BRIEFING PAPER - Marie Lall

1 The Challenges for india s EducationSystemMarie Lall, Chatham HouseSummary This PAPER , the first in an occasional series on india s education system, places thecurrent issues facing education in india in a historical context. Since Independence, successive Indian governments have had to address a number ofkey challenges with regard to education policy, which has always formed a crucial partof its development agenda. The key challenges are: improving access and quality at all levels of education ; increasing funding, especially with regard to higher education ; improving literacy rates. Currently, while Indian institutes of management and technology are world-class,primary and secondary schools, particularly in rural areas, face severe challenges.

2 While new governments commonly pledge to increase spending on education andbring in structural reforms, this has rarely been delivered in practice. Most of the changes undertaken by the previous BJP-led government were aimed atreforming the national curricula, and have been criticized for attempting to Hindu-ize india s traditionally secular education system. Improving the standards of education in india will be a critical test for the currentCongress-led government. It will need to resolve concerns over the content of thecurriculum, as well as tackling the underlying challenges to PAPER ASIA PROGRAMMEASP BP 05/03 APRIL 20052 The Challenges for india s education SystemIntroduction india s education system turns out millions ofgraduates each year, many skilled in IT andengineering.

3 This manpower advantage underpinsIndia s recent economic advances, but masks deep-seated problems within india s education system. WhileIndia s demographics are generally perceived to give itan edge over other countries economies ( india willhave a youthful population when other countries haveageing populations), if this advantage is restricted to asmall, highly educated elite, the domestic politicalramifications could be 35 per cent of the population under the ageof 15, india s education system faces numerouschallenges. Successive governments have pledged toincrease spending on education to 6 per cent of GDP,but actual spending has hovered around 4 per cent forthe last few years.

4 While, at the top end, india sbusiness schools, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs),Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and universitiesproduce globally competitive graduates, primary andsecondary schools, particularly in rural areas, struggleto find staff. Indian governments have seen education as acrucial development tool. The first part of this paperprovides a historical perspective on the development of the education system in india , highlighting thechanging emphases within government policy. SinceIndependence, the education policies of successivegovernments have built on the substantial legacies ofthe Nehruvian period, targeting the core themes ofplurality and secularism, with a focus on excellence inhigher education , and inclusiveness at all levels.

5 Inreaching these goals, the issue of funding has becomeproblematic; governments have promised to increasestate spending while realizing the economic potentialof bringing in private-sector financial support. The second part of this PAPER examines how recentgovernments have responded to these challenges,which have remained largely unchanged since Nehru sera, despite the efforts of past governments andcommissions to reform the Indian education will be paid to more recent policy initiatives,both those of the previous BJP-led administration andthe proposals of the current Congress-led UnitedProgressive Alliance. It will become clear that the samedifficulties that existed nearly sixty years ago remainlargely unsolved today for example, the need tosafeguard access to education for the poorest and mostdisenfranchised communities of india .

6 The evolution of india s educationpolicy Elitism, Nehruvianism and developmentTraditional Hindu education served the needs ofBrahmin families: Brahmin teachers would teach boysto read and write. Under the Moguls, education wassimilarly elitist, favouring the rich rather than thosefrom high-caste backgrounds. These pre-existing elitisttendencies were reinforced under British rule. British colonial rule brought with it the concept ofa modern state, a modern economy and a moderneducation system. The education system was firstdeveloped in the three presidencies (Bombay, Calcuttaand Madras). By linking entrance and advancement ingovernment service to academic education , colonialrule contributed to the legacy of an education systemgeared to preserving the position and prerogatives ofthe more privileged.

7 In the early 1900s, the IndianNational Congress called for national education ,placing an emphasis on technical and vocationaltraining. In 1920 Congress initiated a boycott ofgovernment-aided and government-controlled schoolsand founded several national schools and failed, as the rewards of British-style educationwere so great that the boycott was largely elites benefited from the British education systemand eventually used it expel the colonizers. Nehru envisaged india as a secular democracy witha state-led command economy. education for all andindustrial development were seen as crucial tools tounite a country divided on the basis of wealth, casteand religion, and formed the cornerstones of the anti-imperial struggle.

8 Following Independence, schoolcurricula were thus imbued with the twin themes ofinclusiveness and national pride, placing emphasis onthe fact that india s different communities could livepeacefully side by side as one nation. The legacies of this Nehruvian approach toeducation are considerable; perhaps most notable isthe entrenchment of the pluralist/secularist perspectivein the minds of the Indian people. Subsidized qualityhigher education through institutions such as the IITsand IIMs formed a major contribution to the Nehruvianvision of a self-reliant and modern Indian state, andthey now rank amongst the best higher educationinstitutions in the world. In addition, policies ofpositive discrimination in education and employmentfurthered the case for access by hitherto unprivilegedsocial groups to quality education .

9 It has been arguedthat while access for some marginalized communitiescontinues to be limited, the upward mobility of a fewDalit and tribal households resulting from positivediscrimination in educational institutions and statepatronage has created role models that helpdemocracy survive in Kothari Commission: education formodernization, national unity and literacyDrawing on Nehru s vision, and articulating most of hiskey themes, the Kothari Commission (1964 6) was setup to formulate a coherent education policy for to the commission, education was intendedto increase productivity, develop social and nationalunity, consolidate democracy, modernize the countryand develop social, moral and spiritual values.

10 Toachieve this, the main pillar of Indian education policywas to be free and compulsory education for allchildren up to the age of 14. Other features includedthe development of languages (Hindi, Sanskrit,regional languages and the three-language formula2),equality of educational opportunities (regional, tribaland gender imbalances to be addressed) and thedevelopment and prioritization of scientific educationand research. The commission also emphasized the needto eradicate illiteracy and provide adult s curriculum has historically prioritized thestudy of mathematics and science rather than socialsciences or arts. This has been actively promoted sincethe Kothari Commission, which argued that india sdevelopment needs were better met by engineers andscientists than historians.