EDUCATION REFORMS- SIGNIFICNACE OF RIGHT TO EDUCATION

Current ministry of human resource and development- kapil sibal
Budget- rs.31,036(US $-7.05 billion)(2009-2010)
Literacy2001
Total- 66%
Male-76.9%
Fem-54.5% • Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to the world and 'charaka' is known as the father of Ayurveda. He developed this system some 2500 years back. • Takshila was the first university of world established in 700 B.C. • Nalanda University, built in 4 AD, was considered to be the honor of ancient Indian system of education as it was one of the best Universities of its time in the subcontinent. • Indian language Sanskrit is considered to be the mother of many modern languages of world. • Place value system was developed in India in 100 B.C. • India was the country, which invented number system. • Aryabhatta, the Indian scientist, invented digit zero. • Trigonometry, algebra and calculus studies were originated in India.
CURRENT CHANGES IN EDUCATION 2010
At first, the HRD ministry has allowed the entry of the Foreign Universities to set-up campuses on Indian shores to boost higher education for top B-school students. While on the other hand, a revolutionary change in taking the educational system of CBSE in conformation to the international standard aptly serves the interest of primary education.
1) Education Bill Regulating Entry of Foreign Universities.

2) Introduction of International syllabus in CBSE.

3) No Unit tests for Classes I to VIII in Maharashtra.

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.[15] Additionally literacy was also improved. In 1901 the literacy rate in India was only about 5% though by Independence it was nearly 20%.[16]

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

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.[10] The business class, the Vaishya, were taught their trade and the lowered class of the Shudras was generally deprived of educational advantages.[
Primary level

80% of all recognized schools at the Elementary Stage are government run or supported, making it the largest provider of education in the Country

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[25] for children for 6 to 14 years of age or up to class VIII under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009.[27]

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.[28] 85% of the DPEP was funded by the central government and the remaining 15 percent was funded by the states.[28] 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.[28] This primary education scheme has also shown a high Gross Enrollment Ratio of 93–95% for the last three years in some states
The program has been successful to the large extent as 1,60,000 schools and 84,000 alternative schools have been opened under this program. And work is going on for the construction of new buildings of 52,758 schools. 4,20,203 disabled students have been successfully enrolled into the schools.

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.

PRIVATE EDUCATION
27% of Indian children are privately educated.[
The pupil teacher ratios are much better in private schools (1:31 to 1:37 for government schools and more teachers in private schools are female.[34] There is some disgreement over which system has better educated teachers. According to the latest DISE survey, the percentage of untrained teachers (paratechers) is 54.91% in private, compared to 44.88% in government schools and only 2.32% teachers in unaided schools receive inservice training compared to 43.44% for government schools. The competition in the school market is intense, yet most schools make profit

Homeschooling

Homeschooling is legal in India, though it is the less explored option. The Indian Government's stance on the issue is that parents are free to teach their children at home, if they wish to and have the means. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has stated that despite the RTE Act of 2009, if someone decides not to send his/her children to school, the government would not interfere.[35

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.[36] 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.[

A special Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) programme was started in 1974 with a focus on primary education.[21] but which was converted into Inclusive Education at Secondary Stage[40] Another notable special programme, the Kendriya Vidyalaya project, was started for the employees of the central government of India,

HIGHER EDUCATION ndia's higher education system is the third largest in the world, after China and the United States.[43] The main governing body at the tertiary level is the University Grants Commission (India), which enforces its standards, advises the government, and helps coordinate between the centre and the state.[44] Accreditation for higher learning is overseen by 12 autonomous institutions established by the University Grants Commission.[45]

As of 2009, India has 20 central universities, 215 state universities, 100 deemed universities, 5 institutions established and functioning under the State Act, and 13 institutes which are of national importance.[44] Other institutions include 16000 colleges, including 1800 exclusive women's colleges, functioning under these universities and institutions.[44] The emphasis in the tertiary level of education lies on science and technology.[46] Indian educational institutions by 2004 consisted of a large number of technology institutes.[47] Distance learning is also a feature of the Indian higher education system.[47]

Some institutions of India, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), have been globally acclaimed for their standard of education.[47]The IITs enroll about 8000 students annually and the alumni have contributed to both the growth of the private sector and the public sectors of India.[48] However, India has failed to produce world class universities like Harvard or Cambridge.[49]

Besides top rated universities which provide highly competitive world class education to their pupil, India is also home to many universities which have been founded with the sole objective of making easy money. Regulatory authorities like UGC and AICTE have been trying very hard to extirpate the menace of private universities which are running courses without any affiliation or recognition. Students from rural and semi urban background often fall prey to these institutes and colleges.[50][dead link]

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, andJawaharlal Nehru University in 2005 and 2006.[51] 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.[52] The Indian School of Business situated in Hyderabad was ranked number 12 in global MBA rankings by the Financial Times of London in 2010[53] while the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been recognized as a global leader in medical research and treatment.[54]

According to the Census of 2001, "every person above the age of 7 years who can read and write in any language is said to be literate". According to this criterion, the 2001 survey holds the National Literacy Rate to be around 64.84%.[58] Government statistics of 2001 also hold that the rate of increase in literacy is more in rural areas than in urban areas.[58] Female literacy was at a national average of 53.63% whereas the male literacy was 75.26%.[58] Within the Indian states, Kerala has shown the highest literacy rates of 90.02% whereas Biharaveraged lower than 50% literacy, the lowest in India.[58] The 2001 statistics also indicated that the total number of 'absolute non-literates' in the country was 304 million.[58]

Attainment

The number of literate women among the female population of India was between 2-6% from the British Raj onwards to the formation of the Republic of India in 1947.[65] Concerted efforts led to improvement from 15.3% in 1961 to 28.5% in 1981.[65] By 2001 literacy for women had exceeded 50% of the overall female population, though these statistics were still very low compared to world standards and even male literacy within India.[66] Recently the Indian government has launched Saakshar Bharat Mission for Female Literacy. This mission aims to bring down female illiteracy by half of its present level.

Issues

Funding and infrastructure

A study of 188 government-run primary schools found that 59% of the schools had no drinking water and 89% had no toilets.[73] 2003-04 data by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration revealed that only 3.5% of primary schools in Bihar and Chhattisgarh had toilets for girls. In Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, rates were 12-16%.[74]

Fake degrees are a problem. One raid in Bihar found 100,000 fake certificates.[78] In February 2009, the University Grant Commission found 19 fake institutions operating in India.[79]

The government objective for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), started in 2001, is to provide education to children between 6–14 years by 2010.[84] The programme focuses specially on girls and children with challenged social or financial backgrounds

Women from remote, underdeveloped areas or from weaker social groups in Andra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala,Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, fall under the Mahila Samakhya Scheme, initiated in 1989. The government allowed [pic]340 million (US$ 7.7 million) during 2007–08 to carry out this scheme over 83 districts including more than 21, 000 villages.[85]

Currently there are 68 Bal Bhavans and 10 Bal Kendra affiliated to the National Bal Bhavan

India's minorities, especially the ones considered 'educationally backward' by the government, are provided for in the 1992 amendment of the Indian National Policy on Education (NPE). The government initiated the Scheme of Area Intensive Programme for Educationally Backward Minorities and Scheme of Financial Assistance or Modernisation of Madarsa Education as part of its revised Programme of Action (1992).[87] Both these schemes were started nationwide by 1994.[87] In 2004 the Indian parliament allowed an act which enabled minority education establishments to seek university affiliations if they passed the required norms.

Budget

As a part of the tenth Five year Plan (2002–2007), the central government of India outlined an expenditure of 65.6% of its total education budget of [pic] 438.25 billion (US$ 9.95 billion) i.e. [pic] 287.5 billion (US$ 6.53 billion) on elementary education; 9.9% i.e. [pic]43.25 billion (US$ 981.78 million) on secondary education; 2.9% i.e. [pic]12.5 billion (US$ 283.75 million) on adult education; 9.5% i.e. [pic]41.765 billion (US$ 948.07 million) on higher education; 10.7% i.e. [pic] 47 billion (US$ 1.07 billion) on technical education; and the remaining 1.4% i.e. [pic]6.235 billion (US$ 141.53 million) on miscellaneous education schemes.[88]

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), India has the lowest public expenditure on higher education per student in the world.[89]

Public Expenditure on Education in India

In recent times, several major announcements were made for developing the poor state of affairs in education sector in India, the most notable ones being the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The announcements are; (a) To progressively increase expenditure on education to around 6 percent of GDP. (b) To support this increase in expenditure on education, and to increase the quality of education, there would be an imposition of an education cess over all central government taxes. (c) To ensure that no one is denied of education due to economic backwardness and poverty. (d) To make right to education a fundamental right for all children in the age group 6–14 years. (e) To universalize education through its flagship programmes such as Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid Day Meal.

However, even after five years of implementation of NCMP, not much progress has been done on these promises or announcements. The public expenditure on education has actually declined from around 3.23 percent of GDP in 2000-2001 to 2.88 percent in the recent times. As a proportion of total government expenditure, it has declined from around 11.1 percent in 2000-2001 to around 9.98 percent during UPA rule. [As per the available information, the private out of pocket expenditure by the working class population for the education of their children in India has increased by around 1150 percent or around 12.5 times over the last decade].[92]

[edit]Legislative framework

Article 45, of the Constitution of India originally stated:

|“ |The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for |” |
| |free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years.[17] | |

▪ The constitution of India was amended to include a new article, 21A, which read:
|“ |The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in a such |” |
| |manner as the State may, by law, determine.[95] | |

▪ Article 45 was proposed to be substituted by the article which read:
|“ |Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years: The State shall endeavour to |” |
| |provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of sixteen years.[95] | |

▪ Another article, 51A, was to additionally have the clause:
|“ |...a parent or guardian [shall] provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, [a] ward |” |
| |between the age of six to fourteen years.[95] | |

The bill was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, on November 28, 2001.[96] It was later passed by the upper house—the Rajya Sabha—on May 14, 2002.[96] After being signed by the President of India the Indian constitution was amended formally for the eighty sixth time and the bill came into effect.[96] Since then those between the age of 6–14 have a fundamental right to education.[97]

Article 46 of the Constitution of India holds that:

Other provisions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can be found in Articles 330, 332, 335, 338–342.[58] Both the 5th and the 6th Schedules of the Constitution also make special provisions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.[58]

Operation Blackboard
It was started in 1987-88. The aim of this program is to improve human and physical resource availability in primary schools of India.

Education is not just one of the but the most important dominion of our national life. From an integrated and synergic viewpoint, educational system constitutes the foundation of the legal, administrative, civic and developmental domains of unfolding India of tomorrow.

Education is a basic human right and has been recognized as such since the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights
75 million children are not in school according to UNESCO and by 2005-2006, as many as 90 million children were without access to education.
According to UNICEF, over 100 million children who account for 70 percent of all child laborers, work in agriculture in rural areas where access to schools, availability of trained teachers and educational supplies is severely limited.
In 2000, the international community committed to achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015, two specifically related to education: MDG 2 focuses on universal primary education and MDG 3 aims to reduce the gender gap in education.
. The disparity between need and aid is apparent: aid sent to low-income countries to provide basic education in 2004 and 2005 was at an average of $3.1 billion per year.