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School Choice in India: disadvantaged groups and low-fee private schools

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posted on 2023-06-08, 11:50 authored by Prachi Srivastava
Increased marketisation and privatisation of schooling in economically developing countries have led to the emergence of private schooling for socio-economically disadvantaged groups. The ‘low-fee private’ sector in India is one example of a private schooling sector that is targeted to and financed by fees from lower income households that have traditionally had low participation in formal schooling. Thus, the emergence of the low-fee private sector marks the need to examine changing school choice behaviours of disadvantaged groups. Dominant middle-class hegemonic discourse in India and the wider literature has characterised these groups as ‘vulnerable’ and ‘likely to be duped’ or as ‘irresponsible’, ignorant of the benefits of schooling, and unwilling to send their children to school due to limited resources. To arrive at a more nuanced understanding, this chapter, based on a study of low-fee private schooling in Lucknow District, Uttar Pradesh, presents a model explaining the school choice processes of one group of disadvantaged households accessing the low-fee private sector. Challenging traditional assumptions, results indicate that households in the study made active choices about their children’s schooling through a complex process that involved analysing competing school sectors, incorporating their beliefs about education, analysing local school markets, and managing particular constraints.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Publisher

Symposium Books

Page range

185-208

Pages

252.0

Book title

The Globalisation of School Choice?

Place of publication

Oxford

ISBN

9781873927120

Series

Oxford Studies in Comparative Education

Department affiliated with

  • Education Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Editors

Scott Davies, Martin Forsey, Geoffrey Walford

Legacy Posted Date

2012-07-06

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