Does the growing private sector deliver schooling for all? Role of gender, parental altruism and family wealth

Rapid growth of the private provision of basic schooling around the world has given rise to a policy debate about the role of the private sector in the universal provision of basic schooling. In this chapter, the authors use three rounds of individual-level unit record data from India, collected over the period 1993–94 to 2011–12, to examine if the private sector can deliver schooling for all at a given point in time and also its evolution over time. Specifically, the authors focus on the role of gender and compare private school choice between mixed-gender (households with both boys and girls) and single-gender (those with only boys and only girls) households. The results using the IHDS1 and IHDS2 data show that private school enrolment is significantly lower for girls compared to boys. The magnitude of this disadvantage is double that of overall school enrolment. However, female disadvantage in private schooling disappears among mixed-gender (relative to single-gender) households. This can be attributed to the altruism of more motivated mixed-gender households choosing private schools for both their boys and girls. Girls with educated mothers are more likely to be sent to private schools while boys from more wealthy households are more likely to be enrolled in private schools; family wealth, however, does not boost girls’ private schooling. Finally, female disadvantage in private schooling is significantly higher in 2004–05 relative to that in 1993–94 while there is no evidence of a declining gender gap post 2004–05. The results raise concerns for the private provisioning of basic schooling even at a time when the economy attained very high rates of growth and poverty went down significantly. This chapter concludes by discussing the possible role of direct pro-girl policies to tackle this gender gap.