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School Education
The proposed National Policy on Education 2016 has important implications with respect to school education in India. While acknowledging some of its positive features, attention must be focused on objectives of education as espoused in the policy: key amendments suggested in the Right to Education Act, 2009; position and importance of Early Childhood Care and Education and reforms proposed in the curriculum and assessment practices in schools.
The author acknowledges inputs from Rashmi Paliwal and Suresh K Reddy in finalising this article.
The Report of the Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy (Subramanian committee report), chaired by T S R Subramanian, was eagerly awaited for several reasons. The three most important were: (i) it comes after a gap of 30 years (the last policy was formulated in 1986); (ii) it is an initiative of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, which, because of its interventions in education in the past (in states as well as at the centre), invites speculations of saffronisation of education; and (iii) it comes at a time when the neo-liberal wave of privatisation and globalisation, initiated by “structural adjustments reforms” of the 1990s, has under its grip several sectors of the economy and society, including education and health.
This article examines the proposed policy carefully and understands its implications with respect to school education. It has been organised into three sections: strengths, areas of concern and conclusions.
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