Class divided: Global pressures, domestic pulls and a fractured education policy in India.

Interdisciplinary scholarship in recent years has begun to pay attention to the state (re) formation in India under neoliberal conditions. The particularities of this transformation have arisen from the points of re-imagination of the relationship between the post-colonial state and global capital. Working through the contradictions and conflicts embedded in the social life of policy, this paper examines two policy initiatives: the Right to Education (RTE) Act (2009) and the Foreign Institutions Entry, Operations and Regulation Bill (2010). The overlaps, differences and tensions around the two policies allow for a perspective that understands the changing role of education in the transformation of the state

Ashram Schools: Challenges and Future Directions (NIAS/SSc/EDU/U/PB/24/2020)

Residential schools have been part of our education system for a long time. Going back to the 19th century as formal educational institutions developed, residential schools performed three primary functions: an extension of the homebound learning practices; an alternative to formal schools; and a place to educate the wealthy. While the history of boarding schools tells us the story of travel and educational access, history of residential schools for the disadvantaged is more complex. For the Adivasi communities, separated by distance and social marginalisation, residential schools hold tremendous importance and promise

Book review: Complexity, Institutions and Public Policy: Agile Decision-Making in a Turbulent World by Graham Room. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2011.

While disciplines have always had extensions, branches and paths that would enable a passage to the other areas of inquiry, the organization of disciplinary knowledge began showing a decisive shift in the 1970s. To start, this had consequences for the neatly stacked divisions of disciplines within the academic institutions. Moreover, such reorganization was also instrumental in reducing the distance between the ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ research, and between research, advocacy and policy. The changed landscape of knowledge production over the course of the last three decades has led to the formation of new disciplines and methods that have flourished on the borders of traditional disciplines. The book under review represents the post-1980s moment in knowledge production that is built on deliberate crossing over of disciplines in order to privilege solutions, making policy impact and supporting multiple ways to achieve effective intervention

India Goes to School: Education Policy and Cultural Politics

This book pays attention to education in India as part of several overlapping stories developed along different axes: stories of dissent, contestations, appropriation and social action. It historicises the enterprise of formal education by paying attention to the numerous policy shifts. Further, it theorises the education policy discourse by analysing the ways in which education is increasingly being shaped by international/transnational knowledge production, actors and norms. Focusing on the cultural politics of education policy production, circulation and translation across different contexts, the book revisits some of the long-standing and unresolved debates on social reforms, justice, nationalism and mobility. Evolution of ideas such as mass education, national education, adult literacy and education through public-private-partnerships showcase the momentous shifts in education policy over the course of last century. Ideas, institutional and economic arrangements, administrative formulations and frameworks for implementation make frequent appearances in the cultural as well as political reading of education policy. In a departure from the traditional policy research, this work sees policy as socially and culturally constructed; connected to questions of power, context and struggle; and part of a number of processes at large

'The education question' from the perspective of Adivasis: Conditions, policies and structures (NIAS Report No. R7-2012)

This report has been submitted to UNICEF, New Delhi by the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore. It is based on a review project undertaken as part of the Education Portfolio of the institute. Drawing on secondary data, insights and ideas from an all-India consultation meet at NIAS, four regional / zonal consultations, data from a project in Chamarajanagar district (Karnataka), and select reviews of educational programmes, this report presents a broad perspective of Adivasi education in India. While we recognise that the educational challenges faced by the tribal people of North-East India are significant and require immediate attention, they could not be represented adequately in this report. We hope an in-depth study of educational issues of the North- Eastern region can be taken up separately. We would like to clarify that while this report is an appraisal of the policies, administrative structures, institutions and programmes that are intended to cater to the educational needs of Adivasis, it is not meant to be a summative review of their educational status. Reversing the dominant ‘deficit approach’, by which the lack of adequate educational attainment is typically ascribed to Adivasis themselves, this report situates itself within the context of the varied forms of displacement, disenfranchisement and violence, which mark the lives of most Adivasis. The challenge of the ‘education question’ among Adivasis is sought to be understood through an analysis of the policy orientations, structures and processes of educational administration, institutions and the constraints within which they operate and the myriad in-built forms of exclusion of the dominant education system. In addition, some attention is paid to the impact of mainstream education on the lives of Adivasis and the continued marginalisation of their knowledge, culture, languages and lives. Our review of the policies, administrative structures, institutions and their impact indicate that the Adivasis receive the lowest cost, poorest quality and indifferently administered education

The Education question from the perspective of Adivasis: Conditions, policies and structures (NIAS Report No.R7-2012)

The National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, through its Education Portfolio initiatives, seeks to link research with advocacy and policy analysis. This report resulting from NIAS' engagement with the Education Portfolio, is an attempt to provide a framework with which to approach and understand the 'education question' among Adivasis. The absence of a comprehensive all-India perspective paper/report on the issues related to education of Adivasis and urgent need to interrogate the impact of the dominant education system on the lives of marginalized and disadvantaged groups compelled us to undertake this project. In addition, our experiences and reflections after a five-year long (2002-2007) involvement with an action research project that sought to enhance elementary education, especially in the Ahramshalas in Chamarajnagar district of Karnataka highlighted for us not only the complexities and challenges that Adivasis face with the dominant education system (in its provisioning, administration, content and impact), but also indicated the need to initiate policy and programmatic changes at state and national levels. This report pays attention to the larger political-economic contexts in which most Adivasis liv; it identifies trends, reviews policies, flags key issues and suggests alternatives that can be taken forward

The language of choice

Supreme court judgment marks an important turn in the debate on language education polic