New Delhi: Public policy is an important tool to introduce changes, across communities and societies, and across diverse domains. The NEP was framed in 1986 and modified in 1992. A number of changes have been introduced since then. With the objective of understanding this vital policy through active discussion and interaction, a workshop was organized by the Indian School of Public Policy and conducted by Ms. Seema Bansal, Head – Partner & Director, Social Impact; and Mr. Shoikat Roy, School Education Consultant, BCG, in the capital, on the 28 September 2019.
The session encouraged students to discuss and debate various nuances pertaining to public policy and the NEP, with the experts; some of the topics included: the components of a ‘good’ policy, and the role of policy vis-à-vis implementation in large scale change. Besides this, requirements pertaining to successful policy implementation were also discussed. In the domain of education, the focus was on the challenges faced in the school education space in India today, and the NEP; the latter included the most far-reaching/impactful ideas in the policy document and the challenges/downsides of the policy.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Seema Bansal, who has been engaged at the BCG for nearly twenty years, said: “The session was interactive and interesting. There were debates and discussions around the topics of public policy making and implementation, as well as on the National Education Policy, with diverse inputs being injected by the students. The lively session was proof of the fact that the students were knowledgeable and motivated – two important qualities that public policy scholars should demonstrate.”
Nilay Wankhade, an ISPP scholar, who attended the session, felt that the session was not only an eye opener in more ways than one, but also provided necessary food-for-thought. He said: “The idea of merging public schools, for example, is an entirely different way of looking at education enhancement. I always thought more schools would be beneficial, as it eases access to education, but the speakers introduced a different viewpoint: they presented the idea of mergers being beneficial due to shared resources like infrastructure and teachers. It was a different way of looking at a challenge.”
