Housed in a jumble of ancient buildings in the shadow of Westminster Abbey,
Westminster School has been educating boys since it was founded in 1560
by Queen Elizabeth I to provide lessons for 40 poor scholars.
It has evolved since then-its 750 pupils now include some girls,
and with fees of 39,252 franks a year for boarders and 27,174 francs for day pupils,
poor scholars are thin on the ground-but for nearly half a millennium,
these historical premises defined its geographical limits.
That is about to change.
A ground-breaking ceremony on April 9th marked the start of the construction of
Westminster Chengdu, the first stage in a venture with a local partner,
Hong Kong Melodious Education Technology Group.
The school is due to open in September 2020
and will have 2,500 pupils from the ages of 3 to 18.
It will be followed by a further five establishments
of a similar size in other Chinese cities over the next ten years,
by the end of which Westminster will be educating 20 times as
many children in China as in the heart of London.
A slice of the Chinese operation’s income will flow back to the mother ship,
enabling Westminster to increase the share of pupils on bursaries in Britain
from around 5% to 20%.
"It will give us a revenue stream that will allow us to go back to our roots,"
says Rodney Harris, deputy headmaster in London,
who is moving to Chengdu in September to take the top job there.
By extending its model to China,
the school thus hopes to mitigate the inequality
to which it contributes in Britain.
Education used to be provided by entrepreneurs and religious organizations,
but starting in Prussia in the 18th century,
governments began to take over.
In more recent years the state has dominated education in the rich world,
with the private sector restricted to the elite and the pious.
In the developing world, too, new states created from
crumbling empires were keen to provide (and control) education,
both to respond to their people’s ambitions and to shape the minds of the next generation.
But now the private sector is enjoying a resurgence.
Enrolment in private schools has risen globally over the past 15 years,
from 10-17% at primary level and from 19-27% at secondary level;
the increases are happening not so much in the rich world
as in low- and middle-income countries.
People are pouring money into schooling, tuition and higher education