Muralidharan and Sundararaman report a randomised controlled trial of a school voucher experiment in Andhra Pradesh, India. The headline findings are that there are no significant academic differences between voucher winners and losers in Telugu, mathematics, English, and science/social studies, although because the private schools appear to use…

This article presents a rejoinder to P. Sarangapani and C. Winch who accuse the authors of creating an "ideological fairytale" about the merits of private education for low income families, specifically in poor areas of Hyderabad. The authors present their remarks on Sarangapani and Winch's reply to their article.

This paper challenges Richard Pring's suggestion that parents using private education may be undermining the desire for social justice and equality, using recent arguments of Adam Swift as a springboard. Swift's position on the banning of private schools, which uses a Rawlsian "veil of ignorance" argument, is explored, and it is suggested that, if…

A low-cost private education sector is acknowledged to be serving the poor in developing countries, including India. However, it is widely accepted that this sector cannot provide a route towards "education for all". This conclusion is explored in the light of case study evidence from low-income areas of Hyderabad, India. Private…

A census and survey of schools in the district of Ga, Ghana, explored the nature and extent of private education, and compared inputs to public and private schooling. Three quarters of all schools found were private, with almost as many unregistered private as government schools. Several important differences between registered and unregistered…

A census and survey of schools in the slums of East Delhi, India, explored the nature and extent of private education serving low-income families, and compared inputs to public and private schooling. Around two-thirds of all schools were private unaided, with more unrecognised private than government schools. Teaching activity was found to be…

This book focuses on the impact of private education in developing countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Peru, Romania, Russia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The private education sector is large and innovative in the countries studied and not the domain of the wealthy. Contrary to popular opinion, private education in…

A census and survey of schools in selected poor areas of Lagos State explored the nature and extent of private education, and compared inputs to public and private schooling. Of all schools (71%) were found to be private, with more unregistered private than government and registered private schools. It was estimated that 33% of school children…