Puliyabaazi Hindi Podcast पुलियाबाज़ी हिन्दी पॉडकास्ट

सरकारी शिक्षा व्यवस्था क्यों चरमराई हुई है? How to improve education in India? ft. Yamini Aiyar

·1 hr 22 min·5 clips

Why did Delhi's chief minister tweet a school holiday, revealing how politics traps children's education?

This episode of the Hindi podcast Puliyabaazi features an in-depth conversation with Yamini Aiyar, a Senior Visiting Fellow at Brown University and former head of the Center for Policy Research, about her book on Delhi's school reforms. The hosts begin by highlighting the paradox of India's education system: high gross enrollment ratios (around 130%) coexist with poor learning outcomes, where half of 5th-grade students cannot read 2nd-grade textbooks. They discuss how societal expectations have shifted, with people increasingly seeking private alternatives due to government failure. Aiyar traces historical context, noting that post-independence focus was on higher education (like IITs) rather than mass primary education. The episode delves into the Delhi government's interventions under the Aam Aadmi Party, such as the Chunauti program that reorganized classrooms by student learning levels, sparking debates about labeling and pedagogy. Aiyar explains systemic governance failures, including teacher deprofessionalization where educators become administrators focused on paperwork like updating Aadhaar details rather than teaching. She contrasts this with the political narrative in Delhi, where education became a vote-winning issue. The conversation also touches on aided schools, the role of exams in driving rote learning, and international comparisons like Vietnam's success. Aiyar emphasizes that improving state capacity requires empowering frontline workers rather than just accounting through biometrics or CCTV. The episode concludes by linking education challenges to broader issues of transaction-intensive public services in India.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Puliyabaazi Hindi Podcast पुलियाबाज़ी हिन्दी पॉडकास्ट