Governance Challenges in the Implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020: An Empirical Analysis in the State of Maharashtra

Abstract

Abstract The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 heralds the most sweeping transformation of India's educational architecture since independence, envisioning equity, quality, accessibility, and accountability as cardinal pillars of a reimagined learning ecosystem. Its implementation, however, poses formidable governance challenges, particularly in demographically and linguistically diverse federal states such as Maharashtra. This paper undertakes a comprehensive empirical analysis of governance challenges in NEP 2020 implementation in Maharashtra, drawing exclusively on secondary data from government reports, official educational databases (UDISE+ 2021-23), peer-reviewed Scopus-indexed journals, UNESCO and World Bank publications, ASER reports, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit findings, and Maharashtra State Budget documents spanning the period 2021–2025. The study adopts a descriptive-analytical research design and employs SPSS-based statistical methods including Chi-Square tests, Independent Samples t-Tests, percentage analysis, trend analysis, and mean score rankings to examine hypothesised governance-implementation relationships and urban-rural disparities. Ten key governance challenges are identified and ranked by severity, with inadequate financial resource allocation (mean score 4.55) and digital infrastructure deficiency (4.48) emerging as the most acute impediments. Secondary data analysis reveals that Maharashtra's average annual budget utilisation rate for NEP implementation stands at only 78.5%, with a structural shortfall of approximately ₹1,203 crore per year. The urban-rural infrastructure gap across key NEP readiness indicators ranges from 22.8 to 47.5 percentage points, representing a systemic equity deficit. The study contributes original empirical grounding to the nascent literature on sub-national education policy governance in federal developing democracies.