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Paper short abstract

A critical discourse analysis of depoliticization of education through the introduction of 'School Management Committee' which is responsible for the governance of public schools in India. The committee functions on the principles of participation of stakeholders in the governance process.

Paper long abstract

This paper aims to explore the dynamics of depoliticization of school education system in India with the state introducing education reforms through policies and legislations inspired by the neo-liberal reform agendas. The core focus of the paper is on analysing the governance of school education system in the country and establishing a link between the depoliticising effects the reforms bring about through the new governance provisions of ‘School Management Committee’ (RTE, 2009) and ‘School Complexes’ (NEP, 2020). The RTE (2009) calls on parents to acts as “agents who should be morally compelled to send their children to school” and who should participate in educational management and monitor school functioning by becoming a member of the School Management Committee (SMC). A critical analysis of the SMC from the lens of post-politics literature facilitates the reconceptualization of this new mode of governance within the ‘new development architecture’ which emphasises on the participation of the stakeholder in the process of governance and which suggests “public-private governance as the order of the day”. Primary research conducted with the methodological framework of Critical Discourse Analysis informs the depoliticization of education through the new modes of governance in the Indian public education system. As a part of the transformation process there is widespread endorsement in current education debates of terms like ‘participation’, ‘devolution’ and ‘responsive bureaucracy’ for the purpose of efficient governance of the schools which the paper critically analyses to uncover the depoliticising effects. The conclusion highlights the widening educational inequalities that depoliticization lead to.