“Education is not only instrumental in bringing about social change, it is also instrumental in maintaining the status quo.” Comment in the context of Indian society.

→ Education instrumental in bringing social change:

• Prepares accomodative ground for social change: makes society more accepting of new values. (ex: Western educated freedom fighters understood exploitation by British).

• Creates middle class which leads social change. New middle class in India, largely driven by education (ex: engineering & commerce) is driving social change in marriage, kinship, family, gender etc..

• Used by state to inject new values: inculcation of coding in New Education Policy, 2020 will increase chances of social mobility of lower classes and will reduce digital gender divide.

• Helps questioning existing social order: education inculcates spirit of enquiry which creates new social structures. (ex: Raja Ram Mohan Roy questioned sati, patriarchy).

• Pushes innovation which fuels changes: Digital revolution in India caused by engineers is bridging issues of healthcare, rural urban divide etc.

→ Education maintains status quo:

• Ensures value consistency between generations: Durkheim calls school as most appropiate mediums where collective conscience is shared between two generations i.e. teacher and studet.

• Used by state to inject ideology: critical theorists argue that state uses education as a medium to justify its actions. This reduces chances of citizens asking questions to authority.

• Restricts innovation and promotes uniformity: T.N. Madan argues that education is promoting rote learning and is killing new ideas that are essential to social change.

• No true learning happening: Ivan Illich, in his deschooling of society highlights how major learning happens outside school. He questions basis of modern education.

• Reestablishes traditional hierarchy: separate dining in Mid-day meal schemes, privatisation of education further enlarges gulf between caste and class.