| Summary: | This thesis investigates claims that low-fee private schools can serve the poor. The analysis focuses on experience in India where private schooling (un-aided by government) is seen to be expanding in a context where there are common perceptions of failings in the government education system,This study is situated In a rural context in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The focus is of particular relevance given that the majority of India's population is rural, and the state is amongst the lowest in terms of human development (its human poverty Index is ranked 26 of 32 Indian states and territories). The argument in favour of private schools rests on the premise that potential clients have a choice between providers thereby enforcing better standards through competition, but for choice In a market to function, clients must have purchasing power. To investigate this claim, a central concern of the thesis Is to understand the meaning of poverty in a rural Indian context, and the choices available to those identified as poor. By contrast, the existing literature on private schools deals very briefly with the Issue of poverty, usually justifying identification of the poor by selecting areas of a country which are viewed as these areas between household poverty.
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