BIOGRAPHY:

Kiran Bhatty has a Masters’ degree in Economics and an MPhil in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, UK and is currently pursuing a PhD at the EHESS, in Paris, France. Her research interests lie at the intersection of social policy and politics, encompassing issues of citizenship, social and economic rights, social justice and inequality, and state capacity and governance related especially to the education sector.

She is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), where she has been researching institutional aspects of education provision including the frontline bureaucracy, regulatory mechanisms, systems of data management, and other aspects of education governance. Prior to joining CPR, she was the National Coordinator for RTE at the NCPCR- mandated to monitor the RTE Act. She has also worked as an Education Specialist at UNICEF and on several research projects such as the PROBE report on Basic Education and the FOCUS report on early childhood care. In addition, she has coordinated research studies on education for the UNDP, UNESCO and the International Institute of Education and Planning (IIEP), and been a part of international research projects based at University of Warwick, Oxford and Brown, and published in academic journals and the national media.

She has also been a member of several National Committees on education, such as the Bordia Committee that drafted the guidelines for finalizing SSA norms under RTE; chair of the MoE group set up for drafting guidelines for school social audits in education; member of the Advisory Committee for Data and Management Systems; Member Advisory Committee, for Education Policy and Member, Advisory Committee for formulating Curriculum for post-graduate courses on education, at the National University for Education Planning and Administration [NUEPA].

Selected publications:

• Kiran Bhatty, 2022. “The education system in India: promises to keep”, in The round table, Vol 111, p 365-380. [Special issue on 75 years of India’s Independence, September 2022]  https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2022.2082690
• Kiran Bhatty, Nandini Sundar, 2020. “Sliding from majoritarianism toward fascism: Educating India under the Modi regime”, in International Sociology, https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580920937226
• Kiran Bhatty, 2022. “Community-Based Reforms in the Monitoring Architecture of Elementary Education in India”, in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education Reforms, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.430
• Kiran Bhatty, “The Number Game: how has it helped the cause of education”, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 53, No. 15. https://www.epw.in/journal/2018/15/insight/numbers-game.html
• Kiran Bhatty, 2022. “The Right to Education in India: Some unanswered questions regarding private and public provision”, in Private Sector Participation in Public Services, KB Saxena (ed.).