In the prevalent modes of reckoning of the Indian middle classes, education has long remained a crucial factor in achieving social mobility and improving social status. During the period of colonial modernity, the appeal of ‘modern’ education had been one of the major factors that pushed many to migrate to the upcoming urban centres in hopes of securing education and accessing the new occupational opportunities presented by an expanding colonial regime. In many cases, such efforts had also helped individuals to shed the dictates of tradition and escape the deep-seated hierarchies of the Indian village. The liberating potential of modern education has since been evident in the ways it has helped individuals and communities to overcome the compulsions of class, caste, language and religion to join the modern workforce and secure employment premised on the tenets of equality and dignity. While the relationship between education and urbanity has remained deeply and historically intertwined, perceptions around what qualifies as ‘desirable’ education have evolved over the years in keeping with the shifts in the broader sociopolitical trends in the country.

Particularly, in the last three decades or so, neoliberal social and economic policy has made deep inroads into Indian society, once again leaving its mark on its burgeoning urban fabric. Apart from introducing ‘global urban imaginaries’ (Anjaria and McFarlane 2011) around consumption and lifestyle choices, it has also produced new bases of inequality based on digital literacy and global access that have further fragmented an already divided urban landscape. The deep inequalities thus created between the dominant and the marginal social groups are evident in the layered access they have to the city and its amenities. Education, apart from housing and healthcare, figures prominently in this discourse.