The Education Service Contracting (ESC) program was designed to improve access to quality basic education under a private-public partnership model where the private sector provides education services while the government finances it. Notwithstanding the cost savings it purportedly generates for the government, ESC faces a number of implementation and regulatory challenges that impacts on its ability to achieve its desired objectives.
There are legislative proposals in the House of Representatives that intend to address these gaps, in particular by expanding ESC program both in terms of coverage and amount of grant to help the poor gain more access to secondary education. But these proposals do not seem to consider the current challenges and constraints under which the ESC operates.
This paper recommends reconsidering such amendments and proposes a more nuanced intervention to expand access to secondary education. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, education assistance may have to be differentiated according to students’ economic profile, availability of school infrastructure (both public and private) and geographical location.>>read complete document
