Afghanistan is one of many South Asian countries appearing in daily headlines, as it attempts to rebuild its society, including its educational system, after decades of war. Sri Lanka, devastated by the tsunami of 2004, and parts of Pakistan and Northern India, coping with the aftereffects of a major earthquake, are also also struggling for teachers, classrooms, supplies, and a sense of normalcy for their students. This volume, part of the Schooling Around the World series, provides readers with a history and survey of education in eight of the region's countries. It examines the Primary, Secondary, and Postsecondary levels of education, identifying the types of education available (public, private, tutoring, etc), any race, gender or social class issues that impact education, and major reforms taking place. Readers will find discussions of curriculum and teaching methods most helpful, as well as a special day in the life feature, which gives a personal look at what it's like for students attending school in that country today.

Education in east Asia varies widely, due to the cultural and political histories of each country. The communist governments of China, North Korea, and Vietnam mandate schooling differently from the limited democracy of Hong Kong and the parliamentary government of Japan. The history of the educational philosophies, systems, and curricula of seventeen East Asian countries are described here, with a timeline highlighting educational developments, and a special day in the life feature, a personal account of what it is like for a student to attend school in that country.

With the exception of Sri Lanka, South Asian countries have not achieved quality basic education – an essential measure for escaping poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. In The Political Economy of Education in South Asia, John Richards, Manzoor Ahmed, and Shahidul Islam emphasize the importance of a dynamic system for education policy. The Political Economy of Education in South Asia documents the weak core competency (reading and math) outcomes in government primary schools in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, and the consequent rapid growth of non-government schools over the last two decades. It compares the training, hiring, and management of teachers in South Asian schools to successful national systems ranging from Singapore to Finland. Discussing reform options, it makes the case public good and public priorities are better served when both public and non-government providers come under a strong public policy and accountability framework. The Political Economy of Education in South Asia draws on the authors' broad engagement in education research and practice in South Asia, as well as analysis by prominent professors of education and NGO leaders, to place basic education in a broad context and make the case that universal literacy and numeracy are necessary foundations for economic growth.

Countries that have sustained rapid growth over decades have typically had a strong public commitment to expanding education as well as to improving learning outcomes. South Asian countries have made considerable progress in expanding access to primary and secondary schooling, with countries having achieved near-universal enrollment of the primary-school-age cohort (ages 6†“11), except for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Secondary enrollment shows an upward trend as well. Beyond school, many more people have access to skilling opportunities and higher education today. Although governments have consistently pursued policies to expand access, a prominent feature of the region has been the role played by nonstate actors—private nonprofit and forprofit entities—in expanding access at every level of education. Though learning levels remain low, countries in the region have shown a strong commitment to improving learning. All countries in South Asia have taken the first step, which is to assess learning outcomes regularly. Since 2010, there has been a rapid increase in the number of large-scale student learning assessments conducted in the region. But to use the findings of these assessments to improve schooling, countries must build their capacity to design assessments and analyze and use findings to inform policy.

This handbook is an important reference work in understanding education systems in the South Asia region, their development trajectory, challenges and potential. The handbook includes the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries for discussion---Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka---while also considering countries such as Myanmar and the Maldives that have considerable shared history in the region. Such a comparative perspective is largely absent within the literature given the present paucity of intra-regional interaction. South Asian education systems are viewed primarily through a development lens in terms of inequalities, challenges and responses. However, the development of modern institutions of education and the challenges that it faces requires cultural and historical understanding of indigenous traditions as well as indigenous modern thinkers and education movements. Therefore, this encompassing referenc e work covers indigenous education traditions, formal education systems, including school and preschool education, higher and professional education, education financing systems and structures, teacher education systems, addressing huge linguistic and other diversities, and marginalization within the formal education system, and pedagogy and curricula. All the countries in this region have their own unique geographical, cultural, economic and political character and histories of interest and significance, and have responded to common issues such as overcoming the colonial legacy, language diversity, or girls’ education, or minority rights in education, in uniquely different ways. The sections therefore include country-specific perspectives as far as possible to highlight these issues. Internationally renowned specialists of South Asian education systems have contributed to this important reference work, making it an invaluable resource for researchers and students of education interested in South Asia.

In recent years, first feminist considerations, and now concerns with HIV/Aids have led to new approaches to the study of sexuality. The experience of puberty, explorations with sexuality and courtship, and the pressure to reproduce are a few of the human tensions central to this volume.