Page 178 - EW December 2025

Books

archival photographs AAP schools
and maps, the volume LESSONS IN STATE CAPACITY
provides a detailed and FROM DELHI’S SCHOOLS
unbiased picture of India’s experiment Yamini Aiyar
history. That India has OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
had a rich tradition of EADING YAMINI Rs.1,250
intellectual pluralism Aiyar’s Lessons Pages 256
and public debates — a Rin State Capac-
theme explored at length ity from Delhi’s Schools
by Amartya Sen in The felt like being handed
Argumentative Indian a vocabulary for ques- and administrative logic. This book is not
(2005) — is brought to tions I’ve always grappled The ethnographic ac- merely about Delhi’s
life by the authors. Again, with — about the nature counts reveal a deeper education reforms,
thorough discussions on of the Indian State, about structural paradox: it is a pedagogical
the Bhakti Movement, reform and resistance, systems that relent- offering on how public
Sufism, Brahmanical and and about what it takes lessly demand account- systems function,
non-Brahmanical sects to build institutions in a ability from the bottom adapt and stall despite
and emergence of Sikhism, democracy as complex and often undermine the very best intentions
enable young readers to unequal as ours. The book autonomy that enables
understand the diverse is not merely about Delhi’s frontline actors to respond
religious traditions of our education reforms; it is a with purpose. By tying mode’ origins by embed-
country. pedagogical offering on every action to compliance ding certain practices and
However, in dealing how public systems func- with hierarchies, reforms reworking relationships
with India’s freedom tion, adapt, and some- risk hollowing out the between political and
struggle, the historical times stall despite best discretionary space teach- administrative actors. But
significance of the intentions. ers and bureaucrats need this was not automatic;
revolutionary phase is The significance of to innovate and adapt to it was built slowly, often
conspicuously absent. Aiyar’s scholarship is that local conditions. against resistance, and
Given that revolutionaries she critiques the dominant One of the early chap- remains fragile.
Ramprasad Bismil, ‘plumbing’ view in public ters draws a powerful dis- The book’s portrayal of
Ashfaqulla Khan, Bhagat policy, where problems are tinction between capacity mid-level bureaucrats is
Singh, Chandra Shekhar seen as technical bottle- and capability. Individu- particularly compelling.
Azad, Sukhdev, Rajguru, necks to be fixed by better als may have skills and These are not villains in
Batukeshwar Dutt, and design. Instead, she cen- commitment, but unless the story, nor are they
Jatindra Nath Das, among tres upon the lived reality organisations are struc- passive implementers.
others, posed a formidable of institutions, showing tured to harness those Instead, they are often
challenge to the colonial that systems are shaped as skills, capability cannot emotionally and profes-
state through their much by relationships and emerge. This distinction sionally stretched, tasked
acts of resistance, one histories as by rules. resonated with me deeply, with ‘delivering’ reforms
would have appreciated Through vivid ethno- especially in education, while navigating unclear
a discussion on these graphic detail and sharp where teachers often oper- procedures, frequent po-
freedom fighters and their institutional analysis, she ate in environments that litical changes, and limited
times. Moreover, it would unveils what happens be- neither empower nor sup- autonomy. The author’s
have helped young readers hind the scenes of a policy port them. Political will, reading of their role dis-
to understand that there success story — the cel- charismatic leadership, or mantles the usual binary
were multiple strands of ebrated reforms in Delhi’s even increased budgets are between reformers and
the freedom struggle. public schools under the not enough. Real reform resistors. It also challenges
Nevertheless, this richly Aam Aadmi Party govern- depends on long-term the casual use of phrases
textured history will be of ment. The book moves investment in bureaucratic like ‘systemic change’ that
interest to not just school beyond metrics to explore trust, routine systems, and permeate policy discourse.
students, but also teachers the daily lives of teachers, institutional memory. It shows us, in granu-
of the subject as well as mid-level bureaucrats, Here, Aiyar charts how lar and processual terms,
history enthusiasts. and policymakers, each Delhi’s education reforms what change actually looks
AMOL SAGHAR (The entangled in the dual pres- managed to partially like: messy, incremen-
Book Review) sures of political ambition transcend their ‘mission tal, shaped by contesta-

178 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2025