It has been said that anyone with a love of history, culture, and deep spirituality should visit India. The world's largest democratic nation is awe-inspiring, but a closer examination reveals a country filled with contradictions. Its urban and rural areas feel worlds apart. As Stephen P. Cohen says in India: Emerging Power, "[India's] economy is huge, but so is its population; while standards of living are rising, India, like China, remains a poor country at the aggregate level."
India is much too large (28 states) to see, smell, taste, and understand in seven days. Nevertheless, in the fall, ASCD conducted a weeklong educational study tour in Delhi, India, with the intention of learning how teachers are meeting the challenges of educating students in this rapidly evolving nation.
Today, India is considered an important growth market in the world. Rama Bijapurkar reports in We Are Like That Only: Understanding the Logic of Consumer India that "[India] is the only country in the world that is getting younger rather than older. There are 450 million people below the age of 21, and it is just beginning its consumption journey." The nation is a vibrant, free-market democracy striving to overcome decades of widespread poverty. Its rise to world prominence is compelling, but its challenges seem daunting.
Major reform remains a tricky part of India's efforts to advance its public sector. An area of national vulnerability is its education system. Rashmi Krishnan, director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (Delhi), addressed what he sees as India's education needs in the report Reflections on School Education: "There must be classrooms [that are] reasonably spacious and comfortable. There must be a teacher who knows the subject he or she is going to teach. The teacher must have been trained to teach. The necessary teaching aids must be available. Books must be provided. Library consultation must be possible. New ideas must be introduced through seminars and conferences. Creativity must be encouraged."
Besides the other obvious school-related issues to consider (e.g., a poor student transportation system, lack of electricity, inadequate toilet facilities, and nonexistent professional development opportunities for most teachers), we must also consider important social issues, such as widespread corruption, vast poverty, 23 different spoken languagues, the lingering effect of the old caste system, and the public's lack of respect for and confidence in government school educators, to name a few. India's lift is heavy.
With good intentions, the central government is attempting to overcome the nation's education deficiencies. At the heart of the education reform agenda is The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, which passed in 2009. This legislation stipulates that every child between the ages of 6 and 14 has the right to a free and compulsory education in a neighborhood school through the completion of elementary education. The central and state governments have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of this legislation. The law also requires a complete overhaul of teacher education, encourages a constructivist pedagogy, and requires implementation within three years.
The fact remains, however, that there are not enough schools, teachers, and universities to implement the law. No infrastructure exists to professionally develop the nation's teachers, and there appears to be a major disconnect between the central and state governments. These issues require long-term visioning, planning, and execution.
On a brighter note, the U.S.-India Business Council contends that India can produce the global workforce of tomorrow for generations to come if it masters the will to improve its education system on all fronts—K–12, technical and vocational, and higher education. Hope springs eternal.