Policy response to globalization: a comparison between China’s and India’s primary education

How is China’s and India’s primary education influenced by globalization and what exactly are their policy responses? This question is important not only because globalization is perceived to have profound influences on education policies at almost all levels in all countries, but such manifestation also remains less scrutinized in two of the largest primary education sectors in the world. This paper intends to fill this gap with a comparative case study that is informed by Johnson’s (2006) framework on the historical and political forces that shape education policy trajectories. Responses from the Chinese and Indian sides are critically analyzed in terms of both universalization of primary education as a policy goal, and decentralization as a policy instrument. The results show that while convergence is often observed on policy rhetoric and general policy objectives, it is less so when it comes to structures and processes, as the role of national government in the two countries remains critical in “buying” policies from the global “market” based on their own terms and conditions. Yet to reach towards the“politics of gelling” that involves a wider set of interest groups, subtle yet nonetheless critical distinctions should be made between such role assertion on one hand and excessive control on the other.