Education for social justice: A critique of national education policies of India

Abstract

Education possesses the potential to combat the prevailing systemic inequities in societies through policy interventions aimed at creating inclusive societies. Several studies since independence have critically analysed the indifferent nature of the education system towards certain groups and sections. Despite a rights-based approach to educational access, the data still shows that some social, religious, economic groups and girls are striving for basic educational access. The silent arrival (without any political dialogue) and approval of NEP have left all to accept the policy as it is, leaving no room for any discourse (New education policy 2020: what is concealed and what is unveiled. The New Leam 20). The most recent data available at the national level (UDISE, 2018–2019) also confirms that irrespective of decades-old commitment to equitable education, the social, gender and economic gaps in the education system still exists. The major objective of this paper is to analyse the shift in policies relating to the educational statuses of disadvantaged sections of society in the Indian post-independent era with a major focus on NEP 2020. Primarily based on analysis of all the major educational policies, this paper tries to develop an argument around the policies and how far it has led to un-democratization of education by reinforcing the exclusion of certain groups from the education system. This has been substantiated by the secondary data, which categorically highlights the gaps which exist in the educational access by different groups. The findings reveal that the policies have played a detrimental role in intensifying the already existing inequalities. Further, the children who access and complete the school education constitute a homogenous group and not all children from diverse group enrol for and complete the education.