Help parents to pick among school-brands

Sir, James Tooley in his “Low-cost schools in poor nations seek investors” (September 18), explores the immense possibilities that private sector education has to offer the poor in countries where weak institutions do not allow for good public sector education, and he is very right about it this especially when considering that competition is also useful for keeping strong public institutions strong. He also correctly hints at the important role that school brands could have in developing good standards but this is of course only as long as the value of the brands are based on educational facts and not just publicity stunts. In this respect we recently read about some extremely simple tests that the World Bank used in Peru and that by just measuring the number of words a child could read in one minute, were capable to tell very much about the quality. These tests which empower parents to navigate between school “brands” during those vital early years of their child’s education are extremely important tools, perhaps even for rich parents in rich nations.

James Tooley education private schools brands