From Kothari Commission Report to Some Inputs for Draft National Education Policy 2016

The Subramanian Committee Report 2016 and the Some Inputs for Draft National Education Policy 2016 (SIDNEP 2016) are compared with its predecessors, the Kothari Commission Report 1964–1966 and the National Education Policy 1986 along with its Programme for Action 1986 and the revised Programme for Action 1992, to see how well its proposals are contextualized within the socio-economic developments in present Indian society. The review of the Kothari commission Report found that it anchored itself very much in the aspirations of the people of India in building a strong and prosperous nation through the means of long-term planning. It nurtured the hope of parents seeking education for their children with particular regard for creating job opportunities and in preparing graduates to have the necessary qualifications for such jobs. It has to be admitted that in stating their objectives in such terms, the Kothari Commission also let the instrumentalist educational aims to have preference over equally important intrinsic values. Similarly, the NEP 1986 and its Programme of Actions (POAs) suggested streamlining educational expansion in general under central agencies. As a result, its overall effect was in favour of high centralization. The 2016 educational policy documents do pay tribute to the laudable objectives stated by their predecessors, without critically going into the causes of how such objectives got derailed. Even when they address existing issues like that of a fast-changing knowledge economy, they do not offer any critical assessment. Instead they imply that it is a given component and Indian education, has to give in and try to operate inside the knowledge economy as best as possible. With such a passive attitude accepted by the 2016 education policy statements, their recommendations read as disjointed list of limited educational objectives.