AME EDUCATION

SECTOR PROFILE
India

India
Education Structure

Education System Structure

and Enrollments 2006

Source: India Ministry of Higher Education, UNESCO Institute for Statistics

India
Education Structure
Education is free and compulsory for all children up to the age of 14.
% Net
% Gross
Enrollments Enrollments

Education Configuration and Enrollment Percentages

Classification
Pre-primary
Elementary

Secondary

Tertiary

Level/Grade

Ages

2006

2006

Pre-school

4-5

N/A

40%

Primary, grades 1-5

6-11

89%

112%

Upper Primary, grades 6-8

11-14

N/A

71%

Secondary, grades 9-10

Senior Secondary, grades
11-12
TVET Secondary
Non-professional
undergrad

15-16

N/A

54%

17-18
17-18

N/A
N/A

28%
3%

Non-professional grad
Professional degree

19-22
19-24

19-21
N/A

12%*

* Includes all categories of post-secondary.

Source: India Ministry of Higher Education, UNESCO Institute for Statistics ,

India
Population Structure
India has a relatively young population with 60% below the age of
30.
The government will need to focus on providing good education
opportunities for youth in order to support country economic growth.

Source: International Labor Organization

India
Education Policy

Relevant Policies:
Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007-2012
Education for All: National Plan of Action for India 20032015
Scheme for Universalization of Secondary and Higher
Secondary Education 2009
All policies available at:
http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/format_liste1_en.php?Chp2=India

India
Education Access: Pre-university
Primary levels have grown an average of 11% since 1990.
Secondary levels have grown an average of 20% since 2001.

Source: India Department of Higher Education 2006, UNESCO Institute for Statistics

India
Education Access: Tertiary
Higher education enrollments at 12% are considerably below the
ASEAN regional average of 23%.
Enrollments in all categories have more than doubled since 1990.

Source: World Bank 2005

India
Education Access: Gender
Primary/upper primary girls enrollment rates have increased 21%
since 1990 while boys have decreased 2.1%.
Increases at the secondary levels since 2000 have not been so
dramatic: girls 8.1% and boys 6.4%.

Source: India Department of Higher Education, Department of School Education and Literacy

India
Education Quality: Teachers
India has approximately 6 million teachers at all levels.
The proportion of primary teachers with pre-service education
qualifications increased from 66% in 2003-04 to 73% in 2005-06.
At the upper secondary level (grades 6-8), the proportion of teachers
with pre-service education qualifications increased from 69% to 79%
in the same period.
Pre-service professional development is offered at public and
increasingly, at private colleges but is reportedly of poor quality, the
result of an inadequate monitoring and accreditation system..
Little information is available on the content and effectiveness of inservice teacher training.
Source: India Ministry of Human Resources, World Bank 2009

India
Education Quality: Completion
Completion rates are improving slowly, approximately 2.2% a year

since 2000.
Girls completion rates have increased17% since 2000.

Source: World Bank EdStats

India
Education Quality: Testing

India does not participate in international achievement

examinations such as TIMSS.
A learning achievement survey conducted by the Indian
National Council for Education Research and Training
in 2003 and 2007 highlighted the poor learning
achievement and small gains made at grade 5.

Source: India Ministry of human Resource Development

India
Education Equity: Gender/ Geographic Disparities

Many students have difficulty accessing secondary education, rural

females the most so.
85% of all students are able to access primary education.

Source: India Demographic and Health Survey 2005-06

India
Education Equity: Income Disparities

74% of out-of-school primary children come from the two poorest

wealth quintiles.

Source: India Demographic and Health Survey 2005-06

India
Education Equity: Income Disparities
All children seemingly have difficulty attending secondary
education, the children from poorer wealth groups more so than
richer students.

Source: World Bank 2009

India
Education Equity: Academic Disparities
Lower social castes ability to attend school and achieve literacy is
from 10-20% lower than the rest of the student population.

Source: UNICEF 2006

India
Education Equity: Academic Disparities

Nearly 60% of the share of secondary enrollments is privately offered

and the number of schools has doubled (to 30%) from 1993 to 2004.
There is no evidence to show however, that private institutions offer an
education of better quality than public schools do.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, India Ministry of Human Development (2008)

India
Education Efficiency: Expenditure
India spends 50% of its education budget on compulsory education,
grades 1-9 (primary and upper primary levels).

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

India
Education Efficiency: Expenditure

Relative to other lower- to lower-middle income countries in the

region, India spends less money on education as a percent of all
public spending.

Source: World Bank Education at a Glance, Global Monitoring Report 2008

India
Education Efficiency: Repetition
Repetition appears to be a small issue, averaging 3.6% at
primary and 4.5% at secondary levels. School drop-out rates are
the more significant problem to the Indian government.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

India
Education Efficiency: Repetition
India appears to be as efficient at controlling repetition rates as other
regional countries with similar education budgets, despite having
such a large school population.

Source: World Bank EdStats, UNESCAP

India
Education: Conclusion
Successes:
Access: Growing enrollments all levels. High elementary levels.
Quality: Steady improvement in completion rates at primary level.
Equity: Strong female enrollment and completion rates at primary levels.
Efficiency: Increasing public education expenditures. Low/stabilized
repetition rates.

Challenges:
Access: Low secondary enrollments especially for females.
Quality: Poor student academic achievement at primary levels. No
systematic measurement of student academic achievement. Poor
professional teacher preparation.
Equity: Geographic, social, and wealth disparities in school enrollments
especially at upper education levels.
Efficiency: Much smaller amount of funding allocated to secondary
education. High rate of private provision of education at secondary level but of
questionable quality.