Education in India Education in India has a history stretching back to the ancient urban centres of learning at Taxila and Nalanda. The Nalanda University was the oldest university-system of education in the world. Western education became ingrained into Indian society with the establishment of the British Raj. Education in India falls under the control of both the Union Government and the states, with some responsibilities lying with the Union and the states having autonomy for others. The various articles of the Indian Constitution provide for education as a fundamental right. Most universities in India are Union or State Government controlled. India has made a huge progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population.[2] India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to the economic rise of India.[3] Much of the progress in education has been credited to various private institutions.[4] The private education market in India is estimated to be worth $40 billion in 2008 and will increase to $68 billion by 2012.[4] However, India continues to face challenges. Despite growing investment in education, 35% of the population is illiterate and only 15% of the students reach high school.[5] As of 2008, India's post-secondary high schools offer only enough seats for 7% of India's college-age population, 25% of teaching positions nationwide are vacant, and 57% of college professors lack either a master's or PhD degree.[6] As of 2007, there are 1522 degree-granting engineering colleges in India with an annual student intake of 582,000,[7] plus 1,244 polytechnics with an annual intake of 265,000. However, these institutions face shortage of faculty and concerns have been raised over the quality of education.[8] A multilingual web portal on Primary Education is available with rich multimedia content for children and forums to discuss on the Educational issues. India Development Gateway Primary Education [9] is a nation wide initiative that seeks to facilitate rural empowerment through provision of responsive information, products and services in local languages. Three Indian universities were listed in the Times Higher Education list of the world’s top 200 universities — Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, and Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2005 and 2006.[10] Six Indian Institutes of Technology and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science - Pilani were listed among the top 20 science and technology schools in Asia by Asiaweek.[11] The Indian School of Business situated in Hyderabad was ranked number 12 in global MBA rankings by the Financial Times of London in 2010[12] while the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been recognized as a global leader in medical research and treatment.[13] Monastic orders of education under the supervision of a guru was a favored form of education for the nobility in ancient India.[14] The knowledge in these orders was often related to the tasks a section of the society had to perform.[15] The priest class, the Brahmins, were imparted knowledge of religion, philosophy, and other ancillary branches while the warrior class, the Kshatriya, were trained in the various aspects of warfare.[15] The business class, the Vaishya, were taught their trade and the lowered class of the Shudras was generally deprived of educational advantages.[15] The book of laws, the Manusmriti, and the treatise on statecraft the Arthashastra were among the influential works of this era which reflect the outlook and understanding of the world at the time.[15] Apart from the monastic orders, institutions of higher learning and universities flourished in India well before the common era, and continued to deliver education into the common era.[16] Secular Buddhist institutions cropped up along with monasteries.[15] These institutions imparted practical education, e.g. medicine.[15] A number of urban learning centres became increasingly visible from the period between 200 BCE to 400 CE.[17] The important urban centres of learning were Taxila and Nalanda, among others.[17] These institutions systematically imparted knowledge and attracted a number of foreign students to study topics such as logic, grammar, medicine, metaphysics, arts and crafts.[17] By the time of the visit of the Islamic scholar Alberuni (973-1048 CE), India already had a sophisticated system of mathematics and science in place, and had made a number of inventions and discoveries.[18] With the arrival of the British Raj in India a class of Westernized elite was versed in the Western system of education which the British had introduced.[19] This system soon became solidified in India as a number of primary, secondary, and tertiary centres for education cropped up during the colonial era.[19] Between 1867 and 1941 the British increased the percentage of the population in Primary and Secondary Education from around 0.6% of the population in 1867 to over 3.5% of the population in 1941. However this was much lower than the equivalent figures for Europe where in 1911 between 8 and 18% of the population were in Primary and Secondary education.[20] Additionally literacy was also improved. In 1901 the literacy rate in India was only about 5% though by Independence it was nearly 20%.[21] Following independence in 1947, Maulana Azad, India's first education minister envisaged strong central government control over education throughout the country, with a uniform educational system.[22] However, given the cultural and linguistic diversity of India, it was only the higher education dealing with science and technology that came under the jurisdiction of the central government.[22] The government also held powers to make national policies for educational development and could regulate selected aspects of education throughout India.[23] The central government of India formulated the National Policy on Education (NPE) in 1986 and also reinforced the Programme of Action (POA) in 1986.[24] The government initiated several measures the launching of DPEP (District Primary Education Programme) and SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,[25] India's initiative for Education for All) and setting up of Navodaya Vidyalaya and other selective schools in every district, advances in female education, inter-disciplinary research and establishment of open universities. India's NPE also contains the National System of Education, which ensures some uniformity while taking into account regional education needs. The NPE also stresses on higher spending on education, envisaging a budget of more than 6% of the Gross Domestic Product.[24] While the need for wider reform in the primary and secondary sectors is recognized as an issue, the emphasis is also on the development of science and technology education infrastructure. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is the apex body for curriculum related matters for school education in India.[26] The NCERT provides support and technical assistance to a number of schools in India and oversees many aspects of enforcement of education policies.[27] In India, the various curriculum bodies governing school education system are: • The state government boards, in which the majority of Indian children are enrolled. • The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board. • The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) board. • The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) board. • International schools affiliated to the International Baccalaureate Programme and/or the Cambridge International Examinations. • Islamic Madrasah schools, whose boards are controlled by local state governments, or autonomous, or affiliated with Darul Uloom Deoband. • Autonomous schools like Woodstock School, Auroville, Patha Bhavan and Ananda Marga Gurukula. In addition, NUEPA (National University of Educational Planning and Administration)[28] and NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) are responsible for the management of the education system and teacher accreditation.[29] [edit] Primary education The Indian government lays emphasis to primary education up to the age of fourteen years (referred to as Elementary Education in India.[30]) The Indian government has also banned child labour in order to ensure that the children do not enter unsafe working conditions.[30] However, both free education and the ban on child labour are difficult to enforce due to economic disparity and social conditions.[30] 80% of all recognized schools at the Elementary Stage are government run or supported, making it the largest provider of education in the Country.[31] However, due to shortage of resources and lack of political will, this system suffers from massive gaps including high pupil teacher ratios, shortage of infrastructure and poor level of teacher training. Education has also been made free[30] for children for six to 14 years of age or up to class VIII under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009.[32] There have been several efforts to enhance quality made by the government. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched in 1994 with an aim to universalize primary education in India by reforming and vitalizing the existing primary education system.[33] 85% of the DPEP was funded by the central government and the remaining 15 percent was funded by the states.[33] The DPEP, which had opened 160000 new schools including 84000 alternative education schools delivering alternative education to approximately 3.5 million children, was also supported by UNICEF and other international programmes.[33] This primary education scheme has also shown a high Gross Enrollment Ratio of 93–95% for the last three years in some states.[33] Significant improvement in staffing and enrollment of girls has also been made as a part of this scheme.[33] The current scheme for universalization of Education for All is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which is one of the largest education initiatives in the world. Enrollment has been enhanced, but the levels of quality remain low. [edit] Secondary education The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986, has provided for environment awareness, science and technology education, and introduction of traditional elements such as Yoga into the Indian secondary school system.[34] Secondary education covers children 14-18 which covers 88.5 million children according to the Census, 2001. However, enrolment figures show that only 31 million of these children were attending schools in 2001-02, which means that two-third of the population remained out of school.[35] A significant feature of India's secondary school system is the emphasis on inclusion of the disadvantaged sections of the society. Professionals from established institutes are often called to support in vocational training. Another feature of India's secondary school system is its emphasis on profession based vocational training to help students attain skills for finding a vocation of his/her choosing.[36] A significant new feature has been the extension of SSA to secondary education in the form of the Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan[37] A special Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) programme was started in 1974 with a focus on primary education.[26] but which was converted into Inclusive Education at Secondary Stage[38] Another notable special programme, the Kendriya Vidyalaya project, was started for the employees of the central government of India, who are distributed throughout the country. The government started the Kendriya Vidyalaya project in 1965 to provide uniform education in institutions following the same syllabus at the same pace regardless of the location to which the employee's family has been transferred.[26] A multilingual web portal on Primary Education is available with rich multimedia content for children and forums to discuss on the Educational issues. India Development Gateway [39] is a nation wide initiative that seeks to facilitate rural empowerment through provision of responsive information, products and services in local languages.