Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Mapping the public-private binary -- Theoretical and methodological underpinnings -- Tangible structure shaping the culture -- Teachers' work culture, role conflicts, and voices -- Students' negotiations between family, peers and school -- The pedagogical terrain -impediments and constraints -- Conclusion.

"This book presents a comparative ethnographic understanding of government and low-fee private schools in India within the context of ever-increasing privatization and commercialization of education and growing presence of non-state actors. Drawing on rich empirical data, the book provides an ethnographic account of a government and a low-fee private school in Hyderabad, India and explores life in these two distinct spaces through the lens of culture. While private schools catering to the poorer sections have been proliferating, little is known about how these low-fee private schools operate, how choices and negotiations unfold, the classroom discourses, subjective meanings of different stakeholders and the kind of education provided in these schools vis-à-vis the government schools. The book focuses on the educational experiences, schooling choices, processes, and voices of the children and teachers at these schools to reflect on how school culture influences the quality of education. Based on intensive fieldwork and qualitative data, the book provides contextual insights of what exactly happens inside the schools and classrooms of two contrasting schooling provisions in India and understand the world views of different stakeholders as they negotiate their daily lives. The book will be of interest to students, researchers, and teachers of education, sociology of education, childhood studies, urban education, and teacher education. It will also be useful for education policymakers, educationists, education professionals, and those working on private schooling in India"-- Provided by publisher.

Description based on print version record.