Private Schools Vs Public Schools- A comparison

Parents these days have more choices of schools than ever before. And choosing one for your child can be intimidating. These days there are a large number of private as well as public schools available as an option, that all claim to provide the best education to the children, which may confuse you to decide the best. But there is a major confusion of the fact that which one is best, Private school or Public school? Private versus public! It's a debate that rages across the playgrounds and living rooms. All parents are really worried about their child’s future and security as well. According to an interactive poll, nearly one in four parents is currently considering switching their child's school from public to private. Well, this is not the end of the debate, even those already there in a private school are also not content and have grievances of their own.

As any parent who has toured both kinds of school knows, it's not always easy to answer the questions about which one is superior. Many people have a bias one way or another. Some assume that private schools offer superior everything, justifying the tuition costs that they charge, while others contend that public schools provide more real-life experiences or, in some cases, more-developed speciality programs in athletics or science. It's an age-old debate, and people have been debating over this topic right from the beginning. Nobody doubts that private schools tend to outperform public ones on average. The statistics prove it anyways. But talking about overall results there is not much difference when compared the result for 10^th board or results at the senior secondary level and the much part of the result is determined by the student and not the school.

Difference Line

There have been many reasoning’s given by the supporter of both the types of schools. The most obvious discrepancy between public and private schools comes down to the financial matters. The good news for parents is that public schools cannot charge tuition fees. Even if they charge some fees, it would be a very small amount and won’t pinch. The bad news is that public schools are complicated, often underfunded operations influenced by political winds and shortfalls. Public schools are financed through national, state, and local taxes. Funding for these is provided by the government and do not run on the fees paid.

On the other hand, private schools are not supported by any kind of regular funding by the government and must generate their own funding, which typically comes from a variety of sources: tuition; private grants; and fundraising from parents, alumni, and other community members. There are also some schools associated with a religious group, the local branch may provide an important source of funding as well, otherwise, these private schools have to arrange for funds themselves, the most part of which comes in the form of monthly fees paid. This is the main reason for the great difference in the fee structure of both the schools.

The potential benefits of private schools accrue from their independence. Since these private schools do not receive tax revenues in any form, they are not bound to follow any kind of restriction, regulations and bureaucratic processes. This allows many private schools to be highly specialized, offering differentiated learning, advanced curriculum, or programs geared toward specific religious beliefs.

Comparison between Private Schools and Public Schools

Comparing the two types of school is not easy, it's a big question which parents ask almost as much as "Which is the best school?" The question is "How do private and public schools compare?" Coupled with that question, parents have a curiosity to know more about the differences and similarities between private and public schools. These can be distinguished on the basis of the fees structure, security, admission and many other factors. There are parents who consider that since private schools are charging in more, so they would surely provide a good education. Which is not true, just don't assume that because a school costs more, it will perform better; or because it costs nothing, it will perform worse. There are many other factors also that are responsible for this thing. Comparing private and public schools, we can consider the following points of comparison:

Admissions Process
An obvious distinction between public and private schools results from their respective admissions procedures.

By law, public schools must accept all children. In many cases, enrolling your child involves little more than filling out a few forms and providing proof of your address to the local school district office. In practice, however, getting your child into the public school of his or her choice can be much more complicated.

A private school, on the other hand, accepts any student it wishes to according to its academic and other standards and often takes admission tests. It is not required to give a reason why it has refused to admit anyone. Its decision is final.

Private schools are deciding authorities themselves and are not answerable to any other authority. Private schools are allowed to expel students and can choose not to allow certain students admittance. In fact, many private schools are difficult to get into.

Public schools allow all students, regardless of caste, colour, religious creed, academic abilities or any other factor. Enrolling a child in a private school means admission is selective and demands are possibly higher as compared to a public school where they will be exposed to a wider variety of people and abilities. But today both are likely to incorporate students from various cultures and backgrounds.

Accountability
This is also a difference in the accountabilities of the two types. Both have their accountabilities towards the certain organization or set of rules and education boards.

Public schools must comply with a host of national, state and local laws and regulations including Right to Education etc. The number of regulations with which a public school must comply is vast and includes in all the educational schemes and laws of the government of India and respective states. In addition to all the regulations related to education, all schools whether private or public schools must also comply with all the state and local building, fire and safety codes.

Private schools must observe laws such as annual reports to the education department, maintenance of state-required attendance, curriculum and safety records and reports, compliance with local building, fire and sanitation codes. Also along with this schools also need to maintain their affiliation with either CBSE or any other board and are also accountable to the respective board.

Cost of Education
Generally cost is one of the most important and major factors of comparison among the private and public school. Since funding differs greatly between private and public schools.

Public schools are not allowed to charge any tuition fees in most jurisdictions at the elementary level and even offer a lot of scholarship schemes for bright students. Even at the high school level, there is a modest amount of fees that won’t pinch, however deprived sections are even exempted from paying that also. Public schools are funded largely by local property taxes, though many districts also receive funding from state and national sources, hence bearing cost is not a problem for these schools.

Private schools usually charge for every aspect of their programs. Fees are determined by the market. Usually, tuition fees charged by these schools are far more than normal charges. Private schools take no public funding. As a result, they must operate with balanced budgets. In order to balance all these and teacher’s pay, they have to charge in some big bucks for their services.

Safety Standards
Safety is a big concern for parents, and all parents are worried about the safety of their children.

It is often observed that private schools are much in command over security issues as compared to the public schools. Violence in public schools is a top priority for administrators and teachers. Usually, it is a conception that students from public schools indulge in a lot of violence and teachers do not have enough control over these issues in public schools, or rather teachers do not bother to care about these things in public schools.

In contrast, private schools are generally considered to be safe places, and these schools put in a lot of emphasis on security of children and do not tolerate any kind of violence. Access to campuses and buildings is carefully monitored and controlled so that no outsider could enter. Because schools usually have fewer students than a public school, it is easier to supervise the school population.

Teacher Qualification
It is obvious that teachers in the public school will be well qualified according to the qualification standards set up by the government. These teachers are well qualified and also well paid by the government.  

On the other hand, private schools have limited budgets and do not offer much pay to the teachers, hence teachers in these schools are not usually properly qualified and sometimes not even possess sufficient experience levels and are according paid less.

Discipline
Discipline plays an important part of private school curriculum and is often given an important place. Private schools are really strict about the discipline and each child is made to follow proper discipline.

However public school teachers do not focus on discipline and are more concerned about their teaching job only and do not concentrate on the social and overall development of children. Discipline in these schools is not generally paid attention. And students generally lack disciplined behaviour, which is never taught to them.

Some Advantage of Public Schools

Some advantages associated with public schools are:

• Reasonable tuition fee, and free education for the underprivileged students. Many public school districts even provide transportation in the form of busing to get students to and from school and free uniform, stationary and meals.
• Having a common public education is one of the things that unite people regardless of race, colour, ethnic background, or religious beliefs. Sixty per cent of children in India attends a public school.
• Public schools receiving funds hire teachers who meet certification requirements, whereas private schools are not held to that standard. Hence there is an advantage of highly qualified teachers in public schools.
• Family factors and socioeconomic background may not afford education, in this case, the public school provides free education.
•  Teacher pay in public schools is overall better than in private schools (individual schools may differ), and this may give teachers a greater investment in their careers.
• Public government-aided schools to provide in the facility of scholarship for intelligent and needy.
• Public schools provide lots of facilities for sports and other recreational activities, as they have government funds to support them.

Some Advantage of Private Schools

Some advantages associated with private schools are:

• Even though there are tuition costs at private schools, there are scholarships available in many cases, and parents who select them to feel that the money spent is worth it.
• Private schools may have selective admissions, whereas public schools are required to educate all students in their geographic area. Hence the teacher can pay more attention toward individual student.
• Private schools are really strict about behaviour issues and do not tolerate any kind of miss-behaviour.
• Private schools may be more welcoming to parental involvement: the fact of paying directly may be a factor
• Parents who wish for the overt teaching of morals and religion will naturally gravitate toward sectarian private schools.
• Because private schools don’t have to follow the teacher certification rules of public schools, they can sometimes have a diverse faculty with alternative qualifications, such as language skills and a teaching license from another country.
• Even though the pay is lower, private schools may give teachers more freedom to develop creative curriculum than public schools, and this may give them greater school loyalty.
• A lot of extracurricular activities are organized for the overall development of students.