Articles by Rashmi Sharma

This paper traces the evolution of the Election Commission of India through five phases since its formation. Its effectiveness is studied across four parameters—inclusiveness, rule of law, efficiency, and accountability of the election process. Within the changing sociopolitical and legal context, the institutional characteristics of the ECI (role, powers, independence, structure, and functioning) have allowed it to ensure free and fair elections with varying success. Variations in the ECI’s success during the five phases offer clues as to how it can address more complex problems, and the direction to take in structuring and supporting other apex oversight institutions.

This paper identifies and analyses institutional gaps and constraints that keep the Indian school system from acquiring a professional orientation. This in turn affects the quality of the whole schooling process. The school system in India has been hampered from obtaining a professional orientation by institutional gaps and constraints. A school system rooted in the Indian childs' needs, accompanied by political and administrative decentralisation, would be the key to professionalise the school system in India. The paper argues that recent initiatives in democratic decentralisation that have impacted the school system need to be accompanied by a parallel professional development.

The Question of 'How' Rashmi Sharma The question of how elementary education can and should be made universal has not received the attention' it deserves. Two issues need to be highlighted. Firstly, studies show that an alarmingly targe number of children do not become literate even after four years of schooling. Therefore school effectiveness and actual learning have to be central rather than secondary concerns for universal elementary education. Secondly, how effective schools are and success in learning depend not only on school level inputs but also on factors outside the school. For genuine universal elementary education, the impact of the wider context on schooling has to be understood better, Measures that mitigate the worst effects of poverty on children and creation of rural infrastructure are necessary for education that is effective and empowering.