As India enters the 21st century, education - as the master determinant of development - has assumed unprecedented importance. The universal right to an elementary education is the focus of the country's Right to Education Act. There is also discussion of the demographic dividend which India can meaningfully earn in the next 25 years, if only the working age population is imparted the requisite skills which pre-supposes a near-universalization of secondary and higher secondary education. At the same time, India is required to vamp up its higher education participation rate. Thus, all stages of education have to be emphasized simultaneously. However, educational pre-requisites need to be accomplished within the political framework of parliamentary federalism, entailing the cooperation of India's two dozen States and half a dozen union territories. Education under India's Constitution is a concurrent subject in which both the State and the Center can legislate. Educational performance in India, which would determine India's economic performance, is therefore crucially modified by Center-State relations. Education vis-a-vis Indian federalism is therefore a vitally important but rather neglected arena. This book fills a crucial gap by covering the gamut of the various sub-areas of education.

The Present Study Reflects On The Most Central Issue In The Education Sector In India Since Independence: Its History And Development, Its Centralization, Its Finances, Its Sociology And Some Of Its Ideological Trends Are The Issues And Trends Dealt With. The Volume Is An Outcome Of Research Papers Presented By Historians, Political Scientists And Educationists From India And Europe At The Two Conferences Organized By The Centre De Sciences Humaines, New Delhi.

This book comprehensively chronicles the history of the education policymaking in India from 1947 to 2016 with a focus on the developments after 1964 when the Kothari Commission was constituted. The book is informed by the rare insights acquired by the author while making policy at the state, national, and international levels of governance. Another distinguishing feature of this book lies in the attention it pays to the process and politics of policymaking and the larger setting—or, to use jargon, the political and policy environment— in which policies were made at different points of time. The author brings out a crucial analysis of the Indian educational system against the backdrop of national and global political, economic, and educational developments. Two other distinguishing features of the book are the systematic treatment of the regulation of education and the role of judiciary in the making and implementation of education policies.