Hegade, Sandeep and Andalgavkarkulkarni, Yogini <br/><br/>
Inclusion-exempt schools : How policy enables elite educational insulation 

 - Economic & Political Weekly 
 - 61(7), Feb 14, 2026: p.19-22 
<br/><br/> India’s Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 proclaims universal inclusion, yet elite private schools remain structurally exempt through regulatory autonomy, fee discretion, and selective enforcement. Operating via interlocking mechanisms of fee-gating, board-gating, and spatial-gating, these institutions consolidate caste–class homogeneity while evading equity mandates. This article contends that such policy-induced bifurcation undermines constitutional equality and fragments democratic citizenship. Genuine equality of opportunity demands system-wide inclusion that deliberately encompasses the very institutions shaping privileged trajectories.-Reproduced <br/><br/><br/>https://www.epw.in/journal/2026/7/commentary/inclusion-exempt-schools.html<br/>