The dilemmas of school choice: do parents really ‘choose’ low-fee private schools in Delhi, India?

Abstract

The growing number of private schools in India, especially those accepting children from underprivileged households, has been considered demand driven. In contrast to this understanding, this paper argues that low-income parents in Okhla and Badarpur in Delhi, India, are compelled to send their children to private unaided recognised and unrecognised schools. These schools are used as interim schools during primary or elementary grades because of the perceived danger of sending younger children to distant government schools. Our findings show that parents encounter school choice dilemmas in three stages. Parents prefer sending their children to government schools, but being Muslim, they also prefer faith-based teaching in an Islamic environment, which they expect from government schools but not from private schools. Moreover, they prefer schools that offer all grades, do not charge fees, and have honest teachers who teach effectively, are dedicated and affectionate, and will instil discipline in their children.

Keywords:

• Private schools
• government schools
• school choice
• South Delhi
• India

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to Karen Carter for her invaluable comments on various drafts. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this article. The first author would like to thank Professor Nalini Juneja, Mohammad Muslim and the participants for helping to make the data collection possible.

Notes

1. Income and expenses are listed in Indian Rupees (Rs).

2. At the time of this study (February–March 2016) these schools charged $5–$18.