This book offers a cutting-edge contribution on the importance of secondary education and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of its growth in India. Secondary education, long neglected, faces countless challenges and will require tremendous financial resources, millions of additional trained teachers, and vast infrastructure in terms of buildings, laboratories, libraries, ICT facilities, etc. The book examines these critical issues, with particular reference to the situation in India. It analyses the status quo of secondary education and discusses the strategies and approaches needed in order to universalize it. Including 20 chapters authored by eminent scholars in the field and from across the country, this book gathers the outcomes of a seminar organized by the Council for Social Development on Universalization of Secondary Education. The target audience includes policymakers, practitioners, administrators, education planners, researchers, teachers, and teacher educators with an interest in the future of secondary education.

This book provides useful insights into quality issues in secondary education in India and addresses the important questions of why there is need to improve the quality of education; how one can measure the quality of education; and the ways to improve quality. The analysis in this book is conceptually designed at three levels: national level performance and linkages; state level progress, disparities and linkages; and determinants of quality education at school level for measuring students learning outcomes and efficient teaching practices. The authors have used both quantitative and qualitative methods to probe into the various issues related to the quality of secondary education at micro and macro levels. This book provides a methodological framework to scholars attempting to measure and evaluate the quality of secondary education under various settings. It provides interesting insights into the identification of factors determining quality outcomes. The chapters discuss issues related to quality concepts, research methodologies, comparative analysis, key challenges, socio-economic linkages of secondary education, quality of education from students' and teachers' perspectives, quality measurement and policy suggestions. This is a valuable resource for researchers and students in the area of economics of education, education planning and administration, development studies and economics. This book is also useful for educational administrators and policy makers.

The Book Traces The History Of Education In India Since Ancient Vedic, Post-Vedic And Buddhist Period To The Islamic, The British Period And Education In India Today. It Describes In Detail The Activities And Recommendations Of Various Educational Committees And Commissions. The Proceedings Of Important Seminars On Education Are Narrated. The Book Describes The Growth Of Education In India During 1835-1853; 1854-1882; 1882-1900; 1900-1920; 1921-1937; 1921-1944; 1939-1953 And In The Present Times. It Discusses The Progress And Problems Of Education In Primary And Basic, Secondary And Higher Education And Also Suggests Remedies. Based On Government Reports And Important Publications, This Book Has Been Planned As An Ideal Textbook On The Subject For Students Of All The Indian Universities.

This book examines the state of the Open and Distance Learning (ODL)-based secondary education in India. ODL-based education has been a key resource for children in India who can neither cope with nor avail of regular schooling opportunities due to economic, health and disability, or other constraints. The volume uses large-scale empirical data collected from various Indian states and a sensitive theoretical framework to study the equity, efficiency, and effectiveness of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and the State Open School (SOS). Highlighting the roadblocks and barriers in terms of its reach, inclusion, and delivery, particularly to the marginalised, this book explores whether ODL has a potential of being a sustainable and effective option at the secondary and senior secondary level in India. Thus, it seeks to generate policy discourse around delivery mechanisms and effectiveness of ODL in developing countries. First of its kind, this comprehensive volume will be useful for scholars and researchers of education, education policy, public policy, and political studies.

Drawing on empirical, interdisciplinary research, this book presents a critical review of some of the major issues that are of interest to researchers, policymakers and planners in developing as well as advanced countries, including specifically in India. It provides an in-depth review of some of the major development policy issues in education in general, and in India in particular, over the past 2-3 decades. Besides presenting an overview of the educational developments in India that reflects issues such as growth, equity, efficiency, foreign aid, decentralization, center-state relations, financing, and cost recovery, the book puts forward in-depth analyses of education poverty, interrelations between education and poverty, low level of outcomes in elementary education, effects of structural adjustment policies and approaches on education, south-south cooperation, etc. It also critically discusses changes in policies relating to financing higher education, external assistance for education, and how the growth of private higher education is affecting society at large. The dichotomy between public policy and action is also highlighted in many chapters. On the whole, while the importance of education is being increasingly recognized, the state does not seem to be as willing to foot the bill for education as the households and even the private sector. Occasionally contrasting with international evidence on, for example, financing higher education, private higher education, or the effects of neo-liberal policies, the book offers an interesting read for a wider audience.