Chapter 2: Indian Educational System – an Overview

Introduction

Till 1976, according to the Constitution of India, education was the exclusive responsibility of the state governments, although the Union Government was concerned with certain areas such as “Coordination and determination of standards in institutions for higher education or research and scientific and technical institutions” (Item No.66 in the Union List). By the Constitution (Forty second) Amendment Act. 1976, the Seventh Schedule was amended making education “including technical education, medical education and universities. vocational and technical training of labour”, a joint responsibility of both the State and Union Governments (Item No.25 in the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule). Though decisions regarding the organisation and structure of education largely continue to be the concern of the State Governments, the Union Government has also a clear responsibility regarding the quality and character of education in general and that of the higher and technical education in particular. In addition to policy formulation, the Department of Education (now split into two separate departments-the Department of Elementary Education and Literacy and the Department of Secondary Education and Higher Education) in the Ministry of Human Resource development (MHRD) shares with the states the responsibility for educational planning. The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) set up in 1935 continues to play a leading role in the evolution and monitoring of educational policies and programmes. The most notable outcome of its activities was the formulation of the National Policy of Education (NPE), 1986 and the Programme of Action (PoA0, 1986 drawn up within the policy framework. The NPE and PoA have been revised in 1992.

The NPE, 1986 and the PoA, 1992 envisaged that free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality should be provided to all children up to the age of 14 years before the Commencement of the 21^st century (See also Update). The Government committed itself to earmark about six percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for education by the year 2000 AD and 50% of the outlay would be allotted to Primary Education. Both the targets however seem to be unachievable even in the distant future. The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP could not even cross the 3.5 mark.

The system of education in India consists of three streams: 1. The School Stream 2. The University (including the College) Stream and 3. The Non-university Stream.

This Chapter gives a broad overview of the system. The school stream (along with it is Polytechnics) and the university stream may be called the formal sector of Indian education. The Non-university stream consists, on the other hand, of both formal and informal sectors. The diagram on page 11, broadly represents the system. Chapters 4 and 5 deal with the university stream and non-university stream respectively.

The School Stream

The school stream comprises three stages: 1. Pre-primary 2. Primary (or elementary) and 3. Secondary. The pre-primary or pre-learning stage consisting of nursery and kindergarten schools terminates when the children attain the age of five years. At the age of six, they enter the primary stage. There are two levels at the primary stage-the primary (Classes I to V) and expected to complete the primary stage at the age of 13 years and enter the secondary stage. Article 45 of the Constitution of India Stipulates free and compulsory education for all the children until they complete the age of 14. In 1993, the Supreme Court, in its order in the Unnikrishnan case, has also declared education of children up to the age of 14 years to be a Fundamental Right. However, the target of universalisation of primary (or elementary) education is yet to be achieved. The secondary stage, in turn, has two levels-the secondary (Classes IX and X) and the higher (or senior) secondary (Classes XI and XII). There is a public examination at the end of Class X called the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination or the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination. This examination corresponds to the Matriculation examination of yesteryears. Another public examination is conducted at the end o Class XII called Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination or “10 + 2 examination”. In some states, higher secondary education (Classes XI and XII) is also called the Intermediate education and the corresponding examination Intermediate examination. Secondary and higher secondary education are regulated by State Boards of Secondary Education and State Boards of Higher Education (or Boards of Intermediate Education) respectively.

In several States there is only one Board for both the levels. Secondary and Higher Secondary schools are managed by state governments as well as by private societies and trusts. The state boards accord recognition to schools, formulate syllabuses and conduct public examinations. Besides the State Boards, there are two Boards whose jurisdictions extend all over the country, viz. the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), established in 1929 by the Government of India and the Council for the Indian School Certification Examination (ICSE). Any school in the Secondary School Certificate (Class X) and Senior School Certificate (Class XII) examinations. There is yet another Board named the National Open School (NOS). It provides secondary and higher secondary education through distance learning mode and conducts public examinations and awards certificates like any other Board. A brief account of the NOS has been given in Chapter 6 (Learning from a Distance). The Annexure gives a list of Secondary and Higher Secondary Boards, by the time students complete the higher secondary education, they should have attained the age of 17 years. The minimum age prescribed for admission to many post-higher secondary courses is, therefore, 17 years.

In addition, there is a parallel system outside the School Stream- Industrial Training (ITIs) and the polytechnics. Polytechnic education is of three-year duration after Class 10. These Institutions, sponsored both by the government and private organisations are under the control of the State Boards of Technical Education and as such belong to the formal sector. Chapter 51 (Vocational Education) provides information about these institutions.

The University Stream

In the Indian system, education imparted beyond the 10 + 2 stage, is called higher education (or tertiary level education). Education at this level is provided by universities and a network of colleges, affiliated to them but not exclusively. There is also a parallel Non-university stream, the third stream of the Indian educational system, which is also a significant component of higher education.

The universities are established by State and Central Acts. Several States have consolidated the Individual University Acts into a single Act, e.g., Karnataka State Universities Act, 1975, Andhra Pradesh Universities Act, 1991. Besides such universities, there are also two other categories of institutions of higher learning which enjoy university status-institutions deemed to be universities (or simply “deemed universities” and institutions of national importance. The University Grants Commission (UGC) constituted under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, is the apex body which oversees the standards of teaching, examinations and research in universities. It also looks into the financial needs of universities and allocates and disburses grants to universities and colleges. All the universities are members of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), and autonomous inter-university organisation. It liaises between universities and other official and non-official agencies in the field of education, both at the national and international levels. (See Chapter 7 for an account of the UGC and the AIU).

The University Stream offers degree courses at three levels-first degree (or Graduate degree, i.e., Bachelor’s degree); postgraduate degree (i.e., Master’s degree; and Doctoral and post-Doctoral degrees (i.e., Ph.D., D.Litt./D.Sc.). There is also a pre-Doctoral degree (M.Phil.). Besides, universities also offer certificate and diploma level courses. A brief overview of the duration of courses at these three levels follows. (Chapter 4-The University Stream gives the information in some detail). Bachelor’s degree is obtained after three years of study in one of the streams-Arts (B.A.), Science (B.SC.) and Commerce (B.Com.). Most of the first-degree professional courses are of four-year duration although there are variations. For example, in the case of medicine (MBBS), the duration is four and half-years, while the dentistry course (BDS) is of four-year duration. For both the courses there is a compulsory period of internship. The duration of Master’s degree programme also varies. M.A. M.SC. M.Com, MBA programmes are of two-year duration. In the case of M.E./M.Tech., the duration is only one and half years; but the computer application course (MCA) needs three years of study.

There are also postgraduate courses of one-year duration leading to the award of Bachelor’s degree, e.g. B.Ed. (Education), BLISc (Library and Information Science), BCJ (Communication & Journalism). A further study of one-year leads to master’s degree in the concerned subjects. The duration of law course is three years leading to the award of a post-graduate degree in (BL/LLB), although integrated BL/LLB programmes of five-year duration after 10 + 2 is also available. This decision perhaps, has led to the introduction of integrated Master’s degree programmes in several subjects after 10 + 2. (See Annexure 7 of Chapter 4-The University Stream). By and large, the students attain the age of 20 years when they obtain the first degree and 21-22 years in case of first degree in professional courses. They are about 23 years when they complete the Master’s degree programmes in most of the disciplines.

The M.Phil. Course, which is the preparatory programme for doctoral level (Ph.D.) studies, is of one and half year duration. Ph.D. programme takes two year or more depending upon individual students. There are also two higher post Ph.D. degrees leading to the awards of D.SC. and D.Litt. degrees. Many universities and institutions offer part-time courses in selected subjects (mostly in management), the duration of which is more than that of a full-time programme. For example, a part-time course in management (MBA) needs three years of study instead of normal two years for regular courses. In addition to the degree courses, all the universities offer a plethora of diploma and certificate courses. Their range is wide and covers subjects from “Religious Dialogue” to “Computer Aided Design”. Some are undergraduate diploma courses while some others are postgraduate courses. The duration, depending upon the subjects, varies form one year to three years.

Non-University Steam

Like the ITI’s and polytechnics, which function outside the School Stream, there are a large number of education institutions which function outside the university stream. Most of them offer professional programmes, the largest concentration being in the management and information technology areas. While many of them are recognised by the concerned regulatory authorities, some are not. This stream is an important component of the national system of education and supplements the educational and training programmes offered by the university stream. Chapter 5 gives an account of different categories of institutions offering a wide variety of such programmes.

Regulatory Authorities

An important aspect of the Indian educational system is the role of the statutorily established regulatory authorities for the regulation and maintenance of uniform standards of education and training in professional subjects. Prior approval of these authorities is essential for starting new institutions, introduction of new courses and fixing the intake capacity in each course. Chapter 7 (Regulatory Authorities) deals with the topic.

Distance Education

A recent development in the Indian education system is the introduction of the system of distance education. As the name suggests, unlike face-to-face teaching, it is the mode of education wherein education is provided to students located at distant places, even the remotest areas of the country. The distance learning, all over the world, is now considered an important mode of delivering education at the doorsteps. It has been discussed in Chapter 6 (Learning from Distance).

Update

Free and Compulsory Education: Reference has been made to the provision of free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14 years before the commencement of the 21st century. In fact, Article 45 (part IV -Directive principles of state policy) of the Constitution says that 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''. The Constitution (83rd Amendment) Bill on compulsory education tabled in Rajya Sabha in 1997 suggested the deletion of the Article 45 and the insertion of a new Article 21A in the Constitution (Part III - Fundamental Rights) to make it obligatory on the part of the State to Provide free and compulsory education to all in the age group of six and fourteen years.

It also suggested the amendment of Article 51A (Part IVA - Fundamental Duties) to make provision of opportunity for education a fundamental duty of parents. A new bill similar to this is yet to be considered by the Parliament. However, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan plan mooted by the government of India. would provide free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years. They would be in schools or education guarantee centres or bridge schools by 2003 and all children in this age group would also complete eight years of primary education by 2010.

Secondary and Higher secondary examinations: As stated in the section on the school stream, at present, there are two public examinations viz.., class 10 (secondary level) and class 10+2 (higher secondary level) conducted by 34 school boards. According to the document National Curriculum Framework For School education, prepared by the National Council of educational research and training (NCERT), there should not be any examination up to the secondary level. The evaluation of students at this level should be school-based using only the continuous and comprehensive mode. The course at the higher secondary stage should organised in four semesters using credit system and evaluation of the first three semesters should be the responsibility of schools while the fourth semester examination, that of the Boards.

A nine-point grading should also be implemented for school-based examinations to help students improve upon their grades. Some other major suggestions of the documents are: (1) provision for board-based general education up to secondary stage to help students become life-long learners acquire basic skills and high standards Intelligence Quotient(IQ), Emotional Quotient(EQ), and Spiritual Quotient (SQ); (2) continuation of three-language formula with emphasis on teaching Hindi and Sanskrit; (3) provision for a strong vocational stream; (4) provision for wide flexibility and freedom in the choice of subjects among the courses to be offered at the higher secondary stage; (5) integration of science and technology up to the secondary stage; and (6) establishment of a national-level body to ensure uniformity in standards.

Secondary & Senior Secondary Boards of Education: Annexure gives a list of 27 Boards. Other seven Boards are: Assam Board of Secondary Education (Guwahati 781021); Bihar School Examination Board (Patna 800017); Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (Bangalore 560003); Manipur Board of Secondary Education (Imphal 795001); Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education (Tura Meghalaya 794102); Orissa Board of Secondary Education (Cuttack 753001); Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education (Chennai 600006).