Newly proposed National Education Policy (NEP) has a vision for a large scale reforms in school and higher education sectors. It is an overhaul of 34 years old India’s education system envisioned in 1986 and then revised in 1992. The agenda of NEP 2020 aligns with global education system that includes a modern, progressive, and inclusive learning environment. India has around 350 million school and college going students and the NEP calls for an implementation on a scale that never before executed in the world.
Entire process will require quick decision-making structures, implementation of technology, and re-allocation of budgetary resources. One collaboration that has the potential to boost the confidence of education reforms is public private partnership (PPP). India is a developing country with around 28 per cent of the population in the age group of 0–14 year. While Centre and State governments have been running numerous initiatives to develop the infrastructure, private players with their technology, innovation, and commitment have helped in promoting education across the country.
India’s school-going population is largely proportional to its overall population and PPP model can support the National Education Policy to fulfill the need of more investment, better infrastructure, and improved operational effectiveness.
Needless to day that COVID pandemic has brought new challenges for the entire education system. Only private schools with adequate resources and students with high-priced technology have been able to handle the situation to some extent. With PPP model, the government can provide the means to students, educators and parents to learn and gain knowledge in these uncertain times.
PPP Model: Efficiency with Excellence
In recent years, many private institutions have developed their own systems and infrastructure to offer quality education. But as we know, private education comes at a cost that is unaffordable for underprivileged population. This gap creates opportunities for public-private partnerships (PPPs) with a focus execution, cost-effectiveness, innovation, and accountability.
The private sector has the technology, products, services, and assets that can help the education sector in achieving the aimed learning outcomes. This collaboration between two entities – government and private companies – can increase the access to schools, revamp school and college infrastructure, improve quality of education and boost digital learning environment in the country. Additionally, such partnerships can increase autonomy and efficiency as we all as eliminate the rigidity from the existing public system, thus achieving an operation excellence to support the National Education Policy in long term.
In summary, the public private partnership (PPP) has the potential to boost and support Indian education system that is already dealing with pandemic and lack of robust infrastructure. It can help NEP 2020 in improving quality and accessibility of learning for students. However, the partnership needs to be aligned with the expectations of all stakeholders – students, teachers, and parents. The success rate will definitely depend on an efficient coordination between the policy makers and the private sector.
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