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India’s only Nobel Prizewinning Economist, Amartya Sen used part of the Nobel winnings to set up an educational trust in West Bengal called Pratichi. Pratichi Trust did some research in a few districts in West Bengal (Sen’s home state) and came up with some interesting results. Sen wrote an introduction to the Pratichi Report [http://www.amartyasen.net/pratichi.htm] in which he called for a few policy modifications. One of them was “overcoming the evil of private tuitions”

On Nov 2, Swami Aiyar wrote a scathing critique of the report in the Times of India. It is worth reading in full, so I won’t paraphrase it here. Click here for it

And today (Nov 19) Sen reponds to Aiyar in the TOI Click here. In today’s TOI article, Sen contends — Nowhere did I argue that “private tuitions must be banned because they give the rich an edge”

But who wrote the following two paragraphs?

{start quote from Pratichi Report}
(3) The evil of private tuition must be uncompromisingly overcome. While this cannot be achieved overnight, given the low quality of school teaching, it has to be borne in mind that the safety valve of private tutoring - available to the more wealthy children from more powerful families - makes the teachers less concerned about not getting enough done in school and about the discontent of children from more affluent - and more influential - parts of the society.

One evil breeds another, and the inequity of private tuition not only reflects the inefficiency of the school system, it also helps to reinforce that inefficiency. Perhaps the strongest argument for banning private tuition lies in the recognition that its presence makes the more influential - and richer - parents less concerned about the quality of normal schooling (since they can always arrange extra teaching for their own children with the help of private tutors). If private tuition becomes unavailable, the more powerful families will become more dependent on the schools for the education of their children (as the poorer - and less influential - families already are), and the likely pressure that this may generate on the running of schools may well be critically important for their efficient functioning.
{endquote}

These 2 paragraphs are from the Policy Modifications Section of Sen’s intro to the Pratichi Report. It reinforces what Swami Aiyar says. I wonder how Prof. Sen intends to reconcile what he writes for Pratichi and what he writes for the Times of India.