An education system running on compliance than quality

India’s private schooling system rewards insulation and compliance over learning—and both markets and policy have enabled it

- SRINATH SRIDHARAN

India does not face an education crisis in the conventional sense of system failure or neglect. Schools function, examinations are conducted, enrolments have expanded, and credentials are produced at scale. Yet, this administrative order conceals a structural problem. Schooling, particularly in the private sector, has increasingly prioritised regulatory compliance and credential output over educational quality, resulting in a system that appears functional while progressively weakening its core pur-

struction, What is not measured—foundational understanding, reasoning ability, and intellectual independence—quietly exits institutional priority.

For many private school owners, the institution has gradually become a social instrument rather than an educational one. The schools name confers standing, facilitates access, and offers the durable social legitimacy of being labelled an educationist. Far less visible is rigorous introspection on what actually transpires in class~rooms, how learning outcomes are shaped, or whether children are meaningfully better prepared as a result,

Teachers operate within the same distorted incentive structure. Their evaluation is rarely linked to student learning progression. Compensation bears little relationship to fees collected, and professional development is treated as discretionary rather than central. Over time, this architecture reshapes who teaches—and why. Recruitment prioritises availability over aptitude, retention depends more on compliance than capability, and teachers are deployed as functional inputs to deliver examination outcomes rather than developed as educators entrusted with intellectual formation.