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Home / India
Education

India Education

With its plurality and
paradoxes, India never ceases to fascinate. And education in
India is only one among various other elements that have
captured the attention of the world. While the United Nations
is worried about the presence of a large number of
illiterates, various other countries are amazed by the quality
of some of the human resources that the Indian education
system has produced.

The growth of the Indian economy in
the recent past and the compulsion to sustain it is also
forcing the Indian government to accelerate the process of
developing all the branches of the Indian education system.
Therefore, it would be very interesting to understand and
analyze the various structures of education in India, its
present condition and future developments.

India Education Historical Background:

The
Vedas, Puranas, Ayurveda,Yoga, Kautilya's
Arthasahtra are only some of the milestones that the
traditional Indian knowledge system boasts of. There are
evidences of imparting formal education in ancient India under
the Gurukul system.

Under the
Gurukul system, young boys who were passing through
the Brahmacharya stage of life had to stay at the
Guru or the teacher's home and complete their
education.
Although the ancient system of education has
produced many geniuses and still a major area of research, it
was hardly egalitarian. Women and people of lower castes
gradually lost their right to educate themselves. The spread
of Jainism, Buddhism, Bhakti and Sufi movements did have some
liberating effects on the condition of the women,
sudras and atisudras. But it is the English
language and the reformation movements of the 19th century
that had the most liberating effect in pre-independent India.
Thus, the Britishers, although rightly criticized for
devastating the Indian economy, can also be credited for
bringing a revolution in the Indian education system.

India Education Present Condition:

Soon after
gaining independence in 1947, making education available to
all had become a priority for the government. As
discrimination on the basis of caste and gender has been a
major impediment in the healthy development of the Indian
society, they have been made unlawful by the Indian
constitution.

The 86th constitutional amendment has
also made elementary education a fundamental right for the
children between the age group- 6 to 14. According to the 2001
census, the total literacy rate in India is 65.38%. The female
literacy rate is only 54.16%. The gap between rural and urban
literacy rate is also very significant in India. This is
evident from the fact that only 59.4% of rural population are
literate as against 80. 3% urban population according to the
2001 census.
In order to develop the higher education
system, the government had established the University Grants
Commission in 1953. The primary role of UGC has been to
regulate the standard and spread of higher education in India.
There has been a marked progress in the expansion of higher
education if we look at the increase of higher educational
institutes in India. The higher education system in India
comprise of more than17000 colleges, 20 central universities,
217 State Universities, 106 Deemed to Universities and 13
institutes of Natioanl importance. This number will soon
inflate as the setting up of 30 more central universities, 8
new IITs, 7 IIMs and 5 new Indian Institutes of Science are
now proposed.

Education System in India:

The present education
system in India mainly comprises of primary education,
secondary education, senior secondary education and higher
education. Elementary education consists of eight years of
education. Each of secondary and senior secondary education
consists of two years of education. Higher education in India
starts after passing the higher secondary education or the
12th standard. Depending on the stream, doing graduation in
India can take three to five years. Post graduate courses are
generally of two to three years of duration. After completing
post graduation, scope for doing research in various
educational institutes also remains open.

Prominent Educational Institutes in India:

There
are quite a good number of educational institutes in India
that can compete with the best educational institutes of the
world. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian
Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian Institutes of Science,
National Law Schools, Jawaharlal Nehru University are some
such institutes.

Education for the Marginalized in India:

As
education is the means for bringing socio- economic
transformation in a society, various measures are being taken
to enhance the access of education to the marginalized
sections of the society. One such measure is the introduction
of the reservation system in the institutes of higher
education. Under the present law, 7.5% seats in the higher
educational institutes are reserved for the scheduled tribes,
15% for scheduled castes and 27% for the non creamy layers of
the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Under the Indian
constitution, various minority groups can also set up their
own educational institutes. Efforts are also being taken to
improve the access to higher education among the women of
India by setting up various educational institutes exclusively
for them or reserving seats in the already existing
institutes. The growing acceptance of distance learning
courses and expansion of the open university system is also
contributing a lot in the democratization of higher education
in India.

Conclusion:
Despite all
the efforts to develop the education system in India, access,
equity and quality of education in India continue to haunt the
policy makers till this date. This has mainly been due to the
widespread poverty and various prejudices. The inability to
check the drop out rates among the marginalized sections of
the population is another cause of worry. However, the renewed
emphasis in the education sector in the 11th five year plan
and increased expenditure in both primary and higher education
can act as palliatives for the Indian education system.

To know more about the education system in India, Please
find links below-

India
Education History

Elementary
Education in India

Higher
Education in India

Women's
Education in India

Montessori
Education in India

Technical
Education in India

Facilities
for International Students in India

Madrassa
Education in India

Special
Education in India

Distance
Education Council

Medical
Council of India

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