Bridging the gap? Evaluating the effectiveness of Punjab's public–private partnership programmes in education

Abstract

The study examines the effectiveness of Punjab's Public Private Partnership (PPP) programmes in Education in improving value-added math, English and Urdu test scores for grade four pupils. The use of an instrumental variable (IV) approach was possible to assess the impact of PPP schooling on student achievement for two (out of four) PPP programmes. Using the IV approach, the study finds that of the various PPP models being implemented in Punjab, only the private school subsidy programme has a positive, statistically significant association with math student achievement, with students scoring 0.5 standard deviations higher than public school students. However, an Oster (2019) bias adjustment procedure suggests the magnitude of the effect may be overstated. This study finds no evidence that PPP schools are more effective than public schools at improving learning outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged students.