EDUCATIONAL POLICY AND QUALITY EDUCATION THROUGH SOCIAL INCLUSION

The educational policy in India since liberalization shows a marked predilection towards market fundamentalism coupled with universal access through Right to Education Act (RTEA) and Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan (SSA). This has ensured both unfettered access and equity in primary education with proliferation of private universities increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in the tertiary sector. The Annual Survey of Educational Research (ASER) Report however reflects the scant concerns for basic infrastructural provisions for schools, apathetic attitude of teachers and high degree of student dropout. The higher education segment also does not reflect a commitment towards research, innovation leading to poor turnout in terms of patents and quality research papers. The paper brings out these trends as also the allocation apathy for educational sector. In this backdrop, the unique experiment of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) Odisha, a private sector initiative without governmental support, reflects a unique template of funding and quality which will be worthy of replication on a national scale. The Make in India initiative should factor in the quality concern from the primary stage of education in order to reap the rich demographic dividend that beckons India’s aspirational youth cutting across caste, class, gender and religion.?Article/abstract visualizations