Abstract

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 marks a critical juncture in India’s pedagogical history, promising an inclusive, flexible, and multidisciplinary framework. However, from a sociological vantage point, its implementation occurs within a “stratified society” characterized by entrenched hierarchies of caste, class, and regionality. This paper examines the systemic challenges of translating the policy’s egalitarian rhetoric into transformative practice for marginalized communities, including Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC). Utilizing Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of cultural capital and habitus, alongside Basil Bernstein’s code theory, the research investigates how the structural “digital divide” and the marketization of higher education may inadvertently reinforce existing social inequities. The study argues that while the policy introduces progressive mechanisms like “Special Education Zones” (SEZs) and the “Gender Inclusion Fund,” the underlying socio-economic barriers—ranging from linguistic hegemony to the “hidden curriculum” of elite institutions—pose significant threats to genuine social mobility. By analyzing the tension between state-led universalization and neoliberal privatization, this article highlights the risk of “symbolic violence” where the marginalized are integrated into a system that devalues their indigenous knowledge and local vernaculars. The findings underscore the need for a more “bottom-up” sociological approach to policy execution that prioritizes the lived experiences of the socially disadvantaged over standardized metrics of global competitiveness.