The New Education Policy pays obeisance to school teachers but while the policy makes some interesting recommendations, there is no radical change in the offing that will improve the quality of teaching or the working conditions of the all-important teacher.

The National Education Policy lacks a coherent strategy to strengthen public education. It does not own the narrative of education as a public good, instead the policy pushes for private practices antithetical to public goals.

The New Education Policy has new as well as old interesting ideas on school education but execution will call for a change in mindsets to broaden horizons and the training of a vast number of highly skilled teachers, all within impossible timelines.

Academic freedom is about the right to study, teach and research a diversity of viewpoints. Yet, this right that is so crucial for the pursuit of knowledge has seen widespread attacks in colleges and universities across India.

One needs to be less than enthusiastic about a shift to online teaching in universities in India, for it is on the physical campus that young adults can now transcend their social backgrounds, participate in collective discussions & develop critical minds.

Bahujan students face hostility in universities but they cannot give up. They must fight to assert their identity, reject being called “non-meritorious” and master their subjects. One scholar recounts her struggle and demands a more compassionate Economics.

Inbreeding and nepotism have for long been features of universities. The favoured students go from being postgraduates to doctorates and then become lecturers, all within the same university. This has naturally had a negative impact on academic culture.

Can an autobiographically-inclined social history reveal the role of English in shaping caste privilege, regulating class mobility and enabling individual agency? This essay risks an answer.

The draft New Education Policy gets it right in emphasising the importance of Early Childhood Care and Education and the need to urgently work on establishing foundational literacy and numeracy at the primary stage, where there is currently a learning crisis.