Target-driven reforms: education for all and the translations of equity and inclusion in India

Mukhopadhyay, Rahul and Sriprakash, Arathi (2012) Target-driven reforms: education for all and the translations of equity and inclusion in India. Journal of Education Policy, 28 (3). pp. 306-321. ISSN 1464-5106

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Abstract

This paper critically examines the ways in which inclusion and equity are constituted through education development policies in India. Programmes implemented under global and national Education for All (EFA) policies have largely involved the quantification of ‘equity’ whereby schooling processes are measured against broad targets for school outcomes – focused mainly on student attendance, retention and academic achievement. Drawing on perspectives from Actor Network Theory, the paper puts forward the view of development reforms as ‘networks of translation’ in order to trace the shifts and vicissitudes of educational ideals. Reporting on ethnographic data of two reforms in the south Indian state of Karnataka, we show how narrow understandings of equity are produced through target-driven approaches to EFA. In doing so, the paper highlights the performative effects of education development policy and its potentially counterproductive consequences in contexts of poverty and marginalisation.

Item Type:	Article
Authors:	Mukhopadhyay, Rahul and Sriprakash, Arathi
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Education for All, Actor Network Theory, India
Subjects:	Social sciences > Law > Labor, social, education & cultural law Social sciences > Education Social sciences > Education > Public policy issues in education
Divisions:	Azim Premji University - Bengaluru > School of Education
Full Text Status:	Restricted
Related URLs:	Google Scholar
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/361
Publisher URL:	https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2012.718362

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