Critical Reflections on Promises of Privatization in Higher Education: A Case of EdTech Platforms in India

Abstract: 

Ubiquitous media presence, technological developments, and policy reforms have led to a paradigmatic shift in the field of higher education. The current epoch envisages privatization, digitization, and marketization instrumental in making the higher education segment a part of the complex education industry. In the course of this transition, educational technology (EdTech) platforms have emerged as powerful agencies endorsing creative commodification of higher education. These platforms promise to not only satiate the need for education and knowledge dissemination but also provide for economic competitiveness and social upliftment in emerging economies like India. With a wide array of EdTech platforms, Indian education system is currently witnessing a high point of the public-private nexus in higher education. However, a much-debated question is whether these platforms are fulfilling their promise of creating an equitable education system or are driven by vicarious profit motives. This paper gives an account of a change over towards an EdTech orientation in higher education. Drawing on ethnographic interviews with the actors associated with higher education EdTech platforms, the paper explores the interplay between technology, ideology and profit in current EdTech revolution. Using the ‘Platform’ metaphor, it redefines digitization, privatization, and marketization
in the context of rising digital capitalism in the education industry. The paper proposes potential propositions for sustainability in higher education and suggests that platform capitalism obfuscates the idea of equitable education.