pankaj das one of the most effective ways to uplift the poor is by improving education systems according to the pisa assessment report 2009 among 74 countries including the developed ones india ranks second to last just above kyrgyzstan this dismal scenario has forced parents to seek alternatives for better education parents are increasingly inclined towards private schools because of results and responsiveness however education has become costlier in private schools because of microeconomic factors like sustainability and macroeconomic factors like inflation private schools in india are mandated to be run as charitable institutions this in reality is wishful thinking individuals creating alternatives for better education more often than not spend a lot of time and money in creating such systems such passionate entrepreneurs have ambitions and naturally look for returns the ambition to grow in life for an education entrepreneur and a need to comply with regulations often conflict one of the ways out of this morass is to allow schools to make profit and furnish all details including academic and financial performance in the public domain in this way the government can regulate the standards of education safety security and reporting in private schools instead of managing a system which has fundamental flaws the most effective solution to the challenge of providing better education however is to improve the quality of government schools the challenges faced by government schools can be solved with political will there was a time when most students studied in government and aided schools and their results were very good with thorough research sincere and persistent effort assam government schools can become the equivalent if not better than kendriya vidyalayas which even now command the respect of the middle class in quality of education one of our colleagues half in jest once suggested that maybe the government should order all its personnel to admit their children in only government aided and government schools poor people need quality and affordable education for them to become productive members of society time runs out fast and we will lose future geniuses if we do not act fast all the different school systems that have improved significantly have done so primarily because they have produced a system that is more effective in doing three things getting more talented people to become teachers developing these teachers into better instructors and in ensuring that these instructors deliver consistently for every child in the system page 40 how the worlds bestperforming school systems come out on top september 2007 mckinsey companythe writer is director modern english school kahilipara guwahati