- **b. Prevalence and socio-economic patterns of private schooling in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, and over-time evolution of private schooling in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, as reported in household surveys and school censuses**

9. Private schooling (in aided and unaided schools) appears concentrated in four countries, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, as demonstrated in Figure 1, using household survey data. Private school enrollment accounts from 15% to 80% of total enrollment across the age groups in these countries. Private sector engagement in education is incipient in Afghanistan, and is traditionally minimal in Bhutan.

10. The shares of aided and unaided private schools vary significantly across the four highconcentration countries. Aided schools’ presence is extensive in Bangladesh, considerable in India, and minimal in Nepal and Pakistan. Aided schools in India take origin from a policy in the colonial past, with teacher salary subsidies proportionate to enrollment<sup>4</sup> . In 2009/10, they account for 30% of private school enrollment among 6-10 year-olds, 41% among 11-15 yearolds, and 55% among 16-18 year-olds. The colonial tradition was interrupted in Pakistan in 1972 and Bangladesh in 1973, when private schools underwent mandated nationalization. The 1973 nationalization mandate in Bangladesh applied only one time to existing primary schools; after that, private schools could be established and government financing resumed. As of the latest household survey in 2010, aided schools account for 31% of private school enrollment among 6- 10 year-olds, 86% among 11–15 year-olds, and 95% among 16–18 year-olds. The remarkably high shares of aided schools in the older age groups may be attributed to a salary subvention system that was introduced by the Bangladeshi government in 1981 to support private secondary institutions (Rahman et al., 2010). However, in Pakistan, since the reversal of nationalization in 1979, the colonial tradition has not resumed. The distinction between “aided” and “unaided” is not made in the Pakistan and Nepal household surveys. In fact, most government schools in Nepal may be considered as partially aided as the local community has been handed some management powers since 2001, due to an amendment to the Education Act. However, we consider them in the government category in this paper given that teacher management and recruitment, a key management activity, is still practically controlled by the government<sup>5</sup> .

11. Although overall school enrollment is biased towards boys in all the countries presented in Figure 1, except in Bangladesh where the reverse applies (perhaps largely due to reduced schooling costs through the Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP) that started in 1993), this pattern does not hold in terms of the private school share of enrollment. Gender gaps in the private schooling share are small and do not follow a consistent pattern across the countries. The only cases where the gender gap is 3 percentage points or more are the 11-15 age group in Bangladesh with a 5 percentage-point female advantage, the 6-10 and 16-18 age groups in Nepal with male advantages of 4 and 3 percentage points, respectively, and the 6-10 and 11-15

> 4 A president of the Board of Control of the East Asia Company in 1854 recommended that (pre-partition) India provide grants-in-aid in support of private schools.

> 5 It may be useful to note that in the case of Nepal, government schools have become partially managed by the community, whereas in the case of Bangladesh, schools established by the private sector receive government funding. As a result, the partnership in Nepal maintains a government identity, whereas the partnership in Bangladesh maintains a private identity.

7