Leveraging the Aswal Model to Understand and Amplify the Impact of India’s National Education Policy

Abstract

India's ambitious initiative, “Viksit Bharat” (Developed India) by 2047, aims to transform the nation into a technologically advanced, economically robust, and socially inclusive society. Education stands as a central pillar of this vision. To ensure that quality education is accessible, equitable, and affordable for all, the National Education Policy (NEP) was introduced by the government in 2020, serving as a critical policy framework within the broader “Viksit Bharat” vision. While the NEP provides a comprehensive roadmap for India’s educational transformation, a unified approach to ensure systemic quality and stakeholder integration is lacking. To fill this gap, this paper introduces the Aswal Model—a quality infrastructure-based framework originally developed for science and innovation—as a conceptual tool to analyse and amplify the NEP’s impact. Rooted in the Quadruple Helix model of academia, industry, government, and civil society, the Aswal Model emphasizes the foundational role of metrology and quality infrastructure systems (QIS) in mediating stakeholder interactions. Using thematic analysis and policy documents, the study demonstrates how QI elements such as standardization, accreditation, and conformity assessment align with NEP’s elements, including core focus areas—Early Childhood Care and Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education. By embedding QI principles into India’s education policy, the paper offers a novel interdisciplinary pathway for strengthening educational governance and knowledge generation. The findings contribute to both policy and metrology discourse by extending the application of quality infrastructure frameworks to education, providing actionable insights for regulators, technocrats, and institutional leaders.