Should state regulate the private schools? An argument from the Indian perspective of primary education

ABSTRACT

In the recent literature on the regulation of private schools by the state, Tooley argues that the state should refrain from such a practice. The important reasons for this view are that the state regulations are impractical and do not foster an entrepreneurship attitude. He prefers the implementation of a self-regulating mechanism for the private schools. We find that Tooley’s argument of private institutions functioning without state intervention, in the Indian context of primary education, is inappropriate. The reasons are: (i) the state has a duty to provide education and this cannot be done without state’s intervention. (ii) If the end-users in the market themselves demand state intervention, then Tooley has to accept it as it is the demand from the market and in the Indian context, the parents do demand state interventions and (iii) there is an incompatible interest between the private and state institutions on education and hence require state’s intervention. On these grounds, we argue that in India the state needs to regulate the private schools, especially for primary education. In the absence of such regulations, these private schools may focus on maximising their interest rather than ensuring justice in education.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• state
• privatisation
• budget schools
• India
• social justice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).