In changing school and socio-economic environments, how do parents from poor households in the Lucknow District in India choose a school for their daughters? Why do many choose low-fee private schools?

In poor households in economically developing countries such as India, the decisions that most directly affect girls’ access to education are taken primarily at home. To understand what affects this process, particularly in increasingly privatised schooling contexts, it is necessary to investigate the dynamics and behaviours of poor households choosing low-fee private schooling.

In India, increased privatisation, especially the growth of low-fee private schools, has altered the schooling context for poorer groups. Low-fee private schools target a group that has traditionally been excluded from education.

As low-fee private schools have not been officially defined, they were defined in this study as private schools independent of government funding that target poorer children. They charge fees of no more than one day’s wages for a daily wage labourer at the primary and junior levels, and no more than two days’ wages at the high school and intermediate levels.

This paper by the University of Sussex, UK, presents the results of a broader case study of low-fee private schooling in the Lucknow District of Uttar Pradesh, considered one of the most ‘educationally backward’ states in India. The research compares the household schooling patterns for boys and girls in households accessing low-fee private schools. It analyses the data from interviews with 60 households, half of them from a rural school and half from an urban school. In a time of significant socio-economic changes in India and a rapidly changing educational environment, it investigates parents’ perceptions of the need to send their daughters to low-fee private schools.

The paper reports the following findings:

• Low-fee private schools proved to be the first choice for schooling for boys and girls in both urban and rural settings among households in the study.
• Parents in the study were not selective in choosing the low-fee private sector on the basis of gender – they were as likely to choose these schools for their daughters as for their sons.
• Parents’ prioritisation of schooling and accessing the low-fee private sector appeared to be related to a shift in thinking about the importance of schooling for all their children, including daughters.
• This shift in thinking appears to have been triggered by the influence of family and peers, and widespread socio-economic social changes (such as a changing labour market making formal education a necessity).
• Parents considered the low-fee private sector to be a better quality option than the state sector, offering better employment opportunities for their daughters. This could increase the family’s income potential.
• The prime reason for accessing low-fee private schools for girls was that most parents believed this type of schooling would aid their daughters most through better marriage prospects.

The paper indicates that patriarchal attitudes still underlie household decisions with regard to schooling for daughters, with the ‘marriage market’ being the leading factor. Along with other research, it suggests that patriarchal attitudes have not significantly changed towards girls. It also suggests that girls’ access to the low-fee private sector will be limited by trends in boys’ schooling, challenging the assumption that greater access to schooling for girls will necessarily and uncritically lead to more equitable social outcomes.  

Source(s):
‘Private Schooling and Mental Models about Girls’ Schooling in India’, Compare, 36 (4), pages 497-514, by Prachi Srivastava, 2006

Funded by: Economic and Social Research Council

id21 Research Highlight: 24 March 2008

Further Information:
Prachi Srivastava
Centre for International Education
Sussex School of Education
The Sussex Institute
University of Sussex
Falmer
Brighton BN1 9QQ
UK

Tel: +44 1273 872876
Fax: +44 1273 877534
Contact the contributor: prachi.srivastava@sussex.ac.uk

Centre for International Education, University of Sussex, UK

Other related links:
'Bringing the hardest to reach into the classroom'

'Providing for pre-adolescent girls in India'

'Gender bias in education: here to stay?'