Yogesh Ashok Powar

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    • Understanding the Spectrum of Education in India

    What is Private Unaided Unrecognized School?

    Tags: India Schools Education

    This work is part of revamping India’s education system series. This is part-IV Please read part-I, part-II, part-III here.

    There are four types of schools in India

    1. Government Schools: Either built on government land or on donated land; managed and run by the government. Teachers’ salaries and operational costs come from the government.
    2. Private Aided Schools: These schools are not owned by the government but by a trust, society, or section-8 company. The government recognizes these schools and also gives some aid to them. Although ideally managed by a private body, the government intervenes and manages teachers’ appointments and salaries.
    3. Private Unaided Schools: Recognized by the government but not provided any financial aid. Such schools are entirely run by private management, funded through school fees and donations. The government ensures that 25% of seats are reserved for economically backward or reserved castes & tribes.
    4. Private Unaided Unrecognized Schools: These schools are not recognized by the government and thus do not receive any aid. They don’t exist on paper, making it impossible to obtain a board certificate or apply for board exams through these schools. They mainly exist for students seeking a different educational experience, possibly focusing on specializations. They serve as an ideal stop for homeschooling children willing to appear for board exams by filling form No. 17. We also discussed this in the previous blog.

    The government, which spends nearly about 3% of GDP, aims to reach 6% according to The National Education Policy, 2020 (1). As a regulator, it keeps shuffling the order to enforce quality, transitioning from aided to unaided or from recognized to unrecognized.

    Parents with access to resources (read wealthy parents) prefer Private Unaided Schools. Due to competition in such schools, availability of teachers for low salary, better facilities (read amenities), and brand reputation attract more parents to these schools. It’s now also considered a status symbol. The movie Hindi Medium has covered this story. More than 40-50% of students in urban areas are studying in private unaided schools (2).

    Government schools suffer from low attendance, and many exist only on paper.

    Private aided schools have little autonomy and no competition (or death) since teacher salaries are funded by the states, bypassing private management.

    A non-traditional school must begin its journey from becoming a private unaided unrecognized school towards becoming a recognized or aided one. Solutions offered for the problems of the Indian education system must first gain acceptance from society (perhaps from parents willing to support unrecognized schools) and should be self-sustained.

    To see results, a school must institutionalize and think beyond the passion of one or two teachers.

    This work is part of revamping India’s education system series. This is part-IV Please read part-I, part-II, part-III here.

    1. Education Budget ↩

    2. The Private Schooling Phenomenon in India: A Review ↩

    Tags: India Schools Education
    Updated on: 2023-12-02