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 needs of the poor in distinct ways. But India is not【C5】______ in this respect—similar phenomena are happening all over the developing world. As a point of【C6】______ 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【C10】______ of the schools, only 53% had any 'teaching activity' going on. Alarmingly, the team noted 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 keeping a school closed for months at a time'. But is there any【C14】______ to these schools? Surely no one else can do better than government【C15】______ the resources available? As it happens, the Report pointed to private schools that were serving the poor and【C16】______ that such problems were not found in these schools. Most parents believed that private schools were successful【C17】______ they were more accountable: 'the teachers are accountable to the manager who can fire them, and,【C18】______ him or her, to the parents who can【C19】______ 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】