IRJMSH Vol 8 Issue 1 [Year 2017] ISSN 2277 – 9809 (0nline) 2348–9359 (Print)

An Analytical Study of Post Independence Indian Educational Situations

Author - Parveen Kumar

Research Scholar,
Department of Education,
Central Institute of Education,
University of Delhi, Delhi
Email: praveen.edu2010@gmail.com
Abstract

School education in post-independent India has passed through different phases. Soon after
independence, the Secondary Education Commission (1951-53) was set up by the Government of
India and it gave several recommendations for improving the quality of school education. In
1964-66, the Education Commission was set up, which brought out a more comprehensive
document on education covering all stages and aspects of education as a whole. This was a major
landmark in the history of the modern education system in India. Several recommendations of
this Commission formed the basis for the National Policy on Education (NPE), 1968. The NPE,
1968 envisaged ‘a radical transformation of the education system to relate it more closely to the
lives of the people, provide expanded educational opportunities, initiate a sustained intensive
effort to raise the quality of education at all stages, emphasized the development of science and
technology and cultivate moral and social values.’ Then, the National Policy on Education, 1986,
modified in 1992, stressed the need for evolving a national system of education based on a
common educational structure (10+2+3), a national curriculum framework and the minimum
levels of learning for each stage of education. Though the country’s achievements in a number of
areas have been substantial in quantitative terms, these are not enough to provide a real
breakthrough. Inspite of the constitutional provision for free and compulsory education upto the
age of 14, the target of universalising elementary education has not yet been achieved.
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Introduction
Analysis of Indian situation even of Policy documents and situations is relatively rare.
Irrespective of a major thrust on education, even being recognized as equivalent to right to live
given by the constitution of India. 'The state shall strive to achieve free and compulsory

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education to all children upto the age of 14 years within a period of 10 years from promulgation
of the Construction'. How is it that it appears still as a distant dream? The word 'strive' seems to
have provided or has provided an easy escape route. The National Policy of 1968 marked a
significant impression in the history of education in post Independence India. It aimed to
promote national progress, a sense of common citizenship and culture, and to strengthen
national integration. It laid stress on the need for a radical reconstruction of the education
system, to improve its quality at all stages, and gave much greater attention to science and
technology, the cultivation of moral values and a closer relation between education and the life
of the people. National Policy of Education of 1986 stated that Education has continued to
evolve, diversify and extend its reach and coverage since the dawn of human history. Every
country develops its system of education to express and promote its unique socio-cultural
identity and also to meet the challenges of the times. There are moments in history when a new
direction has to be given to an age-old process. The analysis has been done to explore the real
situations of post independent India yet reached the all important threshold of educational
attainment where benefits are optimal and the high economic growth rates are sustained.

Education in India after Independence

After Independence, the concerns of education articulated during the freedom struggle were
revisited by the National Commissions, the Secondary Education Commission (1952 - 53) and
the Education Commission (1964-66). There has been few reports, number of policy
pronouncements, lot of data provided by govt. agencies, prominent among them can be easily
mentioned namely, National Educational commission Kothari commission, 1964-66, New
educational policy 1986, National surveys done by agencies like NUEPA, NCERT, MHRD.
Surveys on achievement levels in education have been done by ASER and NCERT. Some
schemes like DPEP renamed latter as Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA). Large amount of data can be
seen in the reports of MHRD, NCERT, NUEPA and UNICEF for mentioning a few. There is
hardly any attempt to analyze through creation of crucial concepts, creation off indexes and
indices. As a result the huge amount of data conceals the essential. Is it intentional or lack of
concern for education?

Earlier Kothari Commission 1964-66, instituted by GOI to evolve a National policy on

Education made extensive and far reaching recommendations both about qualitative as also

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quantitative expansion in education. The subtitle of the report was- Education and National
development. Some of the major recommendations were Quality and free education should be
provided in the neighborhood schools to all children, an amount equivalent to 6% of GDP should
be provided to achieve this, the learning of Science and Mathematics be made compulsory upto
class tenth and as much as 75% of children after class 10th should branch out into vocational
education. The Constitution embodies the principles on which the National System of Education
is conceived and implies that, up to a given level, all students, irrespective of caste, creed,
location or sex, have access to education of a comparable quality.

Now this introduces some parameters as also indices evading the indexation, say index for
quality of education at national level. The figure of 6% of GDP is also mysterious and seems to
be an ideal to be kept in mind, and wished for like a dream. May be the GDP at that time was
low in fact it was 2% and three times of that is the recommended figure. But it is not mentioned
that when GDP grows to say 8% which actually happened over a long period the expenditure on
education should grow to 24%, if that logic is valid. Now in a situation when even 6% could not
be achieved then how can 24% be dreamed of? The National Policy on Education, 1968, had laid
down that the investment on education be gradually increased to reach a level of 6 per cent of the
national income as early as possible. 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
programmes laid down in this Policy. While the 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 Eighth Five Year Plan and onwards it will uniformly exceed 6 per cent of
the national income.

In fact the noble thoughts of the Kothari commission (1964-66) was not been itself analyzed.
They are taught not in any political, commercial, national or international context of
development, more as opinions and ideals to be desired, not likely to be arrived at in any near
future. This is despite a number of conferences and seminars held on 50 years of Kothari
commission. For instance why were science and Mathematics insisted upto class tenth, may be
the mantra for national development, why a sudden diversion to vocational education after class
tenth, why not adequate emphasis on teacher education for vocational education, structures to
that effect are almost non existence. The country has been through two major wars in 1962 with

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China and 1965 with Pakistan, has education nothing important to contribute in that context or it
is to be left entirely to army and politicians. In fact any report has to be seen as a historical
document also, analyzed to make needed future changes in policy.

The other policy documents appear over a period of about 2 decades each, the national policy on
Education-1986, learning without burden- 90s, and the present policy on education 2016 which
is under preparation. Meanwhile we have documents on curricular organization starting with
MLL, two quick frameworks on curriculum, 2000 and 2005. The policy of 1986 is a small
document of about 20 pages largely on Adult Education; MLL prescribes achievement levels up
to class5, largely handiwork of NCERT. After much criticism it is suggested that the acronym
stands for maximum levels of achievement. The Burden of education makes recommendations
which shows some insights for improvement of primary education, prominent among them are,
the load of school bag be reduced, may be by reducing the curriculum or its reorganization or
keeping the bag in the school. There should be at least 2 teachers one among them preferably be
a lady teacher. The student teacher ratio should be 1 teacher to 30 students in primary and 1 to 40
at elementary level. Adequate learning material be provided, an amount equivalent to 25% of
teachers salary be available for this purpose. Strangely on policy pronouncements, it was
renamed as Operation Black Board, the curriculum was substantially reduced to be closer in
quantum to that of adult education.

Lack of funds has been at a number of occasions have been mentioned for about only 3% of
GDP being allocated for elementary education. Over the years the amount may appear increasing
in absolute terms but in the absence of indexation this presents a hazy picture, misleading at most
of the occasions. For instance MHRD under Sh. MM Joshi calculated that a sum of 25 thousand
crores will be needed to meet the constitutional requirement of universal elementary education,
which the govt. may provide over a period of ten years. Latter after Geometian conference world
lending bodies like World Bank offered long term loan for elementary education to be related
over a period of 20 years. The first such loan was taken in 1990 amounting to 5 billion dollars.
What improvements with regard to access achievement and quality of education resulted, were
they adequate, if not why surveys were done but only on some parameters, schemes were
introduced which did not lead to divulging answers but rather concealing the issues. Mid day

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meal in schools, no detention policy and Minimum learning levels are few such measures
initiated by government with much fanfare are some that needs to be mentioned in this context.

The national curriculums 2000 and 2005 substantially changed the recommendations of Kothari
commission. If we look at what the system of education has accomplished since Independence,
perhaps we have much to be satisfied with. Today, our country engages nearly 55 lakh teachers
spread over around 10 lakh schools to educate about 2,025 lakh children. While 82 per cent of
habitations have a primary school within a radius of one kilometre, there is an upper primary
school within 3 kilometres for 75 per cent of habitations. At least 50 per cent of our children who
appear at the school-leaving examinations pass out of the secondary school system. Despite these
trends, 37 per cent people in India lack literacy skills, about 53 per cent children drop out at the
elementary stage, and over 75 per cent of our rural schools are multigrade. The emphasis is on
child's learning largely from daily life experience and activities. The basic concerns of education
is to enable children to make sense of life and develop their potential, to define and pursue a
purpose and recognise the right of others to do the same—stand uncontested and valid even
today.

Analysis of the Data of Some Reports

Later surveys like ASER 2012 limited to achievement levels, showed shocking results across the
country. Surveys are perhaps not supposed to analyze in order to explain, not going beyond the
situation of concern. There were other surveys done by Government institutions to portray a
rather rosy picture. NCERT for instance conducted surveys to portray a picture contrary to the
ASER survey. As per the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2012, 96.5% of all rural
children between the ages of 6-14 were enrolled in school. This is the fourth annual survey to
report enrollment above 96%. 83% of all rural 15-16 year children were enrolled in school.
However, going forward, India will need to focus more on quality. Gross enrollment at the
tertiary level has crossed 20% (as per an Ernst & Young Report issued in Jan 2013 in Education
News/minglebox.com) As per the latest (2013) report issued by the All India Council of
Technical Education (AICTE), there are more than 3524 diploma and post-diploma offering
institutions in the country with an annual intake capacity of over 1.2 million. In Indian Education
System, a significant number of seats are reserved under affirmative action policies for the
historically disadvantaged Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

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In Universities/Colleges/Institutions affiliated to the federal Government there is a minimum

50% of reservations applicable to these Disadvantaged Groups. At State level it can vary. Andhra
Pradesh had 83.33% reservation in 2012, which is the highest percentage of reservations in India.

If one tries to look at various surveys those caried by EdCill for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, they
mostly show how close the schools are to conditions stipulated by lending institutions. The
survey done by ASER is based on identifying some basic parameters like reading, arithmetical
operations, availability of resources like rooms, toilet etc. These numbers may seem
disappointing to some and, therefore, not worth reporting. But they are worth unfolding a little
bit. Consider the average child in Std 3 in a government school. The probability that this child
can read a Std 1 level text is 34.8%, as compared to 59.4% in a private school. However, the
likelihood that this child lives in a "pukka" home is only 36% as compared to 65.9% of an
average Std 3 private school child. Similarly, the probability that this child has a television at
home is 43.5% compared to 64.9% for a Std 3 private school child and the probability that this
child has a mother who has some schooling is 48.4% compared to 66.5% for a private school
child. How would this child perform if she had some of the advantages that most private school
children have? Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA, the Government of India's flagship
program for elementary education) all districts are required to prepare an annual work plan
(building on school level plans made by school management committees).

There are some gaps in planning are exacerbated by the centralized structure of the SSA. In this
system, state and district governments are expected to align themselves to central government
priorities. To access SSA money, it had to seek GoI approvals through the state SSA authorities.
GoI, however, refused to provide money because the restructuring wasn't aligned with the
prescribed framework. Consequently, the final approved state budgets are often very different to
what states ask for. In some years the gap between proposed and approved state budgets is as
much as 50%. Moreover, state and therefore district priorities are often ignored in favor of
pursuing norms and priorities set by the Government of India. The contention here is that
analysis of the situations, understanding rationale of various reports policy pronouncements and
follow up is non existence. The new policy doesn't build upon the earlier one or provide adequate
rationale for reversing earlier ones. Has the situation national preferences substantially changed
or there is a paucity of funds for education, likely to continue for some more decades. The huge

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amount of data misses out on devising critical parameters, indexes or indices. Focusing largely
on absolute parameters like number of students in schools, number of teachers, amount spent on
education over the years. In this paper the author is trying to present a picture of sufficient
increase in enrolment of students in school education.

India’s literacy rate at the time of Independence was just 12%. In the seven decades after
independence, India has achieved much. There is now a primary schooling facility in almost
every village and the gross enrolment ratio is more than hundred percent. Likewise there has
been rapid expansion of secondary and higher education. The education infrastructure has also
improved significantly. There has been remarkable improvement in the enrolment of girls, their
retention rates, and performance at all levels of education. The literacy rate of India, as per the
2011 census, was 74%. To start with, school participation has improved dramatically. In 1996,
20 per cent of children in the 6‐12 year age group were out of school. In 2006, we found hardly 5
per cent of children not enrolled in school. For the first time, the goal of universal school
participation is within reach. Along with this, stark social disparities in school enrolment have
virtually disappeared at the primary level, whether it is the gap between boys and girls, or that
between children of different communities. Enrolment rates among Scheduled Caste children
(94%) and Muslim children (95%) are as high as the sample average for all children (95%).
Enrolment among Scheduled Tribe children, however, is somewhat lower at 89 per cent. In order
to explain the situation, changes and future direction one needs to evolve suitable indices and in
a number of situations put them on indexes. The various agencies and persons involved in
education have to be suitably provided with resources as also time for developing and using
them. Above all we have to attempt at better realistic picture instead of trying to conceal
essential facts or circumvent in order to justify efforts and resources not pour into education,
looking for charismatic changes or holding a group like teachers exclusively responsible for the
sorry state of affairs should be stopped. Education in India stands at the crossroads today.
Neither normal linear expansion nor the existing pace and nature of improvement can meet the
needs of the situation (NPE, 1986).
Conclusion
In order to illustrate the concepts indices and indexes, the following are presented. Per capita
expenditure on student's education, put on an indexation evolved on cost of educational items
will present a better picture of expenditure instead of present data of absolute expenditure.

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Expenses on items other than civil work and salary will better represent resources available to
the teacher. Time available for innovations and learning to them and relative needs of teachers in
schools for instance computers and intelligent boards will not leave any funds for other learning
material. So computer has to be shared as a luxury item and not looked upon as a prestigious
symbol or solution of all ailments. In brief the learning situation has to be conducive both the
learner as also teacher. Proper indices and indexation need to be developed and adopted to
present a realistic picture. Education is both cumulative as also future oriented. The educational
policies accordingly built upon the earlier ones and needs to be analyzed. As one forthright
planner put it "district work plans are made by photocopying old plans and updating costs. The
process is taken so lightly that in one district the planners forgot to update the district names and
year on the photocopied plan documents". The earlier National Education Policies of 1968, and
1986 as modified in 1992, had endorsed a norm of 6% of GDP as the minimum expenditure on
education. However, this target has never been met. The expenditure by Education Departments
of the Centre and States has never risen above 4.3% of the GDP, and is currently around 3.5%
Report of NPE 2016(Draft). It has been clear agenda of the government that investment in
education will be achieved with public private partnership only.

References:

Annual Status Education Report (ASER, 2016). Pratham Centre: New Delhi.

Government of India (1948-49). Report of the University Education Commission, Ministry of

Education. New Delhi.

Government of India (1952-53). Report of the Secondary Education Commission, Ministry of

Education. New Delhi.

Government of India (1964-66). Report of the Education Commission: Education and National
Development, Ministry of Education. New Delhi.

Government of India (1986). Report of the National Policy of Education, Ministry of Education.
New Delhi.

Government of India (1992). Programme of Action on NPE1986: Ministry of Human Resource

Development. New Delhi.

Government of India (1993). Learning Without Burden; Report of the National Advisory
committee; Ministry of Human Resource Development. New Delhi.

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