One of the largest reforms in the history of public school system is taking place in Philadelphia, the poverty ridden district of Pennsylvania. The reforms kicked off September last year and observers-teachers, students, district officials, private for-profit school managers, parents and critics-are waiting with bated breath to see the results of the reforms. One man who is the architect of the series of reforms introduced to improve the failing elementary and middle schools is Paul G. Vallas, Chief Executive Officer for the School District of Philadelphia; much of the sweeping changes in Phil school system are his brainchild. A year after the reforms have started, this week, the results have started to come in and they have shown that the reforms have worked. Preliminary test scores show that students' performance has improved substantially across all schools in the district.

Many of the problems that afflict the school system of Philadelphia have an echo of those that beset Manipur's underperforming government schools. As in Manipur, the Philadelphia district is one of the most impoverished in the USA; more than 70% of the 200,000 students in 265 schools in Philadelphia are from poor families, which are qualified for receiving federal food subsidies. A culture of violence and juvenile delinquency is the hallmark in the neighborhoods in various pockets of Philadelphia. Not surprisingly, student's attendance in schools fall far short of the minimum required, with more than a 10 percent student truancy rate everyday, but at 18 schools more than 25 percent of the students are absent everyday. If the past record holds, fewer than half of the students who are now eight-graders will graduate from high school and more than a quarter of the students will drop out. All statistics that can be said of our own school system (in Manipur).

The Philadelphia experiment--as the reforms are being known in USA--has the following main elements:

1. Handing over of responsibility of running the schools to private for-profit school management firms. The state has hired seven such firms to run 45 of the lowest performing elementary and middle schools.
2. A unified curriculum
3. Training of teachers
4. Smaller class sizes
5. Safer buildings
6. Parents' involvement
7. Programmes for students with special needs

The striking feature of these reforms is the active role that is being given to the private school managers. This is a novelty that school reformers anywhere else should take note of. As can be expected, initially, the teachers' unions in Philadelphia were skeptical about the intrusion of the private managers in their turfs, and they vehemently opposed the move to hand over the control of the schools to outsiders. Parents too were not optimistic about any dramatic improvement in the performance of their wards as a result of change in the school's management. Student protestors also joined in the anti-privatization revolt and waved signs that read I AM NOT FOR SALE! SAY NO TO PRIVATIZATION! But later, as the state of Pennsylvania was determined to enforce the new reforms and the private players swung to action, showing tangible and positive effects on the overall performance of the students, all opposition faded slowly-including that from the teachers' union.

Edison Schools, the New York based company, which was awarded 20 Philadelphia schools to manage and one of the five other for-profit managers, has brought in new class room culture as part of the reforms: reduced the size of reading classes, eliminated some non-teaching staff, started teacher training programmes and brought in a computerized monthly testing system. These changes have yielded positive results, adding to the hope that the Philadelphia Experiment may actually become a huge success.

Though it has yet to go a long way further, the Philadelphia Experiment offers us an alternative roadmap for improving the condition of the pathetic school system of Manipur. Like Philadelphia, problematic schools in Manipur are invariably those, which are run by the government. This year's results of the standard X and XII point to the usual pattern of underperformance by the government schools and higher secondary schools. Each year, students from private schools dominate the list of the top position holders in the results of the X examination, which is taken as the first significant test in the academic career of a student. Even if this fact is discounted, the overall pass percentage at a paltry 23% is a shameful figure when compared with national average. One main reason which drags the pass percentage down to this alarming level is the poor performance of most of the government schools in the state, some of which don't even have the basic infrastructure like desk, benches, and blackboards-- not to talk of adequate teaching staff which go truant more often than the students do.

The woes of the state run schools are of its own making, but no one from the education Ministry has come forward as yet to take on the challenge of reforming the failing system that has cemented itself over the years. In the absence of political will and a visionary leader like Paul G. Vallas, the man behind the Philadelphia's school reforms, it is hard to believe that the crumbling school system is going to improve, at least not yet. Even if such favourable conditions exist, it is anybody's guess that sheer magnitude of the malady will greatly impede the pace of the reforms. Adding to the difficulty of introducing reforms will be the lack of funds-a crucial element for any reforms to take off, a fact that will scuttle any formula of reforms even before it reaches the implementation stage.

Although there will be great hurdles to cross in the beginning, mainly to procure the required funds, the real test of commitment of the state is in making a blueprint of the reforms. Will such a blueprint follow the Philadelphia's model of reforms, especially the controversial but, now proven, privatization approach? I am emphasizing on this approach as this is one of the most innovative and probably efficacious prescriptions for the ills of the school education system in Manipur. However, privatization doesn't imply sacking the government teachers and shirking off state's responsibility of running schools; it only means the participation of the private professionals in running them more efficiently and in a better way. Should the education mandarins decide to enlist the help of private players in resuscitating the dying state of the state's educational institutes, the road ahead is more or less clear. For one, the missionary schools could be asked to take the reigns of some of the worst schools and introduce in them their time tested methods of teaching and culture of punctuality. Other capable organizations, NGOs and individuals could be recruited/ invited by floating tenders and thereby fostering healthy competition between them. All these operators should be appraised on the basis of the performance of the students they are assigned to look after; incompetents should be fired and achievers rewarded with renewal of contracts or given more schools to manage.

The state has failed and we don't expect it to be capable of transforming the sick education system to a vibrant and result oriented one. The state lacks expertise, manpower, dynamism and the will to overcome the vast logistics of implementing the reforms. But, I sincerely believe that involving private educators in government schools will prove to be a success. Private school managers have more motivation to add value to the education to survive in the market: they are more likely to enforce disciplinary rules for the students; stick to tough academic calendar; complete the syllabus in time; take regular students' test; encourage extra-curricular activities; and the teachers under them are more likely to be punctual than their government counterparts. In other words, they give you more BANG for your BUCKS. If their work culture is incorporated into the government school system, I hope a positive turnaround for the government schools is in the corner. The question is: will the government do it?