Pedagogy

In light of the concern of whether pedagogy and quality of education are treated symbiotically or not, the intent behind the article is twofold: fi rst, it will focus on how the term “quality education” and “quality of education” were taken up at the national level and within international domains, and what were their contents and intricacies, keeping in mind the differences between the two concepts; second, it will directly delve into the question of: Have pedagogy-related variables been considered for measurement? This query will be contextualised with reference to a list of fi ve nationwide metrics or surveys in India and their subjective ideas of the principal attributes of quality education.

The Union Budget 2022–23 proposes a step forward towards the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 by invoking the increased use of information and communications technology as a policy instrument to repurpose education towards skill formation and to globalise Indian higher education.

This article examines a report currently being considered by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education pertaining to school history books. It unpacks the misplaced bases of comparison used in the report. It also highlights the implications of the recommendations to erase or simplify histories of caste and gender, reducing the discipline to an account of “great men” and a few “great women,” as well as to “cleanse” sections of history to create a polarised notion of the past, locating these within the large-scale changes imminent in education at all levels.

Following the “Gunotsav–A Quality Initiative” exercise undertaken by the Government of Assam in 2017 and 2018 to assess the quality of its government schools in the state, the views of the external examiners involved in the assessment of various schools are presented. While quality cannot be quantified, reflections of examiners from exercises such as Gunotsav help in situating the education offered by government schools in the particular socio-economic contexts of Assam, apart from underscoring the range of challenges faced by such schools.