Page 10 - EW February 2026

Editorial

RUEFUL REPUBLIC DAY RUMINATIONS gently educate 52 percent of 260 mil-
lion school-going children continue
to be defined by crumbling buildings,
lthough for the past seven adopting the socialist model of devel- multi-grade teaching-learning and
decades-plus Republic Day opment. This resulted in canalisation abysmal learning outcomes.
A(January 26) has been cele- of national savings into giant, capital- Curiously, the panoply of eminent
brated with ceremonial flag-hoisting intensive public sector enterprises economists, many with global reputa-
and Soviet-style parades advertising (PSEs) managed by government em- tions, advising the Centre and states
the country’s military prowess, ideally ployees while simultaneously slowing have a collective blindspot about
Republic Day should be a day of deep the growth of private enterprises by public education. As in decades past,
reflection and remembrance of things ensnaring them in red tape and com- the Union Budget 2026-27 presented
past to understand why 76 years on, plex procedures. on February 1 failed to allocate more
modest aspirations — adequate food, Unsurprisingly, PSEs managed by than 0.5 percent of GDP for educa-
shelter, clothing, public health, edu- government bureaucrats and clerks tion when it should provision 2-3
cation and transport — have proved were unable to generate the profit percent to inspire state governments
elusive for the overwhelming major- required for investment in public to follow its example so that national
ity of citizens of the Republic. Despite education and health. As a result, de- expenditure on public education ag-
the emergence of a modestly affluent velopment of rural India which at the gregates 6 percent of GDP, prescribed
400 million-strong middle class, the time of independence hosted 80 per- as the minimum requirement way
question of why over 1 billion citi- cent of the national population, and back in 1967.
zens are mere spectators in the much rural primary education in particu- This depressing scenario requires
proclaimed India growth story and lar, was grievously neglected. It was the pressure of the educated middle
obliged to eke out nasty, brutish and only in 1991 that the Indian economy class to move public education to
perhaps too-long lives, needs an- which averaged annual GDP growth the top of the national development
swers. of 3.5 percent — perhaps the lowest agenda. Although our eminent eco-
Honest reflection requires a diag- worldwide — for half a century was nomists and political leaders don’t
nosis of why newly independent In- partially liberalised and deregulated seem to be aware, QEFA (quality
dia’s tryst with destiny went off the and the licence-permit-quota raj that education for all) is the non-negot-
rails. The root cause was disregard- had bound private industry in reams iable precondition of national devel-
ing the subcontinent’s private enter- of red tape, was relaxed. India’s pub- opment. It’s a tragedy this is a national
prise history of several millennia and lic (government) schools which negli- blindspot.

COUNTRY DEVASTATING INDIA'S TOWNS priority is to secure well-paid govern-
ment jobs for kith and kin stuck in
low-paid work in village India. These
ong after he has been dead and zens is the natural outcome of poor migrants with poor foundational edu-
buried, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, prin- governance by rural leaders who have cation and faux degrees recklessly is-
Lcipal author of the Constitution failed to provide adequate infrastruc- sued by low-grade state government
of India, who described village India as ture — electricity, roads, rail connec- colleges and universities are mass-
“a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, tivity, waterways — or hospitals and inducted into Central and state min-
narrow-mindedness and communal- schools. Landed gentry and dominant istries, departments and public utili-
ism,” has been proved right. castes that ruled rural India in the ties which are quickly run aground
Village India remains a den of ig- pre-independence era and success- because of their poor education and
norance — annual ASER reports of fully dodged Nehruvian zamindari management skills. This explains
the well-reputed NGO Pratham Edu- abolition and land ceiling legislation, the air and water pollution and pa-
cation Foundation have been repeat- have converted all progressive provi- thetic infrastructure (roads, bridges,
edly reiterating that over 50 percent sions of the Constitution to their own government schools and hospitals)
of class VII children in rural schools use and have effectively maintained of India’s crumbling cities, which
can’t read class III textbooks or solve the status quo ante. Moreover, they although they occupy only 3 percent
simple math sums. Nor is it a secret have imported the persistent vices of of the country’s land area, contribute
that the caste system and communal- village India into urban habitats and 60 percent of national GDP. Rural mi-
ism typified by mob rampages, are have substantially levelled down In- grants have also imported the routine
rife in rural India. And to this list of dia’s productive towns and cities to corruption of rural India into urban
socio-economic deficiencies that have village standards. habitats. Hence, the consistent dete-
made village life nasty and brutal in In this connection, it is pertinent rioration of towns and cities.
post-independence India, one must to note that rural elites constitute a So what’s the solution? Well-edu-
add brazen, routine corruption. The substantial majority in Parliament cated, competent urban citizens need
overwhelming majority of village and state legislative assemblies. Ru- to press for wards level local govern-
India’s poor, barely literate majority ral leaders constitute an estimated ment envisaged by the 74th Amend-
believe that bribes-taking and giving 85 percent of Lok Sabha MPs and 70- ment to upgrade their proximate en-
for public services is legal. 75 percent of state legislature MLAs. vironments to save our cities. There’s
The woeful condition of rural citi- And it’s hardly a secret that their first no other option.

10 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2026