SOCIOLOGY I

NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY,

BANGALORE

Public Education as an electoral issue in

Delhi

SOCIOLOGY-I PROJECT
Swapnil Das
Student ID: LLB/2717/2020

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Introduction

In February 2020, we witnessed a fiercely contested Legislative Assembly election in Delhi.

If one were to examine the situation in the city in the weeks leading up to February, they
would have observed something markedly unusual to Indian politics- the very vivid
invocation of public education as one of the forerunning issues in the election by Arvind
Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party. What makes this even more surprising is the fact that
public education retained its place in the electoral discourse even as attempts were made to
polarize voters over issues red-hot issues like the CAA, the NRC/NPR and of course, the
Shaheen Bagh protests that aimed to oppose the former. The saga culminated in a convincing
election victory for the AAP, who won 62 seats out of the total 70, while its main electoral
rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party only got the remaining 8 (Times of India 2020). This paper
seeks to analyze and explain the circumstances that led to the creation of this political
scenario in New Delhi, principally with reference to a socio-political analysis of Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs and also to the short-sightedness shown by many political leaders.

A Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who was one of the pioneers of the field of humanistic
psychology. One of the theories he propounded was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. According to
said theory- the very basic needs that motivate humans to go about their daily lives can be
divided into 5 categories and these categories can be arranged in a certain hierarchy, with basic
physiological needs such as food, water etc. on the lowest rung and ‘self-actualization’- a feeling
of fulfillment and personal achievement that differs from person to person- on the highest rung
(Thoughtco 2020). This concept may seem out of context in the essay, but one can certainly
extrapolate this theory and analyze it from a sociological/political point of view.

In India, the gross enrollment ratio (the percentage of the corresponding age group that is
enrolled) or the GER up to class 8 is around the 100% mark- comparable to developed countries.
The dropout rate too is restricted to a reasonable 4%. However, from class 9 onwards, the
outlook gets darker. The GER goes down to a shambolic 23% and in the class 9-10 bracket, the
dropout rate rises to 17% (Livemint 2017). This can be explained very simply- as soon as a child

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reaches an age where they can be put to work- boys to earn a living and girls to tend to
household chores- they are put to work and forced to drop out from school.

This is where the aforementioned extrapolation of Maslow’s hierarchy comes in. In developing
countries like India, education, especially secondary education does not qualify as a basic need
for a huge portion of the population. Most people have to struggle day in and out to eke out a
living to sustain their very basic physiological needs like food, water, electricity and shelter etc.
Education is on a higher rung on the hierarchy of needs and as such, for a campaign based
around education to be successful and appeal to the masses, it is absolutely necessary to address
one’s basic human needs first and it can rightfully be said that the AAP has done exactly that in
Delhi.

AAP is enjoying its third term in Delhi. In the previous two terms (2013-14, 2015-20), AAP had
focused on improving Delhi’s infrastructure and fulfilling the basic needs of the people. There
are plenty of example of this-

1) Electricity- In 2014, the AAP announced a scheme that cut electricity tariffs in half up
to 400 units of usage (NDTV 2014) and in 2019, electricity was made free up to 200
units of usage (India Today 2019).
2) Water- 20000 liters free water supply given to every household per month (Economics
Times 2020).
3) Healthcare- Most notable reform in this sector is the creation of Mohalla clinics to
provide free treatment and medicine to everyone (Citizen Matters 2020).

Hence, one can say with some conviction that one of the factors that enabled the AAP to bring
education to the forefront of their electoral campaign was the emphasis they had laid previously
on settling the basic needs of the people.

Political Myopia

Another factor that often comes into play when it comes to the role of education in electoral
politics is the short-sightedness that is often shown by political leaders. Seeking to achieve their
short-term goals and gain political power immediately, they often seem to forget to keep in mind
their long-term goals. This is a very important factor in explaining why education is not a very

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common topic on electoral agendas across the country. Politicians believe that school attendees,
being children, do not need to be given much attention to because they will not be a part of their
electoral bank very soon. This is wrong not only because of the lack of attention to future voters,
but also because it underestimates how much parents will care about their children’s educational
needs, especially when you pair educational reforms with reforms in other basic spheres of life,
with an eye on increased social mobility (BBC 2020). This is evidently not the case with the
AAP, considering it has spent nearly a quarter of its budget on education, as opposed to the
national average of around 14.8% (BBC 2020).

Conclusion

The educational reforms brought forward by the AAP are not perfect. There is still a long way to
go- further attention needs to be placed on higher education and vocational training and there
have been controversies, such as the claims that students were segregated according to their
religion in certain government schools in Delhi (BBC 2020). However, it is pretty evident that
the education-focused campaign of the AAP for the 2020 Delhi elections can end up being a
watershed moment in Indian politics, especially since it has been seen that this strategy can bring
rich dividends. Hence, one can say that this campaign was a prime example of one of the most
important parts of the democratization process- when human development issues begin to feature
on the political agenda along with economic growth; and in a way, reflective of the overall
transitional state of Indian politics (Azeem Premji University Practice Connect 2019).

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Bibliography
ARTICLES

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Singh, Dinesh. 2020. ‘AAP shows education can bring political benefits. Will other states
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The Indian Express 2019. ‘Education is important for development, but it doesn’t become an
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tariff-cut-for-usage-upto-400-units-in-delhi-546363)

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of-needs-4582571)

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