What is Education?
•Education is a process in which and by which the knowledge, characters and behavior of the human being are shaped and molded.
•Education leads to the enlightenment of mankind.
•Aristotle said education is process of creation of sound mind in a sound body.
•The process of education is not only self-realization of the individual, but it is also to bring into action the potential in man.

Why is education important?
•Education is an important activity in society; it gives an opportunity to man to understand  the world around him and his place in it.
•In ancient times man was completely at the mercy of nature which was a complete mystery to him.
•Ideally speaking, it is through education that members of society, particularly the youth, come to understand the working of society.
•Education should enable the youth to improve the working of the society.
•Education, properly speaking, should develop a spirit of inquiry and rational thinking in the youth so as to enable them to understand the society and change it wherever it is found lacking.

Literacy Rates in India:
Who is a literate?
According to Census, a person aged seven years or more than seven years who can read and write with understanding in any language is called a literate person. A person who can merely read but cannot write is not classified as literate. Any formal education or minimum educational standard is  not necessary to be considered literate.

Literacy Rate:
The total percentage of the population of an area at a particular time aged seven years or above who can read and write with understanding is called literacy rate.

Current Status of Education in India: Data from Census 2011

    •    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 global female literacy rate of 7% (UNESCO 2015).
    •    There are large state variations in the gender gap.
    •    However during 2001 – 2011, 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. The 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 Goal (SDG) related to Education
Goal 4 of the 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

• 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. And 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.

Constitutional Provisions for weaker sections:
•The Constitution makes special provision for safeguarding the educational interests of the weaker, socially and educationally backward sections of society and members of Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
•Article 15 empowers the State to make any special provision, by law, for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribeswith regard to their admission to educational institutions, including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, with the exception of minority educational institutions.
•Article 46 enjoins the State, as a Directive Principle of State Policy, to promote the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes with special care, and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.

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 neighbourhood school.‘Compulsory education’ means an obligation of 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 Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, teacher-working hours, 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 fee (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-round development of the child, building a system of child-friendly and child-centred learning.
    •    To further inclusiveness, 25% reservation is provided for disadvantaged students in private schools.

Education related data in Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), 2011:
•The 1st ever post-independence Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 began on 29 June 2011.
•Government released the results of SECC-2011 in July 2015.
•SECC-2011 is the first caste-based census of Independent India.
•SECC 2011 is also first paperless census in India conducted on hand-held electronic devices by the government in 640 districts.
•The key rationale behind conducting a socio-economic and caste census was to assess the population that is actually below the poverty line (BPL).

Modern Education in India: The Evolution of the System through various policies
The British government had introduced modern education in India. From Macaulay minute to Wood’s dispatch to several commissions like Sadler commission, 1904 Indian education policy etc. build 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 moulded the education system based on the needs of independent India. 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 of life
    •    Training for Leadership
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. Recent controversial circular by the Central University of Kerala (CUK), directing that research topic for PhD students must be in accordance to ‘national priorities’, and research in ‘irrelevant topics’ and ‘privilege areas’ must be discouraged, is a case in point.
Kothari commission
If Radhakrishnan committee charted out the value system of the Indian education system, it was Kothari commission who 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 as an integral part of education.
    •    Linking of colleges to several schools in the neighbourhood.
    •    Equalization of opportunities to all and to achieve social and national integration.
    •    Neighbourhood school system without social or religious segregation and a school complex system integrating primary and secondary levels of education.
    •    Establishment of Indian Education Service.
    •    On the job training of the teaching staff and for 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 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 of 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 “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 a teacher shortage, absenteeism and grievances. Need to constitute an Autonomous Teacher Recruitment Board. Four years integrated B.Ed. the course should be introduced.
    •    ICT in Education: There is an inadequate integration of information technology (IT) and the education sector.
    •    Vocational education and training: National Skills Qualification Framework should be scaled up.The choice of vocational courses should 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 New Education Policy which will cater to Indian needs in 4th Industrial Revolution by making use of its demographic dividend. Committee for Draft National Education Policy (chaired Dr. K. Kasturirangan) submitted its report on May 31, 2019. Budget 2019-20 had proposed to roll out the policy soon.