Adversarial Parental Perceptions About Government Schools in Ahmedabad

Introduction

To achieve comparability between responses of multiple households we sampled potentially comparable (on socioeconomic background indicators, and in choice-set of schools) households. We conducted in depth semi-structured interviews with parents residing in a limited geographical area, treating the area as a unit for case study. We investigated the extent of information asymmetry amongst households by comparing parental perceptions of schools in their choice- set with independent assessment of the same schools. School visits were conducted by researchers in ten schools identified by households. Modes of data collection included school and classroom observation tools as well as in-depth interviews with teachers and principal of school administered.

We do find that parents have a poor impression of government schools and this partially extends from poor experiences with government services in general. Therefore, the study confirms a “brand” problem, but the “brand” in question might not just be government schools. Contrary to what is often believed, we find that households are reasonably well informed about the schools they are choosing for their wards. However, we also find that contrary to what the parents believe, not all government schools are the same with sufficient variation between them. The poor perception of government schools in general is most detrimental to schools with motivated and committed personnel.