## 6.5 Do private schools want to partner with the government?

Within existing literature on education PPPs, the private sector’s motivation and reservations for partnering with the government have not received much attention. However, this aspect is critical to the success of these partnerships.

For the 2015 Morogoro school survey, private school providers were asked about potential partnership with the government. We randomize the delivery of these questions to better elicit underlying beliefs. Private schools were randomly selected to be asked in one of two ways: in a direct and personalized way (e.g. what are _your_ views?) or in a generalized way (e.g. what are the _average private school owner’s_ views?). Of the 87 private schools, 46 schools (53 percent) were given personalized questions and 41 schools (47 percent) were given generalized questions.

The personalized group expressed a higher likelihood of partnering with the government over the generalized group by 14 percentage points (53 percent in personalized vs. 39 percent in generalized). On the whole, slightly less than half (47 percent) of the private school owners who were interviewed were willing to partner with the government. Corruption was the most cited issue that would threaten the likelihood of a partnership, with 51 percent of all respondents reporting it as a major concern. Among the issues of most importance for a partnership, private school owners rated clear communication channels and clarity of accountability as the most important criteria for partnership.

# 7. Parental Demand

In 2017, as part of its annual Sauti za Wananchi survey, TWAWEZA collected information on households’ beliefs and attitudes towards the schooling of their children from a broad cross-section of Tanzanian households through mobile phone surveys. Of the 1,396 households surveyed which had at least one child in school, the vast majority (95 percent) had at least one child in a public school and 87 percent of households had at least one child in primary school. With a majority of households sending their children to public primary schools, these data provide limited evidence on the broad question of private schools for basic education and are not disaggregated by public and private school children. However, even limited insights on parental views are likely to build our understanding, regardless of school type. This section dissects these data to better understand parents’ beliefs and decision-making processes.

We find that households place a high priority on teacher readiness and raising educational standards, above potential financial benefits to the household. For example, when asked which government program would be preferred if implemented at the same cost, households preferred a teacher support and training program over a free school uniform program by nearly seven to one. By a similar ratio, households agreed or strongly agreed with the phrase, “It is better to raise educational standards, even if we have to pay school fees” over “It is better to have a free schooling for our children, even if the quality of education is low.” Responses were similar irrespective of whether the household had a child in public or private school, or children in both.

For households which had at least one child in primary school, parents were asked various questions regarding their involvement in their child’s schooling and attributes of schools that most influence their choice of secondary school. Roughly half of households with a child in primary school visit the child’s school or meet with the child’s teacher once or twice a year, while it is much rarer for a household to meet with the school’s management this frequently. Households believe that parents are more responsible than teachers for student performance, by 8.6 percentage points. When asked to name the two most important attributes of schools that influence their choice of secondary school, households chose motivated teachers and CSEE pass rates, highlighting the prioritization of teacher quality and academic success among households. The third most prioritized attribute was the ability 16