The middle path is a comfortable idea; the comfort depends on the subject to which it relates. The prime minister has marked a ‘middle path’ between government control and the sense of entitlement of higher academic institutions at the Conclave on Transformational Reforms in Higher Education under the National Education Policy. ‘Freedom’, which, in his reported remarks, seems identified with the autonomy of educational institutions, will depend on quality. The better the educational outcomes the more autonomy the institution will be given. The institutions will have to ‘earn’ autonomy. So, will representatives of the government judge quality? This is the same government under which the University Grants Commission declared last year that in order to ensure that ‘national interest’ has priority, institutions should have a ‘shelf of topics’ on which research will be conducted. But education is the pursuit of excellence; it can accommodate no middle path. For that, higher educational institutions need to be empowered — that bogey word — to choose the variety and quality of education they aspire to, the mix of students they wish for, their methods of training and assessment — in short, to be able to mould institutions according to their academic and social visions without violating the laws of the land. Here autonomy is not wild freedom that must be reined in by the government, neither is it a reward from the rulers for doing well; it is, instead, a discipline unique to the encouragement of learning and the growth of the mind. That alone will produce the curiosity, creativity and commitment of young people that the prime minister promises under the NEP 2020, and nurture the atmosphere of enquiry, discovery and discussion that he appears to celebrate.

Since many students who questioned — with commitment and desire for discussion — government policies are now under arrest, the new dawn of the NEP is bound to seem a little suspect. What is even more puzzling is the plight of those who will bring the NEP to fruition: for example, salaries of teachers of two Sanskrit universities that became Central universities in April are delayed, some contract teachers have had no work and no pay for two months, and some private universities have sent some teachers on leave. There are numerous other problems beginning with recruitment and appointment to match the NEP’s target enrolment. Even the middle path will prove elusive in this situation, let alone excellence.