This companion gives a comprehensive overview of the history of primary education in India. It presents an analytical narrative of the progress of primary education as a national endeavour in colonial, post-colonial and contemporary India, and studies its transformative policy journey culminating in the adoption of education as a fundamental human right. The book looks behind and beyond stated policy goals and outcomes to examine the processes involved in implementing positive change and discusses the underlying socio-political factors affecting education in India. The author also shares reflections on the reform measures needed to achieve the goal of education for all in India. Rich in archival resources, this companion will be essential reading for scholars and researchers of history of education, education, Indian history, colonial history and South Asian history. It will also be useful for policymakers, organizations and professionals working in the field of education.
The right to education has become the single most important agenda in the context of India`s development today, and this book addresses the issues that characterise the crisis in elementary education in the country. Bringing together diverse perspectives and analyses from scholars, activists and administrators, this volume covers issues of -policy-legal obligations-economic implications-gender-inclusive educationIntroducing the readers to the flavour of the most significant debates in education, this volume will provide educationists, social scientists and policy makers a gamut of analyses on diverse themes of elementary education at one place.
In this comprehensive history of American Indian education in the United States from colonial times to the present, historians and educators Jon Reyhner and Jeanne Eder explore the broad spectrum of Native experiences in missionary, government, and tribal boarding and day schools. This up-to-date survey is the first one-volume source for those interested in educational reform policies and missionary and government efforts to Christianize and “civilize” American Indian children. Drawing on firsthand accounts from teachers and students, American Indian Education considers and analyzes shifting educational policies and philosophies, paying special attention to the passage of the Native American Languages Act and current efforts to revitalize Native American cultures.
This book tells a story of radical educational change. In the early nineteenth century, an imperial civil society movement promoted modern elementary 'schools for all'. This movement included British, American and German missionaries, and Indian intellectuals and social reformers. They organised themselves in non-governmental organisations, which aimed to change Indian education. Firstly, they introduced a new culture of schooling, centred on memorisation, examination, and technocratic management. Secondly, they laid the ground for the building of the colonial system of education, which substituted indigenous education. Thirdly, they broadened the social accessibility of schooling. However, for the nineteenth century reformers, education for all did not mean equal education for all: elementary schooling became a means to teach different subalterns 'their place' in colonial society. Finally, the educational movement also furthered the building of a secular 'national education' in England.
This volume discusses key aspects of the economics of the elementary education system in the poorer and educationally backward states of India, while also examining one high-achiever state--Tamil Nadu. Providing the first state-by-state analysis of major cost and financing issues, the book is based on data gathered from one of the most comprehensive surveys conducted in recent times in these states, which was specifically commissioned for this book. The survey covered 120,000 households and a thousand schools spread over 91 districts in eight states.Written by leading educational economists, the original essays in this volume- analyse the major cost and financing issues in elementary schooling in seven of the eight states surveyed--Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal;- identify recent initiatives made by the governments of these seven states;- systematically scrutinise the pattern of the public spending in elementary education;- examine enrolment in government schools and the quality of education that they impart;- study household expenditure on schooling--the costs to parents of sending children to school; and- compare government schools with private schools, showing how the private sector has began to take over the what should be the responsibility of the government, particularly in the poorer states.
The history of education in the modern world is a history of transnational and cross-cultural influence. This collection explores those influences in (post) colonial and indigenous education across different geographical contexts. The authors emphasize how local actors constructed their own adaptation of colonialism, identity, and autonomy, creating a multi-centric and entangled history of modern education. In both formal as well as informal aspects, they demonstrate that transnational and cross-cultural exchanges in education have been characterized by appropriation, re-contextualization, and hybridization, thereby rejecting traditional notions of colonial education as an export of pre-existing metropolitan educational systems.
Elementary education provides the foundation for a learned and literate global citizenry. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that everyone has the right to education. Likewise, the document states that elementary education should be free, compulsory, and universally accessible to all children. Parents, leaders, and policymakers recognize the importance of education in developing basic skills. Yet, the purpose of education goes beyond just skill building; the purpose of education, as Paulo Freire asserts, is for emancipation and the development of independent thought and critical awareness. Education is freedom. It is as Nelson Mandela once declared "the most powerful weapon to change the world." Again, elementary education provides the roots for the world and for our future. Yet, each society situates their systems of elementary education based on their society's cultural values, economic goals, political whims, and socio-historical context. To understand the larger goals of elementary education it is important to have a comparative and international lens, which is provided in this new NOVA Science book titled Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century. The book is co-edited Dr. Erik Jon Byker and Dr. Akesha Horton, both editors are long-time global educators committed to social justice. The purpose of this book is to describe and explain the perspectives, challenges, and issues related to elementary education in this current, twenty-first century global age. The book's authors and the content of the book's chapters represent several countries across the globe including India, Indonesia, Greece, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, and the United States of America. The book is organized into three sections: (1) context, (2) competencies, and (3) content. The context section examines the historical and current context for elementary education from international perspectives. The competencies section focuses on the skills and dispositions necessary for pre-service and in-service teachers to navigate the contours of elementary education in a global age. The content section explores elementary education subject matter-largely in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-that will continue to eminent throughout the twenty-first century. Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century is a timely book for internationally-minded educators, government leaders, parents, practitioners, and policymakers for gaining deeper insight into the critical role of elementary education in preparing children for our dynamic, interconnected, and globalized world.
The success of the primary education system has a direct bearing on the upper primary, non-formal and adult and continuing education sectors; an efficient primary education system is expected to contribute significantly to total literacy: an appropriate rise in literacy levels improves the functioning of other systems of education. Effective delivery of primary education contributes to bettering India's HDI (Human Development Index), including our standing in the Human Development Index evolved by UNDP. This volume is a study of the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) in one of the states of South India. It is a piece of policy evaluation research expected to contribute to the ongoing discussion of policy processes in primary schools. It specifically questions to what extent objectives such as access, retention, quality and equality are achieved by the implementation of the DPEP. Figures from before and after the implementation of the DPEP show a significant increase in enrolment levels in primary schools all over the state. Thus, the major impact of DPEP implementation is seen in enhanced access to primary schools. The study shows that the DPEP implementation succeeded in attaining the objective of equality. This can be observed from gender equality in dropout rates at various primary grades. The DPEP seems to have achieved only moderate success in meeting the objective of retention of students. The DPEP does not seem to have approached the quality objective very seriously.
