Education in India – A Detailed Analysis

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What is the current status of education in India? What steps are needed to take the
Indian Education system to the next level?

History of Education in India

India has a rich tradition of imparting knowledge.

The ‘gurukul’ was a type of education system in ancient India with shishya (students)
living with the guru in the same house. Nalanda has the oldest university system of
education in the world. Students from across the world were attracted to Indian
knowledge systems.

Many branches of the knowledge system had their origin in India. Education was
considered a higher virtue in ancient India.

However, the renaissance and scientific thinking as happened in Europe didn’t happen in
India at that time.

The British who took control of the Indian affairs by that time had different priorities.
Education in British India initially lagged a lot.

However, later, the British established the modern education system still followed in India.
They replaced age-old systems of education in the country with English ways.

Still, the education system in India needs a lot of reforms.

Current Status of Education in India: Data from Census 2011

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 Literacy rate in India as per Census 2011: 74%.
Literacy rate: Male: 82.1%; Female: 65.5%
Kerala tops the rankings, followed by Delhi, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.
Bihar is the lowest among states, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Jharkhand, etc., however, they are improving their position.
Bihar has a literacy rate of 63.8%, and that of women is 53.3%.
Literacy rates for both adults as well as youths have increased, still, the absolute
number of illiterates in India is as much as India’s population was at the time of
independence.
The gender gap in terms of literacy began to narrow first in 1991 and the pace has
accelerated, however still lags far behind the global female literacy rate of 7%
(UNESCO 2015).
There are large state variations in the gender gap.
However, during 2001 – 2011, the male literacy rate increased by 6 percentage
points but female literacy increased by nearly 12 percentage points. Achievement in
female literacy in Bihar is noteworthy: from 33% in 2001 to 53% in 2011.
Be that as it may, India is still lagging behind the world literacy rate of 86.3%
(UNESCO 2015). A major group of states lies in the average rank i.e. just above the
national level of 64.8 percent.

Indian Education System: The Present Pyramidal Structure

The Indian education system can broadly be considered as a pyramidal structure:

1. Pre-primary level: 5-6 years of age.

2. Primary (elementary) level: 6-14 years of age. Elementary-level education is
guaranteed by our constitution under Article 21 A. For this level, the government
has introduced Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) under the Right To
Education(RTE) Act.
3. Secondary level: Age group between 14-18. For this level, the government has
extended SSA to secondary education in the form of the Rashtriya Madhyamik
Shiksha Abhiyan.
4. Higher education: generally of three levels: UG→ PG→ MPhil/PhD. To cater to the
requirements of higher education, the government has introduced Rashtriya
Uchhattar Shiksha Abhiyan(RUSA).

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) related to Education

Goal 4 of SDG: Education for all – ensures equitable, inclusive, and quality education
along with the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.

Provisions in the Indian Constitution related to Education

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 Under Article 45 in DPSP, it was mentioned that the government should provide
free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14 years within 10
years from the commencement of the Constitution. As this was not achieved, Article
21A was introduced by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2002, making
elementary education a fundamental right rather than a directive principle. Article 45
was amended to provide for early childhood care and education to children below
the age of six years.
To implement Article 21A, the government legislated the RTE Act. Under this act,
SSA – Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan – got a further impetus. SSA aims to provide
Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) in a time-bound manner.
SSA has been operational since 2000-2001. Its roots go back to 1993-1994 when
the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched. However, under
the RTE Act, it got legal backing.

RTE Act 2009

86th Amendment Act 2002 introduced Article 21-A, which provides for free and
compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a
Fundamental Right.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act was enacted to
implement this fundamental right.

Provisions of the RTE Act

Right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary
education in a neighborhood school.
‘Compulsory education’ means an obligation of the government to provide free
elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance, and
completion of elementary education.
Provision for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age-appropriate class.
Norms and standards like Pupil pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs), buildings and
infrastructure, school-working days, teacher-working hours, and appropriately
trained and qualified teachers are enumerated.
Rational deployment of teachers, ensuring that there is no urban-rural
imbalance in their postings.
Prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational work, other than
services like decennial census, elections, etc.
It prohibits (a) physical punishment and mental harassment (b) screening
procedures for admission of children (c) capitation fees (d) private tuition by
teachers (e) running of schools without recognition.
Development of curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the
constitution, ensuring all-around development of the child, building a system of
child-friendly and child-centered learning.
To further inclusiveness, 25% reservation is provided for disadvantaged students in
private schools.

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Criticisms of the RTE Act
Even though the RTE + SSA have increased access to schools, resulting in a high
enrollment rate, dropout rates increased in tandem. However, there is
inadequate attention given to this scenario.
There is inadequate attention to the PTR:
There is a fear of financial burden on the government for teacher recruitment
and training.
The grey area of teacher transfer is also not helping the cause.
There is a provision for the academic calendar to be decided by the local authority,
but it has not been implemented.
Since all state holidays are not relevant for all localities, such a calendar
preparation by local authorities can increase attendance and can also
encourage local panchayats to take ownership of schools.
There is a divergence between urban-rural and rich-poor education.
RTE students in private schools are paying extra fees as the schools claim
that the government fund provided for the same is not adequate.
Most private schools treat RTE as charity and demand that the onus of
universalizing education should be on the government’s head rather than
putting pressure on them.
70% of students are in government schools. So it must be fixed in priority, by
providing infrastructure, teacher quality, and targeted learning for children
from disadvantaged groups to provide an equitable education system.
Rajya Sabha amends the RTE bill, scrapping the no-detention policy and
thus reinstating detention for students of Class V and Class VIII if they fail to pass
examinations.
Under the RTE Act, till class 8, students should not be failed in exams. This is
called the No detention policy. It had reduced dropout rates.
There is growing criticism of the policy resulting in reducing the quality of
elementary education. Hence the RTE Act was amended to scrap the policy.
RTE Act prioritized schooling of children only from the age of 6, thus ignoring pre-
school education. Kothari Commission had recommended the establishment of a
center for the development of pre-primary education in each district.
RTE Act recommends a PTR of 30:1 for primary classes and 35:1 for upper primary
classes
District Information System for Education (DISE) report states that 30% of
primary and 15% of upper primary schools have higher PTRs.
According to the Economic Survey 2018-19, the PTR at the national level for
primary schools is 23 and 27 for secondary schools. Thus PTR appears to be
satisfactory, as there are sufficient teachers. However, the main issue is a
balanced deployment of teachers based on student strength.
Even though the Student-Classroom ratio (SCR) improved in almost all of
the States, there is disparity across the country.

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Modern Education in India: The Evolution of the System through
various policies
The British government had introduced modern education in India. From Macaulay’s
minutes to Wood’s dispatch to several commissions like the Sadler Commission, 1904
Indian education policy, etc. built the foundation of the Indian education system during the
colonial period.

Radhakrishnan committee
In 1948-49, the University Education Commission was constituted under
Radhakrishnan. It molded the education system based on the needs of an independent
India. The pre-Independent Indian education value system was catering to colonial
masters. There was a need to replace Macaulayism with the Indian value
system. (Macaulayism is the policy of eliminating indigenous culture through the planned
substitution of the alien culture of a colonizing power via the education system). Some of
the values mentioned in the commission were:

Wisdom and Knowledge

Aims of the Social Order: the desired social order for which youths are being
educated.
Love for higher values in life
Training for Leadership

The Independent Indian education system developed along the lines of this value
framework. In the present times, where there are imminent threats of political ideologies
hijacking the pedagogy of education and commercialization of education eroding value
systems, it is appreciable to dust off the values promulgated by the commission. A recent
controversial circular by the Central University of Kerala (CUK), directing that research
topics for Ph.D. students must be by ‘national priorities’, and research in ‘irrelevant topics’
and ‘privilege areas’ must be discouraged, is a case in point.

Kothari commission

If the Radhakrishnan committee charted out the value system of the Indian education
system, it was the Kothari Commission that provided the basic framework of the same.
The commission provided for:

Standardization of educational system on 10+2+3 pattern.

Emphasized the need to make work experience and social/national service an
integral part of education.
Linking of colleges to several schools in the neighborhood.
Equalization of opportunities to all and to achieve social and national integration.
Neighborhood school system without social or religious segregation and a
school complex system integrating primary and secondary levels of education.
Establishment of Indian Education Service.

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 On-the-job training of the teaching staff and efforts to raise the status of the
teachers to attract talents into the profession.
To raise expenditure on education from 2.9% of the GDP to 6% by 1985.

This committee report paved the way for the National Educational Policy 1968 which
provided the base and roadmap for further development of the education system in India.

National Educational Policy 1968

The policy provided for “radical restructuring” and equalization of educational
opportunities to achieve national integration and greater cultural and economic
development.
Increase public expenditure on education to 6% of GDP.
Provide for better training and qualification of teachers.
Three-language formula: state governments should implement the study of a
modern Indian language, preferably one of the southern languages, apart from
Hindi and English in the Hindi-speaking states, and of Hindi along with the regional
language and English in the non-Hindi-speaking states. Hindi was encouraged
uniformly to promote a common language for all Indians.

National Educational Policy 1985

The policy aimed at the removal of disparities and to equalize educational
opportunities, especially for women, SC and ST.
Launching of “Operation Blackboard” to improve primary schools nationwide.
IGNOU, the Open University, was formed.
Adoption of the “rural university” model, based on the philosophy of Mahatma
Gandhi, to promote economic and social development at the grassroots level in
rural India.

T.S.R.Subramanium committee report

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) – children from four to five years of
age – to be declared as a fundamental right.
ECCE is inconsistent across states. So all government schools should have
facilities for pre-primary education, which would facilitate pre-school education
by the government instead of the private sector.
Exam reform:
The policy of no detention should be upheld only till class five and not till class
eight.
Teacher Management:
There is a steep rise in teacher shortage, absenteeism, and grievances.
Need to constitute an Autonomous Teacher Recruitment Board.
Four years integrated B.Ed. the course should be introduced.

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 ICT in Education:
There is an inadequate integration of information technology (IT) and the
education sector.
Vocational education and training:
The National Skills Qualification Framework should be scaled up.
The choice of vocational courses should be in line with local opportunities and
resources.
Bringing formal certification for vocational education at par with conventional
education certificates.
All India Education Service.
National Higher Education Promotion and Management Act (NHEPMA):
Existing separate laws governing individual regulators in higher
education should be replaced by the said act.
The role of existing regulatory bodies like UGC and AICTE should be revised.
National Accreditation Board (NAB) subsuming the existing accreditation bodies.

Kasturirangan Report On School Education (Draft National

Education Policy)
For restructuring the education system in India, the government is preparing to roll out a
New Education Policy that will cater to Indian needs in the 4th Industrial Revolution by
making use of its demographic dividend. Committee for Draft National Education
Policy (chaired by Dr. K. Kasturirangan) submitted its report on May 31, 2019.

You can read about the National Education Policy 2020 in detail here.

School Education:

Problems
Low accessibility.
The curriculum doesn’t meet the developmental needs of children.
Lack of qualified and trained teachers.
Substandard pedagogy.
Currently, most early childhood education is delivered through anganwadis
and private preschools. However, there has been less focus on the
educational aspects of early childhood.
The policy recommends developing a two-part curriculum for early childhood care
and education.
Guidelines for up to three-year-old children.
Educational framework for three to eight-year-old children.
This would be implemented by improving and expanding the Anganwadi
system and co-locating anganwadis with primary schools.

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The Right to Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act):
Expanding the ambit of the Act to all children between the ages of three to 18
years, thus including early childhood education and secondary school
education.
Review recent amendments to the RTE Act on continuous and comprehensive
evaluation and the no-detention policy.
There should be no detention of children till class eight. Instead, schools
must ensure that children are achieving age-appropriate learning levels.
Curriculum framework:
The current structure of school education is to be restructured based on
the development needs of students.
10+2+3 structure to be replaced by 5-3-3-4 design comprising: (i) five
years of foundational stage (three years of pre-primary school and
classes one and two), (ii) three years of preparatory stage (classes three
to five), (iii) three years of middle stage (classes six to eight), and (iv)
four years of secondary stage (classes nine to 12).
The current education system solely focuses on rote learning. The
curriculum load should be reduced to its essential core content.
School exam reforms:
Current board examinations:
Force students to concentrate only on a few subjects.
Do not test learning in a formative manner.
Cause stress among students.
To track students’ progress throughout their school experience, State
Census Examinations in classes three, five, and eight should be
established.
Restructure the board examinations to test only the core concept. These
board examinations will be on a range of subjects. The students can
choose their subjects and the semester when they want to take these
board exams. The in-school final examinations may be replaced by
these board examinations.

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 School infrastructure:
Although establishing primary schools in every habitation has increased
access to education, it has led to the development of very small schools
making it operationally complex. Hence the multiple public schools
should be brought together to form a school complex.
A complex will consist of one secondary school (classes nine to twelve)
and all the public schools in its neighborhood that offer education from
pre-primary to class eight.
These will also include anganwadis, vocational education facilities, and
an adult education center.
Each school complex will be a semi-autonomous unit providing
integrated education across all stages from early childhood to secondary
education.
This will ensure that resources such as infrastructure and trained
teachers can be efficiently shared across a school complex.
Teacher management:
A steep rise in a teacher shortage, lack of professionally qualified
teachers, and deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes
have plagued the system.
Teachers should be deployed with a particular school complex for at
least five to seven years.
They will not be allowed to participate in any non-teaching activities
during school hours.
Existing B.Ed. the program will be replaced by a four-year integrated
B.Ed. program that combines high-quality content, pedagogy, and
practical training. An integrated continuous professional development
will also be developed for all subjects.
Regulation of schools:
Separating the regulation of schools from aspects such as policymaking,
school operations, and academic development.
Independent State School Regulatory Authority for each state will
prescribe basic uniform standards for public and private schools.
The Department of Education of the State will formulate policy and
conduct monitoring and supervision.

Higher Education

According to the All India Survey on Higher Education, the Gross Enrolment
Ratio (GER) in higher education in India has increased from 20.8% in 2011-12 to
25.8% in 2017-18. Lack of access is a major reason behind the low intake of higher
education. The policy aims to increase GER to 50% by 2035.

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Regulatory structure and accreditation:
Multiple regulators with overlapping mandates reduce the autonomy of higher
educational institutions and create an environment of dependency and
centralized decision-making.
The National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA)
should replace the existing individual regulators in higher education. Thus the
role of all professional councils such as AICTE would be limited to setting
standards for professional practice. The role of the UGC will be limited to
providing grants.
Separate the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)
from the UGC into an independent and autonomous body. It will function as
the top-level accreditor and will issue licenses to different accreditation
institutions. All existing higher education institutions should be accredited by
2030.
Establishment of new higher educational institutions:
Replacing the current system of establishing higher educational institutions by
Parliament or state legislatures. Instead, institutions can be set up through a
Higher Education Institution Charter from NHERA.
Restructuring of higher education institutions:
Phasing out the current complex system of naming Higher education
institutions(HEI) as ‘deemed to be university’, ‘affiliating university’, ‘unitary
university’ etc. HEI will be restructured into three types:
Research universities focus equally on research and teaching.
Universities focus primarily on teaching.
Colleges focus only on teaching at undergraduate levels.
All such institutions will gradually move towards full autonomy.
Establishing a National Research Foundation (NRF):
Total investment in research and innovation in India has declined from 0.84%
of GDP in 2008 to 0.69% in 2014. India also lags behind many nations in the
number of researchers, patents, and publications.
NRF will act as an autonomous body for funding, mentoring, and building the
capacity for quality research.
Moving towards a liberal approach:
Undergraduate programs should be made interdisciplinary by redesigning
their curriculum to include: a common core curriculum; and one/two area(s) of
specialization.
Introduce four-year undergraduate programs in Liberal Arts.
By the next five years, five Indian Institutes of Liberal Arts must be set up
as model multidisciplinary liberal arts institutions.

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 Professional development of faculty:
Poor service conditions and heavy teaching loads, augmented by a lack of
autonomy and no clear career progression system, have resulted in low
faculty motivation.
Introduction of a Continuous Professional Development program and
permanent employment track system for faculty in all higher education
institutions by 2030.
The student-teacher ratio of not more than 30:1 must be ensured.
Optimal learning environment:
All higher education institutions must have complete autonomy on curricular,
pedagogical, and resource-related matters.

Additional Key Focus Areas:

Additional key focus areas are (1) Technology in Education (2) Vocational Education (3)
Adult Education and (4) the Promotion of Indian Languages.

Technology in Education

Technology plays an important role in:

Improving the classroom process of teaching, learning, and evaluation
Aiding teacher training.
Improving access to education.
Improving the overall planning, administration, and management of the entire
education system.
Electrification of all educational institutions paves the way for technology induction.
National Mission on Education through ICT:
An autonomous body, the National Education Technology Forum, set up
under the Mission, will facilitate decision-making on the use of technology.
National Repository on Educational Data: maintain all records related to
institutions, teachers, and students in digital form.
Single online digital repository to make available copyright-free educational
resources in multiple languages.

Vocational Education

Less than 5% of the workforce in the age group of 19-24 receives vocational
education in India, in contrast to 52% in the USA, 75% in Germany and 96% in
South Korea.

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 National Policy on Skills Development and Entrepreneurship (2015) aimed at
offering vocational education in 25% of educational institutions. The policy expands
this to include all educational institutions in a phased manner over 10 years.
Vocational courses: All school students must receive vocational education in
at least one vocation in grades 9 to 12.
Higher Education Institutions must offer vocational courses that are integrated
into undergraduate education programs.
The draft Policy targets to offer vocational education to up to 50% of the total
enrolment in higher education institutions by 2025, up from the present level of
enrolment of below 10%.
National Committee for the Integration of Vocational Education for
charting out plans for the above objectives.

Adult Education

As per Census 2011, India had a total of 26.5 crore adult non-literate (15 years and
above).

Establishing an autonomous Central Institute of Adult Education as a constituent

unit of NCERT. It will develop a National Curriculum Framework for adult education.
Adult Education Centers will be included within the school complexes.
Relevant courses are made available at the National Institute of Open Schooling.
National Adult Tutors Programme to build a cadre of adult education instructors
and managers.

Education and Indian Languages

The medium of instruction must be the mother tongue until grade 5, and preferably
until grade 8.
3 language formula be continued and flexibility in the implementation of the
formula should be provided. Implementation of the formula needs to be
strengthened, particularly in Hindi-speaking states. Schools in Hindi-speaking areas
should also teach Indian languages from other parts of India for national integration.
To promote Indian languages, a National Institute for Pali, Persian, and Prakrit
will be set up.
The mandate of the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology will
be expanded to include all fields and disciplines to strengthen vocabulary in Indian
languages.

Transforming Education
The policy talked about the synergistic functioning of India’s education system, to deliver
equity and excellence at all levels, from vision to implementation, led by a new Rashtriya
Shiksha Aayog.

Education Governance

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Revitalize education governance by bringing in synergy and coordination among the
different ministries, departments, and agencies.

Constitute the National Education Commission or Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog, as

an apex body for education headed by the Prime Minister. It would be responsible
for developing, implementing, evaluating, and revising the vision of education and
overseeing the implementation and functioning of bodies including the National
Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), National Higher Education
Regulatory Authority, and National Research Foundation.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Development must be renamed the Ministry
of Education to bring the focus back on education.

Financing Education

The Draft Policy reaffirmed the commitment to spending 6% of GDP as a public

investment in education.
The draft Policy seeks to double the public investment in education from the current
10% of total public expenditure to 20% in the next 10 years. 5% will be utilized for
higher education, 2% in school education, and 1.4% for early childhood care and
education.
There should be optimal and timely utilization of funds through the institutional
development plans and by plugging loopholes in the disbursement of funds.

Criticism of the New Education Policy of India

The New Education Policy lacks operational details.
It is not clear from where the funding will be sourced.
Enough importance is not given to innovation, startup culture or economic principles
to be added to the curriculum.
One-size-fits for all states can’t be a solution as each state in India is diverse in its
educational needs. Controversy on NEET has shown this.
With technological advancement and the democratization of knowledge, the policy
should have focused more on how to teach rather than what to teach.
Economic Survey 2017-18 mentioned the perils of the distinction between research
institutions and universities in higher education. The policy recommendation of three
distinct higher education institutions of research universities, teaching universities,
and teaching colleges will further augment the gap between research and
universities.
The draft policy is silent on the Institutions of Eminence and agencies like the
Higher Education Funding Agency.
The role of Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog should be defined clearly. What would be its
role vis-a-vis existing regulators? Also, there are criticisms from some quarters that
RSA will open the door to the politicization of education.
Earlier the 3-language formula proposed by the draft policy made Hindi compulsory
in non-Hindi speaking states. However, after the furor, the proposal was removed.

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 Even though the policy talks about bringing “unrepresented groups” into school and
focusing on educationally lagging “special education zones”, it doesn’t
comprehensively address the inequalities prevalent in the system. It misses
methods to bridge the gaps between rich and poor children.
The policy proposes to remove the provision mandating that primary schools be
within stipulated distance from students’ homes and common minimum
infrastructure and facility standards that should be met by all schools. If a common
minimum standard is not specified, it will create an environment where quality in
some schools will fall further thus augmenting the inequalities between schools
across the country.

India’s education history is rich with ambitious policies failing at the altar of inadequate
implementation of the same. In the absence of a handholding mechanism for states to
embark on the path-breaking reforms mentioned in the policy and that too in a short time,
will be too much to ask.

Funding requirements and governance architecture pose major challenges in the

implementation of the policy. Political commitment is required to increase funding. RTE
Act expansion to include preschool should keep in mind the present infrastructure
inadequacies and teacher vacancies.

Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog may face administrative problems and turf battles. Also, it will
raise questions on the role of new bodies like the National Medical Council.

The recent controversy on 3 language formula shows the sensitivity of language

education in India and care should be taken to appreciate the emotional overtures while
implementing the same.

Politically acceptability, social desirability, technological feasibility, financial viability,

administratively doability, and judicially tenability are 6 pillars that will impact the
implementation of the policy.

Be that as it may, the new education policy aims to address the challenges of (i) access,
(ii) equity, (iii) quality, (iv) affordability, and (v) accountability faced by the current
education system. It aims to revitalize and equip the education system to meet the
challenges of the 21st century and 4th industrial revolution rather than catering to 19th
and 20th century needs of industrialization. Also, India is on the cusp of a demographic
dividend, rather than entered into this phase. So the education system catering to these
needs is not a luxury that we hope for but rather a dire need at this moment in Indian
history.

The Problems associated with the Education System in India

HRD ministry: Over 1.4 million schools and 50,000 higher educational institutions are
operating in India. Out of 907 universities, there are 399 state universities, 126 deemed-
to-be universities, 48 central and 334 private universities.

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 Even after more than a hundred years of “Gokhale’s Bill”1911, where universal
primary education was originally mooted, India is yet to achieve this goal.
China had achieved it in the 1970s. As per Census 2011, over 26% of India’s
population is still illiterate, compared to 4% in China. About 50% of India’s
population has only primary education or less, compared to 38% in China. The 13%
of the population with tertiary education at the upper end in India is comparable with
China.
However, according to Educational Statistics at a Glance (ESAG) 2018, the thrust
on providing primary education has yielded results across social and gender
categories in the Gross Enrolment Rate (GER).
Progress has been made in respect of female participation up to secondary
level and GER for girls has exceeded that of boys.
But the girl’s enrollment rate is lower than that of boys at the higher education
level.
A gap is visible across social categories in terms of enrollment rate at the
higher education level.
According to NSSO’s 71st round (2014), drop-out rates are very high for boys at
the secondary school level. Reasons for the same are economic activities, lack of
interest in education, and financial constraints.
The transition rate from secondary school to senior secondary and further to higher
education is very low.

Despite these highly ambitious education policies and elaborate deliberations on the
same, the outcomes are rather shaky. Major criticisms and shortcomings of these policies
and their implementations are:

Elitist bias in the implementation of education policies is reflected in the top-

heavy structure of India’s education profile, neglecting basic education and
prioritizing higher education. The ratio of per-student public expenditure at the
tertiary level is high relative to the primary level in India.
Half the population is crowded at the bottom, either illiterate or with only
primary education. Meanwhile, a disproportionately large segment is at the
upper end with tertiary education.
Poor quality of education.
The 2015 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)reflects this
deteriorating quality. The report opines that deficits in foundational reading and
arithmetic skills are cumulative, which leaves students grossly handicapped
for further education.
India had fared poorly in the Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA) test in 2008, and 09.
Education policies in India are focused on inputs rather than on learning
outcomes.

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Issues with teachers
Teacher shortages.
Local politics.
Corruption in teacher appointment.
Defects in teacher training.
Socio-cultural factors like caste division, and cynical attitude towards the
teaching profession.
The incentive structure for government school teachers is highly skewed,
guaranteeing poor performance.
There is no accountability, as there is a guaranteed lifetime job independent of
performance.
Inadequate public spending.
From 1952-2012, education expenditure as a percentage of total government
expenditure increased from 7.92 to 11.7, and as a percentage of GDP
increased from 0.64 to 3.31. But it has still not reached 6% of GDP, as was
recommended by the Kothari Commission way back in 1964.
Expenditure by the government on elementary education is more than tertiary
level, but expenditure per student is more in tertiary. So there is a need to
increase expenditure in all segments.

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 Non-inclusive and in-equitable education system.
All India survey on higher education has shown that in West Bengal Muslim
students in universities are very low. Lack of education at the primary and
secondary levels is said to be the main reason.
Even though Article 15(4),(5) provides reservations for SC, ST, and OBC in
higher education institutions, the Economic Survey 2018-19 points out their
inadequate representation in these institutions.
The suicide of Rohit Vemula, a Ph.D. scholar at the University of Hyderabad,
in 2016 had brought forward the discrimination still existing in these
institutions.
Also, the representation of teachers at these levels is skewed against the
backward class in spite of reservations. Article 16(4) provides for reservations
of backward class in jobs.
The rich-poor divide is also visible at all levels of the education system.
At the school level, poor children are primarily concentrated in
government schools. The poor quality of government schools thus
disproportionately affects these children and creates a vicious cycle of
illiteracy.
At the higher education level, the situation is more critical. One reason
for the introduction of the National Medical Commission Bill is to curb
the exorbitant fees charged by medical colleges.
The inadequate employable skills of youth in India.
Youths coming out of the higher education system in India are not
employable, as they lack relevant industry-level skills.
India’s long-standing neglect of primary and secondary education has
limited access to quality basic education. No skill development program
can succeed without an underlying foundation of basic education.
National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
2015(PMKVY) has shown disappointing results.
Budget 2019-20 stated that the government enables about 10 million
youth to take up industry-relevant skill training through the Pradhan
Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). The Budget has also increased
focus on ‘new-age skills’ like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of
Things (IoT), Big Data, 3D Printing, Virtual Reality, and Robotic.
Currently, B Tech courses in AI are offered mostly in premier institutions
only.
Sports education is a grossly neglected area in the Indian education
scenario. Even today sports education is considered a luxury in India.
The budget 2019-20 proposed the National Sports Education Board
for the development of sportspersons under the Khelo India program
(2017).

In the larger domain of human capital, education, and skill development have a big role.

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Census 2011 data on literacy gives us a quick perspective on the current status of
education. However, education is not just about literacy.

There are various government initiatives targeting each level of the education system in
India. The higher Education System is given a greater focus these days.

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