dropout rate - By 20% decrease Annual



Transition Rates from primary to upper primary Increase by 15% Annual



Retention at Primary level - Increase by 15% Annual



Retention at Elementary Level - Increase by 20% Annual



Gross Completion Ratio - Increase by 25% Annual



Tea

ch

ers

In

fra

Stu

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Financial Aspects • White paper submitted by Praja.org on “Municipal Education in Mumbai (2008-09 to 2011-12)” indicate

an average per student spending over 5 years to be Rs.36531

• Hence, the allocated spending per student in both government and private schools in urban cities are

comparable.

• According to SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) portal finding, around 80% of the allocated budget to

government schools is only actually spent.

• This gap in allocation and spending is a lucrative prospect for the private parties who can bring in

investments in government schools and yet gain profit.

Name of

State/UT

OB as as on

1.4.2011*

GOI releases State

Releases

13th FC

Award

Other

receipts

Total funds

available

Expenditure

till 31st Dec.,

2011

Total 594724.39 1703902.28 850581.40 249835.00 18045.26 3417088.33 2714040.23

*All numbers are in crore of Indian Rupees

Challenges and Risks • Operational inefficiency: The delay in the reimbursement of vouchers by the government

to the PPP schools will demotivate the private parties to take up such projects and will act as a bottleneck for scaling the system.

• Risks involved with scalability: Studies show that students in a voucher program benefit because they are put in classrooms with high-achieving peers. Should the system be scaled, research indicated that achievement can be expected to go down because there will be more competition for schools to recruit the best performing, highest achieving students. Students under a large-scale voucher scheme will be self-segregated into high-performing and low-achieving classrooms, thus dissolving the very advantage

the education vouchers propose to fix.

• Grade Inflation: In an effort to secure a solid reputation and attract students, a school may focus less on the calibre of education and more on attracting students. Should there not be uniform standardized tests in place throughout the school system, a school may

be incentivized to lower the education standards for progression through school in order to attract students.

• Expansion to villages: It will be a real challenge to implement the model in rural India, as it will be difficult to attract private players to villages.

Ris

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Ch

alle

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References • Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan Portal

• ASER Survey

• Ernst & Young Database

• http://www.praja.org/praja_downloads/Report%20on%20Status%20of%20Municipal%20Education%20in%20Mumbai%20%28Academic%20Years%202008-09%20to%202011-12%29.pdf

• http://www.ccs.in/ccsindia/policy/ed/studies/wp0072.pdf

• http://infrastructure.gov.in/pdf/Paper_on_School_Education.pdf

• http://facultycourse.insead.edu/dutt/emdc/projects/EMDC%20Projects%28MarApr07%29/EMDC_Education%20Vouchers.pdf

• http://www.accountabilityindia.in/