A Study By Indian Researcher

The ‘Status of Education in India 2020-21’ report is published with two specific motivations. After a long and grievous phase during Covid-19 pandemic, a subsequent crisis in the economy and lack of livelihoods plagued India. Meanwhile, the ruling dispensation remained nonchalant and unprepared to re-open schools, colleges. Till date, there has been no attempt to provide vaccination to the students in order to return to normalcy. Instead, a ‘new normal’ is chanted in different spheres of education. The first motivation of this report stems from this question alone, is ‘new normal’ a normalcy at all? Findings from this report suggest that this new normal has widened the socio-economic divide among students. The second motivation emanates from a constitutional question. Did education in India during this 2020-21 period remain a free and accessible service? The findings from this report suggest otherwise.

In a policy environment promised by the NEP 2020, the current pandemic has introduced ‘user fee’ of education, by means of mandating the need for ‘data packs’, ‘smartphones’, etc. The very spirit of education as a right is lost at this juncture.

This report is a reminder to everyone associated with the education sector in India. We might recover from a health crisis, but the long-term impact of such a pandemic on other associated sectors would be devastating. A large part of this devastation can be substantively explained as a ‘lack of planning’ and an ‘unwillingness to spend on education’ by the ruling government.

Therefore, a purpose of this report is to serve as a documentation of the crisis that Indian education sector is going through. More importantly, it is designed to start a dialogue with the policy panels, with activists and with numerous students who are suffering an insurmountable crisis of their own.

As Dr Ambedkar said once, ‘an idea needs propagation as much as a plant needs watering’, the findings of this report would hopefully be useful to the ongoing struggles to create a space of equality in terms of both accessibility and availability within the arena of education in India.