Many philanthropists, foreign governments, and international aid organizations sincerely want to help the poor and are looking for the best way to educate the poorest children around the world.

This is a lofty goal. What is the best way to provide all children, even those in the most poor and remote areas on earth, access to a quality education? Many academics and development experts believe the answer lies in free public schooling for all. But does a free public education benefit every child or are private schools also part of the answer? Which type of school provides a better education? Do private schools even exist in the slums?

James Tooley set out to answer these questions by traveling around the world in search of private schools that serve the poor. He visited the slums in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, India and China to conduct research on public and private schools and shares his findings in his book, “The Beautiful Tree.”

As he visited with government officials in these countries to get a list of public and private schools, he commonly found that those in government did not believe that private schools existed in the poor areas and if they did they had to be of a very low quality. Tooley shares interesting stories as he explores the slums and searches for schools that the government doesn’t believe exist. He encounters many obstacles, but is able to find schools with the help of local townspeople, students, and parents.

Tooley found that there are basically three types of schools in the Third World:

1) Government public schools; 2) Recognized private schools; and 3) Unrecognized or unregistered private schools.

Government schools are public schools and are free and open to any student. They are typically funded by the country’s government, foreign aid, philanthropists, and international aid organizations.

Private schools are funded by fees paid by parents. Private schools make sure their fees are affordable to poor families and typically charge a monthly fee of about 5 to 10 percent of what the breadwinner earns a month. In addition, private schools serve a percentage of orphans and students who can’t afford their fees by allowing up to 20 percent of students to attend for free or at a reduced rate.

Private schools are either recognized or unrecognized by the government and may be for-profit or non-profit. Unrecognized schools are not regulated by the government and may not even be listed on their registry of schools. Tooley does not think much of government recognition, saying that it “conveys no information about school quality, it only indicates the school’s ability to afford bribes.”

– Brooke Terry