ABSTRACT
The mission of setting up a national education system and providing universal access to quality education drove successive governments to constitute expert committees that were tasked with preparing policy recommendations. This chapter presents a policy overview on “learning without burden” with particular reference to recommendations made by the Yash Pal Committee. Using a historical overview to highlight the backward linkages to ideas promulgated in earlier texts, the chapter examines the recommendations of the Yash Pal Committee as well as the follow-up observations by the Chaturvedi Committee on the feasibility of implementation of the report. Even though the chapter is not able to analyse the implementation of the recommendations due to lack of material, it reviews the incorporation of the recommendations in legislation, court rulings and the new National Education Policy 2020. Revisiting the policy options suggested by expert committees like the Yash Pal Committee in the present-day context requires a careful sifting of ideas that are worthwhile and relevant for drawing lessons on the constraints and limits of taking certain ideas to fruition.
