A common assumption about the private sector of education is that it caters only to the elite. 【C1】______ recent research points in the opposite direction. If we want to help some of most 【C2】______ group in society, then encouraging deeper private sector 【C3】______ is likely to be the best way forward.
Several developments are 【C4】______ in India, all of which involve the private education sector meeting the 【C5】______ of the poor in distinct ways. 【C6】______ India is not unique in this respect—similar phenomena are happening all over the developing world.
As a point of departure, how do government schools serve the poor？ Usefully, the government sponsored Public Report on Basic Education in India from 1999 paints a very 【C7】______ picture of the" 【C8】______ "of the government schools for the poor. When researchers 【C9】______ unannounced on their random sample of the schools, only 53% had any "teaching activity" going on. 【C10】______ , the team not- ed that the 【C11】______ of teaching standards has nothing to do 【C12】______ disempowered teachers, but instead could be 【C13】______ "plain negligence". They noted "several cases of irresponsible teachers 【C14】______ a school closed for months at a time".
But is there any 【C15】______ to these schools？ Sorely no one else can do better than government 【C16】______ the resources available？ As it happens, the Report pointed to private schools that were serving the poor and 【C17】______ that such problems were not found in these schools. Most parents believed that private schools were successful because they were more accountable: "the teachers are account- able to the manager who can fire them, and, 【C18】______ him or her, to the 【C19】______ who can withdraw their children." Such accountability was not present in the government schools, and "this contrast is 【C20】______ with crystal clarity by vast majority of parents."
【C1】

A. In addition
B. On the contrary
C. In effect
D. In general