Literature Review: Exploring Issues in the Indian Education System

This literature review delves into the multifaceted challenges plaguing the Indian education system. It highlights issues such as the underrepresentation of marginalized groups in higher education, the impact of globalization on the education system, and the challenges faced by financially disadvantaged individuals. The review explores the role of societal factors, caste issues, and poverty in hindering educational access and quality. It examines the Right to Education Act, dropout rates, and the impact of private schools and tuition on educational inequality. The review analyzes research on the socio-economic development of Indian states, particularly Uttar Pradesh, and the need for comprehensive reforms to address unemployment, poverty, and improve the overall education system. The paper also discusses the importance of government and private sector collaboration to improve the quality and accessibility of education for all citizens.

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Issues with the Indian Education System
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Views of Research and Research Interest
India has served as an epicenter of knowledge for centuries; world renowned great
scholars and intellects who has redefined the way the world runs in the current time are from
India. Arybhata popularly known as the founder of “zero” was an Indian mathematician and
astronomer is one of the many scholars who are from ancient India and has contributed a lot in
the current education system. Dr.C.V.Raman, Rabindranath Tagore, J.C.Bose etc are all Indians
who have garnered great respect and awards from around the world (Maity & Maity, 2016).
The history of Indian education system dates way back into the ancient times and it is
rich and full of interesting facts. In the ancient times there was the Gurukul system, it is
equivalent to a boarding school in recent times it is also one of the oldest system of education.
Nalanda, is considered to be one of the oldest universities had around ten thousand students at a
time. Sages and scholars were the teachers in the institutions and most of the knowledge impart
was oral and practical. Temples and community centers also organized classes for children’s
education. The students were taught various subjects and later different universities specialized
in different subjects (Joshi & Gupta, 2017).
During the 20th century the after the British colonized India they started their westernized
culture in the education system as they wanted their children to be educated in the way that is
prevalent in their culture and hence set up schools in India. The advent of the present
arrangement of education with its westernized style of imparting knowledge was brought into
action during the year 1854 by Sir Charles Wood. He set rules and guideline with the approval of
the Governor of the East India Company about setting up a university based on the model of
university of London (Mandal, 2017).

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This system is still prevalent with few modifications here and there. One of the recent
changes that have taken place is the replacement of marks with grades. Over the years one of the
prominent issues of the system is that the entire system is based on information and not
knowledge (Pandya, 2014).
Introduction
In this report the issue with the present Indian education system has been discussed in
details. The issue which has been described in the report is that the present education system in
India is more content based rather than being practical. The system is rigid and has been
following a set pattern for a long time (Sinha, 2015). The syllabus has also not been modified
with respect to the latest research and findings (Woodhead, Frost & James, 2013). Globalization
has affect a lot in the recent past but the changes that are required to have a flexible choice for
the children is still not available (Poor state education in India threatens the futures of millions of
children, 2017). The problem that is being discussed in this report is that how caste issue and
poverty is affecting each state of the Country (Dora, 2014).
Research Questions
 What are the fundamental issues with the Indian education system in the current
scenario?
 What are the issues with the application of the Right to education?
 What is the scenario with primary education with the marginalized and financially week
group of people?

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Literature review
Issues with Indian Education system
Basant & Sen, 2014. have stated in their report that there has been a shortfall in the
involvement of financially week and marginalized groups in Higher Education in India.
According to the authors research show in the recent times that the role of society and religious
conformation are one of the most prime factors in determining the higher education of the youth
on the country. They discuss that proper rules and guidelines to assist in the participation of
higher education can have a positive result in the marginalized group of people. The duo states
that the nature and the behavioral pattern of the backward casts like the SCs and the STs in every
state of India are diverse in nature this is due to the difference in the culture of the state they are
from. This also effects in the perception of education among the people one of the major issues is
that there is a lack of access of education in some parts as well in the elementary level.
However, in the context of higher education, the lower participation emerges both from the lack
of demand arising from the facts discussed above, along with the presence of supply side
constraints existing in Indian Higher Education.
Dattatraya, Tated, Falch & Prasad 2015 have stated in their findings that, globalization has
lent a lot to the education system all over the world and also in India to its core and is now
children had to compete on a global basis to make a mark. The report talks about a lot of
difficulties and problems that re faced by the teachers in the education system as well as the fault
in the training and skill development of the educators in the recent times. The authors have tried
to analyze the situation and conditions related to the technical institutes. The demand for the

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seats of technical institutes all over the country has risen exponentially and so is the advent of
new institutes with the help of the fish bone diagram concept the issue has been addressed.
According to 2001 census Uttar Pradesh has been stated as one of the most educationally
backward states in India with 43 percent of its population being under the category of illiterate.
Challenges faced by financially challenge group of people in the education system
Nambissan, 2014. the author in this report states that in the last few decades international
and local support groups have been showing the low cost free-for-all school markets
in India as a cost effective and reasonable option, that provides a improved -
quality and reasonable explanation for the education system for the marginalized and financially
week people. He states that this has also becomes a site for a suitable trading options for many.
The variables that are associated in this façade consist of individual entrepreneur
and, more recently, corporate organizations who have shown interest and have made their way
into the school business in developing countries like India. He states that in the long run the
quality of good education for the financially week people in the most minimal cost is being
hampered or lost due to the façade. In this report he has developed the model based on globally
accepted concepts so that it is possible and easy to deliver high quality education at the minimal
cast possible. The author in the report highlights the way that the individual entrepreneurs are
trying to diversify the education system and policies in India by drawing upon neo
liberal discourses and building contemporary activities, narratives, practices and networks in the
schooling and education industry. The author says that the market that has been created has left
the marginalized and financially week people with unfair terms of education which is affecting
the overall literacy rate of the country as well.

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Singh & Bangay, 2014. According to the authors of the paper there are two less researched areas
related to reasonable cost of private school educational provision in India. In this report the
authors have analyzed the affect of the amount of household debt burden which in turn affects
the decision making in the education process. Moreover they move on to discuss the conjoined
effect of the mix of the private and the government bodies who are responsible for the
development of the education system. The private sector of education is stated to be far from the
reach of the financially week background people and hence most of them choose to stay away
from higher education after the compulsory elementary education. In this report the authors are
also discussing about the growth and development along with the historic background of the
reasonable rate of private schools in the country.
Private tuition is also a big part that is at present a major contributor towards the educational
system. It is fairly reasonable as compared to the institutions and is in great demand among the
youth of the country. The authors have paid attention on how up-and-coming differences
originate from the choice of educational institution and private tuitions can be tackled.
The author argues that there is an urgent requirement for further research on both day to day
lives of the people who are financially challenged and the schools showing the effects that are
related to increasing privatization in the education system. To eliminate the inequality n terms of
opportunity and financial support in terms of the education of the youth urgent reform policies
and investment ideas should be implemented by both the private and the government sectors only
then there shall be an stark improvement in the overall education system in the country.

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The current educational situation in different states within the country
Kumar & Rustagi, 2016. Have stated in their report that the comprehensive and
multidimensional analysis of the socio economic development of the Indian state Uttar Pradesh
along with a review of the educational system up gradation in the current situation and time. The
author also states the upliftment and the impact of the participation of elementary education on
the planned development of the state. They also state the monetary section that is associated with
the education system, what are the rules and guidelines that has been laid down by the
government for the improvement of the education in the state and also what are the external
institutions or organizations that are financing the elementary education of the state. The duo
infers by saying that the objective of overall elementary education scenario of the state could
improve and become modernized only with joint assistance and commitment between the central
and state governments. The authors of the report have a view that there are two issues with the
state which are loosely held responsible for the development of the current education system one
is unemployment and the other is poverty. This slow improvement in the state of education in
Uttar Pradesh has been the concern of many since three decades and that has been stated in this
report. Also based on the findings, children enrolled in elementary schools were 30.8 lakhs (a
“lakh” is 100,000) in 1950-51 and increased to 166 lakhs in 1999-2000, a fivefold increase.
Roy, 2013. As the title of the paper suggests this is a report on the regular and exponential
amount of dropout from the primary education system in the Uttar Dinajpur District situated in
West Bengal, India. Firstly the author speaks about the right to education Ac that has been added
to the constitution of Indian in the year 2001. This right led to the provision of free and
compulsory education for all children who are in between the age group of 6-14 years apart form

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the child who has been admitted by his or her parents to an educational institution of their choice
that is not a government undertaken school in that case the parents are liable to pay any kind of
fee or charges as per the institution demands. The author states that in India there are about 8.1
million children who are dropouts and do not want to study, it is a challenge for authorities in
charge to bring these kids back to school.
In the report the author has stated various reasons for this huge case of dropout and these
reasons can be segregated in to three wide headings (i) family problem, (ii) problems related to
the educational institution, (iii) Personal issue. The problem is of the Socioeconomic position of
the family, financial status of the child, parental education etc are some of the family related
issue that a child may face. While there can be a problem of peers and grades in the school.
Personal issues are mostly also related to the societal pull on the lives of the children for example
early marriage and need for the child to work etc.
After this the author has stated all primary data and statistics for the district and its
reasons for such an extreme quantity of dropout cases in the state.
Effectiveness of Right to Education in rural India
Dwivedi & Naithani 2015 The authors jointly agree that India has grown and developed in the
educational sector than it was five hundred years ago but they also agree to the fact that the
growth has taken place in a snail pace. The primary education in the country especially in the
rural area has been declined due to the socio-economic conditions prevalent in these areas. Some
of the major factors which effect the education of the children depend upon financial
inequalities, socio economic background of the family, caste, class and gender. It was set that the

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all children in between the age group of 6-14 regardless of their financial, caste, gender or any
other factor should receive primary education and it was a set target of 2015. This is the basis of
the right to education Act 2010. One of the key decision which were taken and that changed the
education system drastically is that according to the new guideline that has been laid under this
Act it says that 75% members of School Management Committee should be the parents of
existing students of the school so that there is a more efficient check on the operation to
established efficiency at the first and initial level. It is important for the management committee
to be aware of its responsibilities and must act accordingly to deliver capably. In case of rural
schools the management should first understand and respect the importance of the institution and
then perform accordingly for the betterment of the school. The school management should also
look in to the fact that every child who are under the age group of 6-14 years should be able to
attend school.
Sarkar & Kundu, 2016. According to the authors some of the challenges that the Right to
education is suffering in rural India are facing are: lack of knowledge of the parent, resource
mobilization, staggering rate of dropouts, infrastructural problem, low quality of education and
lack of monitoring, lack of skilled and trained teachers, Child labor is one of the most prevalent
and severely affected the primary education of the country. The author has also discussed about
the importance and the definition as to what is the role a School management committee has and
how should the committee perform.

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Conclusion
The education system set up in India has some major fundamental issues that the
government of the country has to deal with along with the private operators in the education
sector. The Right to Education is just one step that has been taken and is partially implemented
by the authorities. There are many loop holes in the system that the government has to realize
and accordingly set priorities if the standard of education has to elevate in the country. Poverty,
socio economic upbringing, mindset of the parents and the understanding of the importance of
primary education is very important in this case as well (Tarrow, 2014).

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Reference List:
Rani, P. G. (2015). ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA: A REGIONAL ANALYSIS
OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND SITUATION. Journal of Regional Development and
Planning, 4(2), 61.
Kumar, A. S., & Rustagi, P. (2016). Elementary education in India: Progress, Setbacks, and
challenges (No. id: 8392).
Basant, R., & Sen, G. (2014). Access to higher education in India: an exploration of its
antecedents.
Dattatraya, S. D., Tated, R. G., Falch, M., & Prasad, R. (2015, October). Review of Indian
education system. In MOOCs, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE), 2015
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Nambissan, G. B. (2014). Poverty, markets and elementary education in India. TRG Poverty
and Education Working Paper Series, Max Weber Stiftung.
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Singh, R., & Bangay, C. (2014). Low fee private schooling in India–More questions than
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