Private schools

According to current estimates, 29% of Indian children are privately educated.^[6] With more than 50% children enrolling in private schools in urban areas, the balance has already tilted towards private schooling in cities; and, even in rural areas, nearly 20% of the children in 2004-5 were enrolled in private schools.^[29]

Most middle-class families send their children to private schools,^[29] which might be in their own city or at distant boarding schools such as Rajkumar College, Rajkot, the oldest private school in India. At such schools, the medium of education is often English, but Hindi and/or the state's official language is also taught as a compulsory subject.^{[citation needed]} Preschool education is mostly limited to organised neighbourhood nursery schools with some organised chains.^{[citation needed]} Montessori education is also popular, due to Maria Montessori's stay in India during World War II. In 2014, four of the top ten preschools in Chennai were Montessori.^[30]
Many privately owned and managed schools carry the appellation "Public", such as the Delhi Public Schools, or Frank Anthony Public Schools. These are modeled after British public schools, which are a group of older, expensive and exclusive fee-paying private independent schools in England.
According to some research, private schools often provide superior results at a multiple of the unit cost of government schools. The reason being high aims and better vision.^[31][32][33] However, others have suggested that private schools fail to provide education to the poorest families, a selective being only a fifth of the schools and have in the past ignored Court orders for their regulation.^{[citation needed]}
In their favour, it has been pointed out that private schools cover the entire curriculum and offer extra-curricular activities such as science fairs, general knowledge, sports, music and drama.^[34] The pupil teacher ratios are much better in private schools (1:31 to 1:37 for government schools) and more teachers in private schools are female.^{[citation needed]} There is some disagreement over which system has better educated teachers. According to the latest DISE survey, the percentage of untrained teachers (parateachers) is 54.91% in private, compared to 44.88% in government schools and only 2.32% teachers in unaided schools receive inservice training compared to 43.44% for government schools. The competition in the school market is intense, yet most schools make profit.^[34] However, the number of private schools in India is still low - the share of private institutions is 7% (with upper primary being 21% and secondary 32% - source : fortress team research). Even the poorest often go to private schools despite the fact that government schools are free. A study found that 65% of schoolchildren in Hyderabad's slums attend private schools.^[33]