Letter to editor – Deccan Chronicle
Posted by india in School ChoiceJun 13th, 2007 | no responsesCheck out The Business of Education
by Prof. Shantha Sinha, chairperson, National Commission for Protection
of Child Rights. The statements she make are not new. In fact you will
hear them in any elite educationalist circles across the world. It is
amazing how easily people like Prof Sinha are able to insult the
choices made by parents, poor or otherwise, market, etc. etc. If she
had made any attempts to look for evidence, before making blanket
statements, she would have found that vouchers actually work. Even I
could have sent her a big zip file full of facts and data my colleagues
have put together.
Anyway, my quick letter to editor, not sure if the editor published it or not.
Sir, this refers to The business of education (DC, June 13).
Pretty much everyone I know went to private schools. Are they less of a
citizen? In fact they are able to serve their society and the world
precisely because of the better quality education they received in
private schools. Market competition enables citizens to access superior
goods and services, if they pay. Vouchers, cash transfers, tuition
reimbursement, tax credits etc. are being implemented by left-wing and
right-wing governments from Columbia to Sweden and Brazil to
Bangladesh. Prof Sinha misses the point that these schemes are for
empowering the very marginalised she laments about, so they can access
superior services, provided by the private sector hopefully with a
smile and a thank you, today afforded only to the rich and the middle
class. Poor are moving en mass to private schools as soon as they are a
bit less poor. They know something that the elite don’t seem to respect
- English medium private schools provide their children the best way
out of poverty. Empowered with tax payer funded vouchers, let the poor
choose what is best for them. The elite must stop insulting their
choice and stop hiding behind mythical concepts of universalisation and
inclusive democracy of government schools.
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