INDIA

HISTORY & BACKGROUND

Historical Evolution: Education always evolves out of historical and cultural contexts. India's current educational system is a product of centuries-old dualities that characterize the genius and decadence of an ancient but wounded civilization. Speaking to the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education, India's Minister of Resource Development and Science and Technology, Murli Manohar Joshi, asserted the centrality of education to the Indian heritage. "Pursuit of integral knowledge and liberation, which has been a constant endeavor of Indian culture, is also the central objective of education," Joshi told the conference (1998). Joshi further addressed the connection between education and the preservation of culture:

Education is also visualized as an evolutionary force so that each individual is enabled to evolve from purely material consciousness towards superior planes of intellectual and spiritual consciousness. Education is also perceived as a bridge between the past, present, and the future and as a means by which the best of the heritage is transmitted to the new generations for its further progression. (Joshi 1998)

India has the world's oldest and largest education system. Its antiquity and diversity are reflected in the roots of cultural norms and institutions that go back to a distant and venerable past. It is believed that the world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 B.C. It was a center for higher learning that attracted about 10,500 students who studied nearly 60 subjects.

The ruins of Nalanda University, southeast of Patna, reflect India's prestigious status for the 10,000 pupils and 2,000 teachers who came there from all over the world between the fourth and twelfth centuries. Hieun-Tsang, the famed Chinese traveler-scholar, studied and taught at Nalanda. His writings offer a vivid and authentic account of India's political and social realities that prevailed around the fifth century. Nalanda saw the rise and fall of empires that built several shrines and monasteries. King Harshwardhan endowed a college of fine arts. Both Nagarujuna and Dinnaga—a Mahayana philosopher and the founder of the school of logic, respectively—taught here.

If Takshila and Nalanda are any testimony, educational standards and knowledge development had reached an epitome of excellence that subsequently vanquished in the wake of social and political changes. Caste, religion, gender, and class have always determined the content, context, and delivery of educational goals and programs. As attitudes toward these things change, so does education.

Population: India is home to roughly one-fifth of the global population and is the world's largest democracy. The latest provisional results of Census 2001 indicate that India has become the second most populous country in the world after China. In the decade between 1991 and 2001, India produced more people, but also a more even ratio of men to women and a higher literacy rate.

According to the Express News Service, the population of India in early 2001 was 1,027,015,247, reflecting a growth since 1991 of 181 million people. While the country's share of global population increased by 16.7 percent, its growth rate actually declined by 2.52 percent. The sex ratio was 944 females to 1,000 males, a significant increase from 1991. The largest states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Bihar.

The News Service also reports that illiteracy began in 2001 to decline for the first time in over 50 years. Overall, 75.9 percent of males and 54.2 percent of females are literate, reflecting a decrease in the gap between male and female literacy. Literacy varies greatly by region: Kerala reports a literacy rate of 90.9 percent, while Bihar maintains a literacy rate of only 47.5 percent.

India as the world's largest educational system is both a model and case-in-point for planners and academics addressing the issues and problems of a developing nation. The system serves nearly 1 billion people with limited resources and unlimited demands.

CONSTITUTIONAL & LEGAL FOUNDATIONS

India's constitution and its Directive Principles of State Policy form the legal-constitutional foundation of national policy on education. Article 45 of the Directive Principle mandates that "the State shall endeavor 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." Article (i) provides for any citizen having a distinct language or script. Article 46 addresses the special care of the economic and educational interests of the underprivileged sections, particularly the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, making them an obligation of the state. (Scheduled Castes and Tribes are legally established ethnic subgroups—formerly called "untouchables," a term since outlawed—with specific educational and vocational privileges, special representation in parliament, and protection from discrimination, as outlined in the modern Indian constitution.)

The national education policy has evolved through the periodic evaluation of priorities and the subsequent development of plans to achieve those goals. Since the 1950s, India has followed a planned process of social and national development, incrementally implemented in a series of five-year plans. In 1968, in its Resolution on the National Policy on Education, expansion and quality, especially for education for girls, were emphasized. The actual National Policy on Education (NPE) was not formulated until 1986. It was updated in 1992 with a comprehensive policy framework, the Plan of Action, stipulating main responsibilities for organizing, implementing, and financing various proposals. In keeping with the policy objectives, "the targets for the Ninth Five Year Plan have been fixed under three broad parameters—universal access, universal retention, and universal achievement" (Tiwari 2000).

Though education is in the concurrent list of the national constitution, the state governments play an important role in the planning and delivery of education, especially in the primary and secondary sectors. Joshi described to the UNESCO World Conference the particular responsibilities of the national (Union) government:

Under the Constitutional scheme, "education" is in the concurrent list, and the Union Government and States exercise joint responsibilities. As a result, while the role and responsibilities of the States in regard to education remains unaltered, the Union Government accepts a larger responsibility to reinforce the national and integrated character of education, to maintain quality and standards, to study and monitor the educational requirements of the country as a whole in regard to manpower for development, to cater to the needs of research and advanced study, to look after international aspects of education, culture and human resource development, and in general, to promote excellence at the tertiary level of the educational pyramid throughout the country (1998).

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM—OVERVIEW

India contains about 888,000 educational institutions with an enrollment of about 179 million students. The elementary education system in India is the second largest in the world, with 149.4 million children of 6-14 years enrolled (about 82 percent of the children in that age group) and 2.9 million teachers.

As a democracy, India is committed in principle to compulsory and free education for all its people with special provisions for its underprivileged and traditionally oppressed people. The reality, however, is far from the desired outcome. Poverty and cultural deprivation leave millions of young minds without education. On the contrary, a very sophisticated infrastructure of elitist education modeled after the British private schools exists for the children of rich and influential people who continue to dominate the society in different sectors. Among the residential boarding schools designed exclusively for the elite are The Lawrence School, Lovedale; Kodaikanal International School, Kodaikanal; Rishi Valley School, Chittor; Montford Anglo Indian Boys School, Yercaud; Chinmaya International Residential School, Coimbatore; United World College, Pune; Dow Hill School, Kurseong; St. Paul's School, Darjeeling; The Lawrence School, Sanawar; Mayo College, Ajmer; Welham Girls' High School, Dehradun; and Colvin Tallukedar School, Lucknow.

PREPRIMARY & PRIMARY EDUCATION

Basic Principles: While "primary education provides the fundamentals of all formal learning" (Sharma 1997), preprimary learning may be called the foundation for both education and personal development. Little information exists on formal preprimary education in rural India, although the family and community function as a broader arena for holistic learning. In urban communities, the level of preprimary education corresponds directly to the factors of class and wealth. Only the rich and educated opt for kindergarten and Montessori schools, which abound in affluent neighborhoods, while poor, neglected, underprivileged children languish in the streets of Indian cities.

At least in terms of national priorities, primary education takes as a model a humanistic pedagogy, emphasizing the needs of the child over all means and methods of education. Neerja Sharma succinctly writes:

The buildings, school administration, teachers and personnel, syllabi and textbooks, furniture and uniforms exist because children need education. This truism has been recognized in the Program of Action of the National Policy on Education (1986) that states under its Implementation Strategies: The country's faith in its future generations will be exemplified in the system of elementary education, which will get geared around the centrality of the child (11). (1997)

A 1988 governmental reform of the primary curriculum set forth the principles that were to govern this type of education. Students were entitled to a "broad and balanced curriculum" including such diverse subjects as religious education, science, and technology. In addition, the standards for students' academic achievement were to be raised, and assessment methods were to serve "formative purposes" (Venkataiah 2000).

The implementation of these goals is somewhat confounded by the diversity of India's population and the complexity of its governance. In practice, primary education is a dilemma-ridden field where teachers, schools, communities, and states muddle through a rugged terrain without consensus. As a result, local, regional, and political influences override the foundational issues in pedagogical discourse. In particular, zealous religious groups have been divisive.

S. Venkataiah, a leader in primary and secondary education in India, argues that the legal force and the professional support, even the very goals, of the 1988 reform act created a problem of manageability: "One of the paradoxes was that there would have been no manageability problem without the principles embodied in the curriculum required by the 1988 Act" (2000). Venkataiah identifies three types of problems that arose for those charged with managing the curriculum at the school level: curriculum time allocation, teacher expertise, and resources in primary schools.

A further problem with meeting the expansive goals of the nationally determined curriculum of primary schools has been many teachers' shallow approach to education. "The dominating difficulty in the purpose of primary schools is the fact that 'knowing' is rated more highly than 'teaching,' despite the importance of the latter and its equally intimate connection with 'learning,"' writes Venkataiah (2000). Venkataiah adds:

The agency responsible for the National Curriculum advised the Government that the statutory curriculum would have to be slimmed down; the agency responsible for the national inspection arrangement reported that those schools that had nearly covered the statutory curriculum had done so only by encouraging superficial learning in their pupils. (2000)

Initiatives: Universalization of the entire educational system has been the main goal of government since independence. Formal and nonformal primary education, however, have been the main challenge to this goal. Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) is fraught with systemic and socioeconomic factors that call for massive public education and advocacy. A total-literacy campaign is underway despite numerous barriers. Even provision of textbooks in poverty-ridden areas is a challenge. A comprehensive program seeks to target "i) teachers and all those involved in education of children; ii) students and parents of students, particularly non-literate parents; and iii) community opinion leaders" (Government of India 2001).

Residential education of girls, especially from broken homes and poor families, has lately received planners' attention. A program named after Mahatma Gandhi's wife, the Kasturba Gandhi Shiksha Yojana, has been funded with Rs. 2,500 million (rupees). Other financial incentives and scholarships for poor girls have been provided. All such programs, as recorded in the NPE-1986, "pay special attention to increasing girls' enrollment, improving educational outcomes, strengthening community involvement, and improving teaching and learning materials and providing in-service teacher training" (Government of India 2001). The status of some of these initiatives is discussed below.

Operation Blackboard: According to the government of India, the number of primary schools that have been transformed under this initiative with central assistance is 523,000. The main purpose of this program is to improve the environment in schools by providing basic facilities.

Decentralization: According to the government of India, the management of elementary education, as envisioned by the NPE, has emphasized direct community involvement in the form of Village Education Committees (VECs). The 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments provide for decentralization of the local self-government institutions, called Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). PRIs have thus become pivotal in the delivery of education in rural and urban communities. The oppressed groups—women, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and minorities—have especially found PRIs very helpful. This approach is essentially grass-roots educational policy and delivery.

Decentralization has been reinforced during the Eighth Five-Year Plan. The VECs, District Primary Education Program, and Lok Jumbish have been chiefly instrumental in this process. A Special Orientation Program for Primary Teachers has further reinforced support to primary level teachers. During 1992 to 1993 and 1995 to 1996, Rs. 8,163 million were allocated; the outlay for 1996 to 1997 was Rs. 2,910 million. More recent data is not available.

Mobilizing the village community to take responsibility for ensuring quality education for every child is the core strategy of both the Shiksha Karmi Project and Lok Jumbish and in their efforts to universalize and improve primary education. Community involvement has been crucial for the success of these projects.

Shiksha Karmi Project: The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency has assisted in the implementation of the Shiksha Karmi Project. The project aims at universalization and qualitative improvement of primary education in the remote and economically disadvantaged villages of Rajasthan with a focus on girls. The Shiksha Karmi Project has constituted VECs in 2,000 villages to promote community involvement in primary education and encourage village-level planning. The role of the VEC is to mobilize resources for maintenance, repair, and construction of school infrastructures. The VEC also helps in determining the school calendar and school-daytimings in consultation with the local community and Shiksha Karmis (educational workers). Shiksha Karmis are frequently used as substitutes to compensate for teacher absenteeism.

In addition to the more formal courtyard schools (Angan Pathshalas), the Shiksha Karmi Project also runs nonformal classes called Prehar Pathshalas (schools of convenient timings). For girls' education, Angan Pathshalas are run in three blocks. As of 2001 the program covered over 150,000 students in 1,785 schools and 3,520 Prehar Pathshalas, involving over 4,271 Shiksha Karmis.

Lok Jumbish Project: Lok Jumbish is extended to 75 blocks covering a population of approximately 12 million in Rajastahan. The project involves government agencies, teachers, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and elected representatives to promote universalization of primary education. The seven guiding principles of Lok Jumbish are (a) a process rather than a product approach, (b) partnerships, (c) decentralized functioning, (d) participatory learning, (e) integration with the mainstream education system, (f) flexibility of management, and (g) multiple levels of leadership.

District Primary Education Program (DPEP): The objectives of DPEP, a major program to implement UEE, are

• to provide all children with access to primary education either in the formal system or through the non-formal education (NFE) program;
• to reduce differences in enrollment, dropout rates, and learning achievement among gender and social groups to less than 5 percent;
• to reduce overall primary dropout rates for all students to less than 10 percent;
• to raise average achievement levels by at least 25 percent over measured baseline levels; and
• to ensure achievements of basic literacy and numeric competencies and a minimum of 40 percent achievement levels in other competencies by all primary school children.

The Government of India finances 85 percent of the project cost as a grant to the DPEP State Implementation Societies, and state governments provide the rest. As of 2001, the International Development Agency (IDA) of the World Bank had approved credit amounting to $260 million and $425 million under Phase I and Phase II of DPEP, respectively. The European Union is providing a grant of 150 million euros. The ODA (of the United Kingdom) is extending a grant of $80.21 million, and a grant from the Netherlands amounts to $25.8 million.

DPEP has been implemented in phases in different states beginning with 42 districts in the states of Assam, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, and Madhya Pradesh. In the second phase, the program was launched in 80 districts of Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and in Phase I States. The main projects are summarized below to exemplify varied governmental objectives.

Bihar Education Project: The Bihar Education Project, launched in 1991, emphasized participatory planning to uplift the deprived sections of society, such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and women. A midterm review highlighted major achievements including (a) a strong Mahila Samakhya component; (b) organization of VECs and community involvement in program implementation at grassroots levels; and (c) nonformal education through NGOs.

Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Program: The government of Uttar Pradesh launched the World Bank project Education for All in June 1993. The project, operating in 12 districts as of 2001, is planned to expand its coverage to 15 districts under DPEP Phase II. It has an outlay of Rs. 7,288 million spread over 7 years. The IDA would provide a credit of $163.1 million, and the state government's share would be approximately 13 percent of the total project cost. About 40,000 teachers have been trained.

Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project: The Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project (APPEP), implemented in the south-central state of Andhra Pradesh, adopts a two-pronged strategy of improving classroom transaction by training teachers and giving a fillip to school construction activities. The Andhra Pradesh area has a female literacy rate of just 34 percent. The project has trained an estimated 80,000 teachers in 23 districts, and more than 3,000 teaching centers have become operational. The project is assisted by the UK's ODA with an estimated outlay of Rs. 1,000 million in the Eighth Five-Year Plan.

National Program of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (School Meal Program): Providing a free, nutritious cooked meal of 100 grams of food grains per school day to all children in classes I-V is an ambitious program in a country of 1 billion people. The program was launched in 1997 to 1998 to support UEE in achieving its goal of increasing enrollment, retention, and attendance in primary classes. In 1997 to 1998 the program covered nearly 110 million children in primary classes. Reportedly school enrollment and rates of retention have increased.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Enrollment: Secondary education acts as a bridge between primary and higher education and is designed for students ages 14 to 18. Of the estimated 96.6 million people eligible, the enrollment figures of the 1997 to 1998 school year showed that only 27 million attended schools. Thus, two-thirds of the eligible population remains out of the school system. To educate children in schools at the secondary level, there are at present 110,000 institutions (1998 to 1999). With the emphasis on the universalization of elementary education and programs like District Primary Education Program, enrollment is expected to increase. Once this universalization takes place, more than 200,000 institutions will be needed at the secondary level.

Support Organizations: Secondary education is supported by several organizations under the administrative control of the Department of Education: National Council of Educational Research and Training, Central Board of Secondary Education, National Open School, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, Central Tibetan Schools Administration, Central Institute of Education Technology, and the State Institute of Education Technology. A brief introduction to some of these organizations and their programs is given below.

Central Board of Secondary Education: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), a self-funded agency, was created by a special Resolution of the Government of India in 1929 to raise the standard of secondary education and to make the services of CBSE available to various educational institutions in the country. CBSE has seven committees: Finance, Curriculum, Examination, Results, Affiliation, Committee for Private Candidates, and Committees of Courses. The chairman of CBSE is also the Head of the Governing Body, which in turn reports to the Education Secretary. CBSE has six regional offices at Ajmer, Chandigarh, Chennai, Allahabad, Guwahati, and Delhi to ensure better communication and services. The number of schools affiliated with CBSE has gone up phenomenally from 309 in 1962 to more than 5,237 in 1999.

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan: Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, an autonomous organization established in 1965, has a four-point mission for Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs): (a) to cater to the educational needs of children of transferable Central Government employees, including defense and paramilitary personnel, by providing a common program of education; (b) to pursue excellence and set the pace in the field of school education; (c) to initiate and promote experimentation and innovations in education in collaboration with other bodies such as CBSE and the National Council of Educational Research and Training; and (d) to develop the spirit of national integration and create a sense of "Indian-ness" among children. There are 874 KVs at work and a proposal is under consideration to open some more.

Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti: Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, through the institution of Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs), seeks to (a) provide high-quality modern education up to the senior secondary stage to talented children predominantly from rural areas, without regard to their family's socioeconomic condition; (b) act as a trendsetter and pacesetter in the areas where NVs are located; and (c) serve, in each district, as a focal point for improvement in the quality of school education through sharing experiences and facilities. The program is competitive, as it is designed to serve 240 students at each unit. In 2001 there were only 404 NVs. Plans for the future, however, include an NV for each district.

Central Tibetan Schools Administration: The Central Tibetan Schools Administration was established to provide education for the Tibetan refugees in India. The Tibetan community, displaced from their native land, receives special modern education in harmony with their traditional system and culture. There are 87 schools in the country to serve Tibetans.

Centrally Sponsored Schemes: Secondary education is supported by a number of centrally sponsored "schemes":

1. Vocationalization of secondary education;
2. Integrated education for disabled children;
3. Computer literacy and studies in schools (CLASS);
4. Education technology;
5. Improvement of science education in schools;
6. Promotion of yoga in schools;
7. Strengthening culture and values in schools;
8. Strengthening boarding and hostel facilities for girls; and
9. Environmental orientation to school education.

These "schemes" are designed to support local and regional schools in areas that are crucial for a fuller and developmentally complete education.

HIGHER EDUCATION

General Survey: Addressing the graduates of the Allahabad University in 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, said:

A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search for truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race toward higher objectives. Universities are places of ideals and idealism. If the universities discharge their duties adequately, then, it is well with the nation and the people. (Quoted in Joshi 1998)

According to Joshi, although prior to independence the university system grew slowly, after independence the pace quickened. Evaluating India's progress towards these goals in higher education almost 20 years later, critic Robert Gaudino described the dueling motives controlling the growth of higher education in India, saying:

Higher education in India is less purposeful innovation than casual change, less inspired initiative than hastily assembled new departures, less far sighted planning than uneven movement. Irregular and unpremeditated as this moment may be, it is pushed forward by two clear, self-consistent, antagonistic impulses, two persuasions, each sure of itself but in tension with the other. One is the drive to democratize, to expand, to admit greater numbers; the other is the drive to professionalize, to raise the standards, to increase equipment and research in special fields. (1965)

Since then, despite dramatic changes, some of the fundamental challenges remain the same. Expansion and decentralization, not to mention increasing privatization, have opened up institutional gates to millions, but three basic issues continue to vex educational planners: diversity, excellence, and accountability.

India's higher education system, the largest in the world according to the Indian government, includes 237 universities, 10,600 colleges, 41 Deemed Universities, 7.1 million students, and 331,000 teachers. Among these, there are 12 science and technology universities, 7 open universities, 33 agricultural universities, 5 women's universities, 11 language universities, and 11 medical universities. Specialized schools of journalism, law, fine arts, social work, planning and architecture, and other studies are also a part of the Indian university system. The government expenditure on higher education was Rs. 42,126 million in 1996 to 1997, and it has increased since then.

Degrees Offered: The higher education continuum involves three levels: bachelor or undergraduate, master's or post-graduate level, and doctoral and predoctoral level. Diploma courses are also offered at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Bachelor's degrees in arts, commerce, and sciences involve 3 years of education after 12 years of primary and secondary school education. Honors and special courses are selectively offered. Professional baccalaureate degrees require four years of education in agriculture, dentistry, engineering, pharmacy, technology, and veterinary medicine; five years in architecture; five and a half years in medicine. Degrees are also offered in education, journalism, and library science. A bachelor's degree in law can be taken either as an integrated degree lasting five years or as a three-year course as a second degree. It normally takes two years to obtain a master's degree with or without research work. Engineering, technology, and medicine require the Graduate Aptitude Test and Combined Medical Test, respectively, for admission. A pre-doctoral program, Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), is taken after completion of the master's degree. The Ph.D. is usually awarded two years after the M.Phil. or three years after the master's degree. Students are expected to write an original dissertation to earn doctoral degrees.

Administration: The central government regulates and funds policies and programs relating to higher education in the country. Through the University Grants Commission and other institutions, the government promotes higher education to help students achieve national and international recognition and to address the country's complex needs.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), established by an Act of Parliament in 1956, discharges the constitutional mandate of coordination, determination, and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination, and research. It also serves as a vital link between the Union, state governments, and the institutions of higher learning. It monitors developments in the field of collegiate and university education, disburses grants to the universities and colleges, advises central and state Governments on the measures necessary for the improvement of university education, and frames regulations such as those on the minimum standards of instruction.

Its composition comprises of the chairperson, vice-chairperson, and 10 other members appointed by the government. The chairperson is selected from among those who are not officers of the central government or any state government. Of the 10 members, 2 are representatives of the central government. Not less than 4 must be teachers in the universities. Others are selected from among eminent education specialists, academics, and experts in various fields. The chairperson is appointed for a term of 5 years or until the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The vice-chairperson is appointed for a term of 3 years or until the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The other members are appointed for a term of three years. The chairperson, vice-chairperson, and members can be appointed for a maximum of two terms.

Although a central funding body, UGC has no funds of its own. It receives grants from the central government to carry out the responsibilities assigned to it by law. It allocates and disburses full maintenance and development grants to all Central Universities, colleges affiliated to Delhi and Banaras Hindu Universities, and some of the institutions accorded the status of "Deemed to be Universities." State universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education receive support only from the Plan grant for development schemes. In addition, the UGC provides financial assistance to universities and colleges under various schemes and programs for promoting relevance, quality, and excellence, as well promoting the role of social change by the universities.

Beyond the UGC, a number of professional councils are responsible for the recognition of courses, promotion of professional institutions, and provision of grants to undergraduate programs. The statutory professional councils include the All India Council for Technical Education, the Distance Education Council, the Indian Council for Agriculture Research, the Bar Council of India, the National Council for Teacher Education, the Rehabilitation Council of India, the Medical Council of India, the Pharmacy Council of India, the Indian Nursing Council, the Dentist Council of India, the Central Council of Homeopathy, and the Central Council of Indian Medicine.

Central Universities: Universities that are under the statutory control of the central government serve under the president of India, who is the Visitor of all Central Universities. As Visitor, the president nominates some members to the Executive Committee, the Board of Management, and the Court and Selection Committees of the university. The Department of Education provides secretariat service for appointment of the vice-chancellor, Executive Committee nominees, Court nominees, Selection Committee nominees, and so forth. A brief description of these central universities follows.

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU): IGNOU was established in 1985 as an Open University to promotion the distance education system. It offered 43 programs during 1998. The total number of students registered for various programs was 163,000. Students supports services in 1998 consisted of 19 Regional Centers and 346 Study Centers. IGNOU programs telecast on the Doordarshan Network six days a week. Its jurisdiction is throughout the country, and study centers can be designed for overseas demands. The Distance Education Council has the responsibility for the coordination and maintenance of standards in open and distance education system in the country.

University Of Hyderabad: Also called "The Golden Threshold" (the residence of the late Sarojni Naidu), the University of Hyderabad serves as a city campus to promote post-graduate teaching and research. The university has eight schools and a Center for Distance Education offering post-graduate diplomas in five disciplines.

University Of Delhi: Established in February 1922 as a residential university, the University of Delhi has 14 faculties, 82 teaching departments, and 78 colleges spread over the national Capital Territory of Delhi. Indraprashtha Vishwavidhlaya has come up in Delhi as a new affiliating state university.

Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (MGAHV): MGAHV came into existence in 1997 as an outcome of the Wardha Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya Act passed by the parliament in December 1996. As an international institution, four schools were proposed under this university.

Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University: Established as a state university in 1994 in Lucknow and recognized as a Central University in January 1996, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University seeks to provide instructional and research facilities in new and frontier areas of learning. Currently it has three schools and three centers: the School of Ambedkar Studies, School for Information Science and Technology, School for Environmental Studies, Center for Rural Technology, Center for Vocational Studies, and Center for Human Rights.

Pondicherry University (PU): PU has jurisdiction over the Union Territory of Pondicherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Established in 1985 as a teaching-cum-affiliating university, it has 6 schools, 16 departments, 2 post-graduate diplomas and 27 postgraduate courses, 17 M.Phil and 22 doctoral programs, and a 5 year integrated master's degree program in 2 disciplines. It also has a community college. Several institutions are affiliated to PU (13 are located in Pondicherry, 3 in Karaikal, 2 in Mahe, 1 in Yanam, and 3 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands).

Visva Bharati: Founded by Rabindranath Tagore, Visva Bharati was incorporated as a Central University by the Visva Bharati Act of 1951. Its jurisdiction is restricted to the area known as Santiniketan in the district of Birbhum, West Bengal. It is unique in its inclusion of education from the primary level to post-graduate and doctorate levels as a unitary residential body. It has 12 institutes: 8 at Santiniketan, 3 at Sriniketan, and 1 in Calcutta. There were 6,336 students enrolled in 1997.

Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar: Recognized as a Deemed University since 1962, it acquired the status of a Central University in December 1988 by an act of parliament. It has six faculties, eight centers and five schools. A.J. Kidwai Mass Communication Research Center provides training at the post-graduate level in mass communication, and produces educational material on different subjects for the UGC and INSAT Program. Admissions are made on the basis of merit adjusted through an admission test.

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU): AMU, established in 1920, is a leading residential institution. It has 92 departments, institutions, and centers grouped under 11 faculties. It maintains four hospitals, six colleges (including medical, dental, and engineering colleges), and two polytechnic schools. Six diploma courses are exclusively for women.

Banaras Hindu University (BHU): BHU came into existence in 1916 as a teaching and residential university in Varanasi. It consists of three institutions: the Institute of Medical Sciences, Institute of Technology, and Institute of Agricultural Sciences. It has faculties with 121 academic departments and 4 interdisciplinary schools. It maintains a constituent Mahila Mahavidyalaya and 3 school-level institutions, including a 1,000-bed modern/Ayurvedic hospital.

Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU): Primarily established with a post-graduate mission in education and research, New Delhi-based JNU has 7 schools consisting of 24 centers of studies and a separate center for biotechnology.

Maulana Azad National Urdu University: This university was established in 1998, with its main administrative office in Hyderabad. It has three regional offices in Delhi, Patna, and Bangalore. Its aim is to promote and develop the Urdu language and to impart vocational and technical education in Urdu through traditional and distance education.

Assam University: Established as a teaching-cumaffiliating university in 1994, Assam University commands jurisdiction over the districts of Cachar, Karimganj, Karhi, and Hailakandi in the state of Assam. It has 53 affiliated colleges, 24 Departments under 8 schools of studies, and 3 centers of studies.

Nagaland University: Established as a teaching-cumaffiliating university in 1994, Nagaland University serves the whole of the state of Nagaland. It has 39 affiliated colleges with campuses in Kohima, Lumami, and Medsiphema.

Tezpur University: As a non-affiliating unitary Central University set up in the state of Assam in 1994, Tezpur University seeks to offer employment-oriented and interdisciplinary courses, mostly at the post-graduate level. It has 11 departments under 4 schools of studies and 6 centers of studies.

North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU): Established in 1973, NEHU has a campus at Aizwal and a center in Tura with its headquarters in Shillong. Its jurisdiction is over the states of Meghalaya, Arunachal, and Mizoram. Six schools of studies include certain post-graduate departments and four centers of studies. It has 58 under-graduate colleges, 8 professional colleges, and is affiliated with the North-Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST). It also has a Regional Sophisticated Instrumentation Center.

Specialized Institutes & Research Centers:

Inter-University Centers: Heavy investment in infrastructure has placed some facilities beyond the reach of individual universities. Under Section 12 of the UGC Act, the Commission has established the following Inter-University Centers (IUCs) to provide common facilities, service, and programs to universities:

• Nuclear Science Center, New Delhi, 1984 (Accelerator-oriented research);
• IUC for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune (State of the art instrumentation for research in astronomy);
• Inter-University Consortium for the Department of Atomic Energy facilities, Indore, 1989;
• Information and Library Network (INFLINET), Ahmedabad, 1996 (Networking of libraries through electronic media);
• Consortium for Educational Communication, New Delhi, 1993 (To disseminate countrywide programs through television);
• National Assessment & Accreditation Council, Bangalore, 1994 (To assess and accredit public and private institutions of higher learning) (Government of India 2001).

National Facilities: National Facilities represent India's cutting edge fields, such as science and technology, that are deemed essential for the country's future advancement. These centers are funded by UGC in selected universities:

• Western Regional Instrumentation Centre, Bombay (Design and development of indigenous equipment and training of staff in instrumentation);
• Regional Instrumentation Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (Design and development of indigenous equipment and training of staff in instrumentation);
• Crystal Growth Centre, Anna University, Madras (Research and dissemination of knowledge and organization of training program in crystal growth);
• MST Radar Centre, Sri Venkateswara Tirupati (Studies in atmospheric dynamics to enable teachers to use MST/radar facility;
• Eastern Center for Radio Astrophysics, Calcutta University (Research in astrophysics);
• Japal-Rangapur observatory, Osmania University, Hyderabad (Science research observatory); and
• Center for Science Education & Communication, New Delhi (Popularization of science).

Trends:

Organization & Growth: In 2001 the Ninth Five-Year Plan was in process. Its main foci included measures for quality improvement, modernization of syllabi, renewal of infrastructure, extra-budgetary resource mobilization, and greater attention to issues in governance. Access and relevance would also receive attention. The plan placed a priority on the conferment of greater autonomy to deserving colleges and the professional upgrading of teachers through Academic Staff Colleges.

Emphasis is being placed on consolidation and optimal utilization of the existing infrastructure through institutional networking, restructuring, and expansion, so as to meet the demands of the traditionally underserved populations, with a focus on women and underprivileged groups. The Open University system, which has been growing in popularity and size, is striving to diversify its courses and offerings and to gain wider acceptability by upgrading its quality. The main focus of this effort is also to serve the educational needs of women and rural populations, including professional training of in-service employees (Government of India 2001).

Among other new initiatives is an emphasis on career orientation in higher education. Under a program launched in 1994 to 1995, a university or college could introduce 1 to 3 vocational courses to provide career orientation in 35 identified subjects. Attention to higher education for women is also a contemporary trend. According to Joshi, "A special emphasis has come to be laid on women's education. The number of women's colleges has recorded a substantial increase, and India has 1,195 women's colleges today. The enrollment of women at the beginning of 1997-1998 was 2.303 million, 34 percent of them being of the postgraduate level" (1998).

The growth of the system overall has also compelled the evolution of the universities' structure. Most of the universities are affiliating universities, which prescribe the affiliated colleges' course of study, hold examinations, and award degrees. Many of the universities, along with their affiliated colleges, have grown rapidly to the point of becoming unmanageable. Therefore, as per the NPE-1986, a scheme of autonomous colleges has been promoted. In the autonomous colleges, whereas the degree continues to be awarded by the university, the name of the college is also included. The colleges develop and propose new courses of study to the university for approval. They are also fully responsible for conduct of examination. There are at present 138 autonomous colleges in the country.

Additional trends and initiatives of the early twenty-first century include protective discrimination, diversification, a national eligibility test for the selection of qualified teachers, an emphasis on quality, and examination reforms.

Cultural Traditions: India's classic Vedic culture bequeathed a rich heritage of Vedas, which many Hindu scholars consider the fount of knowledge. This ancient belief system continues to inspire and guide dominant ideologies that determine educational policies. Thus universities and the UGC have clashed over the validity of subjects and sciences considered by some to be obsolete. An example is the 2001 dispute over the status of astrology.

ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Expenditures: India's investment in education, despite competing priorities, has been increasing from 0.8 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP) in 1951 to 1952 to 3.3 percent in 1994 to 1995. The goal of reaching 6 percent GNP, stipulated in NPE-1986, has been an ongoing challenge and commitment.

NPE-1986 recognized this challenge, offering the following qualifications:

Since the actual level of investment has remained far short of that target, it is important that greater determination is shown now to find the funds for the programs laid down in this policy. While actual requirements will be computed from time to time on the basis of monitoring and review, the outlay on education will be stepped up to ensure that during the 8th Five-Year Plan and onwards it will uniformly exceed 6 percent of the national income. (NPE-1986, Paragraph 11.4)

Higher Education: Higher education has witnessed similar growth. According to Joshi, government expenditure on higher education rose from Rs. 172 million in 1950-1951 to Rs. 42,035 million in 1996-1997, although inflation and increases in the population of both the nation and the student body mitigate this increase. Joshi reviews the trends in spending over the last 50 years of the twentieth century:

On the whole, the trends suggest that higher education had a good start during the 1950s (with real growth of 7.5 percent per annum), and had its golden days during the 1960s, with the real expenditure increasing at an annual rate of growth of 11 percent; but it suffered significantly during the 1970s, with the rate of growth coming down to a meager 3.4 percent as educational planners aimed at consolidation of higher education instead of its rapid expansion; and showed some tendencies to recover during the 1980s. Though the growth in expenditure on higher education has been erratic during the 1980s, it had increased on the whole at a rate of growth of 7.3 percent per annum. The 1990s heralded an era of austerity and higher education suffered greatly. (1998)

Educational Research: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), established in 1961, serves as a resource center in the field of school education and teacher education. It undertakes programs related to research, development, training, extension, and dissemination of educational innovations through various constituent departments at the headquarters in New Delhi and 11 field officers all over the country. Publication of school textbooks and other educational materials, such as teachers' guides or manuals, is its major function. NCERT also undertakes time-bound projects in pre-school education, education for girls, and education for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. NCERT has five constituent units in the field: (a) RIE at Bhubaneshwar, Ajmer, Mysore, and Bhopal; (b) the Central Institute of Education Technology (CIET); (c) NIE; and (d) PSSCIVE, Bhopal. A fifth RIE is proposed at Shillong. CIET is an important unit of NCERT; it is engaged in the production of satellite-based audio and video programs for elementary and secondary levels, which are aired on All India Radio and Doordarshan.

NONFORMAL EDUCATION

Governmental Programs: India's open universities, adult education programs, and widespread distance education cater to the needs of a diverse population. The Department of Education, since 1980, has been sponsoring nonformal education (NFE) for children of ages 6 to 14, especially those marginalized from the formal system for various reasons, especially poverty. In 2001, some 740 voluntary agencies were implementing NFE programs in 25 states. Another 85 agencies sanctioned 9,485 NFE centers during 2000 (Tiwari 2000).

The National Open School (NOS) was established in November 1989 as an autonomous registered society to examine and certify students up through pre-degree courses. NOS provides the following programs: (a) foundation course, (b) secondary education course, (c) senior secondary education course, (d) open vocational education program, (e) life enrichment program, and (f) basic education for Universal Elementary Education (UEE). NOS provides individualized support through a network of study centers. Also called Accredited Institutions, the 972 study centers serve about 400,000 students all over the country. The aforementioned Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) also provides distance education.

Community-based Learning: Traditional societies have thrived on their nonformal systems of education. Joshi writes: "Ancient records of the Indian tradition testify to the search for the Rishis and sages for higher knowledge (para vidya), and their discoveries have been continuously transmitted to posterity and kept alive through its history, marked by periods of expansion, specialization, decline and renewal" (1998). Long before the bureaucratized western structures of schooling mushroomed in the "less developed" nations, India's nonformal education was enshrined in its familial and cultural units.

Students and educators in India thus usually share a common history and a legacy of collective wisdom. This learning process reinforces the curricular thrusts in structured settings. To isolate the two systems from each other is to fracture the whole learning process. There are fields—fine arts, medicine, astronomy, and numerous other skills—where knowledge has been transmitted from one generation to another within familial ties without any formal structures. One can argue that India's cultural continuity is indebted to this informal system of education.

Venkataiah calls this education beyond structured curricula "a collective alternative self-curriculum, for over the years it involves learning, in the neighborhood and more intensely in the playground, a succession of codes and adjustments and conventional learned responses through which children complement their development with collective experience" (2000).

TEACHING PROFESSION

Teaching traditionally was a priestly function ascribed to the people at the helm of a caste hierarchy. As society advanced, individual accomplishments replaced the higher-caste monopoly on teaching. The status of teachers, though materially lesser than other lucrative and rewarding professions like medicine, law, engineering, and civil services, has tremendously increased as salary and other benefits have been nationally upgraded at all levels.

While much can be written to credit and discredit the people involved in the calling of teaching, it must be realized that society has an obligation to uphold the dignity of a profession that it deems essential for progress. Education and its processes, however, do not exist in a vacuum. Public corruption, nepotism, and unfair assessment practices have paralyzed a system that is potentially capable of empowering the whole nation.

Student Unions and Teachers Associations abound. While their role is not always functional, their organizational strengths and weaknesses characterize what ails the academic world. However, they do serve as incubators for future leadership that will run the Indian democracy.

SUMMARY

India's achievements during the post-Independence era are phenomenal. The progress India has made in educational, professional, scientific, and technological spheres can neither be underestimated nor adequately summarized in a brief essay.

India's vision for its education system is reflected in the resolution passed by the UNESCO-sponsored World Conference on Higher Education in Paris, which reads:

Ultimately, higher education should aim at the creation of a new society—nonviolent and non-exploitative—consisting of highly cultivated, motivated and integrated individuals, inspired by love for humanity and guided by wisdom. (Quoted in Tiwari 2000)

The gap between rhetoric and reality, however, is evident if one travels through India's vast cultural landscape. India is a land of contrasts. One finds impoverished schools and marginalized children as frequently as squalor and poverty. The ubiquity of deprivation, cruelty, and neglect outweighs the glamour and elegance of elite schools which nourish the chosen ones of the rich and influential classes.

The Indian educational system maintains its dynamism by interacting with international bodies that seek collaboration and partnership. India's collaborative endeavors with foreign universities and professionals, especially in the United States, Canada, most European countries, Russia, Japan, and many Afro-Asian countries, is a success story. The American Institute of Indian Studies, the U.S. Educational Foundation in India, and the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, to mention the main ones, organize bilateral programs of international significance.

India's goal of achieving universal access and achievement, noble as it seems, will ring hollow and hypocritical unless the barriers of inequality and injustice are demolished through a thoughtfully planned program of progressive education and equal opportunity. It takes a village to raise and to destroy a child. The plight of poor children has not received the attention it merits, while the culture of privilege looms large with ominous consequences. India's cultural conundrums are mirrored in an educational system that treats people with different backgrounds in different ways. True universal achievement will require more than self-congratulatory reports and self-righteous resolutions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gaudino, Robert L. The Indian University. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1965.

Government of India. Department of Education. Available from http://www.education.nic.in/.

"Home away from home: Elite residential schools." India Tribune 42 (17 March 2001): 24-25.

Joshi, Murli M. "Higher Education in India: Vision and Action." Paper presented at the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century, Paris, October 1998. Available from http://www.education.nic.in/htmlweb/unhighedu.htm/.

Mohan, Brij. Democracies of Unfreedom: The U.S. and India. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.

——. "The metaphysics of oppression: Human diversity and social hope." Paper delivered to the Second Diversity Conference, University of South Carolina, November 2000.

Sharma, Neerja. Evaluating Children in Primary Education. New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House, 1997.

Tiwari, Satish, ed. "Education: Development and Planning." In Encyclopedia of Indian Government Series. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 2000.

Venkataiah, S, ed. "Primary and Secondary Education." In Encyclopedia of Contemporary Education Series. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 2000.

—Brij Mohan