In a time of swift bulldozer ‘justice’, media trials and the increasingly evident failure of the claims made by a once-thriving constitutional democracy, the real meaning of ‘education’ appears to a be tightly wound puzzle. What does it mean to be educated – a collection of degrees? Is it as Albert Einstein said, that education is what remains after what one has forgotten what one has learnt in school? Or, at a time when public education is being increasingly snatched away, are accessible schools and colleges the foundational promise of the Indian society? Perhaps, as Brazilian educator and social activist, Paolo Freire wrote, “Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferrals of information.” What even does it mean to be liberated, at a time of an increasingly neoliberal education policy, bullish Ed-Tech growth and the mushrooming of a coaching-competitive-‘cracking’ exam culture? It appears that there are more questions than answers when it comes to India and its education system. In this issue, our contributors have put forward their thoughts on what constitutes education, as well as tried to offer some roadmaps for our young readers to make their choices ahead.
Education is not pursued in a vacuum. Who you are and where you come from, unfortunately, determines your experience of the education sector in India today. Social identity, gender, disability, language and regional variations all shape learners’ experience – some have been bitter, some opportunities for growth. But what is common between them is that there are many more unfinished expectations from the government in how the education sector is to be understood, as opposed to how it is being constructed today – a narrow vision that does not enshrine the Right to Education in its fullest sense.
Some other aspects touched upon in this issue include the current political scenario in India, articles that have come from our writing competition held last month; our continuing historiography series as well as the start of a new series on complex questions of sexuality and gender that need to be understood in detail today. In the spirit of critical, inquisitive and interrogative education, we hope that this edition of Aura will be a resource for you all.