ABSTRACT
On a world basis Catholic schools continue to expand and they represent the world’s largest nongovernmental school system. There are over 50 million children attending Roman Catholic schools around the world. This number would be trebled if the Church had the resources to fund new schools. Nevertheless, new Catholic schools continue to open in Vietnam, India, Africa and in Eastern Europe. Thousands of religious schools have been founded since the collapse of communism in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and many other Eastern European countries. Catholic schools, whilst few in number, were also extremely popular under communist governments. In some countries the state relies almost entirely upon the voluntary efforts of the main religious groups in providing schools-this is particularly the case in some African countries. The perceived effectiveness of these schools among parents is one significant factor in explaining this continued expansion.
