Poverty, education, and developing countries

In response to some of my photographs from my Tanzania trip last December, a cousin (in India) noted:

By the way, I thought the rural Tanzania classrooms potentially had much more infrastructure than those in India. Chairs and tables are a good start - compared to sitting on the floor. Also, have heard that faculty vacancy/ absenteeism is a big issue here - wonder how it is there.

Yes, it is true ... government school teachers not even showing up to work is not unusual at all in India, and more so in the villages there.  And, yes, it is not that much a different story in Tanzania's schools either, apparently.

So, it is no surprise to me that even desperately poor people in India might save a few rupees in order to send their kids to private school where they have to pay fees.  To them it is worth that trouble.  Why?  Aha, glad you asked.  Let us turn to this review of Peter Tooley's book, The Beautiful Tree, for some insights:

what Tooley found, in four years of site visits and a five-country study described in his book The Beautiful Tree, throws a wrench in this familiar-sounding reasoning. Between two-thirds and three-fourths of students in the impoverished areas he studied were in fact attending these allegedly nonexistent schools, even when public options were available. ...
Most reasons that the parents gave for their choice had to do with what the World Bank calls the “short route” to accountability (as opposed to the “long route” which works through the political process). Because school owners’ profits and reputations in the community depend directly on whether parents are happy with their children’s schooling, they paid attention to parents’ complaints. Because teachers in private schools can be fired, they were less likely to be late, idle or absent. ...

Interesting, eh.  And then this paragraph with a lot of punch:

The most surprising thing to those of us who harbor prejudices (hidden even to ourselves?) that illiterate, unschooled parents can’t possibly know more than education experts, is that these parents were making smart, informed decisions. Not that the private schools were perfect—far from it: many of the schools Tooley visited were tucked away in poorly lit, dilapidated, smelly buildings without toilets, and teachers there did lack government training certificates, and were paid less than in the public system. But Tooley found that in low-cost private schools, across the board, classroom sizes were smaller, and teachers were much more likely to be found teaching during an unannounced visit. They are also achieving better results: the students in private schools outperformed their public school peers in nearly every subject they were tested in.