Authored by Nandini Singh, a 2nd-year law student at RMLNLU, Lucknow
Introduction
It is believed that India is a continent masquerading as a country. This statement highlights that although India is a single and unified nation, at the same time, it is as diverse and multifaceted as an entire continent. A ‘one size fits all’ approach may not be effective or practical for governing a country with such varied languages and cultures. In this context, federalism becomes an essential part of governance. One such area that requires governance through federalism is the Education System. Under Schedule VII of the Constitution of India, education is placed in the concurrent list, which gives power and authority to the Centre over the state for making decisions. This authority provided to the Centre consequently degrades the state's autonomy over education decisions. Recent events like the paper leaks surrounding NEET UG, the recent cancellation of the UGC-NET exam, and the postponement of the CSIR NET examination all indicate the need to change to a more decentralised governance. This article analyses the discrepancies caused to education due to centralised control over education. It further highlights the need to rectify the situation by putting ‘general education ‘under the state list to overturn the changes implemented during the emergency of 1975. The article concludes by providing some suggestions and advantages of state control over education to foster a more coherent system and safeguard students' interests.
Examining the Landscape of Education Governance
Federalism in education governance emerged when Education as a subject was placed under the provincial list through the Government of India Act, 1935. Since then, it has become a state-controlled subject. Framers of the Indian Constitution supported the idea and placed ‘general education’ under the state list. However, difficulties emerged when, during the infamous emergency of 1975, the Swaran Singh Committee advocated putting education on the concurrent list under Schedule VII of Article 246 of the Indian Constitution. This recommendation was then implemented through the 42nd constitutional amendment in 1976. The transfer of education to a concurrent list meant that State legislatures no longer had the sole authority to enact laws pertaining to education; instead, state assemblies and the Parliament now shared that authority. Additionally, the Parliament has the last say over state assemblies.
Implications of Transition
The decisions taken during the lawlessness of emergency still continue to adversely affect the different areas of governance in India. The Government of India has decided to observe June 25, the day the Emergency was declared in 1975, as “Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas”. It indicates how the decisions taken during the emergency in a brazen display of arbitrariness choked the lifeblood of our democracy. Placing education on the concurrent list and the implications that followed demonstrated the wrong choices that were made. After this change, the central government was bestowed several powers and authority that were previously in the hands of the state government. Thus, the central government is authorised to determine and prepare an education plan for the nation as a whole, and to implement the same, it can set up institutions like the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), National Institute of Educational Research and training. It can control the allocation of grants to the state as it deems suitable. Most importantly it has the authority to direct and supervise the state governments and private enterprises to follow and implement Centres’ educational policies.
Unintended Consequences
When education was transferred to the concurrent list, it was done with the intention of creating a “partnership” between the State and the Centre. Unfortunately, in reality, it has substantially reduced the autonomy of the states to frame their own region-specific policies that could have better served their populations. The Centre creates policies and rules that will cater to the needs of the majority of people. In a diversified country like India, this is not always possible. That’s the reason that uniform education plans like the New Education Policy implemented in 2023-24 created a lot of controversy. Every state and its people have different language and course preferences which cannot be met with a uniform plan. Such a situation, instead of uniting the Centre and state, creates a rift between the two. Case in point: The Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments are strongly opposing the implementation of NEP 2020 and are against the Centre for the same.
According to the Ministry of Education's 2022 report, the contribution of states on education spending (85%) is more than 5 times the contribution of central government (15%). Despite having a majority contribution to the education expenditure of states, most of the time, states have to comply with policies that they may even disagree with. For instance, the Tamil Nadu Government was against the implementation of an All-India Medical Entrance Exam and, therefore, demanded to "exempt" Tamil Nadu from NEET, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), but due to the lack of authority, they are compelled to follow it.
This system affects not only the autonomy of states but also the mental and physical health of a student as students from different regions are not always familiar with the syllabus used in all India exams conducted by the central. For instance, when NEET was implemented, a girl, Anitha, a daily wage worker's daughter, committed suicide because she lost the opportunity to study in a medical college due to an exam that used an alien syllabus.
Immediate Trigger
In the crucial debate around federalism, education has always been a major topic of discussion. However, the issue came into the limelight when recent irregularities within the education system highlighted the flaw in the present system. In the month of June 2024 itself, many incidents took place. The NEET-UG examination, which is the gateway for admission to undergraduate-level medical courses in India conducted by NTA, has exposed significant flaws in this system because of a significant number of perfect scores and incidence of paper leaks at various Centres. Further the UGC-NET exam, also conducted by NTA, has been cancelled due to concerns about the fairness of the exam. Additionally, the CSIR NET exam and NEET-PG exam were also postponed due to the irregularities and paper leaks surrounding the NEET-UG exam.
These irregularities signal towards the emerging need to stem this tide to prevent more irregularities by restoring the status quo through state-controlled education.
Lessons from Other Countries
While India has adopted a centralized education system, many developed countries have embraced decentralized control over education, which helps the countries to better cater to local needs and diversity. India often fails to address the unique challenges faced by its diverse and large population. For example, the USA also provides excellent models of the decentralized education system that should be adopted. There is not a national education system in the United States. Every state is in charge of its own education system. Following this system has made the USA one of the most popular countries for higher education. The primacy of its education over Indian higher education can be asserted from the fact that out of the one million international students enrolled during the academic year 2022-2023 in the USA, 268,923 were from India.
The United Kingdom has not adopted a federal structure. Rather, it relies on the gradual devolution of power. The reason that authorities in the UK provide for it is that it makes local communities actively engaged in raising issues with educational providers and promoting accountability of provision. In a centralized system, decisions are often made outside and far away from the area of the actual issues. For instance, the Middlesbrough Achievement Partnership is an alliance between the local authority and schools to understand complicated issues better and come up with solutions by sharing the right expertise.
What can India Learn from these Countries?
The USA and the UK are both developed countries known for their high-quality education. They have been able to achieve this status by focusing on delegating responsibilities or decentralising the education sector. The growth they have achieved since this transformation highlights the need for India, yet a developing country, to follow in their footsteps. This system has enabled the USA and the UK to experiment and introduce new innovative educational technologies and research infrastructures. It has been made possible because of the proper delegation and work implementation in a decentralised system. For instance, Scotland has developed an innovative system called Curriculum of Excellence(CfE) launched in 2010, which allows the schools to use their specific curriculums to meet their local needs while providing a holistic and critical-thinking style of education. In India, the curriculum is uniform and primarily dominated by central boards such as CBSE and NCERT. This stifles innovation and has created a more rigid and less responsive education system.
Moreover, a significant problem is created in funding and expenditure. As highlighted in the above sections, many states in India contribute but this spending is not always aligned with the allocation of funds, and many states get way less funds than what they spend. Also, funding decisions in a centralised system may be influenced by political considerations or problems in distributing funds equally, which ultimately causes delays in implementing education programs. However, in a decentralised system, no such problem occurs. For instance, in the United States, education is primarily funded through a mix of federal, state, and local contributions. The US invests a lot of money in education despite state-by-state variations in spending. This enables improved facilities, the integration of technology, and enhanced innovations that work for the overall effectiveness and fairness of the educational system.
Analysing the current situation of education in the USA and the UK, both renowned globally for their education, India must learn from their experiences and challenges. Both of them have, despite having less population as well as diversity as compared to India (for instance, the population of India is almost three times the USA population), adopted a decentralised system for education which has greatly benefitted them over a centralized system as highlighted above. To handle the size of the population, diversity (which are expected to increase more significantly in the future), and challenges that the present system has created, India needs to move towards a decentralised even more urgently and effectively.
Best-suited Solution for India
India has become the most populous country in 2023, surpassing China. Its population is not homogenous but rather a set of heterogeneous people varying in culture, language, ethics, and religion. With such diversity, it becomes difficult to keep the nation united. The only thing that can bring the two together—the diversity of culture and the unity of the country—is high-quality education. India is currently facing several issues in the area of education. With relation to geographic issues, a lot of places are difficult to access to offer educational services. Social concerns like caste, religion, ethnicity, and gender eventually translate social position into educational status. In addition to causing other societal inequities, the rural-urban split impacts how educational services are delivered. These problems make it clear that decentralisation is necessary to achieve quality and equality in education in India.
Way Forward
In India, for millions of children and their parents, who view education as a means of achieving social upliftment and a better future, education represents both a doorway to achievement and a symbol of hope. By including ‘general education’ under the state list of the seventh schedule, the framers of the constitution also recognised that Education as a subject should be the exclusive domain of state government. The diversity of India since the framing of the constitution has not decreased. Instead, it has been expounded significantly. The vision that our constitution framers envisaged for the future of education should be brought to fruition to create a more effective and regulated education system should be created.