Education, Training & Skill Development in India

The year 2010 was a landmark for education in India as the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE), Act, 2009 was enforced with effect from April 1, 2010. RTE Act, 2009, representing the consequential legislation to the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, secures the right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighbourhood school. RTE Act, 2009 lays down norms and standards relating to pupil teacher ratios, buildings and infrastructure, school working days and working hours of teachers. Education has been a thrust sector ever since India attained Independence in 1947. Right from the launching of First Five Year Plan (1951-56), the crucial role of education in economic and social development has been recognised and emphasised. In India, within the education sector, elementary education has been given the highest priority in terms of sub-sectoral allocations and the number of schemes launched by the Central Government to meet the needs of the educationally disadvantaged. Launched in November 2000, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a comprehensive programme and the main vehicle for providing elementary education to all children. With the expansion of elementary education, an increasing number of students reach the secondary stage. The year 2008-09 was a momentous year for secondary education in India when a new Centrally-sponsored scheme to universalise education at secondary stage was launched. Vocational education remains within the broader school curriculum and involves provision of specific skills to increase the employability of the students on completion of formal education. Higher education is of vital importance for the country in consolidating its comparative advantage in skill- and knowledge-intensive services and in building a knowledge-based society. The investment made in higher education over the years has given the country a strong knowledge base in many fields and contributed significantly to economic development, social progress and political democracy in independent India. Adult literacy and further education of the literates is as vital an area as universal elementary education. Total Literacy Campaign (TLC) has been the principal strategy of National Literacy Mission (NLM) for eradication of illiteracy in the target group. For Indian economy, growing at the rate of 8 to 9 per cent, skill development poses major challenges and also opens up unprecedented doors of opportunity. Co-ordinated action on skill development as proposed by Planning Commission was approved by the Cabinet on May 15, 2008. The approved Co-ordinated Action on Skill Development envisaged setting up of a three-tier institutional structure involving Prime Minister's National Council on Skill Development for policy direction to be supported by National Skill Development Co-ordination Board and National Skill Development Corporation. The institutional structure was put in place in 2008 itself. This book provides a comprehensive introduction on current status of education, training and skill development in India. More importantly, it contains Plan-wise documentation of objectives, policies, programmes and achievements in these areas.