Education and social transformation in India: a role for action-based research and evaluation?

Abstract

In this, my contribution to the special issue on participatory practices in developing country contexts, I argue that in seeking to fast-track efforts to meet goals of universal education, the necessity for complementary slow track processes through which norms and practices change is often overlooked. Further, I suggest that participatory or action-based evaluation and research affirm that only the combined impact of fast and slow track initiatives can achieve the transformative goals of education. To make these points, I review the expressed intent of education policy, the gaps between stated intent and outcomes and the significance of group identities for changing social norms. In conclusion, I highlight several examples of action-based research that articulate the nature of the processes needed. The debate in the early 19 th century on the appropriate direction for government investments in the Indian educational system ranged from strengthening the 'indigenous' system or opening up to the Western system. The decision was settled in favour of the latter. 1 Perhaps not surprisingly, given the