Transnational Research Group – Poverty Reduction and Policy for the Poor between the State and Private Actors: Education Policy in India since the Nineteenth Century
2013- 2017

Principal investigators: Andreas Gestrich, GHIL; Sarada Balagopalan (CSDS Delhi); Neeladri Bhattacharya (JNU Delhi); Janaki Nair (JNU Delhi); Geetha B. Nambissan (JNU Delhi); Ravi Ahuja (CeMIS Göttingen); Rupa Viswanath (CeMIS Göttingen); Jahnavi Phalkey (King’s College London)
Project Coordinator: Indra Sengupta, GHIL
Despite the breakneck pace of its economic development, India remains the country with the largest number of people living in poverty worldwide. The Transnational Research Group focused on one aspect of poverty reduction and policy for the poor in particular: education and school policy, including vocational training. Like the provision of food, housing and health services, access to education is a central subject of concern in all policies aimed at the reduction of poverty. The recent rapid changes in the educational systems and the emergence of global private companies in this field made this an innovative topic for interdisciplinary research linking historical experience and present developments in India, Europe and in other parts of the world. Thereby, the TRG contributed to a fruitful exchange between history, educational and social sciences in the three countries (India, Germany and the UK) involved, but also worldwide. While concentrating primarily on India, the TRG also encouraged comparative research and drew on the expertise of colleagues working on similar topics in other areas of the world through conferences and visiting fellowships.
The TRG identified seven research areas for which PhD and postdoctoral grants were awarded. These are:
- Nineteenth and twentieth-century global educational reform movements and their impact on universal schooling in India
- The quest for universal elementary/school education, the private sector and edu-business
- Caste discrimination and education policy
- Industrial restructuring, informalization, and their consequences for access to elementary education
- Adult education and the popularisation of practical scientific knowledge.
- Industrial and technical institutions and the resignification of manual labour
- The impact of schooling on life histories
In order to generate innovative results within a time frame of five years, the TRG concentrated primarily on a series of specific projects within the wider framework of its overall topic. The sub-projects of the TRG adopted a multi-perspective and interdisciplinary approach. Inter- and transdisciplinary discussions were pursued through joint workshops and conferences. The expertise of the TRG –partners lay primarily in disciplines such as educational sociology and economics, educational history, and cultural, religious and social history.
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mwfdelhi (November 9, 2021). Transnational Research Group – Poverty Reduction and Policy for the Poor between the State and Private Actors: Education Policy in India since the Nineteenth Century. Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies (MWF Delhi). Retrieved April 25, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/rpry