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Transcript of Consumers of Affordable Private Schooling - Core Report
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Consumers of Affordable
Private SchoolsA study of parents in low-income communities inHyderabad, India
November 2010
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This study was funded by Gray Matters Capital and undertaken by BGM Policy Innovations Pvt.
Ltd., herewith known as Policy Innovations. The findings presented in this report are based on the
inferences drawn from the observations given the study objectives and limited research scope.
Policy Innovations is a public policy and social enterprise advisory firm based in India and its
founders can be reached at:
[email protected] [email protected]
Policy Innovations research team: Naveen Mandava, Sandhya Chari, Sharad Baliyan, Aditi Dimri
and Sudarshan Gopalan of Policy Innovations.
From Gray Matters Capital: Sarayu Natarajan, Molly McMahon and Pradeep Sharma
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected] -
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Table ofContentsExecutive Summary .......................................................................................................................... 4
What are Affordable Private Schools? ........................................................................................... 11
GMC School Rating tool ................................................................................................................. 15Objectives of the study ...................................................................................................................18
Methodology .................................................................................................................................... 21
APS parents: School shoppers ....................................................................................................... 23
Understanding the consumer ................................................................................................... 24
Pre-admission selection vs. Post-admission review ............................................................... 27
What parameters do parents consider? .................................................................................... 28
Availability of schools ............................................................................................................ 29
Cost of schooling .................................................................................................................... 30
School quality ......................................................................................................................... 34
How do parents select schools? ................................................................................................ 37
Proxies of quality.................................................................................................................... 37
Information sources ............................................................................................................... 39
School visits .............................................................................................................................41
Knowledge gaps of APS consumers .......................................................................................... 42
Affordable Private School Ratings ................................................................................................. 43
What parents say about ratings ................................................................................................ 44
Synthesis of study findings ............................................................................................................ 50
APS consumers: myths and realities .......................................................................................... 51
Parental personas ....................................................................................................................... 54
APS market entry............................................................................................................................ 59
Product development: How to develop for the APS consumer ............................................. 60
Positioning: Why the APS consumer should know you ......................................................... 61
Marketing: How you should reach APS consumers ............................................................... 63
Annexures ....................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
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Executive Summary- 4 -
Executive Summary
Amidst the global initiatives to improve access to education, a new paradigm
has emerged in the schooling system in India Affordable Private Schools (APS).
In a country enjoying robust GDP growth and a consistent increase in disposable
income, APS has enabled a rising number of parents to transition from
beneficiaries of the government school system to consumers of private schooling
services. Private schools, generally associated with higher income communities,
have become accessible to lower and lower-middle income groups as well. Given
the size of these income groups, the market for Affordable Private Schools has
grown rapidly. The education market for the lower 60% of the population, by
income distribution, has been estimated to be worth about $5.2 billion.
With such rapid growth, questions about the quality of schooling imparted
through APS have been raised. While Affordable Private Schools emerged as a
result of unresponsive government schools, quality of APS has yet to be
evaluated. Despite this lack of quality assurance, APS parents are active school
shoppers. Given this, Gray Matters Capital (GMC) has created a rating system toprovide third party information to parents regarding school quality. As a part of
this effort, GMC seeks to understand the consumers of Affordable Private
Schooling APS parents. GMC is a charitable arm of Gray Ghost Ventures. One
of their focus areas is to co-create sustainable business models to increase the
access and quality of education for the poor in India.
In the current study, Affordable Private Schools are defined as self-
sustaining, private, unsubsidized schools with monthly school fees up to `800
($18).
This study has been undertaken in Hyderabad in the state of Andhra
Pradesh. Hyderabad is the sixth largest city in India and has a population of
seven million. Recent empirical evidence shows that children from as much as
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Executive Summary- 5 -
65% of households in low-income areas of Hyderabad attend Affordable Private
Schools. A substantial number of Affordable Private Schools have come up in the
city in recent years, with estimates pegging this number at around 3000.
OBJECTIVES
As a part of their wider strategy on engaging with parents, GMC
commissioned Policy Innovations to conduct an APS parent market research
study focusing on two key questions:
I. What is the consumer behavior of APS parents in choosing privateschools?
II. What is the most meaningful way to engage parents for the purposeof disseminating GMCs School Ratings?
METHODOLOGY
The study was conducted using qualitative Design Research methodology, as
well as quantitative survey techniques. Findings suggested that given the high
degree of engagement required to understand APS parents, qualitative Design
Research methods are better suited for learning about APS consumers.
APS PARENTS SCHOOL SHOPPERS
Contrary to common perception, APS parents are not indifferent when it
comes to making sound and informed decisions for their children. APS parents,like their better-off counterparts, look to education as the key to social mobility
and higher income. As consumers, these parents place a premium on education,
and spend a significant proportion of their total expenditure on education.
Nevertheless, given the lack of third party information, it was observed that APS
parents rely on social networks as their primary sources of information.
Perceptions rooted in social networks build rudimentary local brands for schools.
Parents use these brand perceptions to identify appropriate schools within their
area of consideration. In contrast to the common perception that parents do notgive much importance to differentiating between APS schools, the Policy
Innovations research team observed that parents had well defined perceptions
about every school in their area.
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Executive Summary- 6 -
In choosing schools, APS parents make decisions using certain parameters.
These parameters can be broken into three key areas presented below:
Availability of schoolso
Neighborhood School Density Cost of schooling
o Fee transparencyo Fee flexibility
School qualityo Teacher qualityo Good academicso English and Computerso
School reputation: A local brando Infrastructure
Although measures of school quality are often not immediately discernable,
parents seek to measure schools along each of these parameters. Consequently,
to measure schools along certain lines, parents resort to proxies. These proxies
are often created by parents informally measuring their children in daily
activities. For example, parents sometimes determine whether a child is receiving
good English education by seeing if the child can read news tickers on television.
Thus parents experience a knowledge gap between perceived educational quality,
and actual quality of schooling that their child receives.
Our insights reveal a twofold knowledge gap: lack of access to credible
and accurate information sources, and lack of awareness about other
potential methods of evaluating schools.
PERSONAS
In order to better understand APS parents, our study used Cluster Analysis
to create three representative personas. These personas breathe life into abstract
consumer types, and help us make sense of their behaviors, attitudes, and goals.
Having the personas in mind will make it easier to align goals and develop
services for higher uptake by APS parents. These personas, Drivers, Enablers, and
Passives, help simplify the myriad attributes associated with APS parents. Drivers
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Executive Summary- 7 -
actively seek out high quality education by engaging with social networks, and
considering schools farther away from home with potentially higher fees.
Enablers also aspire to send their children to high quality schools, however are
more constrained in their means to do so. Passives may have high aspirations,
but lack the social networks to gain schooling information. They also lack the
level of child engagement required for them to make sense of that schooling
information. They are the most resource constrained, and often have to choose
the closest, most affordable private school in their locality.
RATINGS
GMCs School Ratings can help parents bridge their knowledge gap, and
support more informed school choices. The study found that despite the fact that
APS parents experienced difficulty in gathering and understanding information
about school quality, they had not envisioned a solution in the form of ratings.
Furthermore, the concept of ratings was not familiar to them in any sphere of
life. After finding analogous tools that APS parents could relate to, such as
student report cards, the research team set out to gather data on what APS
parents might find helpful in a rating tool. In order to map action onto this data,
the Policy Innovations research team created a framework: Concept - Content -
Form - Channel(CCFC), to develop a road map for high adoption.
The Conceptrefers to conveying the idea that is the basis of an activity, inthis case, a third-party independent act of comparing schools based on a set of
criteria. The next task is developing the set of parameters used to rate schools
the Content. The Form deals with arriving at the most intuitive way of
presenting the information to a specific target audience. The Channel aspect
delves into the most suitable modes of delivery for reaching the potential users.
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Executive Summary- 8 -
ContentConcept
Channel Form
Information
contained
Idea of the
information
product
Delivery vehicles
for the product
Tangible
presentation of the
information
NEXT STEPS
Learnings from GMC ratings as a case study can be extrapolated for the
larger group of APS service providers. The earlier findings inform three strategicsteps for potential APS market entrants:
Product DevelopmentHow to develop for the APS consumer
PositioningWhy the APS consumer should know you
MarketingHow you should reach APS consumers
These entrants could be service providers, school chains, private investors,
foundations etc. Any market entrant should focus on key aspects of product
development, positioning, and marketing to ensure high demand by parents, and
thereby high adoption rates amongst schools.
Exhibit I The Concept-Content-Form-Channel framework
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Executive Summary- 9 -
How to Develop for the Consumer
Market entrants should be ready to shed assumptions based on otherconsumer environments, and know that APS consumers may not
immediately understand the premise of the product or service beingoffered.
Feature development, resonating with APS parents, is necessary but notsufficient to ensure adoption. Successful adoption will be based on how
those features come together to create a user experience the Form.
Why the APS Consumer should know you
Market entrants to APS parent market must be cognizant of their end-consumer.
APS services operate on a B2B model with schools, but have parents asthe end-consumer. Parents ultimately drive demand and make
decisions about which school services they will consume.
Creating a brand with APS parents will guide parents to activelydemand schools to employ services from particular service providers.
Market
Entrants
Schools Parents
Business to
Business (B2B)
Business to
Consumer (B2C)
Business to End-
Consumer (B2E-C)
Exhibit II Engaging the End-Consumers
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Executive Summary- 10 -
This will drive up the market entrants demand in the overall APS
sector.
How you should reach APS Consumers
Trends are prevalent in the APS parent market. English and computershave become common school characteristics as a result of this
phenomenon.
Market entrants should create trends for APS parents to adopt theirservices.
New school services should aspire to have similar traction, by gainingadoption from better-off individuals in the community.
Market entrants should reach parents through their children aschildren have the ability to pre-approve services for parents.
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What are Affordable Private Schools?
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/What are Affordable Private Schools?- 12 -
The objective of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal for
education is to ensure that all children have access to primary education by
2015. In line with this, a number of government-driven programs have been
launched so that the worlds 1.9 billion children in developing countries
gain access to quality schooling. 1 In the midst of these initiatives, a new
paradigm in K-12 schooling services has has emerged over the past decade
Affordable Private Schools. Private schooling, generally associated with
wealthy and elite communities, has started tapping into the aspirations of
low-income communities in developing countries.
In India, private school markets are developing for the rich and the
poor alike. An interesting statistic showcases the extent of this reach. In the
United States about 5.9 million children (in the 5-18 age group) attendprivate schools.2 By comparison, 13 million children in India (in the
reduced age group of 8-11
years) are in private
schools.3,4 Although the
specific prevalence of private
schooling among the poor
has not been estimated yet,
we do know that a significant number of urban poor send their children to
these schools.
Over 70% of the urban Indian population belongs to the lower and
lower-middle income groups.5With this demographic as a target market,
the Affordable Private Schools sector has experienced rapid growth over the
1UNICEF, Children living in Poverty, http://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/poverty.html(accessed September 12, 2010)
2
National Center for Education Statistics Fast facts, NCEShttp://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=65 (accessed September 12, 2010)
3Based on the figures of 200 million in the age group 6-14, 120 million children enrolled and24% of children aged 8-11 are in private unaided schools
4Desai, S., Dubey, A., Vanneman, R. & Banjeri, R. (2008) Private Schooling in India: A NewEducational Landscape. Brookings-NCAER, India Policy Forum
5Juxt Consult. 'Demographic' & 'Psychographic' profiling of urban Indian consumers bytheir SEC segmentation http://www.slideshare.net/JuxtConsult/snapshot-juxt-indian-urbanites-study-2010 (accessed September 21, 2009).
Affordable Private Schools are
defined as self-sustaining private
unsubsidized schools with monthly
school fees up to ` 800 ($18)
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/What are Affordable Private Schools?- 13 -
last two decades.6,7,8 The education market for the lower 60% of the
population, by income distribution, has been estimated to be worth about
$5.2 billion.9This growth and transformation of private schooling has been
made possible only because school entrepreneurs are catering to the most
price-sensitive of consumers.
Affordable Private Schools manifest the quintessential entrepreneurial
trait of providing services in line with consumer demand, and value
addition at every price point. With more parents from lower income groups
willing to pay for what they perceive to be quality schooling services, this
sector has realized a sustainable and scalable model in schooling.
With such rapid growth, questions about the quality of schooling
imparted through Affordable Private Schools have been raised. It has been
observed that there is a great degree of variation in the quality,10,11,12 and
there is also plenty of scope for improvement. This observation should be
understood within the context of a market that caters to parents whose only
choice is between Affordable Private Schools and government schools. The
government schools in India have been associated with high rates of teacher
absenteeism and non-responsiveness to parental demands. For example,
6Around 50% of children in urban India and 20% in rural India go to private schools.Karthik Muralidharan The State and the Market in Education Deliveryhttp://www.schoolchoice.in/scnc2009/ppts/Karthik%20Muralidharan.ppt
7At the rural all-India level, private school enrolment increased from 16.3% in 2005 toaround 21.8% in 2009 a rise of around 34%. Wilima Wadhwahttp://www.livemint.com/2010/01/18203525/Education8217s-big-faceoff.html
8Geeta Gandhi Kingdon in her study mentions that in urban India, 61 per cent of all theincrease in total primary school enrolment in the period 1986-1993 was absorbed byprivate schools Kingdon, G. G. (2005) Private and Public Schooling: The IndianExperience. Paper presented at the Conference, Mobilizing the Private Sector for PublicEducation, Co-sponsored by the World Bank, Kennedy School of Government, HarvardUniversity, October 5-6, 2005
9
Kubzansky, M., Frandano, P., & Karamchandani, A. (2009) Emerging Markets, EmergingModels: Market-Based Solutions to the Challenges of Global Poverty. Monitor Group
10Desai, S., Dubey, A., Vanneman, R. & Banjeri, R. (2008) Private Schooling in India: A NewEducational Landscape. Brookings-NCAER, India Policy Forum
11Tooley J, Dixon P, Shamsan Y, Schagen I. The relative quality and cost-effectiveness ofprivate and public schools for low-income families: a case study in a developing country.School Effectiveness and School Improvement 2010, 21(2), 117-144
12Kingdon, Geeta, 1996a. The quality and efficiency of private and public education: a casestudy of urban India, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 58.1, 57-81
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/What are Affordable Private Schools?- 14 -
In a country enjoying robust GDP
growth and consistent increase in
disposable incomes, a rising
number of parents have
transitioned from being
beneficiaries of the publicschooling system to consumers of
private schooling services.
government schools have not met parents demands for English as the
language of instruction (English-medium education, as it is called in local
parlance). In a country enjoying robust GDP growth and a consistent
increase in disposable income, a rising number of parents have transitioned
from being beneficiaries of the government school system to consumers of
private schooling services.
In the current study, Affordable
Private Schools are defined as self-
sustaining, private, unsubsidized
schools with monthly school fees up
to `800 ($18). These schools are
interchangeably referred to as APSor private schools in this report.
This study has been undertaken
in Hyderabad. Hyderabad, in the
state of Andhra Pradesh, is the sixth
largest city in India and has a population of seven million. 13One in three
residents of Hyderabad belongs to the urban poor.14 Recent empirical
evidence shows that children from as many as 65% of households in low-
income areas of Hyderabad attend Affordable Private Schools. 15 A
substantial number of Affordable Private Schools have come up in the city
in recent years, with estimates pegging this number at around 3000.16The
study sheds light on consumers experiencing the emerging APS
phenomenon an everyday reality for millions of households in India.
13
http://www.hudahyd.org/ (accessed September 21, 2010)14City Development Plan Chapter 5 Urban Povertyhttp://www.ghmc.gov.in/downloads/cdpdefault.asp
15 Tooley, James, and Dixon, Pauline (2005) Private education is good for the poor: A studyof private schools serving the poor in low-income countries, Washington DC: CatoInstitute.
16 Affordable Private Schools in Hyderabad. http://openideo.com/open/how-might-we-increase-the-availability-of-affordable-learning-tools-educational-for-children-in-the-developing-world/gallery/aps-info.pdf Accessed on September 20 2010
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GMC School Rating tool
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GMC School Rating tool- 16 -
The development of quality assessment measures has not matched the
pace of the rapidly growing APS sector. This new sector lacks a healthy
flow of information that is crucial to a budding ecosystem. For example,
schools are judged by Grade 10 exam (similar to high school graduation
exams or standardized tests) pass rates, rather than by understanding
learning levels throughout a childs education. Schools also have limited
financial systems and do not regularly report their data. As a result of this
information asymmetry, the market lacks industry standards, scope for
comparison, and aggregate sector information. Gray Matters Capital (GMC)
has thus undertaken development of a school rating system to make
information more easily available and the schools operations more
transparent.
GMC is a charitable arm of Gray Ghost Ventures, a social investment
company that seeks to invest in visionary people, with an emphasis on
microfinance and education. GMC uses philanthropic capital to research
and co-create initiatives with partners in developing countries to build
sustainable, replicable business models, for the benefit of underserved
populations. One of GMCs focus areas is to increase the access and quality
of primary and secondary education for the poor in India.
Rating tools in other sectors allow consumers to compare options
across certain standard metrics. School rating is no different; it aims to give
parents an opportunity to be more informed consumers of school services.
GMC School Rating has the potential to align ecosystem stakeholders
around common standards. The GMC School Rating tool objectively
examines five key areas:
I. Governance and StrategyII. Learning Environment
III. Student Academic AchievementIV. Parent EngagementV. Financial System & Performance
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GMC School Rating tool- 17 -
In each of the five key areas, the tool uses select information from a
variety of sources. The evaluation of Governance, Parent Engagement, and
Financial Systems rely on pre-selected criteria, and use group discussions or
in-depth interviews. Evaluation of Student Achievement and Learning
Environment rely on assessments of students and teachers.
The GMC School Rating tool will allow APS consumers to compare the
quality of one school to that of other schools or industry benchmarks. APS
Consumers can also use it to better understand the performance of
individual schools. GMC will present the information in a non-threatening
comparative framework that highlights effective practices through a
benchmarking process. The most compelling performance benchmark
would be the school itself; to compare a school against itself over timewould allow for measuring continuous progress. The design and
implementation of GMCs rating system will take into account APS
consumers and will be guided by research on how they select schools.
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Objectives of the study
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Objectives of the study- 19 -
There have been very few studies which have looked at how low-
income parents choose schools for their children. There have been even
fewer attempts to enable APS parents to make better schooling decisions inthe presence of options.
As a part of its wider strategy on engaging with parents, GMC
commissioned Policy Innovations to conduct an APS parent market
research study focusing on two key questions:
I. What is the consumer behavior of APS parents inchoosing private schools?
II. What is the most meaningful way to engageparents for the purpose of disseminating GMCs
School Ratings?
Based on the scope of these key questions, five areas were outlined to
direct the analyses for the qualitative and quantitative phases.
A.What are the socio-economic backgrounds of APS parents?B. How do APS parents choose between school offerings?C. How do APS parents measure learning outcomes of their
children?
D. How do APS parents engage with their childrens education?E. What is the most meaningful way to use a school rating to
engage APS parents?
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Objectives of the study- 20 -
Information on APS parents and GMC School Ratings is presented in
the following five sections:
Section heading Content
MethodologyPresents the methodology used
for learning about APS consumers
APS parents: School shoppers
Describes how the APS parent
acts as an active consumer while
choosing schooling services for
his or her children
Affordable Private School RatingsDiscusses APS parents reactions
to GMCs School Rating
Synthesis of study findingsPresents the synthesis of learnings
on APS parents
APS market entry
Articulates the next steps that a
market entrant should take to
engage APS parents
For the study, an APS child was defined on the basis of an annual
school fee expenditure of up to `9,600 per year ($216) per child. There are
also private aided schools in India that operate under private management
with government aid but, we have not classified them as APSs in this study.
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Methodology
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Methodology- 22 -
There are a variety of methods to study and understand consumers,
ranging from case studies to field trials. In this study the research team has
used both Design Research methods and traditional market surveys. The
methodology used to study APS parents has to consider the biases of
parents attempting to meet social expectations (perhaps by trying to appearconcerned about a childs education). For example, APS parents do not
want to be perceived as fee driven, even if the reality is that their schooling
decisions are based on affordability. In addition, education as a
consumption service in the APS segment is unique because of the
emotional value that parents attach to it.
The Policy Innovations research team found that Design Research
methods were the most appropriate to understand APS parents. While
traditional surveys could be used, they were extremely limited in their
ability to capture the depth and breadth of the APS parent market.
Researching APS parents requires a high degree of engagement and
behavior observation, which basic interviews and survey questionnaires are
not able to achieve. Survey questionnaires can provide high level factual
information, but only Design Research can tap into behaviors, attitudes,
and goals.
Of the wide variety of Design Research tools, the following wereemployed: contextual interviews, proxy experiences, and personas. Design
Research has the added advantage of including methods that enable the
introduction of a prototype into an environment and gauging reactions to
it. These methods proved very useful for learning about parental reaction to
school ratings. Personas were developed on the basis of insights from
Design Research. Quantitative methods of Cluster Analysis were used to
validate the personas.
We chose Design Research and Cluster Analysis, based on their fit with
and relevance to the scope of the project. The methodology for the study is
described in full in Annexure I. The report also seeks to stimulate debate
around the methodologies used to study APS consumers, and aims to
inspire future application of enriched frameworks to map APS consumer
behavior.
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APS parents: School shoppers
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 24 -
Understanding the consumer
APS parents, the consumers of Affordable Private Schools, are members
of the working class. They are, for instance, domestic workers, auto-
rickshaw drivers, cab drivers, plumbers, salespeople at retail malls, bank
tellers, electricians, and cooks at dhabas (local restaurants). In short, they
are the masses of India aspiring for greater social mobility.
APS parents live in
tightly knit
communities. These
social networks areformed because their
members live in the
same neighborhood, or
belong to the same
caste or village, or
share the same
occupation. These neighborhoods, locally called mohallas, are extended
living spaces beyond the four walls of their residents homes. Theirhouseholds frequently share commodities, meals, water sources, appliances,
and the like. The social capital in these communities is usually life
experience; the richer an individuals life experience, and the greater his or
her maturity, the more his or her opinions count in the peer group.
In a society where social hierarchies and stratifications are very
apparent and difficult to breach, parents look at education as the key to
enabling inter-generational social mobility, and providing their children
with a better life. The top three categories of expenditure for APS
households are, thus, food/groceries, living space expenses, and childrens
education (see Exhibit III). A snapshot of data about APS parents is
presented inExhibit IV.
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 25 -
40%
5%
20%
13% 5%4%
7%
2%
4%
13%
Food/ Grocery
Clothing/garments
House rent and electricity andwater
Education of children
Festivals and entertainment andleisure
Exhibit IV A snapshot of APS parents
80%of mothers are housewives
Only 50%of parents admittedto having any savings; their average
yearly savings were `6144 ($137)compared to an average annual
expenditure of about `61859 ($1375)
70%ofhouseholds have 4 or
5 members
At least 90%of householdshave electricity, a toilet, a gas stove,and cable TV
About 95%of parents had someform of access to a mobile phone
Exhibit III Detailed household expenditure across categories
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 26 -
Given their socioeconomic backgrounds, APS parents are often
portrayed as illiterate, ignorant, and indifferent, especially in the context of
making sound and informed decisions for their children. Some of thestereotypes that we noted at the beginning of the study were:
Parents from low-income communities do not send theirchildren to private schools
Parents from low-income communities do not prioritizeexpenditure on education
APS parents are not highly engaged in their childs education APS parents are only concerned about primary schooling and
employability in the short-term
Parents in low-income communities are not active consumers ofprivate schooling
Most low-income parents choose any school as long as they canafford the fees and do not differentiate on various parameters of
school quality
Parents are not looking for information on school quality Parents will not be able to comprehend or act upon packaged
information about school quality
The APS Parent Study began with these perceptions and assumptions.
Mapping the motivations and behaviors of APS parents led to an
understanding of their decision-making process in choosing or shopping
for suitable schools.
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 27 -
Selection
Ask peers for
information onaffordableschools in theneighborhood
Get moreinformationabout theseschools
Shortlistschools basedon informationavailable (fees,
commute, etc)
Admission
Visit 1or 2 of
the top schoolsshortlisted Negotiate fees Enroll child in
school
Review
Assess child's
progress Be alert to
problems withschool quality
Compare withpeer groupdecisions
Pre-admission selection vs.
Post-admission review
In pursuit of desired schooling outcomes, parents engage in the
following broad stages of decision-making to choose a school.
Parents apply differing parameters when choosing a new school versus
when evaluating the performance of a current school. For example, while
selecting a school, the main parameters may be: peer endorsement of the
school, one-time admission charges, and Grade 10 (standardized test)
results. However, when a child is already enrolled in a particular school,
parents may give more importance to observed learning assessments, such
as the ability to speak English, take initiative in completing homework, andobtain good marks. They also consider the costs of switching to another
school. In addition, a parents opinion of school performance appears to be
tied in with perceived teacher quality.
Exhibit V Three stage school assessment process
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 28 -
Variations in the decision making process occur because of differing
attitudes, education levels, income characteristics, and other contextual
factors. Despite this, there are in general a few key parameters that drive
the school shopping process. These parameters have been highlighted
based on their prevalence and intensity among APS households.
What parameters do parents consider?
As consumers, APS parents have well-defined expectations from
schools. Depending on their preferences, parents look to schools to
inculcate communication skills and discipline-related traits and/or provide
high value addition in terms of overall employability. The major
expectations for children attending school are listed below:
Improved cognitive abilities Better command over non-native language, especially English Self-discipline School graduation or completion of high school Monetizable skills
To better understand these expectations, APS parents were asked open-
ended questions about parameters they used to select the schools their
children currently attend. Specific features like Teaching quality, as well
as more composite parameters like Good academics, received the
maximum positive responses.
The way parents evaluate schools is akin to the way consumers evaluate
services. APS consumers use three key parameters to drive their selection of
schools:
1. Availability of schools2. Cost of schooling3. School quality
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 29 -
11%
35%
38%
47%
53%
64%
76%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Fee flexibility
Infrastructure
Reputation
Proximity
English & Computer subjects
Good academics
Teacher quality
Percentage of PS parents
Pmeoshamn
Availability of schools
Neighborhood school density
The choice an APS parent makes is influenced by the density of schools
in the neighborhood. Parents aspirations motivate them to stretch their
wallets in spending on transportation to school. This enables their child toaccess a good education, in their view. Proof of this is seen in the peri-urban
areas of Hyderabad which have a low density of Affordable Private Schools.
In these areas, parents often choose to send their children further away to
schools by bus, a relatively expensive form of transportation. Conversely, in
areas with a higher density of private schools, parents choose from schools
within a 1 km radius and an average travel time of 10 minutes. A variety of
neighborhood factors affect the choice of a school. For example, if getting to
a school requires crossing a road with heavy traffic, that school will not beconsidered, given the danger to children. Parents who are highly concerned
about schooling are insistent on sending their children to a better area with
a school they perceive to be good, even if the school is further away from
home.
Exhibit VI Top parameters for school assessment
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 30 -
3,6924,024
6,250
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
Kindergarten Primary Secondary
A
ansh
nR
Grade level
Cost of schooling
APS parents are extremely price-sensitive consumers. They consider
schools across a spectrum varying from extreme affordability to feature
richness. Parents who choose the former, desire the lowest cost private
school, whereas parents choosing the latter display an aspiration for the
most suitable among various Affordable Private Schools. In terms of
schooling services, they associate higher school fees with higher academic
quality. During the process of school selection, one of the first filters used
to shortlist schools in the neighborhood is the cost of schooling. Once
parents are comfortable with a particular price band, and have identified
schools that fall within it, they proceed to assess those schools across other
parameters. As presented in Exhibit VII, the price band is dependent on,
among other things, the grade level their child is joining.
Exhibit VII School fees vary considerably with Grade level
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 31 -
8913
1698
1447572
7145
1767
3429
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
SchoolMonthly
fees
Sundries(Textbooks
etc.)
Term fees Exam fees Totalschool fees
Privatetuition
Privateschooling
expenditure
R
Education expenditure category
Fee transparency
Parents frequently express their concerns about the opacity of different
categories of fees charged by schools. Schools are perceived to be seldom
transparent in communication of fees other than the basic monthly school
fees. Some schools mandate that certain items (e.g. school belts) must be
purchased by the parents. The school may have a monopoly on supplying
these items (e.g. a curriculum book supplied only by the school), thereby
enabling it to charge higher prices for them.
As seen inExhibit VIII,school monthly fees make up only about 48 %
of the total payment made to the school for a single childs education. Since
schools have differing fee categories, this percentage will vary across
schools. There can also be wide variation in this percentage depending on
the degree of concession afforded to parents, the discount(s) provided to a
single household sending more than one child to the same school.
Exhibit VIII School monthly fees make up a portion of thetotal fees
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 32 -
Apart from the periodic payment that needs to be made to the schools,
almost all schools require a donationamount at the time of admission. The
donationamount is a mandatory one-time payment for the admission of a
child into a given school. This was observed to be a common practice across
private schools, but it may differ from area to area. The average donation
amount was observed to be about `2613, which is a significant portion of
average monthly household expenditure (`5476) and average monthly
household savings (`512). Therefore, this donationamount is a significant
switching cost.
The fee categories that parents might have to spend on to send their
child to school include:
Base fee (APS families, especially those from the lower incomegroups, complained that this fee is charged even for the two
summer months during which the school is closed)
Donation / one-time admission fee Term fee or exam fee (either usually charged three times a year) Annual fee Sundry fees (uniform and books can often only be purchased
through the school)
Transport costs and facilities fee (for computer lab, library, etc)Some schools have started announcing an all-inclusivepackage to the
parents, but this was a nascent trend at the time of this study.
Fee flexibility
The majority of APS households run on a short budget window with
irregular income. In addition, household cash flows may be restricted as a
result of economic shocks (such as illness and the resultant expensive
treatment required). Considering that APS parents stretch themselves more
for education (Exhibit IX), these economic shocks often tend to have a
direct impact on education. This acutely affects their ability to pay fees
monthly, as is often mandated by schools. APS parents expect empathy and
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45%41%
7%
5%
6% 20%
9%
13%11%
12%5%
4%17%
5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Typical Urban Indianhousehold
(Source: Max-NCAERstudy, 2008)
Typical APS Indianhousehold
Pnaosoddampeorpvsuv
Others
Healthcare
Transportation and leisure
Education
Housing & utilities
Apparel
Food & Beverages
flexibility from schools with regard to fee payment. They develop negative
views about schools that are inflexible or tight in this regard. During the
study, parents often spoke about schools that would punish children or
send children back home if fees were not paid in time.
Parents, therefore, enquire about schools in their neighborhood that
charge monthly fees within their budget, the flexibility of these schools with
regard to their fee payment schedule, and the extra costs they would have
to bear in addition to the monthly fees.
Exhibit IX APS parents assign a larger share of theirexpenditure to education
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 34 -
School quality
Teacher quality
For most APS parents, a school is best understood through its teachers.Parents interact with schools through meeting with teachers, and they
indirectly measure teachers through their childs learning levels. Parents
expect teachers to be qualified, sensitive, authoritative, articulate, and
vouched for by students.
As a result, parents often seek to learn about the quality of teachers.
Considering that parents are not as literate as the teachers, they are unable
to assess teachers through direct interaction. In fact, parents often feel
intimidated by teachers, a feeling that is sometimes fostered by teachers
themselves. Therefore, APS parents gain information about teachers
through their children, and other students in their social network.
School owners recognize the importance of teacher quality, and view
teachers as a schools primary asset. Nevertheless, schools tend to cut costs
when it comes to hiring good teachers better teachers require higher
salaries. Schools that do not invest in retaining their teachers or in teacher
qualifications develop a negative reputation over time. This leads to highteacher turnover rates, which implies teacher absence, and little ability to
build strong student-teacher relationships.
Low teacher quality and high teacher turnover are factors that may lead
parents to decide to exit a particular school.
Good academics
Good academics is the core of parental desire in school quality. Themore educated the parent, the more parameters he or she would use to
holistically understand academic quality. In discussing this holistic quality,
parents often use the word good. For APS parents, academicsis comprised
of both discipline and subject study. Parents expect the school to impart
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 35 -
certain habits of self discipline and initiative in completing homework, as
well as enable academic achievement. While academic achievement is often
taken for granted as a parameter in school choice, it is worth a special
mention here because one of the perceptions of APS parents is that they
may not have a strong focus on academic achievement. Parents citing this
as a driver of school selection, shows a mental shift from being satisfied
with basic school enrollment, to seeking academic achievement within a
particular school. Parents have no real means of assessing this, and use
proxies instead.
English and computer subjects
APS parents view English communication and computer skill
acquisition as a direct contributor to future income. Many parents
specifically cited computer facilities and English medium instruction as
determinants of school selection. In fact, they see English and computer
literacy as a springboard for economic and social mobility. They also
mentioned that the presence of computer facilities and computer teaching
contributed positively to the school brand image.
School reputation as a local brand
In contrast to the common perception that parents do not give much
importance to differentiating between APS schools, the research team
observed that parents had well-defined ideas on the image of every school
in their area. Schools had a particular reputation in their immediate
neighborhood. Schools could possess various kinds of reputations: good for
academics; discipline maintained well; cost-effective. Interactions with
social networks confirm these perceptions, and solidify reputations.
Perceptions rooted in social networks build rudimentary local brands forschools.
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 36 -
Perceptions rooted in
social networks build
rudimentary local brands
for schools.
The reputation of the school owner
(also known as school correspondent or
the principal) is one of the key parameters
driving school brand. The owners are
local brands in themselves, and are
gauged in terms of the following:
Qualified or experienced School leaders are expected to be relatively well-qualified and have
substantial teaching experience, either in another school or as a
private tuition teacher.
Empathetic towards parents Parents expect APS leaders toempathize with them and understand their constraints, as most of
these leaders belong to the same community and are aware of the
circumstances in which these parents bring up their children.
Strict disciplinarian The cultivation of self-discipline in a child isone of the most important expectations of APS parents from
private schooling. A school leader who is justifiably strict with their
children is appreciated. Having said that, we observed that parents
frown upon anybody from schools (principal or teachers)
administering corporal punishment. Also, parents expect the
school to be proactive in acting on and giving feedback about a
childs absenteeism.
Trustworthy School leaders are expected to have good moralcharacter and be reliable. Mothers with girl children were
especially concerned about this parameter for safety reasons.
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 37 -
Infrastructure
Parents show a preference to send their children to schools that convey
a sense of stability through fixed infrastructure, the bigger the better.
Parents often speak of big schools with a degree of respect. Often, the more
crowded the school, the more popular it is deemed to be, notwithstanding a
low teacher-student ratio. Computer infrastructure on school premises
(either for teaching or staff purposes) is also seen as a symbol of
sophistication, and a step towards fulfilling aspirations.
Schools using rented premises convey instability and therefore, this
contributes to a negative image. Parents mentioned that instances of such
schools shutting down resulted in high switching costs, as transferring their
children to a different school involves admission fees, new school uniforms,
and donationscharges.
How do parents select schools?
Having understood what parameters parents use to make decisions, we
aim to understand how they assess schools along those parameters.
Proxies of quality
Performance along certain parameters can be seen directly, such as
fees, proximity to home, and computer facilities in a school. Other
parameters, however, are more difficult to assess. Parents have a difficult
time directly perceiving teaching quality, spoken English, computer skills,
and good academics. In order to understand how schools measure along
these lines, parents use proxies that indicate performance. Often, the
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 38 -
behavior of the child at home permits parents to make certain inferences
about what is happening at school.
Parents use two key proxies to assess child learning (seeExhibit X). The
first focuses on behavioral manifestations, such as discipline, the degree of
self-motivation in completing homework, and cleanliness demonstrated by
Exhibit X Proxies for school selection parameter
Parameters for
gauging schools
Ability to
gaugeProxies used
Fee flexibility Yes -
Infrastructure Yes -
Reputation Yes -
Close to home Yes -
English +
ComputersPartially
Read advertisements or posters out loud Read tickers on TV Recite English lessons /poems, Proficient in general knowledge
Good academics No
Degree of self-motivation to do homework Cleanliness demonstrated by child Child academic achievement Tangible items: homework, school diaries
and progress reports
Teaching quality No
Childrens opinions Teacher qualifications and experience Sensitive to child Authoritative disciplines child Articulate knows how to communicate
in English
Teacher turnover Teacher training Childs academic achievement
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 40 -
shirker. To corroborate their own childs opinion of specific aspects, they
question other students who attend the same school. This provides them
with a composite image of the schools quality. In fact, when we spoke to
parents beyond the APS community, we found that parents in the middle
and higher income categories also exhibit the same behavior. All parents
rely significantly on feedback about schools from students.
The only other significant source of information is the school itself.
Schools disseminate information in the community through brochures, and
teachers who are sent out across the neighborhood to talk to parents about
the advantages their school offers.
Information Source Overall %age
Neighborhood students and their parents 90.73
Teachers canvassing 30.94
Information brochure of schools 23.62
Poster/Pamphlet /Graphic formats 17.34
Teachers/ principals they know 15.7
Newspaper 11.51
Meeting teachers/ principal by visiting each schools 9.27
Television 8.82
Radio 0.45
Exhibit XI Social networks are the main info source
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 41 -
School visits
The key indicators of the extent of school shopping undertaken by APS
parents are: the number of schools they consider, and how many they
actually visit prior to admission.
Parents consider schools for admission when they fulfill their
preliminary short-listing requirements. These are, generally, distance to the
school and fee range. For schools which are short-listed, parents try to
obtain more information on factors such as reputation of the school, quality
of academics, and teacher quality. School visits are used to assess the
infrastructure in the school and negotiate the fee amount and payment
terms with the principal. It is observed that about 80% of parents (see
Exhibit XII)visit only one school, indicating that a vast majority of parents
have already made their choice by the time they visit schools.
Exhibit XII School visits are at low levels
Schools
considered
Schools visited
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 59% 0 0 0 0 0
2 14% 4% 0 0 0 0
3 5% 5% 1% 0 0 0
4 1% 6% 1% 1% 0 0
5 1% 2% 1% 1% 1% 0
6 0% 1% 0 1% 1% 1%
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/APS parents: School shoppers- 42 -
Knowledge gaps of APS consumers
Our insights reveal a twofold knowledge gap: lack of access to
credible and accurate information sources, and lack of awareness
about other potential methods of evaluating schools.
Parents primary sources of information, social networks and children,
are biased and unscientific in assessing school quality. Also, the information
they receive is a weak proxy of the school quality measures. Nevertheless,
children remain the main window of insight into the happenings at school,
and therefore, the most important medium to assess a schools quality.
Currently parents are accustomed to, and even satisfied with the
information they receive, because they are unable to conceptualize any
other option. They make school choices with the existing knowledge
gaps and accept these gaps as a feature of their lives.
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Affordable Private School Ratings
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Affordable Private School Ratings- 44 -
GMCs School Ratings can help parents bridge their knowledge gap and
support more informed school choices. As mentioned earlier, parents have
to resort to proxies for certain measures of school quality - 'Computers +
English,' 'Good Academics,' and 'Teaching Quality.' Ratings will provide
valuable information on these parameters so that APS consumers no longer
have to rely on proxies alone. The provision of information also allows for
parents to turn to established measures of school quality, and use
benchmarks to compare school performance.
GMCs School Ratings crystallize a demand for quality education,
thereby creating a signaling effect to schools. This tight feedback loop will
potentially create better accountability of Affordable Private Schools to
parents, their paying customers.
What parents say about ratings
APS consumers were unfamiliar with the idea of a rating tool. Only the
usage of appropriate metaphors helped them understand the concept of the
tool, and revealed strong opinions on what they would value in school
ratings.
In the initial stages of the study, parents were interviewed about school
ratings. Because there is no equivalent of a rating model in any sphere of
their lives, the idea and the explanation of the tool did not resonate with
them. The concept of a third-party source of independent information to
enable comparison between products or services does not exist in their
mind-space.
Due to a lack of response, the metaphor of a school report card was
used to explain the concept of School Ratings. The research team explained
that the school report card was equivalent to a student report card, but
instead of comparing students to each other, it would compare schools.
This metaphor allowed APS parents to understand the idea of school ratings
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Affordable Private School Ratings- 45 -
ContentConcept
Channel Form
Information
contained
Idea of the
information
product
Delivery vehicles
for the product
Tangible
presentation of
the information
and allowed a few key parameters to emerge as priority areas for parents
with regard to a school rating tool.
The challenges in developing a school rating product are two-fold: first,
create a pioneering product and second, introduce the concept of theproduct to the target audience. The research team created a framework:
Concept - Content - Form - Channel (CCFC), to develop a road map for high
adoption.
The Conceptrefers to conveying the idea that is the basis of an activity,
in this case, a third-party independent act of comparing schools based on a
set of criteria. The next task is developing the set of parameters used to rate
schools the Content. The Form deals with arriving at the most intuitive
way of presenting the information to a specific target audience. The
Channel aspect delves into the most suitable modes of delivery for
reaching the potential users.
Exhibit XIII The Concept-Content-Form-Channel
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Affordable Private School Ratings- 46 -
The concept of school rating
In this study, we used the metaphor of school report card to convey the
Conceptof the School Rating tool.
When introducing school ratings, parents argued that there is no valueto a rating system that would compare any two schools, as the school with
higher fees is bound to have higher quality. This feedback led to
modification such that schools in a neighborhood would be compared
within a price-band.
A majority of the parents (85%) mentioned that it would be helpful to
have a school report card.
Desired content in the rating tool
The Content part of the rating tool can be derived on the basis of the
parameters discussed in a previous section.
APS parents particularly find value with regard to three parameters of a
school: the quality of academics (38%), performance of teachers and their
teaching quality (31%) and the nature of school facilities (30%).
Parents tend to ask for information that they are unable to currently
assess. Information on factors such as teacher quality and student strength
cannot be gauged by parents using their current abilities or networks.
Therefore, they see the potential for third party information on these
parameters.
Ways to disseminate the ratings
GMC attempts the challenging task of introducing the new concept of
sharing local school information on a large scale. This information must be
disseminated through a channel such that it reaches every APS parent. To
understand what channels parents would be receptive to, the study asked
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Affordable Private School Ratings- 47 -
2125
2934
42
7074 73
0
10
20
30
40
5060
70
80
PnaoApnmuperp
Preferred sources of information to get SRC
APS consumers how they would most prefer to access the ratings (see
Exhibit XIV. Unlike other rating systems which are commonly accessed
through the web or via SMS, school ratings will have to be disseminated
through alternative methods. APS parents cited private tuitions, stationery
shops, and school registration forms as preferable channels for receiving
third-party rating information.
The cost of disseminating the rating information varies based on the
channel. If the ratings are to be scalable, costs may eventually have to be
shared by the parent. The study asked if parents would be willing to pay for
ratings, and more than 96% of parents expressed a willingness to pay.
While there is a wide range of amounts parents are willing to pay from `5
to `150 the average amount is `30.
Exhibit XIV Existing channels are preferred sources for SRC
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Affordable Private School Ratings- 48 -
4.043.29
14.95
6.88
22.87
27.8
16.14
4.04
>= Rs100 Rs 51 - < Rs100 Rs 41 - Rs 50 Rs 31 - Rs 40
Rs 21 - Rs 30 Rs 11 - Rs 20
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Affordable Private School Ratings- 49 -
Text-based content will not be useful as most APS parents arebarely literate.
o Parents noted that they primarily use their phones forvoice features as they are unable to read SMSs.
Sign-based content may be used but symbols adopted mustbe relevant to the parental mental model and the cultural
context.
o Symbols, colors, and often have religious, political, andsocial connotations. Inadequate testing and research in
this area risks alienating segments of APS consumers,
and hindering mass adoption.
No single common language is used across Hyderabad.o A number of colloquial words are used to ascribe
certain qualities to schools. SeeExhibit XVI
Exhibit XVI APS qualifiers in local parlance
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Synthesis of study findings
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Synthesis of study findings- 51 -
This study began with certain perceptions about APS parents. They
were commonly described as apathetic, ignorant, and lacking aspiration. As
the study progressed, these perceptions were slowly revealed to be myths.
In contrast, APS consumers were found to be driven, discriminating, and
active in school shopping.
There are various dimensions along which to categorize APS
consumers. They vary on the basis of aspirations, constraints, and desire for
school features. In order to make all these facets actionable, we developed
three personas Drivers, Enablers, and Passives - to represent APS parents.
We can put ourselves in a personas shoes to understand their perspectives
on private schools and school ratings.
In engaging with parents, GMC should use a twofold strategy:
First, understand the consumer. Getting inside the mind ofthe consumer through the personas is the best way to learn
about their needs and, more importantly, aspirations. The
market segments that these personas represent are crucial to
creating customized messaging that will result in adoption of
school ratings.
Second, GMC has to develop a credible brand so that itbecomes a household name for its pioneering efforts in rating
school.
APS consumers: myths and realities
Before grouping APS parents into their personas, we make note of
common traits among APS consumers. These dispel the prevalent
perceptions of APS parents.
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Synthesis of study findings- 52 -
Low-income communities do not send their children to privateschools
About 45% of APS parents belong to lower-income groups, alongwith 29% from middle-income groups and 26% from higher-
income groups.
Low-income communities will not prioritize expenditure oneducation
On an average, households in urban India spend about 9% oftheir total expenditure on education. APS parents (who
responded to questions on educational expenditure) spend an
average of 13%, reflecting their aspirations.
APS parents are not much engaged in their childs educationMost parents (90%) do engage actively with their children, with
varying frequencies.
APS parents are only concerned about primary schooling andemployability in the short-term
APS consumers value schooling, higher education, and skilldevelopment. Completion of schooling is a clear desire and
priority. However, this depends on income constraints and
parental perceptions about the ability of the child. With an
emphasis on schooling, parents are keen on skills that enhance
employability. They also seek to save for their childrens higher
education.
Parents in low-income communities are not active consumersof private schooling
APS parents associate each school in their neighborhood with aparticular image and reputation. They compare these
characteristics along with fees and teaching quality within their
social networks. Thus, they view themselves as consumers, and
understand the idea of choice.
Most low-income parents choose any school as long as theycan afford the fees and do not differentiate on various
parameters of schooling quality
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Synthesis of study findings- 53 -
APS parents behave as active
consumers and are well aware
about their choices
APS parents face social expectations that influence their opinions and
actions. In qualitative conversations, parents mentioned low levels of
attendance at PTA meetings, and claimed that fee amounts were a key
parameter in school selection. In quantitative research, by contrast, parents
reported relatively high PTA attendance, and did not cite fees as a strong
parameter in choosing a school. This difference arises because parents want
to project an image that they are meeting social expectations regarding
education. Such social expectations should inform GMCs parent
engagement strategy.
APS parents behave as activeconsumers and are well aware of
their choices. If they were not
active consumers, the
introduction of a rating tool would
APS consumers discriminate to varying degrees with regard toprices. There is a segment for which price is the key parameter;
parents in this segment expect fee flexibility. There is also a
section of APS parents for whom price is a necessary but not
determining factor.
Parents are not looking for information about school qualityAPS parents rely on students as sources of school information.
Since parents are often not able to directly gauge teacher or
school quality, they assess these through children. While there
are biases inherent to this method, parents do trust children as
reliable and credible sources of information.
APS parents do not depend on independent third party sourcesfor price and other features of the schooling service, but
frequently use immediate social networks to inform their
decisions. Most parents use their social networks to bring the list
of considered schools down to a final one or two. In the absence
of social networks, we find that parents do consider and visit
more schools.
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Synthesis of study findings- 54 -
Personas breathe life into
abstract consumer
segments, and help us make
sense of their behaviors,
attitudes, and goals
require a huge change in mind-set regarding the ability to exercise choice.
Given APS parents behave as consumers and not passive beneficiaries, GMC
does not have to change mindsets in order to encourage rating adoption
instead it has to engage in a process of education about the rating tool. We
recommend an awareness building phase for APS parents that will bring
about awareness of the rating tool, additional parameters for assessing
school quality, and how the tool can be used.
Parental personas
GMC can develop an effective actionable engagement strategy withparents through the usage of personas. Personas put a face on to
user/market research in a way that turns data and observations [from market
research] into usable knowledge17.The majority of the APS parents can be
grouped within three distinct personas: Drivers, Enablers and Passives.
In order to bring these personas to life, a representative character was
chosen for each. Venkat is a Passive; Anjum, an Enabler; and Ravi, a Driver.
These personas breathe life into abstract consumers, and help us make
sense of their behaviors, attitudes, and goals. Seeing the world through the
eyes of a persona makes it easier to sense
what features of a school rating would
resonate with them, and what actions they
might take to incorporate school rating
into their lives. They also help us simulate
parental reactions at different stages of
adoption of the school rating product. For
example, we can ask a question like
17Mulder, S., Yaar, Z.: The User Is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating andUsing Personas for the Web. Page 14. New Riders Press: 2005.
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Would Anjum use this? in thinking about feature development. Having the
personas in mind will make it easier to align goals and develop services for
higher uptake by APS parents.
Each of the personas enables us to capture insights related to the needs,aspirations, and behaviors of groups of APS parents. In particular, Drivers
'drive' their children to better schools. They have access to strong social
networks, and are the least monetarily constrained. They are relatively well
educated Driver fathers generally have studied up to Grade 10 and work in
non-manual labor jobs, while Driver mothers often have some schooling.
They value education in a holistic way. They expect schools to provide
English and computer literacy, and to also have good teachers and overall
good academics. They are willing to travel outside their immediate area forthe sake of a better school.
Enablers exhibit many of the same qualities as Drivers, but to a lesser
degree. They are motivated to engage with their children and push them
into good schools - 'enable' them - but often lack the means. On average,
they too have had some schooling; however they are more likely to have
studied up to Grade 5 or Grade 8. They are somewhat financially
constrained and do not venture long distances away for school. They too
have strong social networks which they use to gather information about
schools.
Passives are those who are motivated to send their children to good
schools, but are passive about engaging with their children. They are the
most monetarily constrained and often have had no schooling at all. Since
they are usually migrants shifting to Hyderabad from other parts of
Andhra Pradesh - they lack cohesive social networks. They may have strong
aspirations, and get information about schools in different ways. Inparticular, they visit more schools in person than Drivers and Enablers
because they lack social networks to provide them with information about
schools.
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Name: Ravi
Persona : Driver
I have to send my child to school by bus because
none of the schools in my area have good academics.
Ravi and Anu have been living in Hyderabad all their lives. They
live in the Old City, where she is a beautician, and he is a factory
supervisor. Together, they typically earn about `7500 per month,
and each month they spend approximately `1050 on education
related expenses. Education related spending constitutes nearly14% of their total expenditure. Anu studied up to Grade 10, and
Ravi, up to Grade 12. They have high aspirations for their
children, Ajay and Veena. They are also regularly asked for advice
about private schools in the neighborhood.
Ravis Personal Statistics:Occupation: Factory Supervisor /BeauticianPlace of Origin:HyderabadHousehold: 4 members in total
School Decision Mentality:Aspirations:HighDegree of Constraint: LowEngagement with Social Network:HighNumber of Schools Considered: LowNumber of Schools Visited:LowMost Important SchoolCharacteristics:Good academics, good staff members
Ravis School shopping characteristics:
Priority parameters: Good academics & Good staff members Above all, Ravi wants the best school possible, whether it is in his immediate locality
or not
Regular discussions with neighborhood parents and children Meet with teachers to gain information about schools They become information sources themselves after seeking out this information Consider and visit one school has decided upon the school through social networks
Ravis School Rating Traction:
Would find a school rating card somewhat helpful Would look for schools academic quality, teacher performance and exam results Would be willing to pay around `31 for the card
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Name: Anjum
Persona : Enabler
Why should my child lose a year of schooling due to
my inability to pay fees in time?
Anjum and her husband Aftab are natives of Hyderabad. They stay
in an urban area; she is a housewife, and he runs a small grocery
shop. Aftab typically earns about`
6500 per month, and each monththey spend approximately `780 on education-related expenses.
Education-related spending constitutes nearly 13% of their total
expenditure. Anjum studied up to Grade 5, and her husband studied
up to Grade 8. Despite not having higher education levels
themselves, they have high aspirations for their daughter, Noor.
Anjums Personal Statistics:
Occupations: Housewife / Shop Owner
Place of Origin:Hyderabad
Household: 6 members in total
School Decision Mentality:
Aspirations:High
Degree of Constraint: Medium
Engagement with Social Network:
Medium-High
Number of Schools Considered: Low
Number of Schools Visited:LowMost Important School
Characteristics: Good academics,
English, computer facilities
Anjums School shopping characteristics:
Priority parameters: Good academics, Computer facilities & English medium Above all, Anjum will look for the best school in her neighborhood. She is unlikely to
consider options beyond what her social circle chooses.
Relies heavily on her social network for information
Considered one school, and consequently, visited one school prior to admissionAnjums School Rating Traction:
Would find a school rating card somewhat helpful Would value information on whether the school is good for academics Would be willing to pay around `25 for the card
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Name: Venkat
Persona : Passive
I dont have any education, but I would like to admit
my child into a nearby English Medium school
Venkat and his family migrated to Hyderabad a few years ago from
Ponduru, a town in rural Andhra Pradesh. His wife does not work
outside the home, so he supports his family singlehandedly through hiswork as a chai wallah(tea stall worker). Venkat typically earns about
`5500 per month, and each month he spends over `550 on education
related expenses. These expenses make up 11% of his total expenditure.
While he and his wife received no formal schooling, they aspire to send
their 8-year-old son, Rajesh, to a private school.
Venkats Personal Statistics:Occupation: Chai Wallah (tea stall
worker)Place of Origin:PonduruHousehold: 7 members in total
School Decision Mentality:Aspirations:MediumDegree of Constraint: HighEngagement with Social Network: LowNumber of Schools Considered: High
Number of Schools Visited:HighMost Important SchoolCharacteristics: Teaching quality,reputation, English medium,
Venkats School shopping characteristics:
Priority parameters: English medium instruction, School reputation & Proximity Above all, Venkat wants an English medium private school that he can afford and is
close to his home
His preferred school features are not related to more holistic measures of schoolenvironment and facilities.
Considered three schools and personally visited two before making his final selectionVenkats School Rating Traction:
Would find a school rating card helpful Would value information on school facilities and discipline Would be willing to pay around `20 for the card
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APS market entry
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APS market entry- 60 -
The market for Affordable Private Schools, while informal, may be
defined as a sector in itself. Given the demand exhibited earlier in this
report, market entrants should have an informed strategy regarding the
ways to tap into this market.
The earlier findings inform three strategic steps for potential APS
market entrants:
Product DevelopmentHow to develop for the APS consumer
PositioningWhy the APS consumer should know you
MarketingHow you should reach APS consumers
These entrants could be service providers, school chains, private
investors, foundations etc. Any market entrant should focus on key relevant
aspects of product development, positioning, and marketing to ensure high
demand by parents, and thereby high adoption rates amongst schools.
Product development:How to develop for the APS consumer
Market entrants should be ready to shed assumptions based on other
consumer environments. After testing the rating tool, we found that APS
parents did not understand that there could be an objective independent
comparison of products or services. Market entrants should note that their
service offerings may encounter a similar lack of familiarity in the market.Entrants should test whether APS parents understand the concept behind
the particular product or service when embarking on product development.
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APS market entry- 61 -
The Formshould
intuitively communicate
what the product provides,
without need for
additional explanation
Market entrants must develop features that resonate with APS
consumers. Feature development, however, is necessary but not sufficient
to ensure adoption. Successful adoption will be based on how those featurescome together to create an intuitive user experience.
Service prototyping, based on Design
Research methodology, should be used to
engineer the user experience the Form
(see page 48). Market entrants should
develop several prototypes of their product
or service, and conduct tests to determine
what will achieve success with this set of
consumers. The Form should intuitively communicate what the product
provides, without need for additional explanation.
The Form of the product needs to ride on the appropriate Channel for
maximizing the coverage of the market. After initial testing, the study
found that APS parents have unique ways of accessing information. In
particular, SMS and other one-to-many channels are not a key means of
information delivery for APS parents (see page 46). Existing channels ofinformation may find higher traction, and one may have to discover
unconventional and non-formal channels to reach APS parents.
Positioning:
Why the APS consumer should know you
Education service providers, intending to enter the APS market, should
be cognizant of their end-consumers - APS parents. These parents, along
with their children, are the final consumers of education services. Although
service providers operate on a business to business (B2B) model with
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APS market entry- 62 -
schools, it is paramount that they make themselves known to their end-
consumers (B2E-C). Traction with parents is essential for driving demand
for their specific services. This strategy, is similar to the one adopted by
Intel Corporation for the Intel inside campaign.
Through increased awareness of service provider brands, parents will
begin to demand particular services (and service providers) from schools.
Evidence of parameters used for school selection suggests that parents are
likely to demand education services that operate along parameters they
value (seeExhibit VI).
GMC in particular, has the opportunity to respond to one of the three
dimensions along which parents choose schools. As mentioned, parents
look at availability, cost, and quality in school selection. GMC has the
potential to engage w