In July 2020, India launched one of its most ambitious and long-overdue educational policy reforms: the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. With promises of transforming everything from curriculum structures to teaching practices, from digital infrastructure to foundational learning, NEP 2020 was, at its core, a declaration of intent to position education as a driving force for national development and individual empowerment. Five years later, however, the story of its implementation tells a tale not of failure—but of fragmented ambition. The NEP’s transformative potential remains intact, but its realization is marred by uneven execution, political contestation, and infrastructural limitations that threaten to turn a policy of promise into a paper of platitudes.
