Judicial Ambivalence and New Politics of Education

Recent judicial verdicts on the question of the state's relationship with private enterprise in education suggest a push towards egalitarian redistribution of educational opportunities under overall state guidance. Whether the Constitution was intended to be adequately equipped to control privatisation in education or to promote is a moot question. However, the judicial decoding of the Constitution's intent in this regard has seemingly changed direction in the last two decades. The view that private control promises quality, that appears to have the apex court's concurrence, is helping to sustain an ethos of sharpening social divisions and inequalities, where private interests can boldly advance and the state withdraws.