Education Voucher Scheme in India: Would Lead to School Choice and Universal Education?

Abstract

To remove obstacles in the path of 'Education for All', the government of India launched several programs, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) being one of them. Despite several attempts, the government has failed to be successful in providing education to all students and the impact of such schemes has not been very good at the ground level. In India, children are not absent from school owing to a lack of demand; rather, low quality of government education delivery is a major cause for their absence. There is a need to redefine the Indian education system or policy to a new level as government schools are unable to fulfil the growing demand for high-quality education. Direct government funding to children or parents rather than schools can provide parents or children with the ability to select the school of their choice, whether it is a government or private school. This may be accomplished through the education voucher scheme. Governments do not need to spend any additional public funds on vouchers to implement this approach. The education voucher scheme deserves an effort among the several approaches that are being pursued to improve school education.