ABSTRACT
Private education has historically been seen as the preserve of the privileged, mak-
ing it an unlikely avenue for achieving social justice by ensuring the schooling
opportunities for the poor that are a widely acknowledged factor in people’s ability
to make a better life. However, in several contexts private schools are serving the
relatively poorly-off, providing a service that parents feel is worth paying for in
preference to the cheaper government school option. Parents pay dearly (as a
proportion of their incomes) for this service to ensure that their children are learn-
ing in contexts where there may or may not be a government school alternative
nearby; and where there is, they may feel that it does not offer a good enough
quality of education.
