Private Education in Latin America: What can we learn from case studies in seven Latin American countries? By Larry Wolff Inter-American Development Bank

The current situation

BRAZIL Declining private sector in primary and secondary education Increasing private sector role in higher education (65%) “Benign” neglect of private sector by Government

GUATEMALA Growing private sector at all levels Government subsidizes private primary and secondary education Little or no supervision, oversight, or information Tight official controls on tuition increases Private schools have resisted publishing of information on their performance PRONADE: Primary schools publicly financed but run by NGOs and communities

ARGENTINA Rapid growth of private education over last 50 years at all levels Government subsidizes private secondary education Subsidy began in 1947 as a way of equalizing teacher pay in public and private institutions Now subsidization appears to be based solely on history and lobbying

CHILE Largest recent experiment in “choice” in the world Private subsidized primary and secondary schools: 35% of enrollment Public municipal schools: 56% Payment on the basis of student attendance in school Strong Government oversight and provision of information Research results

PERU and VENEZUELA Relatively small private sectors Government contracts with Catholic groups which establish schools in slum areas PERU: several distinct agreements with religiously oriented groups to provide educational services to disadvantaged children VENEZUELA: agreements with the Venezuelan Association of Catholic Education and with Fe y Alegría

CONCLUSIONS Wide variety of experiences of public- private collaboration Wide variation in the extent to which public policy goals are being met The differences between the public and the private sectors are disappearing

The distinction between public and private is less important than the extent of the public good which each sub-sector serves and the extent to which the rules of the game encourage behavior which serves public policy goals

To meet public policy goals, public institutions need to become more client oriented Incentives need to be designed to encourage private institutions to meet public policy goals Public institutions need to strengthen their capacity for policy making, financing, information provision, and regulation (second generation reforms)

A note of caution: Incentives and responsiveness to the market are not enough to improve the quality of education

Thank you Larry Wolff April 2002