Private unaided schools have higher test scores and add more educational value than other school types. However, they tend to serve more advantaged students from wealthier families with higher levels of education. Not all private schools are equally effective - those charging higher fees, located in urban areas, and larger in size achieve better learning outcomes. While private unaided schools may provide better education, this disproportionately benefits higher ability and more advantaged children, raising concerns about inequality of opportunity. Prior academic achievement remains the strongest determinant of learning, indicating performance gaps emerge early in students' schooling.

1. Private schools in India: more learning, more inequality?

2. INDIA SURVEY: SCHOOL TYPE IS IMPORTANT
 Sample stratified by
school type
 There are significant
differences between
school types in Wave
1 and Wave 2 test
scores in both
English and maths
 But existing research
suggests private
school effects are
heterogeneous (e.g.
Singh, 2014)
 So we want to look
at the effectiveness
of private schools in
more depth
0
.002.004.006
kdensity
200 500 800
Wave 1 Maths score (IRT scaled score)
Private Aided Private Unaided
State Govt Tribal Social Welfare
Wave 1 Maths Score By School Type

3. PRIVATE SCHOOLS: WHO ATTENDS THEM?
 There are big disparities in the
characteristics of students
attending different types of
schools
 Suggests school ‘choice’ is linked
to wealth and family background
(as described by Srivastava, 2007)
0
20406080
100
Percent
Private Aided Private Unaided State Govt Tribal Social Welfare
School Type & Wealth Terciles
bottom tercile middle tercile top tercile
0
20406080
100
Percent
Private Aided Private Unaided State Govt Tribal Social Welfare
School Type & Mother's Education
Never been to school Primary Secondary
Upper Secondary Higher ed.
0
20406080
100
Percent
Private Aided Private Unaided State Govt Tribal Social Welfare
School Type & Social Category
SC ST OBC GC

4. ARE CHILDREN LEARNING MORE IN PRIVATE SCHS?
 Value-added analysis reveals that Private Unaided schools are ‘adding
more value’ in the course of one school year – this is the average VA,
and when we look school-by-school there are exceptions.
 When we control for differences in student background, the gaps
between school types narrow slightly – but there are still significant
differences between Private Unaided schools and all other school types
-10
0
102030
Private Aided Private Unaided State Govt Tribal Social Welfare
Mean School VA (English) by School Type
Mean School VA (uncon) Mean School VA (con)
-20-10
0
102030
MathsValue-Added
Private Aided Private Unaided State Govt Tribal Social Welfare
Mean School VA (Maths) by School Type
Mean School VA (uncon) Mean School VA (con)

5. BUT NOT ALL PRIVATE SCHOOLS DO BETTER…
 A lot of the Private Unaided schools in our sample are doing well in
Maths and English – but there are others which are doing no better than
other school types, particularly in Maths
-100
-50
0
50
100
-100 -50 0 50 100
English VA (unconditional)
Private Aided Private Unaided
State Govt Tribal Social Welfare
Maths and English Value-Added by School Type

6. PRIVATE SCHOOLS: WHICH ARE ADDING VALUE?
 Private Unaided schools which charge higher school fees add more
value in 1 school year
0
1020304050
Lower fee school Medium fee school Higher fee school
Private Unaided schools only
Mean School VA (Maths) by Fee Level
Mean School VA (uncon) Mean School VA (con)

7. PRIVATE SCHOOLS: WHICH ARE ADDING VALUE?
 Bigger schools (more
sections in Grade 9) add
more value in 1 school year
 Similar patterns seen
between private schools in
urban v rural areas (more
VA in urban areas)
 Suggests that private
schools are not equally
better – the amount of
value added varies by fee
level, location, school
size…
 Characteristics of better
schools – more accessible
to more advantaged
children?
0
1020304050
1 section 2 sections 3 or more sections
Private Unaided schools only
Mean School VA (Maths) by Number of Sections
Mean School VA (uncon) Mean School VA (con)

8. PRIVATE SCHOOLS: WHO ARE THEY BETTER FOR?
 Graph shows starting score and progress made
 Private schools making more progress at all ability levels
 Slightly steeper line for private unaided schools – better for high
ability children
300400500600700
300 400 500 600 700
W1 Maths score (scaled IRT score)
Private Aided Private Unaided
State Govt Tribal / Social Welfare
Maths test scores - by school type

9. SUMMARY
 Private unaided schools have higher mean scores, add more value,
and are attended by a more advantaged subset of children in these
sites
 Not all private schools are equally better - those which charge
higher fees, those in urban areas, and those which are larger
appear to add more value
 This has considerable implications for the equity of ‘more
effective’ education offered by private unaided schools
 Private schools are not ‘equally better’ for all students
 In maths higher ability children appear to benefit more from
attending private unaided schools (i.e. make more progress)
 This also has equity implications for learning amongst children
within private schools
 But prior attainment still makes most difference – gaps between
students arise much earlier in schooling