PGED, P. I, U. 10.

Some Issues in Indian Education

a. Women’s Education; b. Adult Education; c. Non-
formal Education; d. Vocational Education; e.
Teacher Education; & f. Education for All

Professor Sanat K. Ghosh,

SoE, NSOU
E-mail: sanatghosh.rbu@gmail.com
 Introduction
• ‘Education’ as an academic discipline is based on four
basic foundations – Philosophical, Historical,
Psychological & Sociological.
• Educational studies deal with different issues related
with foundations of Education.
• Significant historical issues always contribute in
developing concepts of Education discipline.
• Some important social-historical issues in Education
may be identified as - Women’s education, Adult
education, Non-formal education, Vocational
education, Teacher education & EFA.

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 Objectives of the Unit
• To know about some important sociological-historical
issues in Indian education;
• To understand the perspectives Women’s education;
• To know about the significance of Adult education;
• To understand the context of Non-formal education;
• To understand the importance of Vocational education;
• To understand about the significance of Teacher
education;
• To know critically about Education for All.

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 Content Structure
• Introduction
• Objectives
• Content structure
• Women’s education
• Adult education
• Non-formal education
• Vocational education
• Teacher education
• Education for All
• Conclusion
• References

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 a. Women’s Education
• Pandit Neheru said, “You can tell the condition of a
nation by looking at the status of its women.”
• India has expressed a strong commitment
towards education for all including girls & women.
• Free and compulsory education to all children between
the ages of 6 and 14 is now a fundamental right of
citizens under the 86th Amendment to the
Constitution of India.
• however, India still has 200 million illiterate women,
the largest illiterate women in Asia.
• India stands at 65.46 % women literacy rate out of 74%
total literacy rate (Census 2011).

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 Contd.

• A segment of working women badly in need of training &

education through non-formal/ formal modes to help them
to adopt scientific and technological devices and practices
to improve their work and productivity.
• A more customized approach to address the problems
related to women's access to education is required.
• Beyond the obvious imbalance in the labor pool, education
for women is an important determinant of their enhanced
self-esteem and self-confidence, helping to build a positive
image, developing their ability to think critically.
• It may foster women empowerment developing ability for
better decision-making and more informed, and taking
choices of their own about health, employment and
education of their children.

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 b. Adult Education
• Adult education is a practice in which adults engage in systematic
self-educating activities to gain new knowledge, skills, attitudes,
and values.
• It engages adults with any form of learning beyond traditional
schooling, encompassing basic literacy to personal fulfillment as a
lifelong learner.
• Driven by own needs to learn, the available opportunities, and the
manner in which one learns, adult learning is affected by
demographics, globalization and technology.
• It can be held in any of the three contexts - Informal, Formal & Non-
formal.
• The World Development Report (World Bank, 2019) on The
Changing Nature of Work, argues that adult learning is an important
channel to help to readjust workers' skills to fit in the future of work
and suggests ways to improve its effectiveness.
• The proposition of "lifelong education“ has changed the concept of
contemporary rights based educational concepts.

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 Contd.
Objectives of Adult Education:
• To provide scopes for those who are poor or have no access to
education for other reasons;
• To achieve equity in education and social justice among them;
• To maintain certifications, fulfill job requirements and stay up
to date on new developments - vocational, social, recreational
or self-development;
• To satisfy their own needs and achieve their goal of life;
• To develop economy, human quality and progress of society;
• To improve the national level operational effectiveness and
productivity.
• To enable citizens to keep up with societal change and
maintain good social order.
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 c. Non-formal Education
• Non-formal Education is the educational activity
organized outside the formal system, but not informal.
• It is simple and flexible and can be delivered at any
place convenient to the learners.
• It meets the basic learning needs especially to
disadvantaged groups and can be availed at any age.
• It includes various structured learning situations which
do not have the level of curriculum, syllabus,
accreditation & certification like formal education, but
it is otherwise more structured than the formal
education.

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 Contd.

Characteristics:
• N-F Learning may take place in a variety of situations.
• It is especially Relevant to the needs of marginalized groups.
• It concerns with specific categories of person.
• It focuses clearly on defined purpose.
• It is flexible in organization and methods.
Objectives
• To provide functional literacy & continuing education for adults and
youths who have no formal education or not complete their education;
• To Provide functional and remedial education to support to complete
formal education;
• To provide life-long and continuous education to different categories of
people;
• To provide in-service, on-the-job, vocational or professional training to
workers and professionals to improve their skills;
• To provide citizens necessary aesthetic, cultural and civic education.

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 d. Vocational Education
• Vocational education is that form of education/instruction designed
to prepare people for industrial or commercial employment.
• It can be acquired either formally or on job.
• It prepares people to work as a technician or to take up
employment in a skilled craft or trade.
• Technical & Vocational Education & Training (TVET) scheme
provides applied knowledge and skills for employment.
• It is based on formal, non-formal or informal learning.
• It is recognized to be a crucial measure for social equity, inclusion
and sustainable development.
• This is a form of learning related to develop working skills and
mastery of underlying knowledge and scientific principles.
• It is meant for both formal employment and self-employment

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 Contd.
Aims & Objectives:
The key-purpose of TVET is to prepare youths for work are:
• To support self-employment, social reproduction and transformation of
occupational and vocational practices;.
• To continue professional development with rapid technological changes
and related skills;
• To enable flexibility in providing broad based technical knowledge and
transversal skills on which different occupations can be based on;
• To provide continuing vocational training to workers;
• To re-skill workers to enable them for personal development and
emancipation;
• To facilitate economic growth by increasing the productivity of workers.
• To facilitate the socio-economic development by enhancing the capacity of
individuals to adopt practices that are socially worthwhile;
• To develop capacities for effective communication and effective
interpersonal relations.

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 e. Teacher Education
• Teacher education refers to the policies, procedures, and provisions to
equip teachers with knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and skills they
require to perform professional tasks effectively.
• Two major components of teacher education are in-service & pre-
service teacher education.
• With the changing world, the task of teachers in preparing young
learners is changing, and as because the teaching skills are evolving, no
initial TE course teacher education can be sufficient for future years.
• The origin of teacher education can be traced back to early 19th
century, when initiatives for teacher training were ensured in 1815.
• Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is the process by which
teachers as professionals reflect upon their competencies, keep them
up date, and develop them further.
• A growing research base suggests that to be most effective CPD
activities should be spread over time, collaborative, active learning,
delivered to groups of teachers, reflective practices, encouraged for
experimentation, and responsive to teachers' needs.

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 Contd…
Objectives of Teacher Education are as follows:
1. To impart adequate knowledge of the subject matter;
2. To equip the prospective teachers with necessary pedagogic
skills;
3. To enable the teacher to acquire knowledge & understanding
of child psychology;
4. To develop proper attitudes towards teaching profession;
5. To develop self-confidence among the prospective teachers;
6. To equip teachers to make proper use of instructional
facilities;
7. To enable teachers to understand the significance of individual
difference;
8. To develop the ability to provide direct/ indirect satisfaction to
parents through the performance/ achievement of children.

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 f. Education for All
• Education For All (EFA) is a global movement led by UNESCO, aiming to
meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015.
• The concept of EFA was adopted by Dakar Framework in April 2000 at the
World Education Forum in Senegal, Africa, with the target that all children
would receive primary education by 2015.
• UNESCO has been mandated to lead the movement and coordinate the
international efforts to reach Education for All, and Governments,
development agencies, civil society, non-government organizations and the
media are the partners working together toward reaching these goals.
• In India, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has been implementing as India’s
main Program for universalizing elementary education. Its overall goals
include universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social
category gaps in education and enhancement of learning levels of children.
• SSA is the Government of India's flagship program to achieve the UEE in a
time bound manner, as mandated by 86th amendment to the Constitution of
India making free and compulsory Education to the Children of 6-14 years,
s a Fundamental Right.

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 Contd.

• SSA is being implemented in partnership with State Governments to

cover the entire country and address the needs of 192 million
children in 1.1 million habitations.
• The program seeks to open new schools in those habitations which
do not have schooling facilities and strengthen existing school
infrastructure through provision of additional class rooms, toilets,
drinking water, through maintenance & school improvement grants.
• Existing schools with inadequate teacher strength are provided with
additional teachers, while the capacity of existing teachers is being
strengthened by extensive training, developing teaching-learning
materials and strengthening of the academic support structure at the
cluster/ block/ district level.
• SSA seeks to provide quality elementary education including life
skills.
• It has a special focus on girl's education and children with special
needs, providing computer education to R&D for digital divide.

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 Conclusion
• All the Philosophical-Historical-social issues in
education are very significant aspects of
Educational studies to develop education as
an independent academic discipline.
• The significant issues may help to develop an
in depth insights in education.
• Thus, education has become an important
part of social sciences.

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 References
• Velkoff, V. A. (1998). Women of the World:
Women's Education in India. International
Programs Centre report for the U.S.
Department of Commerce.
http://www.census.gov/ipc/prod/wid-
9801.pdf. Retrieved 30.03.2010.
• Desai, S. (1994). Gender Inequalities and
demographic behaviour. Population Council,
New York

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 Thank you

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