The landscape of Indian education is undergoing a seismic shift, one that media scholar Ravikant Kisana argues is less about pedagogical advancement and more about the structural solidification of inequality. As the national conversation turns toward the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the increasing reliance on standardized testing, Kisana warns that our institutions are becoming sophisticated filters rather than engines of intellectual liberation.
The Tyranny of the Standardized Exam
At the heart of the current educational crisis, according to Kisana, is the obsession with the “high-stakes” examination culture. For millions of Indian students, learning has been reduced to a process of pattern recognition. Entrance exams like JEE and NEET have mutated from academic evaluations into endurance tests that favor those with the financial resources to access “coaching ecosystems.”
Kisana notes that this culture creates a performative version of intelligence. When learning is defined solely by one’s ability to navigate multiple-choice questions within a strict time limit, the critical faculties required for genuine scholarship—curiosity, dissent, and interdisciplinary analysis—are relegated to the margins. We are no longer training thinkers; we are training efficient processors of pre-digested information.
Institutional Gatekeeping
Kisana highlights that educational institutions are increasingly operating as sites of exclusion rather than inclusion. The promise of social mobility through education is being undermined by the commercialization of the sector. Elite private institutions often serve as signaling mechanisms for the affluent, while public universities face systemic underfunding and ideological pressure.
This duality creates a stratified society where the “quality” of one’s education is determined not by merit alone, but by the ability to afford entry into networks of privilege. Kisana points out that by focusing on “rankings” and “global competitiveness,” policymakers are ignoring the crumbling infrastructure of basic education in rural and marginalized areas. When institutions prioritize branding over foundational learning, they exacerbate the divide between the elite few and the dispossessed many.
Policy as an Instrument of Control
The implementation of the NEP 2020 remains a focal point of Kisana’s critique. While the policy uses the language of “holistic development” and “vocational integration,” Kisana suggests a more cynical reading. He argues that recent policy shifts emphasize standardization and centralized control, which often stifle the autonomy of teachers and institutions.
Centralization, while efficient in administrative terms, often results in the erasure of local contexts. Education, Kisana argues, must be rooted in the socio-political reality of the learner. When a national curriculum becomes too rigid, it risks becoming a tool for cultural homogenization, silencing diverse voices and regional histories. For true learning to occur, the policy must allow for a plurality of pedagogical approaches, rather than forcing every student into a monolithic mold designed to produce “employable” labor.
Redefining Learning in a Digital Age
As technology permeates every facet of the classroom, Kisana urges a cautious approach. While digital access can bridge geographical gaps, it also brings the surveillance of the classroom into the home. The rise of EdTech firms—often prioritized by current policy—threatens to commodify learning, turning students into data points and teachers into mere facilitators of standardized content.
To reclaim the promise of education, Kisana suggests that we must move away from the obsession with “outcomes” measured by salary packages and standardized scores. Instead, education should be reimagined as a process of fostering empathy, civic responsibility, and the capacity for independent thought.
The road ahead requires a fundamental reassessment of what we value. If our policies continue to treat education as a product to be sold rather than a right to be exercised, we will continue to produce graduates who are skilled in compliance but ill-equipped for the complexities of the modern world. True reform, Kisana concludes, must begin by dismantling the barriers to genuine critical inquiry and restoring the dignity of the teaching profession, ensuring that education remains a pathway to transformation rather than a mechanism for maintaining the status quo.
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