Measures needed for effective implementation

  • This ambitious policy has a cost to be paid and the rest of the things dwells on its implementation in letter and spirit.
  • Public investment is considered extremely critical for achieving the high-quality and equitable public education system as envisaged by the policy, that is truly needed for India’s future economic, social, cultural, intellectual and technological progress and growth.
  • Implementation of the spirit and intent of the Policy is the most critical matter.
  • It is important to implement the policy initiatives in a phased manner, as each policy point has several steps, each of which requires the previous step to be implemented successfully.
  • Prioritization will be important in ensuring optimal sequencing of policy points, and that the most critical and urgent actions are taken up first, thereby enabling a strong base.
  • Next, comprehensiveness in implementation will be key; as this Policy is interconnected and holistic, only a full-fledged implementation, and not a piecemeal one, will ensure that the desired objectives are achieved.
  • Since education is a concurrent subject, it will need careful planning, joint monitoring, and collaborative implementation between the Centre and States.
  • Timely infusion of requisite resources – human, infrastructural, and financial – at the Central and State levels will be crucial for the satisfactory execution of the Policy.
  • Finally, careful analysis and review of the linkages between multiple parallel implementation steps will be necessary in order to ensure effective dovetailing of all initiatives.
  • Need for Cooperative Federalism:Since education is a concurrent subject (both the Centre and the state governments can make laws on it), the reforms proposed can only be implemented collaboratively by the Centre and the states. Thus, the Centre has the giant task of building a consensus on the many ambitious plans.
  • Strive Towards Universalisation of Education:There is a need for the creation of ‘inclusion funds’ to help socially and educationally disadvantaged children pursue education. Also, there is a need to set up a regulatory process that can check profiteering from education in the form of unaccounted donations.
  • Bridging Digital Divide: If technology is a force-multiplier, with unequal access it can also expand the gap between the haves and have-nots. Thus, the state needs to address the striking disparities in access to digital tools for universalization of education.
  • Inter-ministerial Coordination:There is an emphasis on vocational training, but to make it effective, there has to be close coordination between the education, skills and labour ministry.