India’s massive k-12 schools sector which ungraciously hosts 220 million children at the start of every academic year, offers formidable hurdles to aspiring educationists, whether philanthropists, NGOs or education entrepreneurs. Despite the 294,862 recognised private including 175,885 private unaided (financially independent) K-12 schools, which have an estimated 90 million children on their musters, being clearly insufficient — as evidenced by the annual stampede for admission into almost all private aided and unaided schools at the start of every academic year (June-July) — the Central and especially state governments have invested themselves with vast discretionary powers to block, delay and reject proposals to promote greenfield private schools.
In every state of the Indian Union the rules and regulations relating to the promotion of greenfield primary and secondary schools are shrouded in mystery, and with education being a concurrent subject under the Constitution, state government bureaucrats have invested themselves with vast discretionary powers to extract bribes and rents at every stage of project implementation. Dismayed by persistent reports of illegal gratification extracted from edupreneurs promoting K-12 schools in Karnataka, in 2007 EducationWorld made an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 soliciting details of the exact number of government licences, permits, and clearances required to promote and establish a primary school. Almost a year later after regular reminders, a backdated (Kannada language) communication from the ministry specified seven permissions and clearances — most of them discretionary — which are mandatory prerequisites. Among them: assessment of the needs of the local area of the proposed school; size of population of the proposed school area; distance from existing institutions; literacy percentage and “any other” factor the authority feels relevant. Moreover the procedure requires the prescribed authority to assess the “suitability and eligibility” of all applicants on several parameters.
Yet despite the heavy hand of government because of overwhelming demand, the K-12 segment is buzzing with entrepreneurial activity. The ICT major Educomp Solutions Ltd. has drawn up an ambitious blueprint to establish 150 Millennium schools by 2012 (11 are already up and running). Coaching and tutorials heavyweight Career Launcher has engineered the promotion of nine Indus World schools with plans to promote another 250 by 2012. The New Delhi-based Radcliffe Group has announced plans to promote 150 schools with a total investment of Rs.300 crore.
Against this backdrop if the country’s apex court and final arbiter seizes the opportunity to shed its ideological baggage to deliver a liberal judgement in the Society for Private Unaided Schools of Rajasthan vs. Union of India Case, unambiguously upholding the fundamental right of citizens to establish and administer education institutions of their choice, and run them with sound business management principles, a massive volume of investment is likely to flow into K-12 education. If not, the primary-secondary years of the great majority of India’s 450 million children — the contemporary world’s largest child population — will continue to be spent in shallows and misery.