Primary and secondary education reform should be the top priority for India

摘要

In 1947, the year of independence, there were only 20 universities and 500 colleges in the Indian subcontinent (including Bangladesh and Pakistan). Now, there are about 567 universities and 18,064 colleges in India alone. Many new institutes and universities are coming up on a regular basis. India now aspires to have at least 1,000 universities and 50,000 colleges by 2020 to meet the pressing demand from growing number of students, association of industries and to fulfil its ambition to have a knowledgebased economy. India is the eleventh largest and second fastest growing economy in the world. It is also the third largest economy in Asia with huge budget for education and research. Today, India’s higher education system is the second largest in the world, only after the United States. Unfortunately, such impressive achievements do not reflect in the quality and potential of our education and research sector, which has a close relationship with overall health and longterm prosperity of the country.