Group Members: Marian Irwin, Gaynor Lyseight Myers, Alicia Chipman, and Sasha Harrison

EPSY 590

Final Project

History and Background of India: Marian

India’s Elementary Education: Gaynor (Website Critique # 1)

India’s Secondary Education: Alicia (Website Critique # 2)

India’s Higher Education and conclusion: Sasha

(Website Critique # 3)

Second most populous country in the world (after China) Population: 1.21 billion people (2011 Census): 1/6 of

world’s pop. 50% are under the age of 25 Occupies 2.4 % of world’s land mass and 18% of population By 2020, India’s average life span will be 29 years old More than 2,000 ethnic groups 1,652 languages and dialects spoken 22% of population lives in poverty with a 7.8%

unemployment Religion: 80% Hindu, 13% Muslim, and around 2% Christianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India

Human activity: 75,000 years ago Maurya Empire: 4th and 3rd centuries

BCE Fragmentation and government Indian Rebellion of 1857 British Crown India National Congress Constitution republic with parliamentary democracy

Both private and public sectors Compulsory Funding: federal, state, and local Primary, secondary, and higher ed.

levels 15% reach high school 7% graduate Illiteracy: 35% Economic situation

Website #1

Goal: Promote, support, educate and basically highlight the efforts of World Bank (and other organizations) in the development and growth of countries around the world – in this case, specifically Elementary Education reconstruction in India for all, with great emphasis on the poor.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA, Education for All) SSA is an International Development Association (IDA)

financed programme aimed to reduce the number of children who are out of school by at least 9 million, narrow gender and social gaps and improve quality of education.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan envisages total involvement from the communities,” says Venita Kaul, co-task team leader for the project. “Communities will participate by appointing new teachers, undertaking school improvement activities using the school grant, monitoring quality, electing local representatives to school committees through engagement in parent-teacher’s associations.”  

“It is evident that are schools are failing the American public.”. As Stilger & Stevenson assessed the American education system they asked, “How can we make changes that will reverse this process?” – they would appreciate some of the steps taken by the Indian government.

“Since education ensures equality of opportunity, the ladder of social mobility is their for all to climb”. - MacLeod

By 2000, some 39 million of 200 million children aged 6 -14 – or almost 20 percent – were not being schooled which is what helped to spark the programme 

According to Stigler & Stevenson, Americans believe that innate differences in intellectual ability limit what can be expected from large numbers of the country’s citizens…emphasis on innate abilities is harmful and is undermining the pursuit of public education”. In a stark contrast in India, “Girls, poor, rural and disabled children have benefited the most from SSA,” says Kin Bing Wu, co-task team leader for the project.

In India, can success really be based meritocracy, or is it all social reproduction? - Lareua’s writings

SSA programme supported teacher recruitment and training, helped develop teaching materials, and monitored learning outcomes.

The Activity Based Learning has been adapted replacing the chalk & talk – children now construct their own knowledge. This model has also been adapted in other parts of the world. – Behaviorist vs. Constructivist learning

The World Bank Group is committed to efforts to improve learning outcomes and ensure strong independent monitoring and evaluation of educational projects worldwide, sharing lessons from other efforts with this one and bringing lessons from SSA to other interested parties. - -Cross Culture

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/PROJECTS/0,,contentMDK:22504167~menuPK:64282138~pagePK:41367~piPK:279616~theSitePK:40941,00.html

Universal access is achieved The gender gap continues to shrink Progress has been made on inclusion Higher quality yielded better transition

rate (to upper primary school – the next school level)

Retaining first generation (drop-out rates decreased)

A paradigm shift in teaching methods

Website #2

Goal: Promote the use of international schools over traditional Indian secondary schools

International standards/values better than Indian standards/values Indian schools : “chalk and talk”“stuff students with outdated information”

Int’l schools = “same quality” as home countries for non-Indians

“India is a multi-cultured and multi-linguistic country. A home to people from different walks of life.”

“best” schools :“where cross-cultural contact and pedagogy is practiced”

“every student has the freedom to explore themselves and discover a whole new world of creativity” (Pollock, Gutierrez)

Website #3Higher Education:

http://www.education.nic.in/secondary.htm

Goal: Promote knowledge of Higher Education

1) Technical Education2) Languages*3) Scholarship/Education Loans*4) Distance Learning*5) Book Promotion6) Minority Education7) International Cooperation/UNESCO*8) CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education)9) Statistics/Budget10) Public Grievances

Language and Loans

1) Languages

*English, Urdu and Sanskrit*Globalization vs. Local*Bourdieu: Cultural Capital and

Habitus *Bernstein & Heath: Linguistic Cultural

Capital

2) Scholarship/Loans

*Symbolic-Encourage Meritocracy vs. Social Reproduction

*MacLeod: Andrew Carnegie vs. Freddie Piniella

Distance Learning and UNESCO

3) Distance Learning

*Structure vs. Agency*Marxist Explanations: Bowles and Gintis:

Correspondence Principle

4) International Cooperation/UNESCO

*Executive Board/General Conference participation*Lareau: Concerted Cultivation vs. Natural Growth

Conclusion: *Primary, Secondary and Higher Education Trend*Globalization, Cultural Models and Learning Models