frugal innovation in education: the case of chains of low-cost private schools (by james tooley)

Frugal innovation: The case of chains of low cost private schools

James Tooley, Barcelona, 26 November 2012

http://egwestcentre.com https://www.facebook.com/egwestcentre

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Two Questions: What proportion of children are enrolled in low cost private schools?How good are they?

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The (Minimum) RealityLagos State, Nigeria % of pupils

Private Unrecognised

33%

Government26%

Private Recognised41%

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Survey of 24,000 children

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19

Delhi –raw scores

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

maths English Hindi

Subject

Me

an s

co

re (

%)

Government

Private unrecognised

Private recognised

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Predicted scores for average child, Delhi

-0.5

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Maths English Hindi

Gov

Priv

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Sierra Leone@james_tooley

South Sudan

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South Sudan

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Liberia

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% of total enrolment

Proprietor, 60.10%Small church; 22.90%

Es-tab-lishe

d church;

13.50%

NGO; 0.40%Mosque; 2.00% Government; 1.10%

100,000 children, in poor areas of Monrovia

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Pay your taxes for schools?

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The Holy Grail(s) of Development

Sustainability

• The capacity to endure

Scalability

• Moving from one to many

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300,000 low cost private schools across India

80,000 low cost private schools across Anglophone West Africa

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No school

Government school

Low cost private school

Current choices for Poor Parents

Higher quality low cost private school

The 4th Choice

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From zero to 12,000 in 3 years

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Building the education model

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Getting the business model right

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A sustainable, scalable business

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We grew from 0 to 12,000 students (20 schools) from 2009 to 2012. We will grow to 200,000 students in next 5 years.

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Local knowledge leads to innovation

Pay-as-you-learn.This innovation extends access.

NO HIDDEN CHARGES!

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Cost per child per term (GHS)Cost Item OMEGA SCHOOLS PUBLIC SCHOOL

School Fees 0.00

Food 22.95

Transport 0.00

PTA 1.57

Examination Fees 0.92

Extra Classes 9.27

School Uniforms 12.12

Stationery 7.32

Total Per Child Per Term (GHS)

66.67 54.16

Public/OMEGA 81%

Based on figures from Akaguri (2010)@james_tooley

Innovations for management

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Innovations for Learning

Ω Daily lesson plans

Ω Students’ workbooks

Ω Teacher training

Ω Innovative education technology

Ω Assessment system

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Omega Learning System

Ω Peer Learning

Ω KEY POINT: Open to innovations that promote learning.

Ω Question: Why is innovation for learning easy with us and difficult in the public schools?

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Fit with Conference Aims

• Highlights a major trend in ‘grassroots’ educational reform

• Explores question of globalisation and standardisation

• Implicitly extends an answer to the question posed in the introduction: why hasn’t change happened?

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