The enterprise of running private schools has, of late, assumed the nature of an industry in India. Ever-increasing population, a race for providing education to one's children, degenerating quality of education in government-run schools, unlimited supply of educated youths ready to work at the lowest salary and the possibilities of earning huge profits for a modest investment all these have contributed to the viability of this industry. In Kohima, the capital city of Nagaland (India), which is our study area, there are 31 private high/higher secondary schools against only three government-run schools. These private schools enroll some 25,000 pupils while the enrolment in the government-run schools is barely 1,600 students. These private schools employ 766 teachers and pay them an average salary which is only one-third of what the government-run schools pay. According to the ILO (1996) definition of subsistence wages (the hourly wage sufficient to buy 1 kg. of the lowest priced staple cereal), the employees of these schools barely earn a subsistence wage. Nevertheless, these schools generate a revenue of Rs. 88 mn, out of which Rs. 3.7 mn is the net profit. Our analysis shows that private schooling industry in Kohima operates in a monopolistic competition market bordering on oligopoly. There is price leadership in determining the fees to be charged by the schools making this industry.
The present study is concerned with an analysis of the “enterprise of providing for schooling
by the private sector” to those who are ready to pay at much higher rate for the services that
otherwise (and conventionally) are imparted at a very cheap rate by the system of schools
run by the governments in India. Since the last three decades or so, many towns in India
have experienced the flourishing of private schools of various types. It has been observedthat there is an ever growing demand for private schooling in almost all states in India and
the enterprise of private schooling has established itself so well that it has now assumed
the characteristics of a full-fledged industry in the tertiary sector. Private schools are
flourishing in almost all towns in India; they have come up in large numbers in the rural
areas as well.
Most of these private schools have been established to earn profit. They employ teachers
at a very low salary (often about one-third of the salary drawn by a teacher in the schools
run by the government), charge substantial amount as admission and tuition fees, often
provide for residential facilities to enhance profitability, and yet, at many instances, remain
unmindful of providing enough facilities to students. On scrutiny, one may have only a
mixed type of feelings about the academic standard of these schools. However, in general,
private schools strive hard to impress their clients and exhibit remarkable salesmanship
to attract them, whereas the schools in the government sector have no incentives or urge to
do so. |
