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2010 Enterprising Schools Symposium

The 2010 Enterprising Schools Symposium, hosted by Gray Matters Capital was held in Hyderabad, India on October 27-28 and brought together over a hundred delegates from Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. The diverse and dynamic attendee list and provedthat interest in the Affordable Private School (APS) sector is growing and spreading far and wide! In an effort to cultivate the global community and develop actionable commitments to shape the future of the low-cost private education sector, the symposium brought together APS stakeholders including thought leaders, practitioners, service providers, researchers, investors and donors.

Pre-symposium activities included a cultural show coordinated by IDEX Fellows and field visits to local schools which showcased the diverse talent of APS students and the impact that schools can make in their lives. The symposium officially commenced with expert-led key note addresses interspersed with briefings on research studies, market fundamentals, innovative break-out sessions and round table panel discussions that generated high energy and sparked fruitful dialogue among the participants. Many participants left this year’s symposium charged to move forward with progressing their current initiatives and achieving greater scale and impact in 2011.


CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

Opening Keynote: Innovative & Sustainable Education

The first day was kicked-off with a key note address from Jay Kimmelman, CEO of  Bridge International Academies. Kimmelman started off his address by stating, “Every child deserves high quality primary education.  Affordability is key to quality here.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He further added “expensive schools with good education is not success.  Affordable education withoutgood education is not success.  These two things can never be separate.” He emphasized the need for innovation as a core aspect of affordable and sustainable education and described his “School in a Box” model which offers the advantage of replication and scale.

The second half of the day was dedicated to IDEO discussing the possibilities in innovation and how to spark the market for ultra-affordable learning tools. Their  “Steal this IDEA Catalog” showcased concepts and inspirations from the OpenIDEO crowd sourcing challenge. platform. Stakeholders examined the catalogue and discussed how the ideas could be adapted into sustainable business models for effective service delivery to APS.


Market Fundamentals: Research across India, Ghana and Kenya

The second day of the conference focused on Market Developments and carried a thought provoking key note address delivered by James Tooley, Professor of Education Policy at New Castle University, author of the Beautiful Tree and chairman of Omega Schools.

Tooley shared highlights from his work around the world by stating, “We’ve found some interesting trends when we looked at where our students came from before they joined us. What’s fascinating is the percentage of students coming from government schools and from no school at all. 

 

These are families who were not currently participating in the private school system because they didn’t believe they could afford it and yet they’re paying the daily fees at our schools.” 

Following Tooley’s keynote address, the Fundamentals session explored the landscape of APS in Ghana, Kenya and India.

Naveen Mandava of Pi Policy Innovation presented Consumers of Affordable Private Schools: A Study of Parents in Low-Income Communities in Hyderabad, India which highlighted:

  • APS consumers (parents) are employed as drivers, bank tellers, electricians, informal laborers and are concerned about the quality of education for their children.
  • Apart from low cost of education, factors such as payment schedule flexibility, transparency, convenience in location, and quality of teaching are important features of a school that get carried through social networks and determine a school’s reputation.

IFC consultant Earnest Dzandu presented Market Research Project on Low-Income Private Schools from Ghana which highlighted:

  • The average age of schools is 10 years and female enrollment rates are higher in low-income schools.
  • 73% of schools have bank accounts, but many of them are cash strapped.

From Kenya, IFC consultant Professor Kamani discussed the Market Survey Report on Low-Income Schools which highlighted:

  • The main driving force for enrollment is the perception that private schools provide better quality than government schools.
  • Teachers in private schools are paid less although their performance is better than teachers in government schools.

 

Progressive Action Commitments: A Call to Action

The last half of the day was dedicated to Progressive Action Commitments (PACTS) a new initiative to drive action and transparency among stakeholders.  The PACTS session aimed to inspire delegates to brainstorm on initiatives that their organization could contribute to further the APS sector. In participative round table sessions on School Financing, Quality Teaching & Learning, Government Engagement and School Management, panelist shared thematic issues and challenges affecting APS and developed commitments to action that could impact the sector and catalyze change.

In the School Funding and Financing session, Brajesh Mishra from the Indian School Finance Company committed to build a $5 million USD portfolio aimed at providing loans to 300 schools as well as build alliances to improve school quality. Kishore Puli of Trident Microfinance committed to “reaching the unreached” and provide credit facilities to 80 schools (estimating Rs. 20 million) in both rural and urban areas of India by March 2011.

 Sinapi Aba Trust committed to train and finance 120 schools over the next 2 years in Ghana in order to tackle the challenging cash flow issues that many school face while Helen Kithinji of Faulu Kenya committed to explore product development in savings and loans to increase APS access to financial services in Kenya.

 

The Government Engagement round table session declared PACTS on advocacy to build facilitative environments for APS and improve the image of the APS sector. The Centre for Civil Society made a PACT to assist APS leaders by supporting the development of a national association. George Mikwa of the Kenya Independent School Association (KISA) committed to providing scholarships to 5,000 children by 2012.

 

In the School Management round table session, Raj Grover, CEO of Rumi Schools in India, declared Rumi Schools’s PACT to, “increase school partnerships to 300 schools in a 3-5 year time frame”, while Liesel Pritzker from IDP Foundation affirmed their PACT to, “provide training to affect 120 deprived private schools to create checks and balances in school management and empower stakeholders.”

 

In the Quality Teaching and Learning round table session, Pradeep Sharma from Gray Matters Capital committed to “rating 325 schools in India by the end of 2011”, while Tiffany Cheng from Dignitas Project in Kenya committed to “providing in-service teacher training to 80% of teachers in affordable private schools.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each PACT round table session formulated key take-a-ways from the conference and developed collective commitments at an industry level. These PACTS included improving public-private partnerships, forming industry level associations and industry benchmarks, engendering greater collaboration across sectors and networks and providing access to credit and services to improve the quality of education in schools.

The two day conference concluded by announcing the winners of the SNAPS Photography Contest and closing remarks on how stakeholders can keep the conversation alive on EnterprisingSchools.com.

 

About the Organizer: Gray Matters Capital

Gray Matters Capital (GMC) co-creates initiatives and use philanthropic capital to cultivate social ventures that provide transformative solutions for low-income communities in developing countries. The Foundation first identified a need in the marketplace to invest in the ecosystem of supporting services and businesses that could help deliver financial services to the world’s underserved with greater scale and social impact. In 2007, GMC turned its focus towards improving the quality and access to education for low-income families in the developing world.

About Enterprising Schools

Enterprising Schools, an initiative of Gray Matters Capital, is transforming lives by redefining the Affordable Private School market. By cultivating a community, raising awareness and seeding new growth this diverse and global network aims to expand access and increase the quality of education available to low-income communities across the world. The EnterprisingSchools.com portal is an online resource for the many stakeholders working to improve education delivery to the poor in a sustainable manner. The platform encourages shared learning, transparency and provides thought leadership and market information on the affordable private school sector. To learn more please visit www.EnterprisingSchools.com.

 

Media & Links

For the complete agenda, presentations and recorded sessions please visit www.enterprisingschools.com/community/symposium.

Session Presentations

Research

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