PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS PRIMARY EDUCATION

* Ravishekhar kushwah

ABSTRACT

The growth of the private sector and the emergence of a range of Basic Education PPPs both have implications for the role of international organizations and NGOs, as well as for private educational entrepreneurs. For the most part, education lending by international organizations such as the World Bank has mirrored the public sector dominance of Basic Education that exists in many countries. The expansion of PPPs has also highlighted a number of significant gaps in knowledge with respect to the private involvement in education. These gaps are evident at many levels and suggest several areas for future research. At a minimum, there is a need for much better data on the size and nature of the private Basic Education sector. Many developing countries lack even the most basic data on private Basic Education, including the number of schools, teachers and enrolments. In addition, not enough is known about the nature of private provision and the socio-economic status of the communities served by private schools. For example, despite recent evidence of the important role played by low-fee private schools in serving poor communities (Tooley 2011; Andrei, Das and Khwaja 2012), a myth persists that private schooling serves primarily (or only) elites. In many countries and jurisdictions, information on private schooling is either non-existent or is collected only in a haphazard fashion. This provides little basis upon which to assess the potential effects of either funding and regulatory policy changes or assessing the potential role for PPPs in Basic Education.

* PURSUING MBA PROGRAMME GICTS COLLEGE GWALIOR JIWAJI UNIVERSTY

Introduction:

Public–private partnership (PPP) describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more sector companies. These schemes are sometimes referred to as PPP, P3 or P3.

PPP involves a contract between a public sector authority and a private party, in which the private party provides a public service or project and assumes substantial financial, technical and operational risk in the project. Public Private Partnership means an arrangement between a government / statutory entity / government owned entity on one side and a private sector entity on the other, for the provision of public assets and/or public services, through investments being made and/or management being undertaken by the private sector entity, for a specified period of time, where there is well defined allocation of risk between the private sector and the public entity and the private entity receives performance linked payments that conform (or are benchmarked) to specified and pre-determined performance standards, measurable by the public entity or its representative.

Public private partnership (PPP) is an approach used by government to deliver quality services to its population by using the expertise of the private sector. It is a contractual arrangement through which a private party performs part of the service delivery functions of the government while assuming associated risks. In return, the private party receives a fee from the government according to pre-determined performance criteria. Such payment may come out of the user charges or through the

government budget or a combination of both.

Broadly, PPP in school education can operate to provides,

infrastructural services, support services and Educational services.

PPP in India

The Government of India defines a P3 as "a partnership between a public sector entity (sponsoring authority) and a private sector entity (a legal entity in which 51% or more of equity is with the private partner/s) for the creation and/or management of infrastructure for public purpose for a specified period

of time (concession period) on commercial terms and in which the private partner has been procured through a transparent and open procurement system."

Public-Private Partnership or PPP in the context of the education sector is an instrument for improving the education of the population. PPP is to be seen in the context of viewing the whole education sector as national asset with education promotion as goal of all education providers, private or public. The Private and Non-profit sectors are also very much accountable to overall education systems and services of the country. Therefore, synergies where all the stakeholders feel they are part of the system and do everything possible to strengthen national policies and program.

The Government of India has planned to set up 6,000 model schools in the country. Of these, 2,500 model schools are being set up under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The Government is visualizing that the enactment of the Right of children to Free and Compulsory Education Act-2009 would entail an increase in the demand of education facilities at the school level. To meet this increased demand for education facilities, the Government is moving forward to set up 2500 mode schools under PPP. Presently children who do not have an access to elementary education are from disadvantaged sections of society. They are living mostly in remote and relatively inaccessible areas. They are served poorly by education and medical facilities.

Basic primary education is generally viewed as a public sector’s responsibility, which makes any shared involvement of public and private sectors a highly sensitive issue. Transfer of user fees to private sector providers is sensitive, especially in basic education. Even more sensitive is the management of public education institutions by the private sector. PPPs can be used by unions and opposition as pretext to claim that government is abandoning its core task of providing public education.

Provide primary education in rural area: After 73rd Amendment Act, Madhya Pradesh became the first state which enacted new panchayat raj system in the state and formed PRIs. After formation of PRIs, state government gave several powers and duties to PRIs and education Was one of such areas? in rural areas all schools from Pre-primary to Higher Secondary Schools are managed and operated through panchayat. The main functions of Panchayats are-management of schools, operation of schools, construction and extension of school buildings, teaching aids in school, operation of non-formal education system, appointment of Shikshakarmies and implementation of promotion schemes. Village Education Committee (VEC) is also one of the significant aspects of community participation in education. Every village has a VEC. The VECs are formed instead of School Development Committees. The VECs are empowered to see the presence of teachers, operation, control and inspection of schools, enrolment campaigns, ensure the enrolment of each school going age child in school and control the tendency of dropout. Various models of PPP exist around the world.

Public–private partnership: Public sector consortium forms a special company called a "special purpose vehicle" (SPV) to develop, build, maintain and operate the asset for the contracted period. In cases where the government has invested in the project, it is typically (but not always) allotted an equity share in the SPv. The consortium is usually made up of a building contractor, a maintenance company and bank lender(s). It is the SPV that signs the contract with the government and with subcontractors to build the facility and then maintain it. In the infrastructure sector, complex arrangements and contracts that guarantee and secure the cash flows make PPP projects prime candidates for project financing. A typical PPP example would be a hospital building financed and constructed by a private developer and then leased to the hospital authority. The private developer then

acts as landlord, providing housekeeping and other non-medical services while the hospital itself provides medical services.

Public–private partnership in education

The private sector in its broadest sense includes communities, non-governmental organizations(NGOs), faith-based organizations, trade unions, private companies, small-scale informal providers And individual practitioners; all may collaborate with Government in order to raise education quality. Though the public sector remains the dominant player in education, making high quality education Accessible for all in a country requires innovative programmers and initiatives in addition to public Resources and leadership – or ‘vision’. There are ways in which the public and private sectors can join Together to complement each other’s strengths in providing education services, helping countries to meet their education goals and to improve learning outcomes (Patrons et al. 2009). These Partnerships can be tailored and targeted to meet the needs of specific communities.

One form of PPP in education is private operation of publicly funded education. While evidence is thin, a prominent recent study based uncross-country data suggests that private operation of schools with public funding raises student achievement levels, leading to efficiency gains. If it is accepted that primary education should always be publicly funded, and if the superior efficiency of this type of PPP in education is accepted or presumed, then some issues for policy are:

whether to give public funds directly to schools (supply-side financing) or as Vouchers to parents (demand-side funding);

to anticipate the potential equity effects of different ways of giving public funds For private operation; and To consider the feasibility of implementing educational PPPs in developing countries.

To improve educational outcomes of children: Private schooling is growing in many developing countries, including among the poor. Part of the reason for this seems to be that public schools are performing poorly, with high teacher absence rates, lack of teaching activity and low pupil achievement levels. Yet, the spread of private schooling exacerbates social inequality since the poor are necessarily excluded when private schools are not publicly funded. If fee-charging private schools increasingly attract households; it suggests that parents perceive them to be operating with some competitive advantages relative to public schools. The nature of these advantages suggests how the private sector can be utilized to improve educational outcomes of children. The main avowed advantage of publicly funded but privately operated education is that it harnesses the expertise, energy and financial and management skills of the private sector to give better value for taxpayers’ money. Proponents argue that PPPs provide a more flexible way of producing. Education remains the Government’s responsibility, but the provision of schooling needs not be Public. In fact, there are several ways that Government can ensure schooling, but not provide it. Publicly-financed, privately-provided education is one such option. Private management of public institutions is another. In addition, there are several mechanisms of private finance involvement in the education system. Contracting is used to deliver public services of many kinds in most countries. Public-private partnerships in education are often proposed in order to correct for inefficiencies in the public delivery, the issue is becoming clearer given the recent increase in impact evaluation studies. While the evidence base is small, it is nevertheless growing.

Two types of PPPs combine private operation / public funding1. direct aid to private schools (supply-side funding)2. school vouchers to parents (demand-side funding)

Benefits of private public partnership in primary education

Private providers are playing an increasingly important role in education: Private participation in education has increased dramatically over the last two decades across the world, serving all types of communities—from high-income to low-income families. Although governments remain the main financiers of education (at least of primary and secondary education), in many countries private agents deliver a sizable share of education (table 1). A number of governments contract with the private Sector to provide some of the services involved in producing education, such as teacher training, management, or curriculum design. Other government’s contract with a private organization to manage and operate a public school, as is the case with charter and concession schools. Still other contracts require private organizations to provide education to a specific c group of students by means of a subsidy, a contract, or avouched.There are ways in which the public and private sectors can join together to complement each other’s strengths in providing education services, helping countries to meet their education goals and to improve learning outcomes (Patrons et al. 2009). These Partnerships can be tailored and targeted to meet the needs of specific communities like,

Mid-day meal given on a daily basis (both in morning & afternoon shifts).

Health check up held twice a year. We do maintain Health Charts for the children.

All the major festivals and events in the Calendar are celebrated by our school throughout the year.

Uniforms, books & stationeries, woolens, new clothes for puja, special treats etc. are provided to the children.

Children are encouraged to participate in Inter School Art and Sports competitions. Private schooling growing rapidly If private schools attract HHs, they must operate with some competitive advantages It’s the nature of these advantages that shapes views about how the private sector can be most

effectively used Challenge for policy – how to harness the efficiency / accountability of private schools to

create better outcomes PPPs are avowedly one way of doing that

Efforts of government towards primary education

Poor children are less likely to attend school…Low levels of enrollment and completion is concentrated not only in certain regions but also among certain segments of the population. In every country completion rates are lowest for children from poor households. In Western and Central Africa, the median grade completed by the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution is zero,

because less than half of poor children complete even the first year of school.The education income gap also exacerbates gender disparities. In India,

Various types of pre primary schools are available in India and more children are now attending pre-school (NIPCCD, 2006) indicating an increase in demand for education at this stage. This overall increase raises questions such as whether this demand has increased everywhere. Are all children attending pre-schools if they are available? Which types of preschools do children belonging to different socio-economic groups attend?.

Pre-school Education and Exclusion

Research suggests that pre-primary education is very important for the development of young children before they enter formal school (Kaul, 2002). It helps in cognitive development of children at the early grades of primary education and it has strong bearing on attendance and participation of children once they enter primary school .Pre-primary education is considered to be very important for the child as it is the first step towards entering the world of knowledge as wells a healthy and purposeful life. Pre-primary education helps children become more independent and confident as well as promotingthe all round development of the children (Ramachandranetal.,2003).Children who have been to pre-primary schools tend to learn more rapidly through inorganic edcurriculum, learning aids and by interacting with other children. The main purpose of pre-primary education is to prepare children physically, emotionally, socially and mentally for formal schooling and to prevent poor performance and early drop out. It also helps older children, particularly girls, to attend their schools making them free from responsibility of sibling care.Pre primary education is necessary for all children: Thus it can be said that pre primary education is necessary for all children of 3-6 years old irrespective of their socio-economic background (Covina and Bandyopadhyay, 2008). With increasing numbers of nuclear families and a lack of family support, pre primary school education is gaining importance Availability of quality pre primary education will promote inclusive education and meaningful access to school education by increasing enrolment and reducing the vulnerability of children to failure and drop out at later stages of education. Children belonging to marginalized groups in society, particularly girls, depend on public preprimary schools, whereas those belonging to higher socio-economic groups are more likely to attending private schools. Since education of children between 3-6 years old is not fundamental right, it is not legally mandated. Because of this preschool education is suffering from inadequate coverage and poor quality benefiting very few children. However, it is an important constitutional.

The evidence: The existing evidence from around the world shows that the correlation between private provision of education and indicators of education quality is positive, which suggests that the private sector can deliver high-quality education at a low cost. Using data from the OECD’s programmed for International Student Assessment, Woessmann (2005) showed that publicly operated schools deliver lower test scores than privately operated schools, but publicly funded private schools are associated with higher academic achievement than publicly operated institutions. Therefore, partnerships in which the private sector is the operator and the public sector is the financier have the potential to increase enrollment while keeping the education budget in check.

The public-private partnership continuum: The PPP continuum depicts the main forms of publicly funded and privately provided education across the world. It ranges from systems where all provision is strictly public to systems where it is largely publicly funded and privately provided. This conceptual framework helps to identify the extent of a country’s engagement in PPPs in education. The continuum assumes that the responsibility for funding largely remains with the public sector.

Public-private partnerships that bring alternative operators into the education system: Involving private organizations in activities beyond providing education services has expanded the education market and produced new forms of public-private engagement. Outsourcing education-related services is justified because private expertise and education innovations can add value to public education, but there are two more advantages to contracting external providers to support different aspects of the operation of public schools. First, competition between multiple providers can improve the quality of the services that they provide and can reduce costs. Second, economies of scale can result when contractors service multiple schools.Understanding Public-Private Partnerships In EducationThe main rationale for developing public private partnerships (PPPs) in education is to maximize the potential for expanding equitable access to schooling and for improving education outcomes, especially for marginalized groups. In this chapter, we show how different types of contracts can help meet these two objectives in different socioeconomic and political contexts. Specifically, we examine how contracts are used to hold all partners accountable and how contracts are designed to produce measurable improvements in education outcomes or performance. The analysis considers contracting as a distinct instrument from any other education accountability mechanisms. We define contracting as the process whereby a government procures education or education-related services of a defined quantity and quality at an agreed price from a specific provider. The agreement between the funder and the service provider is recorded in a contract and is valid for a specified period of time (Taylor 2003; Wang 2000).Many forms of contracting are currently used in education around the world. A range of different services can be procured from the private sector in following table 1.

Table 1

What governments contract for What governments buy

Management, professional, support services (input)

School management (financial and human resources management)

Support services (meals and transportation)

Professional services (teacher training, curriculum design, textbook delivery, quality assurance, and supplemental services)

Operational services (process) The education of students, financial and human resources management, professional services, and building maintenance

Education services (outputs) Student places in private schools (by contracting with schools to enroll specific students

Facility availability (inputs) Infrastructure and building maintenanceFacility availability and educationservices (both inputs and outputs)

Infrastructure combined with services (operational or educational outputs

Source: Adapted from World Bank 2011

Private providers are playing an increasingly important role in education

Private participation in education has increased dramatically over the last two decades across the world, serving all types of communities—from high-income to low income families. Although governments remain the main financiers of education (at least of primary and secondary education), in many countries private agents deliver a sizable share of education. The role of private players is as follows,

To build school infrastructure: Public-private partnerships are also being used to build school infrastructure. PPPs are a useful way to increase the funding available for constructing or upgrading school buildings and often yield better value for money than traditional public sector investments. In such partnerships, the government usually contracts a private company to build and/or maintain school buildings on a long-term basis, typically 25 to 30 years.

As education provider: Some countries make a sharp distinction between the role of the public sector as education financier and that of the private sector as education provider. For instance, in the Netherlands, all education is publicly financed, including private schools, which enroll more than two thirds of all students. In other countries, the private sector plays an important role in providing education, But the government only subsidizes some of the students who attend private schools (for example, Chile).

To provide supplemental academic services: The governments of many developed countries have found a range of different ways to leverage the capacity and expertise of the private sector to provide education. The number of private companies providing supplemental academic services (academic tutoring) increased by 90 percent in just one year, between 2003 and 2004. This sharp increase was partly driven by the 45percent.

By Financing Either School Inputs: In several developing countries, governments subsidize private schools, mostly operated by faith-based nonprofit organizations, by financing either school inputs, such as teacher salaries and textbooks, or per pupil grants. Although schools managed by faith-based organizations and local communities are often not considered to be strictly private.

To delivering education to low-income families: Private education providers are also playing an increasingly important role in delivering education to low-income families. They include a range of school operators including faith-based organizations, local communities, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private for-profit and not-for-profit schools.

To provide education quality and efficiency: In low-income countries that are making progress, some key principles appear to have guided education policymakers in defining strategies and choosing interventions of Public-Private Partnerships.

Public private partnership has shown a tremendous growth in literacy throughout the nation. Here following data related to literacy rate before and after introduction of PPP in basic education sector are presented in Table no.2.

Table-2

Ranking of States in India by Literacy Rate: before and after introduction of PPP2011 Census – after

PPP2001 Census –before

PPPSr. No.

State Literacy (%)

Male (%)

Female (%)

Literacy (%)

Male (%)

Female (%)

Change (%)

- India 74.04 82.14 65.46 65.38 75.85 54.16 8.661 Kerala 93.91 96.02 91.98 90.86 94.24 87.72 3.052 Lakshadweep 92.28 96.11 88.25 86.66 90.72 80.47 5.623 Mizoram 91.58 93.72 89.40 88.80 92.53 86.75 2.784 Tripura 87.75 92.18 83.15 73.19 82.42 64.33 14.565 Goa 87.40 92.81 81.84 82.01 88.62 76.47 5.39

6 Daman and Diu 87.07 91.48 79.59 78.18 86.14 67.42 8.897 Pondicherry 86.55 92.12 81.22 81.24 86.33 73.90 5.318 Chandigarh 86.43 90.54 81.38 81.94 88.42 75.37 4.499 Delhi 86.34 91.03 80.93 81.67 87.33 75.24 4.6710 Andaman and

Nicobar Islands86.27 90.11 81.84 81.30 86.76 74.71 4.97

11 Himachal Pradesh 83.78 90.83 76.60 76.48 85.35 65.61 7.312 Maharashtra 82.91 89.82 75.48 76.88 85.97 67.03 6.0313 Sikkim 82.20 87.29 76.43 68.81 77.38 59.63 13.3914 Tamil Nadu 80.33 86.81 73.86 73.45 83.28 64.91 6.8815 Nagaland 80.11 83.29 76.69 66.59 76.04 56.87 13.5216 Manipur 79.85 86.49 73.17 70.53 80.33 61.46 9.3217 Uttarakhand 79.63 88.33 70.70 71.62 81.02 63.36 8.0118 Gujarat 79.31 87.23 70.73 69.14 78.49 60.40 10.1719 Dadra and Nagar

Haveli77.65 86.46 65.93 57.63 68.82 43.53 20.02

20 West Bengal 77.08 82.67 71.16 68.64 77.02 59.61 8.4421 Punjab 76.68 81.48 71.34 69.65 79.66 60.53 7.0322 Haryana 76.64 85.38 66.77 67.91 76.10 59.61 8.7323 Karnataka 75.60 82.85 68.13 66.64 76.06 57.80 8.9624 Meghalaya 75.48 77.17 73.78 62.56 71.18 50.43 12.9225 Orissa 73.45 82.40 64.36 63.08 71.28 50.51 10.3726 Assam 73.18 78.81 67.27 63.25 75.23 51.85 9.9327 Chhattisgarh 71.04 81.45 60.59 64.66 75.70 55.73 6.3828 Madhya Pradesh 70.63 80.53 60.02 63.74 75.35 54.61 6.8929 Uttar Pradesh 69.72 79.24 59.26 56.27 67.30 43.00 13.4530 Jammu and

Kashmir68.74 78.26 58.01 55.52 66.60 42.22 13.22

31 Andhra Pradesh 67.66 75.56 59.74 60.47 71.16 50.29 7.1932 Jharkhand 67.63 78.45 56.21 53.56 63.83 38.87 14.0733 Rajasthan 67.06 80.51 52.66 60.41 70.32 43.85 6.6534 Arunachal

Pradesh66.95 73.69 59.57 54.34 65.43 40.23 12.61

35 Bihar 63.82 73.39 53.33 47.00 59.68 33.12 16.82

The arguments in favor of public-private partnerships

PPPs can create competition in the education market: The private sector can compete for students with the public sector. In turn, the public sector has an incentive to react to this competition by increasing the quality of the education that it provides.

PPP contracts can be more flexible than most public sector arrangements: Generally,The public sector has less autonomy in hiring teachers and organizing schools than the private sector does. Public-private contracts can be a better fit between the supply of and demand for education. Flexibility in teacher contracting is one of the primary motivations for PPPs.

Governments can choose private providers in PPP contracts: The contracts often include measurable outcomes and clauses that specify the condition to deliver a certain quality of education, and the

contractor with the best or lowest cost proposal is then chosen. This one characteristic of the contract alone can raise the quality of education.

To improve Basic education pattern: the private sector’s role in education can have several potential advantages over the traditional public delivery of education. Whether these benefits are actually realized depends greatly on how well designed the partnership between the public and private sector is, on the regulatory framework of the country, and on the capacity of the government to oversee and enforce its contracts and partnerships with the private sector.

The arguments against public-private partnerships

To reduce the government’s control: PPPs will lead to the privatization of education and thus will reduce the government’s control over a public service.

Increase socioeconomic segregation: Increasing the educational choices available to students and their families may increase socioeconomic segregation I better prepared students end up self selecting into high-quality schools, thus further improving their outcomes.

Will lose the support of more educated parents: PPPs will lead to poorer students being left behind in the deteriorating public schools that lose the support of more educated parents.

Suggestions to Improve Primary Education

Primary education is the first stage of mandated school attendance. We often refer to this periods the

elementary or grammar school years, from grades one to five. Students develop writing and numbers

skills during this time, and they're introduced to basic sciences and humanities. Primary education is the

foundation for lifelong learning. Educators can take deliberate steps to improve this base, with the goal

of enhancing student achievement.

There are some suggestions to improve the primary education:-

Plan Effectively: Planning is critical to masterful learning. Effective planning includes clearly defined objectives and expected outcomes. Instruction is delivered in a logical and sequential manner. Plus, all materials required to complete assignments are readily available.

Engage Students: there are various learning styles in each classroom, and teachers can engage students by designing activities that appeal to individual strengths.

Manage Behavior: When teachers have to stop and redirect students for misbehavior, quality instructional time is wasted. This can be minimized by establishing high expectations for classroom operation. Also, implementing a reward program is a good idea to reinforce desirable behavior. Research suggests that students are more likely to follow rules they help create. Teachers should serve as models of desired behavior and assist students in resolving conflict.

Include Parents: Experts believe that collaboration between home and school can result in improved student academic performance and communication with parents. Schools can foster this relationship by showing parents how to supplement school work at home. Parents feel empowered when they can help plan the academic curriculum, and volunteer at the school in meaningful and interesting ways.

Be Intentional: Intentional teachers understand child development, so they create materials and a classroom environment that's age appropriate. They also take into account the various learning styles 0f students and differentiate instruction accordingly.Provide new technologyas technology is embraced by more people; educators are exploring different ways to use it in their classrooms. If you teach in a primary school, there are several ways that you can incorporate technology into your lesson plans. When introducing technology in an assignment for the first time, be sure to prepare in advance.There are some new technologies.

Classroom Chores: Primary school students are often eager to help in the classroom. You can use technology to help organize the chores your students complete and to help ensure that every student gets his turn at both the "good" chores and the "bad" chores. Develop a class web page--you can use a wiki--

on which you create a table.Grading and Attendance: You can also use technology to help organize daily tasks such as attendance and grading. Use spreadsheet software. Create a new spreadsheet with a new page for each subject that you're teaching. Put students' names in the first column and the name of the test/quiz in the first row. As

your students complete each exam, put the grade in the corresponding cell.

Blogs: On a blog, the administrator (teacher) posts an entry to which users (students) respond in the comment field. A blog is a great platform to use for question-and-answer assignments and for foreign language assignments. For example, you can post chapter questions about a book the class is reading. Students are responsible for responding to both your question and to each other's comments.

Collaborative Writing in Wiki: Collaborative writing assignments at the primary level are a great way for students to learn how to work cooperatively, divide work, peer edit and complete a task--as a team--on time. Wiki web sites can make this collaborative writing process much more interesting. A wiki is a

web site that users can edit without knowing any sophisticated programming language.

Online Videos: The National Teacher Training Institute asserts that video can be an efficient tool to use in the classroom. Videos help students retain more information and understand difficult concept in less time. There are several ways you can use video. If you're teaching a social studies class, you'll find a wealth of video segments on the PBS web site that have been pre-selected to align with state standards

and curricula.

ConclusionsThis report has undertaken a review of the international experience with PPPs at the Basic Education level. These examples have been drawn from a wide range of both developed and developing countries. Several forms of PPP have been highlighted, including private philanthropic initiatives, private sector

management initiatives, and private School funding programs,(e.g. subsidies and vouchers), adopt-a-school programs and school infrastructure partnerships. Private participation in education – and particularly Basic Education – remains controversial in many countries. Despite this, the number (and diversity) of PPPs at the Basic Education level is growing. ‘Traditional’ private philanthropic PPPs continue to play a significant role in financing education in many countries. More recently, many countries have introduced more sophisticated funding-based PPPs that involve government finance, but private sector delivery, of education services.The efforts of private schools to improve the quality of their education should be supported, and governments should therefore consider adding capacity building components to voucher programs. Some private schools may lack the capacity to improve education quality because of unqualified teachers, a shortage of resources to enhance materials and textbooks, and inadequate knowledge of effective teaching techniques and management processes. Some of the support that has been given to private schools to overcome this problem includes facilitating their access to capital and arranging preferential loans to improve infrastructure and buy other critical inputs, as in the case of Mauritius.Theory suggests that PPPs can increase access and improve quality in education in a number of ways:

By allowing school choice by putting competitive pressure on private schools to remain in the market, by making school operations more fl edible, by setting quality-driven output specific cations,and By ensuring an optimal level of risk sharing between the public and private sector.

Proponents of PPPs in education often claim cost-effectiveness, equity, superior performance and cost savings. To date, the record on impact is relatively scarce. Worldwide attention to the issue is increasing and we are getting more results. While ideology continues to play a role in the various debates, the issue is becoming clearer given the recent increase in impact evaluation studies. While the evidence base is small, it is nevertheless growing. While there are different types of PPPs, or contracting arrangements, in education; few have been subject to rigorous evaluation. In the case of Latin America, the only innovative PPP experience with a randomized experiment is the case of secondary school vouchers in Colombia. In that case the randomization was the result of oversubscription to the program, forcing the administrators of the program to use a lottery to assign limited places. In this paper, it has been shown that due to various policy and programmed interventions has made great strides in enrolment of children in school. Unfortunately, the efforts made so far, have not been able, and do not appear capable, to enroll ALL school-aged children. A complementary education programmed appears able to supplement efforts made through the formal school system. For such a system to be adopted, however will require strong government commitment, backed by a strategic vision and policy framework for the education sector that has the support of other key ministries like Finance, Local Government, and Women and Children’s Affairs. It also calls for the establishment of inclusive, effective partnerships, domestic and international, which will help to build a strong constituency for education. Expansion of complementary education calls for reallocation of existing resources or mobilization of additional resources.

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