Education in India

Many kites tied together in the colours of the Indian national flag. — Kites in the colours of the Indian national flag. Kite vendor in New-Delhi, India (2006).
Copyright: Peter Davis, String of Kites, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Owing to its population of more than a billion, India has the second largest education system in the world (after China). Its school and science offices are united under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education - they hold responsible for administering 35 states respectively federal territories. Statistical data claim that roughly a third of the population are under the age of 15. A big part of them (those aged 6 to 15) would be expected to go to school. Contrary to the images of a young and economically rising state with technical universities that take a leading role internationally, national and international studies give evidence that...

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the country is facing many challenges. In particular, reforms and measures concern the education system, which is structured as such:

Pre-school is optional; it is succeeded by compulsory education for children aged between 6 and 13/14 years of general education Depending on the states, the compulsory school system lasts eight years (23 states) respectively seven years (12 states). Compulsory education is subject to two school types, i.e. ´primary´´ and ´´upper primary´´ respectively ´´middle school´´ education. Students can subsequently attend four respectively five years of ´´secondary´´or ´´higher secondary ´´ education (preparation for vocation or university). Admission to tertiary education at universities, colleges or polytechnical universities is subject to entrance examinations. Detailed information concerning degrees and curricula can be found in the article by Lang-Wojtasik.

Despite the long-standing history of educational institutions in Hindu tempels, the structure of today's education system is rooted in colonial times- India gained independence in 1947 and it has been a parliamentarian democracy since 1950.

Disparities in the education system can be found at the level of states and territories, but also between urban and rural areas and private respectively public institutions. National, multilateral and bilateral co-operation projects are focused on different directions, e.g.:

* Fighting illiteracy and social disadvantagement of economically weak groups, e.g. women or dalits for instance by voluntary services or the establishment of long distance learning.
* in 2009, the right to ffree and compulsory school education was encoded. However, State education institutions can barely meet the requirements of the student population with respect to the quality of education, equipment and instruction. Private schools that are supported by the public and entirely sourced from tuition fees present an alternative, but they are also responsible for enforcing socio-economic disparities.
* The rapidly developing economy is in need of a qualified vocational education and training system . However, less than a fourth of the state education budget (which is 10.5% of the whole state budget) are spent on secondary education.

If you wish to find out more about the education system in India, please refer to the essay "Das Bildungswesen in Indien" (2013) by Gregor Lang-Wojtasik. The publisher has kindly granted us permission to publish the document online.

The dossier offers information on the following aspects of education in India:

General Information on Education

bpb Dossier on India: Expansion, Quality, Justice. Challenges of the Indian Education System

India
The article of Dr. Doris Hillger deals with the Indian education system and is part of the section „Education and Culture“ at the webpage of the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung - bpb). The bpb published recently a dossier about India. Further topics of this section are educational [...]

Agreement with	Title of the agreement
Brazil	- Memorandum of Understanding under Brazilian Science without Borders on reception of Brazilian Scholarship students in India (30.03.2012); (Source: Documents signed during the State visit of President of Brazil) - Agreed Minutes of the Sixth Meeting of the Brazil-India Joint Commission on Political, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (15.10.2013) (Education: Nr. 65-69)
Russia	Programme of Cooperation in the Fields of Science, Technology and Innovation between the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and the Ministry of Education & Science, Government of Russian Federation for the period 2014-2017 (21.10.2013); (Source: List of Bilateral Documents signed during 14th India-Russia Annual Summit)

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