Speaker: Dr. Manisha Priyam, Associate Professor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi

Abstract: In the small body of literature dealing with the relationship between educational reform and politics, the dominant approach is one inspired by formal political economy. Considered otherwise significant in the real world, the role of politics in the policy process is missed out in this analysis. Viewed at best as an impediment, the role of the ‘political’ is limited to understanding cases of failed reforms. The author investigates the role of politics in contemporary educational policy reforms in India. Based on her field work in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, she gives a local view of how teacher unions work, and decentralisation and other reforms unfold on the ground, close to the lives of the people for whom this change is intended.