ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to present my votes of thanks to all those guidepost who really acted as lightening pillars to enlighten our way throughout this project that has led to successful and satisfactory completion of this study. I am highly thankful to Mr. Pankaj Jain for her active support, valuable time and advice, whole-hearted guidance, sincere cooperation and pains-taking involvement during the study and in completing the assignment of preparing the said paper within the time stipulated. Without the active participation of our teachers it would have been extremely difficult for me to prepare the project in a time bound framework.
HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN INDIA
Indian education history is very rich and motivating. In the ancient days, gurus and scholars impart education orally, but after the development of letters, it took the form of writing. Palm leaves and barks of trees were used for teaching, and this in turn helped in spreading of the written literature. Temples and community centres often took the role of school. When Buddhism spread in India, education become available to everyone and this was the time when some world famous educational institutions were established like Nalanda, Vikramshila and Takshashila. History has taken particular care to give Nalanda University, which flourished from the fifth to 13th century AD, full credit for its brilliance. This university had around 10,000 resident students and teachers on its roll at one time. These students included Chinese, Sri Lankan, Korean and other international scholars. It was in the 11th century that the Muslims recognized elementary and secondary schools. This led to the forming of few universities too at cities like Delhi, Lucknow and Allahabad. Medieval period saw excellent interaction between Indian and Islamic customs in all fields of knowledge like theology, religion, philosophy, fine arts, painting, architecture, arithmetic, medicine and astronomy. Later, when British arrived in India, English education came into being with the help of the European missionaries. Since then, Western education gained advances in the country. With hundreds of universities and thousands of colleges affiliated to them, India has positioned itself happily as a country that provides superiority higher education to its people in specific and to the world in general.
PRESENT 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(Arts,Commerce or Science). 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. The growing receiving of distance learning courses and growth of the open university system is also causative a lot in the democratization of higher education in india.
WORLD CLASS HIGHER EDUCATION 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 and made India recognizable in the International Education. Some of them are as follows-
Ø The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs),
Ø Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs),
Ø Indian Institutes of Science, National Law Schools,
Ø Jawaharlal Nehru University are some such institutes.
FACILITIES OF EDUCATION TO 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 teaching 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:-
(1) 7.5% seats in the higher educational institutes are reserved for the
scheduled tribes,
(2) 15% for scheduled castes and 27% for the non creamy layers of the
Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
PRESENT SCENARIO OF INDIAN EDUCATION :
Soon after 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 hurdle in the healthy development of the Indian society, it also restricted the educational development of the nation as a whole. 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:-
Ø The total literacy rate in India is 65.38% .
Ø 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
PUBLIC PRIMARY EDUCATION IN INDIA- AN
OVERVIEW:
Early childhood education in India is subject to two extreme but contrary deficiencies. On the one hand, millions of young children in lower income groups, especially rural and girl children, comprising nearly 40% of first grade entrants never complete primary school. Even among those who do, poorly qualified teachers, very high student-teacher ratios, inadequate teaching materials and out- moded teaching methods result in a low quality of education that often imparts little or no real learning. It is not uncommon for students completing six years of primary schooling in village public schools to lack even rudimentary reading and writing skills.
PRIVATE PRIMARY EDUCATION IN INDIA- AN OVERVIEW:
Cildren attending urban schools, especially middle and upper class children in private schools, are subjected to extreme competitive pressures from a very early age to acquire basic language skills and memorize vast amounts of information in order to qualify for admission into the best schools. Parents and teachers exert intense pressure on young children to acquire academic skills at an age when children should be given freedom and encouraged to learn as a natural outcome of their curiosity, playfulness and eagerness to experiment. Necessary steps should be taken to avoid unnecessary pressure for childrens.
GOVERNANCE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION:
Schemes undertaken by the government:
Ø State-wise Allocation of Central Government’s Share Made
Ø Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in India (2006-2007)
State-wise Amount Spent on Elementary Education from Component of Prambhik Shiksha Kosh in India (2006-2007 and 31.10.2007) State-wise Targets and Achievements under Sarva Shiksha Abhiayan (SSA) in India (2002-2007) Selected State-wise Number of Additional Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) Sanctioned in India (As on 01.02.2006)
Funds Released to North Eastern States under CentrallySponsored Schemes for Operation Blackboard and Non Formal Education in India (1997-1998 to 2000-2001) Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources under Centrally Sponsored Schemes for Elementary Education for North Eastern States in India (1999-2000 and 2000-2001 Progress Recorded under Shiksha Karmi Project in India (upto september2001)
Efforts are also being taken to improve the access to higher education among the women of India by setting up various ecational institutes exclusively for them or eserving seats in the already existing institutes.
Development so far:-
Under SSA,
Ø 1.47 lakh primary schools have been opened across the country,
Ø 1.23 lakh primary schools have been upgraded to have upper primary classes.
Ø 9.86 lakh teachers have been recruited,
Ø children are provided free textbooks,
Ø teachers are provided periodic in-service training,
Ø Mid-day meal is provided to all children in classes 1-8 in
Ø Government and Government aided schools.
GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOL EDUCATION
The National Council Of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is the legal body for governing the curriculam matters for school education in India. The NCERT provides support and technical assistance to a number of schools in India and give guidance to many educational policies in India. Different Indian curriculam bodies governing school Education in India are as follows:-
- The State Government Board
- The Central Board Of Secondary Education ( CBSE ) Board
- The Council For The Indian School Certificate Examinations ( CISCE) Board
- The Indian Certificate Of Secondary Education ( ICSE ) Board
- The National Institute Of Open Schooling ( NIOS ) Board
GOVERNANCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
In order to develop the higher education system, the government had established the
University Grants Commission in 1953(UGC) . 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 than 17000 colleges, 20 central universities, 217 State Universities, 106 Deemed to Universities and 13 institutes of National importance. Under the Indian constitution, various minority groups can also set up their own educational institutes. 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.
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