Education scenario and needs in India: Building a perspective for 2025
Suman Sachdeva

SECTION-I
The Indian Constitution resolves to provide quality education to all and in an effort to fulfill the educational needs of the country specifically for the diverse societies and cultures of the country the government has chalked out different educational categories: Elementary education, Secondary education, Higher education, Adult education, Technical and Vocational education. Despite serious handicaps of means and resources, the country has built up during the last 50 years, a very large system of education and has created a vast body of men and women equipped with a high order of scientific and technological capabilities, robust humanist and philosophical thought and creativity. It would be worthwhile to observe the trends in the different sectors of education from post Independence period to the present scenario.

Sectors of Education
Elementary Education
Graph I: Comparative Statement of Number of Institutions in 1950-51 and 1998-99
6.5 6 5.5 5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 6.27

2.1

1.9

0.13 1950-51 1998-99

Primary Schools (Classes I-V)

Upper Primary Schools (Classes VI-VIII)

Comparative Statement of Numbers of Students (Upper Primary Stage) in 1950-51 and 1998-99
403.53 400 300 200 100 0 1950-51 1998-99 31.19 57.58 12.7

At the time of Independence, only fourteen percent of the population was literate and only one child out of three had been enrolled in primary school. The need for universal education for all children in the age group of 6-14 years recognized as a crucial input for nation building, was given due consideration in successive Five Year Plans and has resulted in a manifold increase of spatial spread, infrastructure facilities, increased coverage of various social groups; but the goal of providing basic education to all