Low-Cost Private Schools: A Case Study in Jakarta
Authors
Muhammad Adi Rahman
Low-cost private schools provide accessible education to low-income families in developing countries. In Jakarta, these schools give low income families greater access to education due to the fact that they may be located nearer to the student’s residence, furthermore their inexpensive monthly fees and lower enrollment and graduation requirements allows for a greater number of students to gain an education.
This ease of accessibility is why a great number of low-income families choose to send their children to these private schools over public schools. Our research has shown that these schools don’t necessarily provide an education that is of lesser quality, as students covered in this study have achieved grades comparable to their public school counterparts. Thus it can be argued that the government should support the creation of more low-cost private schools as a means to create competitive pressure for government schools to increase their performance and their operational efficiency.
