Affordable Private School Initiative
Affordable Private School Initiative
Many countries are facing severe problems with their government-run education systems due to limited resources and multiple layers of bureaucracy resulting in ineffective learning environments. As a result, privately owned schools for low-income families have been started by educational entrepreneurs. These affordable private schools (APSs) are social enterprises that put an emphasis on quality, efficiency and performance, while charging tuition fees that are affordable to low-income families and allow them to cover their costs and become sustainable enterprises. The combined business and academic model is what makes these schools a sustainable market-based solution to increasing the access to and quality of education, as well as providing parents with a viable alternative to ineffective government schools. The parents are paying customers who have the right to demand quality and schools are compelled to offer quality in order to attract students in competitive environments.
The APS Business Model
Recent research shows that basic education in the developing world can be a fee-for-service industry. In this model, families are considered clients rather than the beneficiaries of charity. The local market-based, entrepreneur-led approach puts an emphasis on quality, efficiency, and performance, creating excellence where none has previously existed. All is accomplished at significantly lower costs than public sector schools. The financing needs of schools, however, tend to fall in between traditional finance clients and typical microfinance loans. Most schools have not found reliable sources of credit to finance their growth. The unmet demand for these institutions is enormous, and the operational models are scaleable and/or replicable with the proper support.
Our Approach: Ecosystem Development
GMC is working to strengthen the ecosystem around the emerging affordable private school sector to ensure that schools have access to affordable tools and resources that allow them to offer quality education in a sustainable manner and to establish industry standards. We want to support schools in their quest to keep learning at the forefront of the business model, believing that quality is a key driver of viability. The ecosystem will consist of a network of stakeholders from school owners/principals, teachers, parents and students working with external partners such as education service providers, donors, investors, and regulators.
Focus on India
While the Indian education sector is in desperate need of reform, recent studies find a wave of change sweeping the nation. There are an estimated 73,000 APSs across India and approximately 10% of which are located in Hyderabad. In Hyderabad alone official figures revealed 61% of pupils are in the private unaided sector, in a thousand such schools, however there has been a lack of attention on these schools, both in terms of financing and technical assistance. Due to the booming affordable private school market in India, GMC has identified an opportunity to cultivate the burgeoning APS industry and positively impact the educational opportunities for India’s low-income children. As a first step, GMC aims to measure performance and learning outcomes in 1,000 affordable private schools in Hyderabad by 2011. As its pilot proves successful, GMC hopes to expand its activities to benefit India’s low-income children at the national level.
