The country needs Rs 1.45 lakh crore in the 11th Plan to increase the gross enrolment ratio in secondary education, a study by Planning Commission has found.
At present, the enrolment ratio in class IX-XII is 40 per cent, which shows that 60 per cent of children in the relevant age group are not getting enrolled in schools after elementary level.
A Working Group on Secondary Education constituted by the Planning Commission to assess the requirement during the 11th Plan has estimated the requirement to be Rs 1.45 lakh crore to raise the enrolment ratio to 65 per cent.
Holding that the government does not have the required fund for the purpose, the HRD Ministry has come out with several models on Private Public Partnership (PPP) to encourage the private sector to pitch in strongly.
The ministry has brought out a policy document on PPP in schools and has invited feedback from stakeholders about the new policy.
The policy document says there is a huge gap between the requirement and the availability of school infrastructure in the country.
It is not possible to provide such a large amount from the government alone in a short period of time. If the private sector is involved, it could augment the financial resources by providing school infrastructure for which it would be paid an annuity, it said.
The PPP policy assumes significance as the government has decided to set up 2,500 model schools in the country during 11th Plan under PPP.
As per the government plan, these schools will be centres of excellence and would have infrastructure and facilities, at least of the standard of Kendriya Vidyalayas, with advanced facilities and modest pupil-teachers ratio.
About 3,500 model schools will be set up in government sector.
The schools to be set up in PPP model will be managed by the private partner with full autonomy. The government would provide a capital incentive which would be payable over a few annual instalments, the policy said.
About 50 per cent of seats in each school would be filled up through sponsorship by the government from among the socio-economically backward students for which the government would provide a per capita recurring grant as per its own rate. The remaining seats whould be filled up by the management which would charge a rationale fee.
Land for the school would be provided on lease at a concessional rate by the state government. These schools will come up in each block and the private partner would be chosen through a competitive bidding process.
The PPP policy says that establishment of institutions through private participation has a lot of advantages, like it will result in efficiency gains, speedy implementation, accountability and better quality monitoring.
