PUBLIC POLICY

Implication Of Adoption Of
Education Voucher
Presented By:
Programme In India
Group No. :- 05
Group Members:
 Adarsh Kumar Mishra (110005)
 Avinash (110013)
 Kalyani (110021)
 Mona Ranjan (110029)
 Prayag Pushkaram (110037)
 Rohit Kumar (110045)
 Siddhant Ranjan (110053)
Need of a new Education system
• There is a growing consensus that long term economic growth requires investment in
human capital to augment labor productivity, which naturally directs one to
education, as the greatest enabler.
•  We have viewed enrolment rates as our evaluation criteria and have completely
ignored if the quality of education has improved over time or not.
• Its well known that we ignore the fact that even where adequate funding is provided
for primary education, the quality remains poor. With teachers absent, lack of labs,
lack of sports and recreational facilities our public education system has become a
dumping ground of public resources.
• The poor's have little ability to pay for education, only the public sector caters to their
needs.
Cont.…
• A direct consequence of this is that the poor lacks any choice in terms of deciding the
service provider for their education needs.
• This lack of choice or lack of competition results in complacency with the monopolist
(or the government) in terms of providing or improving the quality of education
service.
• An alternative approach towards public education system comes from a clear
separation between the provider and the financier of the service
• that is, while the government may continue to finance the education system, it need
not run its own schools to provide education. This is possible in a system where the
funds follow the students rather than school. 
• Friedman (1955) proposed moving to a voucher system for primary and secondary
education in the United States of America.
Example of Chile Education System
• The education vouchers system is currently in place in several countries in
different forms.
• In the case of Chile, West (1996) observes that post introduction of the Voucher
System in 1987, there was a considerable increase in the number of students
attending private schools, given its superior quality.
• The reforms had also, in fact, led to an increase in the overall duration of
education received by the Chilean population and it led to a substantial drop in the
illiteracy rates amongst the youth.
• The reforms had also, in fact, led to an increase in the overall duration of
education received by the Chilean population and it led to a substantial drop in the
illiteracy rates amongst the youth.
Need of a new system in India
The budgetary allocation for Department of
School Education and Literacy (DSEL) for 2019-20 was Rs.
54,959 crore, approximately a 10 percent increase from 2018-
19.
India expenditure in primary education was at level of 28.4 %
in 2018-19, up from 27.2 % previous year i.e. Rs. 15,609 crore.

Under the current funding structure, far from retaining

children, government elementary schools have been emptying
at an alarming rate according to official DISE data.
• Between 2011 and 2016, total enrolment in government
schools fell by 13 million and that in private schools rose
by 17.5 million.
• Government schools pedagogically and economically
unviable, with 40% of all government schools now having
fewer than 50 students in total.
Source: http://www.cbgaindia.org/blog/budget-2019-share-education-total-expenditure-declining-since-2014-will-different-time/
EDUCATION VOUCHER
An education voucher, is a promissory note of a given monetary value, to the parent
of each eligible child.

Aim of Education Voucher :

The very aim of all voucher systems is to provide families with a maximum degree
of choice.
• Consumer choice
 In education this means parental choice through parental authority.
• Stimulation of competition
 Takes place because schools are normally monopolies. The objective of voucher
schemes is to challenge public schools to compete, with each other and also with
private schools. This happens through increasing quality, reducing costs and
introducing innovation.
• Personal advancement
 Individuals want to shape their own life.
• Equality of opportunity
 The objective is the increase of access to private schools. This is achieved
with targeted voucher schemes that give low-income families and/or
minority groups greater access to private schools.
OTHER
GOODS
BENEFIT OF
EDUCATION VOUCHER
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Benefits of Education voucher:

Consumer Sovereignty
 Education Vouchers allows individuals to choose school based on their
own choices. So it provides individuals more option.
Competition
 Individuals with low income background can also send their children to
private school
 The amount they will save in terms of education voucher will be used in
consumption of other goods.
 It helps students in availing quality education
Voucher will benefit to…

Vouchers might provide access

• to public schools only
• to private schools only
• or to both public and private schools

The Voucher availability may be selective and restricted to

• special groups, e.g. low income families, minorities, etc.
• the family’s income, so that poorer families receive the more vouchers
• the basis of gender
Reforming the society
• Reforming Public Education
• Many countries have been restructuring their education policies and have
redefined the roles
of educationʹs stakeholders (government, schools, and families) in the delivery of
education.
“The problem cannot be solved on the same level on which it was created. One has to rise above it to the
next level.”
-Albert Einstein

• Status Quo
• Mounting evidence shows that private schools are more efficient than public
schools. Concerning socio-economic factors, private schools lead to qualitatively
higher output in verbal, mathematical and cognitive abilities. In addition, private
schools are much less costly than public schools.
• A prominent example here is Lucknow where the per-pupil costs in unaided
private schools are less than half than in public schools. Private schools also have
a high level of accountability since they work according to the market mechanism.
Outcome of Education Voucher- Report (CMS & CCS,2009)

• In India, Delhi Voucher Project was undertaken by the Centre for Civil
Society (CCS)

• 408 school education vouchers was awarded to underprivileged students in

Delhi, minimum of 3 years

• Directly made available to schools to meet the student’s expenses towards

fees, books, uniform etc.
• Findings by Delhi Voucher Project First Assessment Report (CMS & CCS,
2009)
• It was found that 63.10% of the voucher beneficiaries exercised freedom of choice
and switched to private schools.
• More than 90% of parents of students switched to private schools (due to vouchers)
were happy with progress and learning of their children.

• Ample of evidences shows that voucher system performs better than the
conventional production subsidy.
• India could learn from the global experience and consider moving towards
a voucher system as a policy tool.
• Voucher system helps in expansion and improvement of the quality of
India’s public primary and secondary education system.
Problems
The government has two main objections to education voucher in education.
1. The first is its belief that in backward rural areas private schools will not come
up, even with the lure of government voucher funding.
National Sample Survey data 2014-15 show that
• Median fee in private unaided elementary schools was Rs 292 pm in rural
and Rs 542 pm in urban India
• 25% children in unaided schools of India paid a ‘total course fee’ of less than
Rs 200 pm (57% paid less than Rs 500 pm, 82% paid less than Rs 1,000 pm
and a mere 3.6% paid more than Rs 2,500 pm).
• 25% private school managers charge less than Rs 200 pm, even a relatively
low value voucher of Rs 500 pm will represent untold riches in remote rural
areas, and is likely to produce a strong supply-side response.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/a-scholarship-for-everyone-why-school-vouchers-are-the-best-way-to-give-in
dias-children-access-to-quality-education/
2. MHRD’s second problem with DBT funding of schools is that the many
emptying government schools
With their few enrolled students –too little revenue under voucher funding to pay
their current teachers.
• Here, the central government and many state governments are already
contemplating school ‘consolidation’, i.e. merging the tiny government
schools with bigger government schools nearby, and redeploying teachers
from under-enrolled to over-enrolled schools.
THANK YOU