State support for private schooling in India: What do the evaluations of the British Assisted Places Schemes suggest?

Section 12 of the Indian Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (the RTE Act) states that 25% of the entry-level places in all private schools should be free and reserved for students from economically and socially disadvantaged families. The Indian State governments will pay schools a per-child fee based on costs in the government sector, or the actual school fee if that is lower. This substantial funding, and accompanying ideological support, for private sector schools is justified mainly in terms of the need to meet Education for All targets. This article shows that there are many similarities between this scheme and the Assisted Places Schemes that ran in Great Britain from 1980 until 1997. It examines these similarities and differences between the schemes and draws conclusion about the potential effects of the Indian scheme in terms of social justice based on the evaluations of the British schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]