Privatisation of Education Threatens Democracy Itself
Digvijaya Singh | 22 July 2026 | The Wire
In his presentation to students at Kota in June, Rahul Gandhi identified three structural forces causing the deterioration of our education system – privatisation, centralisation, and sanghi-fication. I must agree with his grim assessment of India’s education landscape.
I retired as the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on education on June 21 this year. In my two-year tenure, the committee unanimously adopted 22 different reports. The following are my personal observations on the privatisation of our education system, many of which have been reflected in our committee’s reports. I will write on the centralisation and sanghi-fication of our education system separately.