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 | Act fast: Bring PPP in education sector Our Correspondent The huge, and increasing, gap between the demand and supply in education can be breached if the public-private partnership (PPP) model is accepted and speedily implemented in the sector. The Planning Commission has been promoting PPP in this area, which has largely been bypassed by economic reforms. As the 'Report of the PPP Sub-Group on Social Sector Public Private Partnership,' by the Planning Commission in November 2004, "Most of these services [education and health] have been traditionally provided through in-house facilities of governments, financed and managed directly by them. Public-private-partnership (PPP), on the other hand, is an approach under which services are delivered by the private sector (non-profit/for-profit organizations) while the responsibility for providing the service rests with the government. This arrangement requires the government to either enter into a 'contract' with the private partner or pay for the services (reimburse) rendered by the private sector. Contracting prompts a new activity, especially so, when neither the public sector nor the private sector existed to provide the service." The Yojana Bhawan mandarins used technocratic and arcane verbosity to shield themselves from the charge of Leftists that they were manipulated or bought by the unscrupulous private companies which want to enter the sector. In plain English, the report supported the idea of allowing private companies in education. The document of the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) outlined PPP in education. It suggested the setting up of 6,000 model schools, one each in every block in the country. Significantly, 2,500 of these schools were planned to be established through PPP. At present, only voluntary organizations, non-government organizations and trusts can undertake activities in higher education (other than the Government) to the exclusion of individual and private companies. Thanks to the pigheadedness of Arjun Singh, who presides over the Ministry of Human Resource Development and who is unwilling to shed the discredited notions about education, the private sector has been largely kept out of education. But, fortunately, the Government is said to be working on a PPP proposal which could make let in corporate entities into the sector. The shareholders of such companies will be eligible for dividends. The acute shortage of education facilities and the pressure of reformists within the system seem to be overshadowing the idiocies of the Arjun Singhs. The proposed changes in the policy framework would be available only for companies which accept the PPP concept. As the 2004 plan panel document said, "One of the persuasive arguments in favor of PPP is the promise of better quality of service through clear customer focus... PPP would reverse the years of chronic under-investment through mobilizing public and private capital." With the Left out, such mobilization should start at once. Posted on : 7/26/2008 Mail this article to your friend |