DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2015.v03i03.016

Pages: 695-700

This present study examines the quality of public primary education and the expansion of privatization in primary education in West Bengal. The comparison of public and private primary schools was carried out through a survey. In this study, Case Study method had been adopted. Two primary schools in Katwa (a small town in Burdwan, West Bengal), one was public primary school and another was private primary school were selected randomly for the case study. The data were collected by observations and interviews conducted with the head of both schools and some parents. Some statistical data were collected from the secondary sources. The data were analyzed critically with logical approach. This study revealed that the numbers of recognized as well as unrecognized private primary schools were increasing in recent years in West Bengal. As far as teaching learning aids and facilities were concerned, the private primary school was far ahead of public primary school. Majority of the parents considered that private primary schools deliver better quality of education than public primary schools. Many of the parents from public school had a tendency to enroll their children in private school but they could not do this because they lacked the necessary economic condition to bear the cost of private schooling.