For-profit schools blamed for denigration of Sweden’s school system
Twenty years after Sweden’s school system opened the door for independent profit-making schools and expanded parents’ choice, sliding results have the leftist opposition saying the system is a textbook example of privatisation gone wrong.
In 1992, the Nordic country introduced school vouchers that parents can use to send their children to either state-run or private schools. Both types of schools are funded by the state, and a key condition for both is that tuition remains free.
The idea was to let primary and secondary education providers compete by allowing students to choose where they wanted to study, rather than allocating them a place at the nearest state-run school.
But though the Swedish model has garnered international attention, critics say that in an effort to attract students, for-profit schools are offering courses that don’t tally with the needs of the job