educació education futureprojects geoelective india indian school schools wikepedia 2008

My tags:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Education in India has a history stretching back to the ancient urban centres of learning at Taxila and Nalanda. Western education became ingrained into Indian society with the establishment of the British Raj. Education in the Republic of India falls under the control of both the central government and the states, with some responsibilities lying with the centre and the state having autonomy for others. The various articles of the Indian constitution provide for education as a fundamental right.

India has made huge progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population.^[1] However, education is still far behind developing countries such as China or Thailand. Most children never attend secondary schools.^[1] An optimistic estimate is that only one in five job-seekers in India has ever had any sort of vocational training.^[2]

Not a single Indian university was in the top 300 of Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2006.^[3] However, six Indian Institutes of Technology and Birla Institute of Technology and Science - Pilani, were listed among the top 20 science and technology schools in Asia by Asiaweek.^[4] The Indian School of Business was ranked number 15 in global MBA rankings by the Financial Times of London in 2009^[5] while the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been recognized as a global leader in medical research and treatment.^[6]Similarly, the National Law School of India University situated in Bangalore is often considered to be the best law school in South Asia and a pioneer in legal education in India.

Contents 1 History 2 Overview 2.1 Primary education 2.2 Secondary education 2.3 Tertiary education 2.4 Technical education 3 Literacy 4 Attainment 5 Private education 6 Women's Education 7 Rural education 8 Issues 9 Initiatives 10 Central government involvement 10.1 Budget 10.2 Public Expenditure on Education in India 10.3 Legislative framework 11 Notes 12 References 13 External links

[edit] History

Monastic orders of education under the supervision of a guru was a favored form of education for India's noble castes.^[7] The knowledge in these orders was often related to the tasks a section of the society had to perform.^[8] The priest class, the Brahmans, were imparted knowledge of religion, philosophy, and other ancillary branches while the warrior class, the Kshatriya, were trained in the various aspects of warfare.^[8] The business class, the Vaishya, were taught their trade and the lowest class of the Shudras was generally deprived of educational advantages.^[8] The book of laws, the Manusmriti, and the treatise on statecraft the Arthashastra were among the influential works of this era which reflect the outlook and understanding of the world at the time.^[8]

Apart from the monastic orders, institutions of higher learning and universities flourished in India well before the common era, and continued to deliver education into the common era.^[9] Secular Buddhist institutions cropped up along with monasteries.^[8] These institutions imparted practical education, eg. medicine.^[8] A number of urban learning centres became increasingly visible from the period between 200 BCE to 400 CE.^[10] The important urban centres of learning were Taxila and Nalanda, among others.^[10] These institutions systematically imparted knowledge and attracted a number of foreign students to study topics such as logic, grammar, medicine, metaphysics, arts and crafts.^[10]

By the time of the visit of the Islamic scholar Alberuni (973-1048 CE), India already had a sophisticated system of mathematics and science in place, and had made a number of inventions and discoveries.^[11] With the arrival of the British Raj in India a class of Westernized elite was versed in the Western system of education which the British had introduced.^[12] This system soon became solidified in India as a number of primary, secondary, and tertiary centres for education cropped up during the colonial era.^[12]

Following independence in 1947, Maulana Azad, India's first education minister envisaged strong central government control over education throughout the country, with a uniform educational system.^[13] However, given the cultural and linguistic diversity of India, it was only the higher education dealing with science and technology that came under the jurisdiction of the central government.^[13] The government also held powers to make national policies for educational development and could regulate selected aspects of education throughout India.^[14]

The central government of India formulated the National Policy in Education (NPE) in 1986 and also re-enforced the Programme of Action (POA) in 1986.^[15] The government initiated several measures including the setting up of Navodaya Vidyalaya selective schools in every district, advances in female education, inter-disciplinary research and establishment of open universities. India's NPE also contains the National System of Education, which ensures some uniformity while taking into account regional education needs. The NPE also stresses on higher spending on education, envisaging a budget of more than 6% of the overall national budget.^[15] While the need for wider reform in the primary and secondary sectors is recognized as an issue, the emphasis is also on the development of science and technology education infrastructure.^[15]

[edit] Overview

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is the apex body for school education in India.^[16] The NCERT provides support and technical assistance to a number of schools in India and oversees many aspects of enforcement of education policies.^[17] In India, the various bodies governing school education system are:

• The state government boards, in which the majority of Indian children are enrolled.
• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board.
• The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) board.
• The National Institute of Open Schooling.
• International schools affiliated to the International Baccalaureate Programme and/or the Cambridge International Examinations.
• Islamic Madrasah schools, whose boards are controlled by local state governments, or autonomous, or affiliated with Darul Uloom Deoband.
• Autonomous schools like Woodstock School, Auroville, Patha Bhavan and Ananda Marga Gurukula.

[edit] Primary education

The Indian government lays emphasis to primary education up to the age of fourteen years.^[18] The Indian government has also banned child labor in order to ensure that the children do not enter unsafe working conditions.^[18] However, both free education and the ban on child labor are difficult to enforce due to economic disparity and social conditions.^[18] The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched in 1994 with an aim to universalize primary education in India by reforming and vitalizing the existing primary education system.^[19] 85% of the DPEP is funded by the central government and the remaining 15 percent is funded by the state.^[19] The DPEP, which has opened 160000 new schools including 84000 alternative education schools delivering alternative education to approximately 3.5 million children, is also supported by UNICEF and other international programmes.^[19] This primary education scheme has also shown a high Gross Enrollment Ratio of 93–95% for the last three years in some states.^[19] Significant improvement in staffing and enrollment of girls has also been made as a part of this scheme.^[19] The overall primary school conditions in India as a whole continued to remain lag behind internationally due to understaffing coupled with lack of developed infrastructure and sufficient financing.Education has also been made free for children up to the age of 14 or class IX^[18]

[edit] Secondary education

The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986, has provided for environment awareness, science and technology education, and introduction of traditional elements such as Yoga into the Indian secondary school system.^[20] A significant feature of India's secondary school system is the emphasis on inclusion of the disadvantaged sections of the society Professionals from established institutes are often called to support in vocational training. Another feature of India's secondary school system is its emphasis on profession based vocational training to help students attain skills for finding a vocation of his/her choosing.^[21]

A special Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) programme was started in 1974.^[16] Another notable special programme, the Kendriya Vidyalaya project, was started for the employees of the central government of India, who are distributed throughout the country. The government started the Kendriya Vidyalaya project in 1965 to provide uniform education in institutions following the same syllabus at the same pace regardless of the location to which the employee's family has been transferred.^[16]

[edit] Tertiary education

Our university system is, in many parts, in a state of disrepair…In almost half the districts in the country, higher education enrollments are abysmally low, almost two-third of our universities and 90 per cent of our colleges are rated as below average on quality parameters… I am concerned that in many states university appointments, including that of vice-chancellors, have been politicised and have become subject to caste and communal considerations, there are complaints of favouritism and corruption.

– Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2007^[22]

India's higher education system is the third largest in the world, after China and the United States.^[23] The main governing body at the tertiary level is the University Grants Commission (India), which enforces its standards, advises the government, and helps coordinate between the centre and the state.^[24] Accreditation for higher learning is overseen by 12 autonomous institutions established by the University Grants Commission.^[25]

As of 2009, India has 20 central universities, 215 state universities, 100 deemed universities, 5 institutions established and functioning under the State Act, and 13 institutes which are of national importance.^[24] Other institutions include 16000 colleges, including 1800 exclusive women's colleges, functioning under these universities and institutions.^[24] The emphasis in the tertiary level of education lies on science and technology.^[26] Indian educational institutions by 2004 consisted of a large number of technology institutes.^[27] As of 2006 some 1200 engineering colleges awarded degrees in India and approximately 380000 students were admitted in them.^[28] Distance learning is also a feature of the Indian higher education system.^[27]

Some institutions of India, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), have been globally acclaimed for their standard of education.^[27] The IITs enroll about 4000 students annually and the alumni have contributed to both the growth of the private sector and the public sectors of India.^[29] IIT graduates of India have also contributed significantly to the global software industry, with an estimated 30000 graduates employed in the United States as of 2006.^[30]

[edit] Technical education

From the first Five Year Plan onwards India's emphasis was to develop a pool of scientifically inclined manpower.^[31] India's National Policy on Education (NPE) provisioned for an apex body for regulation and development of higher technical education, which came into being as the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in 1987 through an act of the Indian parliament.^[32] At the level of the centre the Indian Institutes of Technology are deemed of national importance.^[32] The Indian Institutes of Management are also among the nation's premier education facilities.^[32] Several Regional Engineering Colleges (REC) have been converted into National Institutes of Technology.^[32] The UGC has inter-university centres at a number of locations throughout India to promote common research, eg. the Nuclear Science Centre at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.^[33]

[edit] Literacy

2001 government statistics hold the national literacy to be around 64.84%.^[34] Government statistics of 2001 also hold that the rate of increase of literacy is more in rural areas than in urban areas.^[34] Female literacy is was at a national average of 53.63% whereas the male literacy was 75.26%.^[34] Within the Indian states, Kerala has shown the highest literacy rates of 90.02% whereas Bihar averaged lower than 50% literacy, the lowest in India.^[34] The 2001 statistics also indicated that the total number of 'absolute non literates' in the country was 304 million.^[34]

[edit] Attainment

World Bank statistics found that fewer than 40 percent of adolescents in India attend secondary schools.^[1] The Economist reports that half of 10-year-old rural children could not read at a basic level, over 60% were unable to do division, and half dropped out by the age 14.^[35]

Only one in ten young people have access to tertiary education.^[1] Out of those who receive higher education, Mercer Consulting estimates that only a quarter of graduates are "employable".^[36]

An optimistic estimate is that only one in five job-seekers in India has ever had any sort of vocational training.^[2]

[edit] Private education

Because of poor quality of public education, 27% of Indian children are privately educated.^[37]

Private schools provide often superior results at a fraction of the unit cost of government schools.^[35][38][39] Private schools cover the entire curriculum and offer extra-curricular activities such as science fairs, general knowledge, sports, music and drama.^[37] Most teachers in private schools are female, graduates and reasonably experienced.^[37] The competition in the school market is intense, yet most schools make profit.^[37]

Even the poorest often go to private schools despite the fact that government schools are free. A study found that 65% of schoolchildren in Hyderabad's slums attend private schools.^[39]

Private schools are often operating illegally. A 2001 study found that it takes 14 different licenses from four different authorities to open a private school in New Delhi and could take years if done legally.^[39]

[edit] Women's Education

Women have much lower literacy rate. Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out.^[40] According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak and helpless)^[41]

The number of literate women among the female population of India was between 2-6% from the British Raj onwards to the formation of the Republic of India in 1947.^[42] Concerted efforts led to improvement from 15.3% in 1961 to 28.5% in 1981.^[42] By 2001 the literacy for women had exceeded 50% of the overall female population, though these statistics were still very low compared to world standards and even male literacy within India.^[43]

Sita Anantha Raman outlines the progress of women's education in India:

Since 1947 the Indian government has tried to provide incentives for girls’ school attendance through programs for midday meals, free books, and uniforms. This welfare thrust raised primary enrollment between 1951 and 1981. In 1986 the National Policy on Education decided to restructure education in tune with the social framework of each state, and with larger national goals. It emphasized that education was necessary for democracy, and central to the improvement of women’s condition. The new policy aimed at social change through revised texts, curricula, increased funding for schools, expansion in the numbers of schools, and policy improvements. Emphasis was placed on expanding girls’ occupational centers and primary education; secondary and higher education; and rural and urban institutions. The report tried to connect problems like low school attendance with poverty, and the dependence on girls for housework and sibling day care. The National Literacy Mission also worked through female tutors in villages. Although the minimum marriage age is now eighteen for girls, many continue to be married much earlier. Therefore, at the secondary level, female dropout rates are high.[44]

Sita Anantha Raman also maintains that while educated Indian women workforce maintains professionalism, the men outnumber them in most fields and, in some cases, receive higher income for the same positions.^[44]

[edit] Rural education

Following independence, the Republic of India viewed education as an effective tool for bringing social change through community development.^[45] The administrative control was effectively initiated in the 1950s, when, in 1952, the government grouped villages under a Community Development Block—an authority under national programme which could control education in up to 100 villages.^[45] A Block Development Officer oversaw a geographical area of 150 square miles which could contain a population of as many as 70000 people.^[45]

Setty and Ross elaborate on the role of such programmes, themselves divided further into individual-based, community based, or the Individual-cum-community-based, in which microscopic levels of development are overseen at village level by an appointed worker:

The community development programmes comprise agriculture, animal husbandry, cooperation, rural industries, rural engineering (consisting of minor irrigation, roads, buildings), health and sanitation including family welfare, family planning, women welfare, child care and nutrition, education including adult education, social education and literacy, youth welfare and community organisation. In each of these areas of development there are several programmes, schemes and activities which are additive, expanding and tapering off covering the total community, some segments, or specific target populations such as small and marginal farmers, artisans, women and in general people below the poverty line.[45]

Despite some setbacks the rural education programmes continued throughout the 1950s, with support from private institutions.^[46] A sizable network of rural education had been established by the time the Gandhigram Rural Institute was established and 5, 200 Community Development Blocks were established in India.^[47] Nursery schools, elementary schools, secondary school, and schools for adult education for women were set up.^[47] The government continued to view rural education as an agenda that could be relatively free from bureaucratic backlog and general stagnation.^[47] However, in some cases lack of financing balanced the gains made by rural education institutes of India.^[48] Some ideas failed to find acceptability among India's poor and investments made by the government sometimes yielded little results.^[48]

[edit] Issues

One study found out that 25% of public sector teachers and 40% of public sector medical workers were absent during the survey. Among teachers who were paid to teach, absence rates ranged from 15% in Maharashtra to 71% in Bihar. Only 1 in nearly 3000 public school head teachers had ever dismissed a teacher for repeated absence.^[49] A study on teachers by Kremer etc. found that 'only about half were teaching, during unannounced visits to a nationally representative sample of government primary schools in India.'.^[49]

Modern education in India is often criticized for being based on rote learning rather than problem solving. BusinessWeek denigrates the Indian curriculum saying it revolves around rote learning. ^[50] and ExpressIndia suggests that students are focused on cramming.^[51]

A study of 188 government-run primary schools found that 59% of the schools had no drinking water and 89% had no toilets.^[52] 2003-04 data by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration revealed that only 3.5% of primary schools in Bihar and Chhattisgarh had toilets for girls. In Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, rates were 12-16%.^[53]

Fake degrees are a problem. One raid in Bihar found 0.1 million fake certificates.^[54] In February 2009, the University Grant Commission found 19 fake institutions operating in India.^[55]

Only 16% of manufacturers in India offer in-service training to their employees, compared with over 90% in China.^[56]

[edit] Initiatives

Following India's independence a number of rules were formulated for the backward Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes of India, and in 1960 a list identifying 405 Scheduled Castes and 225 Scheduled Tribes was published by the central government.^[57] An amendment was made to the list in 1975, which identified 841 Scheduled Castes and 510 Scheduled Tribes.^[57] The total percentage of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes combined was found to be 22.5 percent with the Scheduled Castes accounting for 17 percent and the Scheduled Tribes accounting for the remaining 7.5 percent.^[57] Following the report many Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes increasingly referred to themselves as Dalit, a Marathi language terminology used by B. R. Ambedkar which literally means "oppressed".^[57]

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are provided for in many of India's educational programmes.^[58] Special reservations are also provided for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India, eg. a reservation of 15% in Kendriya Vidhyala for Scheduled Castes and another reservation of 7.5% in Kendriya Vidhyala for Scheduled Tribes.^[58] Similar reservations are held by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in many schemes and educational facilities in India.^[58] The remote and far-flung regions of North East India are provided for under the Non Lapsable Central pool of Resources (NLCPR) since 1998-1999.^[59] The NLCPR aims to provide funds for infrastructure development in these remote areas.^[59]

The government objective for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), started in 2001, is to provide education to children between 6–14 years by 2010.^[60] The programme focuses specially on girls and children with challenged social or financial backgrounds.^[60] The SSA also aims to provide practical infrastructure and relevant source material in form of free textbooks to children in remote areas.^[60] The SSA also aims at widening computer education in rural areas.^[60] However, some objectives of the SSA, eg. enrollment of all children under the scheme in schools by 2005 remain unfulfilled.^[60] Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education are components of the SSA.^[60]

Women from remote, underdeveloped areas or from weaker social groups in Andra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, fall under the Mahila Samakhya Scheme, initiated in 1989.^[61] Apart from provisions for education this programme also aims to raise awareness by holding meetings and seminars at rural levels.^[61] The government allowed 340 million rupees during 2007–08 to carry out this scheme over 83 districts including more than 21, 000 villages.^[61]

Currently there are 68 Bal Bhavans and 10 Bal Kendra affiliated to the National Bal Bhavan.^[62] The scheme involves educational and social activities and recognising children with a marked talent for a particular educational stream.^[62] A number of programmes and activities are held under this scheme, which also involves cultural exchanges and participation in several international forums.^[62]

India's minorities, especially the ones considered 'educationally backward' by the government, are provided for in the 1992 amendment of the Indian National Policy on Education (NPE).^[63] The government initiated the Scheme of Area Intensive Programme for Educationally Backward Minorities and Scheme of Financial Assistance or Modernisation of Madarsa Education as part of its revised Programme of Action (1992).^[63] Both these schemes were started nationwide by 1994.^[63] In 2004 the Indian parliament allowed an act which enabled minority education establishments to seek university affiliations if they passed the required norms.^[63]

[edit] Central government involvement

[edit] Budget

As a part of the tenth Five year Plan (2002–2007), the central government of India outlined an expenditure of 65.6% of its total education budget of Rs. 438250 million, or (Rs. 287500 million) on elementary education; 9.9% (Rs. 43250 million) on secondary education; 2.9% (Rs. 12500 million) on adult education; 9.5% (Rs. 41765 million) on higher education; 10.7% (Rs. 47000 million) on technical education; and the remaining 1.4% (Rs. 6235 million) on miscellaneous education schemes.^[64]

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), India has the lowest public expenditure on higher education per student in the world.^[65]

[edit] Public Expenditure on Education in India

In recent times, several major announcements were made for developing the poor state of affairs in education sector in India, the most notable ones being the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The announcements are; (a) To progressively increase expenditure on education to around 6 percent of GDP. (b) To support this increase in expenditure on education, and to increase the quality of education, there would be an imposition of an education cess over all central government taxes. (c) To ensure that no one is denied of education due to economic backwardness and poverty. (d) To make right to education a fundamental right for all children in the age group 6–14 years. (e) To universalize education through its flagship programmes such as Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid Day Meal.

However, even after five years of implementation of NCMP, not much progress has been done on these promises or announcements. The public expenditure on education has actually declined from around 3.23 percent of GDP in 2000-2001 to 2.88 percent in the recent times. As a proportion of total government expenditure, it has declined from around 11.1 percent in 2000-2001 to around 9.98 percent during UPA rule. A policy brief issued by [Network for Social Accountability (NSA)]^[66] titled “[NSA Response to Education Sector Interventions in Union Budget: UPA Rule and the Education Sector]^[67]” provides significant revelation to this fact. Due to a declining priority of education in the public policy paradigm in India, there has been an exponential growth in the private expenditure on education also. [As per the available information, the private out of pocket expenditure by the working class population for the education of their children in India has increased by around 1150 percent or around 12.5 times over the last decade]^[68].

[edit] Legislative framework

Article 54, of the Constitution of India originally stated:

“

The State shall endeavour 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.[13]

”

This article was a directive principle of state policy within India, effectively meaning that it was within a set of rules that were meant to be followed in spirit and the government could not be held to court if the actual letter was not followed.^[69] However, the enforcement of this directive principle became a matter of debate since this principle held obvious emotive and practical value, and was legally the only directive principle within the Indian constitution to have a time limit.^[69]

Following initiatives by the Supreme Court of India during the 1990s the Ninety-third amendment bill suggested three separate amendments to the Indian constitution:^[70]

• The constitution of India was amended to include a new article, 21A, which read:

“

The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in a such manner as the State may, by law, determine.[71]

”

• Article 45 was proposed to be substituted by the article which read:

“

Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years: The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of sixteen years.[71]

”

• Another article, 51A, was to additionally have the clause:

“

...a parent or guardian [shall] provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, [a] ward between the age of six to fourteen years.[71]

”

The bill was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, on November 28, 2001.^[72] It was later passed by the upper house—the Rajya Sabha—on May 14, 2002.^[72] After being signed by the President of India the Indian constitution was amended formally for the eighty sixth time and the bill came into effect.^[72] Since then those between the age of 6–14 have a fundamental right to education.^[73]

Article 46 of the Constitution of India holds that:

“

The State shall promote, with special care, the education and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of social exploitation'.[34]

”

Other provisions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can be found in Articles 330, 332, 335, 338–342.^[34] Both the 5th and the 6th Schedules of the Constitution also make special provisions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.^[34]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Blackwell, Fritz (2004), India: A Global Studies Handbook, United States of America: ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1-57607-348-3.
• Elder, Joseph W. (2006), "Caste System", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 1) edited by Stanley Wolpert, 223-229, Thomson Gale: ISBN 0-684-31350-2.
• "Infrastructure: S&T Education", Science and Technology in India edited by R.K. Suri and Kalapana Rajaram (2008), New Delhi: Spectrum, ISBN 81-7930-294-6.
• India 2009: A Reference Annual (53rd edition), New Delhi: Additional Director General (ADG), Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, ISBN 978-81-230-1557-6.
• Prabhu, Joseph (2006), "Educational Institutions and Philosophies, Traditional and Modern", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 2) edited by Stanley Wolpert, 23–28, Thomson Gale: ISBN 0-684-31351-0.
• Raman, S.A. (2006). "Women's Education", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 4), edited by Stanley Wolpert, 235-239, Thomson Gale: ISBN 0-684-31353-7.
• Setty, E.D. and Ross, E.L. (1987), "A Case Study in Applied Education in Rural India", Community Development Journal, 22 (2): 120–129, Oxford University Press.
• Sripati, V. and Thiruvengadam, A.K. (2004), "India: Constitutional Amendment Making The Right to Education a Fundamental Right", International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2 (1): 148–158, Oxford University Press.
• Vrat, Prem (2006), "Indian Institutes of Technology", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 2) edited by Stanley Wolpert, 229-231, Thomson Gale: ISBN 0-684-31351-0.

[edit] External links

• Government official education website.

v • d • e Science and technology in India Antarctic Program • Architecture • Astronomy • Automobile industry • Cartography • Coinage • Communications • Education • Energy policy • History of measurement systems • History of metallurgy • History of science and technology • Information Technology • Inventions • Logic • Maritime history • Mathematics • Media • Military history • Mining • National calendar • Nuclear power • Railways • Space program

v • d • e Education in Asia Sovereign states Afghanistan · Armenia1 · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma2 · Cambodia · People's Republic of China · Cyprus1 · East Timor3 · Egypt4 · Georgia4 · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan4 · North Korea · South Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia4 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Republic of China5 · Thailand · Turkey4 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen Dependencies, autonomies, other territories Aceh · Adjara1 · Abkhazia1 · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Altai · British Indian Ocean Territory · Buryatia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Guangxi · Hong Kong · Inner Mongolia · Iraqi Kurdistan · Jakarta · Khakassia · Macau · Nagorno-Karabakh · Nakhchivan · Ningxia · Northern Cyprus · Palestine (Gaza Strip · West Bank) · Papua · Sakha · South Ossetia1 · Tibet · Tuva · West Papua · Xinjiang · Yogyakarta Italics indicates an unrecognised or partially recognised country.  1 Sometimes included in Europe, depending on the border definitions.  2 Officially known as Myanmar.  3 Sometimes included in Oceania, and also known as Timor-Leste.  4 Transcontinental country.  5 Commonly known as Taiwan.

v • d • e Life in India Arts and entertainment · Cinema · Citizenship · Climate · Cuisine · Culture · Demographics · Economy · Education · Flag · Foreign relations · Geography · Government · History · Holidays · Languages · Law · Literacy · Military · Politics · Religion · Sports · Transport