Updates
Call for Submission is now open for the May 2024 Issue on New Education Policy
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented educational disruptions for many as well as lifechanging opportunities for a few. Education has changed irreversibly post the pandemic, with widespread expansion of online education on one hand, while on other closure of thousands of primary schools thereby widening the educational divide across classes.
Even after seventy five years of Independence, the goal to provide universal access to free and compulsory education remains elusive. While graduates from elite institutions like IITs, IISC and IIMs and few others are making their mark globally, most of our universities are in a dire strait. After decades of struggle, the Right to Education Act 2009 (RtE) was enacted by the Parliament, giving effect to the 86th Constitution Amendment via Article 21A, assuring free and compulsory education for all children in the 6-14 years age group. However, its implementation has been far from being adequate and many of the goals of RTE are yet to be achieved.
In the middle of the pandemic, the Union Government brought out the New Education Policy (NEP), with the vision to bring in transformative shifts in education, to address some of the fundamental challenges of quality of Education. A plethora of reforms have been recommended for restructuring curriculum and pedagogies as well as school governance and regulation. NEP calls for a need to extend the ambit of the RTE from 6-14 years to 3-18years of age. For higher education, there is a push towards multidisciplinary studies and a significant focus on quality research and technology intervention.
Even though many states and the Union Governments are implementing NEP quite vigorously, scholars and academicians have highlighted certain concerns regarding the NEP. Many have critiqued NEP on account of its effort to centralise education policy space, on its push for privatisation, on social desirability and practical feasibility among other things.
The special issue of Jindal Journal of Public Policy aims to gather contributions on the broad domain of education policy in India, with a focus on NEP. We would encourage scholars to submit special articles, perspectives and commentaries on various aspects of NEP, RTE, COVID induced changes in the education landscape and their implications on various sections of population. We also invite papers to discuss and debate the scope and challenges the NEP presents. We would also accept a few papers on regular themes that augment existing understanding of public policy & their impact from all social science disciplines.
Note: we would also accept a few papers on regular themes that augment existing understanding of public policy& their impact from all social science disciplines.
