IN ORDER to assess a country’s performance and its progress towards economic development, we must supplement, if not supplant, the growth-rate of GNP ( gross national product) by other more microeconomic measures. It is not enough to measure progress merely in terms of GNP, it is imperative to look at the structural change too. In fact, there are two basic approaches available in this respect: the first is to ‘weigh the growth performance by distributional record’, and the other is ‘to emphasise changing poverty and inequality as the principal indicators of development.’

Education is an important indicator of social development. It is increasingly becoming the primary determinant of overall development in the emerging knowledge economy. India is a meeting point for students, teachers, and all those who are concerned. India has a large number of schools, colleges and universities across the whole country. There are important educational institutes like IITs, IIMs, JNU, DU and other MBA colleges. There are many institutions that also cater for many distance-learning courses. In fact, India is a home for education. There are over 300 Universities and 45,000 colleges of various types in the country. Three Indian universities were listed in the Times Higher Education of the world’s top 200 universities: Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, and Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2005 and 2006. Although, no Indian university made to the top 300 of the Chinese conducted (Academic Ranking of World Universities) in 2006.

However, six Indian Institute of Technology and Birla Institute of Technology and Science - Pilani, were listed among the top 20 science and technology schools in Asia by Asiaweek. The Indian School of Business located in Hyderabad was ranked number 15 in global MBA rankings by the Financial Times of London in 2009 while the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been recognised as a global leader in medical research and treatment. Similarly, the National Law School of India University located in Bangalore is often considered to be the best law school in South Asia and a pioneer in legal education in India.

Education in India has a history stretching back to the ancient urban centres of learning at Taxila and Nalanda. Western education became ingrained into Indian society with the establishment of the British raj. Education in the Republic of India falls under the control of both the Central government and the states, with some responsibilities lying with the Centre and the state having autonomy for others. The various articles of the Indian constitution provide for education as a fundamental right. Most universities in India are private establishments.

India has made huge progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population. However, education is still far behind developing countries such as China or Thailand. Most children never attend secondary schools. An optimistic estimate is that only one in five job-seekers in India have ever had any sort of vocational training.