EVALUATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOL LOCATION IN THE ISTANBUL METROPOLITAN AREA

Abstract

Investment in education is considered important for economic growth and poverty alleviation. In many developed and developing countries families contribute privately to the education of their children as a result of continuously shrinking public budgets. Also, in Istanbul private primary schools were supported by the government in order to answer to increasing demand due to continuous rural migration and to create a competitive educational market to improve the quality of primary education. This paper, first, analyzes the spatial distribution of private primary schools according to the concentric rings and illustrates the gap between the center and the periphery and among the districts. Then, the relationships between the number of private primary schools and demand and the characteristics of the districts are investigated by a regression analysis. According to the results, the number of public primary schools is the most important factor and GDP per capita is the second factor to affect the number of private primary schools in the districts. Currently, the cluster of private primary schools mainly in high-income districts does not allow developing a competitive educational market at the metropolitan level. It is expected that a more balanced market will be develop as the urban structure of Istanbul adjusted to the neo-liberal economies in the future. The results are useful for urban planners, investors and policy makers. Further research is suggested to investigate the impact of private primary schools on the quality of public primary school education in Istanbul.

Keywords

• Primary education, Private education, Location, Urban development, Istanbul