Latin America

Affordable Private Schools in Latin America & Caribbean

Affordable private schools (APS) have become a stronger force for education in predominantly poor communities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Public school still commands the highest enrollment, but an estimated 14.7 percent of students in Latin America and 30 percent in the Caribbean attend APS for the primary years.

Peru, for example, has a thriving private school market. In 2007, a quarter of the estimated 93,000 schools in the country were private, up from 20 percent in 1998, according to educational expert Instituto Invertir. The schools cater to 22 percent of the country’s pre-primary, primary and secondary-level students. In Lima, the capital of Peru, the concentration is even higher, particularly in poor districts. Private school enrollment jumped from 32 percent of all students in 1998 to 43 percent in 2007.

Most of the APS in these regions are operated by individual entrepreneurs who are former teachers responding to the educational needs of the community. Regional research has shown that the quality of education in private schools outstrips that of public school, measured by lower drop-out rates and higher percentages of students passing standardized tests. This also comes at a relatively low cost to families. In the Dominican Republic, for example, 92 percent of all private schools charged less than $15 per month.

Country-specific research is limited, but we expect to publish profiles on Peru and the Dominican Republic soon.

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