ABSTRACT
One of the primary roles of the state is to provide equality of opportunity, especially through equal access to education. That the state has failed to maintain even a minimal standard of public education is clear. But can the state truly reform public schools on a large scale? This chapter discusses the ingredients of a successful reform process, with the central argument being that only with a strong political will at the top can government schools be fixed. The experiments in community participation through school management committees, encouragement of parent–teacher partnerships, and infusion of state capital in infrastructure upgrade, employing of peer-learning techniques in enhancing teaching-learning methodologies, along with the capacity building of school leadership, are discussed. The chapter does not claim to document these as best practices, but simply to record what appears to be effective in fixing Delhi government schools.
