ABSTRACT
The chapter presents empirical data from a survey of 84 schools in one education mandal of the city of Hyderabad. The school management, organisation and clientele are studied and the quality framework (from Chapter 6) is used to examine quality of education across a range of institutions – government, aided, private unaided and unrecognised schools. Schools are found to cater to stratified and homogenous clientele groups, with charities catering to the poorest of the poor. A typology of provider types and clientele socioeconomic groups is proposed and is used to explain the diversity of quality observed. Pedagogic forms varying from ‘domesticating’ to ‘textbook cultures’ and ‘child-centred’ education are found to be largely determined by the institutional ethos, economic niche and clientele rather than by individual teachers.
