On the surface, education reform in India seems ambitious, particularly after the commitments made by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It speaks of happy classrooms, conceptual knowledge, and learning through experience. But on the ground, nothing much has shifted.
Teachers continue to bolt through the chapters to meet the deadline, and students continue to memorise to get through the exams. And innovation continues to be regarded as rebellion.
The core issue: Lack of trust
The issue is not that we lack ideas; it is that we do not trust. Our schools are highly regulated but poorly supported. The objectives of NEP 2020 sound utopian, but unless we systematically trust teachers as professionals, rather than delivery men and women, the change will never find its way to the learner.
Genuine transformation doesn’t happen because of new textbooks. It happens when teachers have the autonomy to use them as tools, not scripts. As author Krishna Kumar notes, real change comes from giving teachers the freedom to adapt content, not just deliver it.
Action research: Empowering teachers
It is here that action research comes into play. Action research is not a top-down pilot bureaucracy. It is a straightforward, powerful concept: a teacher sees that students aren't getting a lesson, so she modifies. Perhaps she inserts a narrative, an experiment, or an activity. She sees how it goes over, thinks about it, and adjusts it some more.
It is error and trial in the moment, but with professional wisdom. And after a while, that thinking results in significant improvement. It does not need permission from above. It only needs structural trust.
Proven success of teacher-led innovation
And that type of adaptive, trust-based pedagogy does succeed. In Karnataka's Ganitha Kalika Andolana (GKA) initiative, which provided teachers with low-cost materials and autonomy to drive activity-driven math education, students achieved learning gains equaling 2.5 months of additional school in one year. And crucially, the shift wasn't due to more intelligent content, but in the way teachers presented it. Comparable outcomes were found in Tamil Nadu's Activity-Based Learning model and the Maldives' MATPD teacher program, where teacher-led modifications were responsible for statistically significant gains in literacy and numeracy results .
Systemic barriers to creativity
But in the majority of Indian classrooms, there is little space for teachers to improvise. They are given pacing guides, textbook requirements, assessment measures, and perpetual admin tasks. The system is set up to guarantee obedience, not originality. As one Delhi teacher put it in a field interview, "If I allow students to create a model and don't complete Chapter 5, I'm the one who's at risk". Originality turns into danger. Danger turns into silence. This is not because teachers do not want to experiment. It is because the system punishes them for it.
Teacher autonomy: Essential for NEP 2020’s vision
If NEP 2020 is serious about moving toward competency-based learning, then teacher autonomy is not optional; it is essential. You cannot ask teachers to foster creativity while binding them to rigid checklists. You cannot demand joyful classrooms while measuring teachers solely by student performance on high-stakes tests. You cannot claim to centre learners while disempowering the very people who shape their day-to-day experience.
Redefining accountability
We have to rethink our understanding of accountability. At the moment, it's syllabus coverage, marks, and standardisation. But what if it was engagement, experimentation, and relevance? What if a teacher's decision to innovate and experiment was seen not as a policy deviation, but as an indicator of professional resilience and responsiveness? Because teachers already know what their students need, they notice the de-energised eyes; they recognise when a topic is not resonating; they have solutions, but those solutions don't ever get put into action, not for lack of imagination, but for lack of institutional permission.
Real-life impact of pedagogical freedom
I have seen it with my own eyes. In one of my chemistry classes, our instructor applied turmeric, lemon juice, and soap to illustrate acid-base chemistry. It wasn't in the lab guide. But we were able to touch, forecast, laugh, and see. I still recall the exhilaration - and the idea. It was learning I experienced. And it didn't need technology, money, or outside change. It needed pedagogical liberty. And it doesn’t only occur in well-resourced schools. A student from one of the Rajasthan state schools spoke about how they measured rainfall as part of a science lesson. "That’s when I realised what we learn is occurring around me," she said. Relevance, connection, and engagement are what make learning actual. And they start not with a new policy, but with new faith in teachers.
Making action research the norm
This is why action research has to be the rule, not the exception. It is inexpensive, it is scalable, and it is deeply local. It trusts teacher judgment. It constructs collaborative school cultures. And it opens students up to a learning environment that is vibrant, not rigid and mechanical.
Structural changes needed
It will take structural changes to make it happen:
- Teachers need allocated time for reflection, not just for instruction.
- Schools need to nurture pedagogical journals, feedback cycles, and curriculum adaptability.
- Administrators need to cease punishing experimentation and begin rewarding it.
- Teacher training needs to focus not just on method, but on mindset: curiosity, flexibility, and courage.
The path forward
NEP 2020 has the correct vision. But vision without action is an ornament. And action without freedom is failure. We cannot design student-centred learning unless we construct teacher-centred systems. If we desire schools that will nurture thinking, we have to trust the thinkers who teach. Because classrooms are not factories. They are living spaces. And action research is the heartbeat that reminds us: teaching is not delivery, it is design.
[Aaliya is a passionate policy strategist and economist dedicated to driving grassroots change, a student at Delhi Public School RK Puram. Views expressed are their own]
