Education: The continuing tragedy

Without serious and systemic education reforms by the central and state governments, the future looks dark

People are India’s greatest potential resource for sustained growth and development. With a population of 1.3 billion (over half below age 25 and nearly two-thirds below 35), a working age population of about 850-900 million and a labour force of about half that number, one might expect that it is simply a matter of time before India becomes an economic superpower. After all, just look at China. Unfortunately, unlike China and most other East Asian nations, India has woefully neglected basic education ever since Independence. Oh yes, we have dramatically expanded the number of schools and hired millions of teachers,