In this article, the authors study the intricacies of the private schooling industry in Nagaland. The main objective of the study is to estimate the returns to education, by employing production function techniques. Kohima, the capital of Nagaland, is selected for the study, as most of the private schools have mushroomed in and around Kohima, in the recent years. Three types of production functionsCobb-Douglas, CES and Translogare estimated to ascertain the underlying production relation. It is concluded that the industry has a tendency to exhibit increasing returns to scale, and there exists a possibility for substituting capital for labor.
This
article focusses on an analysis of the `enterprise
of providing for schooling by the private sector'
to those, who are ready to pay a much higher rate
for services that otherwise (and conventionally),
are imparted at a very cheap rate by the system
of schools run by the government. It has been observed
that there is an ever growing demand for private
schooling in almost all states in India and the
enterprise of private schooling has established
itself so well, that it has now assumed the characteristics
of a full-fledged industry in the tertiary sector.
The
system of private enterprises imparting school education
to students may well be called an `industry', though
it is often startling, because conventionally, first,
`industry' is often associated with `manufacturing',
and secondly, providing for school education has
been the activity of the state, mainly with the
widely acclaimed objectives concerning welfare and
promotion of human capital for fostering development.
The impression created by the overtone of welfare
and development that surrounds schooling, is often
carried over to private schooling enterprise as
well, though, evidently, the enterprise of providing
private schooling is related to welfare and development
no more than what any other enterprise turning out
any other commodity or service is related to welfare
and development. |
