The almost one-year-long process to reach a formula for Public Private Partnership (PPP) in 2,500 model schools is set to get prolonged with the Round Table on School Education raising questions about the latest PPP formula devised by the Planning Commison for schools.

It has been learnt that yet another exercise of arriving at the right PPP format is to be initiated with the Planning Commission’s current version not passing muster at the Round Table on School Education which met on Friday. The Planning Commission’s version for PPP in schools wanted the government to pay the fee and other additional charges for as many as 1,000 students per school. The Round Table members questioned the efficacy of such a formula arguing that it would mean a huge financial burden on the government, already in a bind over the funds for implementation of the Right to Education Act, and had a one-size-fits-all approach that would not work in the education sector.

Planning Commission Advisor Gajendra Haldea is helping develop a PPP policy framework for model schools. The Commision has now been asked to come up with a new format within four weeks, while the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry will do so in a week’s time.

The Round Table on School Education meeting, however, arrived at a consensus on the need for PPP in schools. There were strongly divergent views on the issue with some members of the Round Table insisting that government schools were still far better than private schools, others members argued that even in remote areas, parents preferred to have their wards admitted in private schools owing to the poor education quality at government schools. A consensus was finally reached with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal’s intervention and it was agreed that PPP was necessary at least for helping develop infrastructure, playgrounds and laboratories at schools, more so in remote areas.

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