Key Strategies for Effective Educational Policy Formulation

Educational policy doesn’t emerge overnight. Behind every major reform – whether it’s the introduction of a new curriculum, a shift in teacher training standards, or a complete overhaul of the education structure – lies a carefully layered process involving experts, committees, government bodies, and constitutional frameworks. In India, this process is especially intricate given the country’s scale, diversity, and federal structure. Understanding the key strategies through which educational policies are formulated is essential for anyone involved in education management or administration.

Expert consultation and drafting: the starting point of every policy 🔗

No credible educational policy begins with a single person’s idea. The formulation process typically starts with expert committees comprising educators, researchers, administrators, legal experts, and subject specialists. These groups study existing conditions, identify gaps, review international practices, and produce a working draft that serves as the policy’s foundation.

This draft is not static. It passes through multiple rounds of revision, each informed by feedback from a wider circle of stakeholders – teacher associations, university bodies, civil society groups, and sometimes the public directly. The goal is to produce a document that is research-backed and representative of diverse educational realities across the country.

A clear example of this approach is the formulation of the National Education Policy 2020. The Ministry of Human Resource Development initiated a collaborative, inclusive, and highly participatory consultation process from January 2015. In May 2016, the Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy under the Chairmanship of T.S.R. Subramanian submitted its report. Based on this, a draft was prepared, and in June 2017, a Committee for the Draft National Education Policy was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan, which submitted the Draft National Education Policy in 2019. That draft itself was shaped by an extraordinary scale of public input – involving nearly over 2 lakh suggestions from 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats, 6,600 blocks, 6,000 Urban Local Bodies, and 676 districts.

This model of consultation-first policymaking reflects a broader principle: effective educational policy must account for local realities, not just national aspirations.

Commission and committee recommendations: the institutional backbone 🔗

Government commissions have historically served as the primary mechanism for deep, systematic reform in Indian education. These bodies are typically formed in response to a recognized need for overhaul, and their recommendations carry significant weight in shaping official policy.

The Union government established several key bodies to develop proposals for modernising India’s education system, including the University Education Commission (1948-1949), the Secondary Education Commission (1952-1953), the University Grants Commission, and the Kothari Commission (1964-66).

The Kothari Commission and the 1968 National Policy on Education 🔗

Among all commissions, the Kothari Commission (1964-66) stands out as the most consequential. The Kothari Commission laid down broad guidelines for educational reforms, emphasizing equal opportunities, a uniform national curriculum, and the need to bridge regional disparities in education. Its recommendations provided a comprehensive framework for future educational policies, focusing on improving the quality of education, teacher training, and accessibility for all segments of society.

Based on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission, the government headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced the first National Policy on Education in 1968, which called for a radical restructuring and proposed equal educational opportunities across the country.

Commissions and continuing reforms 🔗

The commission-based approach did not stop with Kothari. The National Commission on Teachers (1983) focused specifically on the status and development of teachers, which had been identified as a crucial element in improving the overall education system. These commissions became the bedrock on which major educational policies, including the National Education Policies, were formulated.

Each commission brought a specific lens – some focused on access and equity, others on teacher quality or higher education standards. Together, they built the conceptual architecture that policymakers draw upon when drafting legislation and reform frameworks. The TSR Subramanian Committee Report, for instance, addressed teacher training and transparent transfer policies as part of NEP 2020’s groundwork.

Executive orders and cabinet approvals: giving policies the force of law 🔗

Once a policy draft is prepared and recommendations are in place, it needs formal governmental sanction to take effect. In India, this typically happens through cabinet approvals, which represent the collective decision of the Council of Ministers, or through departmental executive orders that operationalize specific provisions.

The NEP 2020 is a clear illustration of how cabinet approval works. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister approved the National Education Policy 2020, making way for large-scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors. It is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the thirty-four-year-old National Policy on Education of 1986.

Cabinet approval is not merely ceremonial – it signals political commitment and unlocks the administrative machinery needed for implementation. After approval, the relevant ministries issue executive orders, circulars, and notifications that direct institutions, state governments, and agencies on how to implement the policy’s specific provisions.

The Ministry of Education, which currently operates through two departments – the Department of School Education & Literacy and the Department of Higher Education – issues such notifications regularly. These range from regulatory directives for universities to curriculum frameworks for schools. In April 2022, the UGC approved simultaneous dual degrees in both physical and online modes; in October 2022, the Ministry of Education released a New Curriculum Framework for children aged 3-8 years, in line with NEP 2020. Each of these were department-level executive actions flowing from the broader cabinet-approved policy.

This layered approach – cabinet approval setting the direction, executive orders managing implementation – ensures that policy moves from declaration to practice in an accountable and structured manner.

Role of federal and state governments: a shared constitutional responsibility 🔗

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of educational policy formulation in India is the dual responsibility shared between the central government and state governments. This arrangement is not merely administrative – it is constitutionally grounded.

The 42nd Constitutional Amendment of 1976 🔗

Before 1976, education was exclusively a State Subject under the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The Forty-Second Amendment of 1976 brought about drastic changes in the Indian Constitution. Before 1976, education as a whole was a State Subject and the Central Government played only an advisory role. In 1976, education was placed on the Concurrent List.

Through the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976, five subjects were transferred from the State List to the Concurrent List: Education, Forests, Weights and Measures, Protection of Wild Animals and Birds, and Administration of Justice.

This shift was transformative. The implication of making education a concurrent subject is that both the Centre and the states can legislate on any aspect of education, from primary to university level. By having education in the Concurrent List, the Centre can implement directly any policy decision in the states.

How centre-state collaboration works in practice 🔗

The Concurrent List arrangement means that Parliament can set the overall policy direction while state legislatures adapt and implement it according to local conditions. Neither level operates in isolation. A national framework ensures uniform standards across states, which is crucial for maintaining quality and equity in education, and the central government can provide additional resources and funding to states that may lack the financial capacity to support their educational systems independently.

This balance plays out clearly with NEP 2020. Its implementation needs collective efforts of the Centre, States, Union Territories, Higher Education Institutions, Regulating Agencies, and all other relevant stakeholders. The policy sets a national vision, but each state is responsible for developing its own implementation plan, adapting timelines, curriculum frameworks, and resource allocation to its specific context.

However, this dual structure also creates friction. Variations in financial capacity, infrastructure, political priorities, and regional educational culture mean that the same policy can be implemented very differently across states. Some states move quickly; others lag. This uneven implementation remains one of the persistent challenges in Indian educational management – well-documented in research on access to elementary education, which highlights how political will, resource availability, and local governance all shape whether national policies translate into on-the-ground change.

The role of NCERT and other central bodies 🔗

Bridging the gap between central policy intent and state-level execution are autonomous bodies like the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). In 1961, the Union government formed NCERT as an autonomous organisation that would advise both the Union and state governments on formulating and implementing education policies. NCERT develops curriculum frameworks, textbooks, and teacher training guidelines that states can adopt and contextualise. This ensures a degree of coherence across the system without overriding state autonomy entirely.

At the higher education level, the University Grants Commission (UGC) performs a similar bridging function – issuing regulations, funding norms, and accreditation standards that apply to universities regardless of whether they are centrally or state funded.

Why these strategies matter together 🔗

Each of these four strategies – expert consultation, commission recommendations, cabinet approvals, and centre-state collaboration – serves a distinct purpose, but they function best as an integrated system. Expert consultation ensures that policy is grounded in knowledge. Commissions provide independent, in-depth analysis that cuts through political noise. Cabinet approval gives policy the authority and resources it needs to move forward. And the centre-state framework ensures that national aspirations are adapted to local realities rather than imposed uniformly from above.

When these strategies work in sync, as they broadly did in the multi-year formulation of NEP 2020, the result is a policy that is both ambitious and consultative. The National Education Policy aims to create an equitable and inclusive education system that can provide learning for all, equipping learners with foundational literacy and numeracy, a regulatory framework to ensure integrity and resource efficiency, promotion of Indian culture and traditions, and a focus on multilingualism and respect for the diversity of local contexts.

Understanding these strategies is not just academic. For teachers, school administrators, and education managers, knowing how policies come to life – and who shapes them – is key to engaging meaningfully with reform processes, contributing to consultations, and implementing changes effectively at the ground level.

What do you think? Given India’s vast regional diversity, how should the balance between central policy uniformity and state-level flexibility be managed to ensure equitable educational outcomes? And to what extent should classroom teachers and school administrators be formally included in the expert consultation stages of policy formulation?

References

1. https://www.education.gov.in/en/nep/about-nep
2. https://www.clearias.com/education-in-state-list/
3. https://www.education.gov.in/en
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concurrent_List
5. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED513316