Quality Improvement of Secondary Education in India: An Overview

Abstract

Education is widely recognized as one of the fundamental factors contributing to the process of development. No country can achieve sustainable development without making sustainable investment in human capital. It raises people’s productivity and creativity and promotes entrepreneurship and technological advances. Further, it plays a crucial role in securing economic and social progress and improving income distribution. An effective and innovative education system opens enormous opportunities for individuals, whereas a weak system can result in declining standards of living, social exclusion, and unemployment. Hence, there is a strong need to strive for excellence and quality in education. Even the Eleventh Five Year Plan has recognized the fact that higher growth rates would require a large quantitative and qualitative expansion of formal education and skill formation. Right to education (RTE) also ensures quantitative expansion so that all eligible school-going students are brought within the folds of formal education at the elementary level (GOI 2005). However, evidences show that presently the key problems at school-level education are high dropout rates and low retention rates. It’s not just years of education that matter, the issue of quality of education provided at the school level is equally important. To reap the benefits of education to the extent possible, policymakers need to address the dual challenge of increasing the quantity of education and maintaining high quality of education. To achieve high standards of quality, the nation requires both: establishing quality assurance and evaluation system as well as promoting a quality culture within institutions or schools.