From darkness to light—or so I thought when I learned I would be moving from the shadowy world of coal mines, as Coal Secretary, to the seemingly promising field of school education, as Secretary, School Education and Literacy in 2016. However, I soon discovered a striking reversal. While mining in the coal sector took place underground, with mafias operating openly above ground, the ‘minefield’ of school education had its mafias hidden below the surface, all masked and masquerading as ‘noble giants.’
An enormous crisis loomed. Apart from human resource and budget constraints, these mafias were thriving, eating away at the very fabric of society like termites. Fortunately, as with mafias elsewhere, those in the education sector were not a majority, yet they wielded outsized influence in decision-making. Extremely well-connected and deeply entrenched, these mafias dominated various segments of the education sector. The most prominent among them included: Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) colleges, examination centres, publishing of textbooks, and private schools.The ‘cockroaches’ have highlighted one aspect of the malaise afflicting our education sector. And the government’s response has been to introduce legislation and set up a committee headed by the redoubtable Nandan Nilekani, the “Aadhaar” man.
