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(Sample Materials) Gist of India Year Book 2013 - "Education"

Contents of the Chapter:

Intoduction
National Population Education Project
Elementary Education

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Mid-Day Meal Scheme

Mahila Samakhya Scheme

Adult Education

Saakshar Bharat

Education of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
Higher Education
Right to Education 8 Book Promotion
Secondary Education 8 Evaluate Yourself

Before 1976, education was the exclusive responsibility of the States. The Constitutional Amendment of 1976, which included education in the Concurrent List, was a far-reaching step.

The Central Government continues to play a leading role in the evolution and monitoring of educational policies and programmes, the most notable of which are the National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 and the Programme of Action (POA), 1986 as updated in 1992.

The Government has taken/proposed a number of major initiatives during the 11th Five Year Plan. Some of the new initiatives in the School and literacy sector and Higher and Technical Education sector include: Right of Children to free and Compulsory Education Bill, Launching of Saakshar Bharat, ICT in Secondary Schools and in open/distance schooling, Evolving a National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, Examination reform in accordance with NCF-2005, introducing a System for replacement of marks by grades at the Secondary stage in schools affiliated to CBSE, Recommendations of Yash Pal Committee and National Knowledge Commission, Establishment of 14 Innovation Universities aiming at World Class Standards, Setting up 10 new National Institutes of Technology, Launching of new Scheme of Interest subsidy on education loans taken for professional courses by the Economically Weaker Students, Scheme of setting up of 374 Model degree colleges in districts having gross enrolment ratio for higher education less than National GER, 150 women’s hostels in higher educational institutions located in districts with significant population of weaker sections and minorities, Academic Reforms (Semester system, choice based credit system, regular revision of syllabi, impetus to research), etc.

In order to ensure all-round development in the field of education, the Ministry of Human Resources Development was created on 26 September, 1985. Currently the Ministry has two departments namely: (i) Development of School Education and Literacy which deals with Elementary, Secondary and Adult Education or literacy. (ii) Department of High Education which deals with university Higher Education, Technical Education, Ministry Education, Scholarship, languages, Book promotion of copyright.

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ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Launched in 2001 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is one of India’s major flagship programmes for universalisation of elementary education. Its overall goals include universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in elementary education, and achieving significant enhancement in learning levels of children. SSA is implemented in partnership with the State Governments and reaches out to 19.4 crore children in 12.3 lakh habitations across the country.

Education Guarantee Scheme And Alternative And Innovative Education

Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education (EGS and AIE) is an important component of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to bring out-ofschool children in the fold of Elementary Education. The scheme envisages that child-wise planning is undertaken for each out-of-school child.
Under EGS, educational facilities are set up in habitations that do not have a primary School within a distance of 1 km. Any habitation with 25 out-of-school children in the 6-14 age group (15 in the case of hilly and desert areas and tribal hamlets) is eligible to have an EGS Centre.

The NPEGEL Scheme

NPEGEL Scheme is a holistic effort to address obstacles to girl’s education at the micro level through flexible, decentralized processes and decision making. It is implemented in educationally backward blocks and addresses the needs of girls who are ‘in’ as well as ‘out’ of school. It also reaches out to girls who are enrolled in school, but do not attend school regularly.
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme provides for setting up of residential upper primary schools for girls of SC, ST, OBC and Muslim communities. This scheme targets areas of scattered habitations, where schools are at great distances and are challenge to the security of girls. This often compels girls to discontinue their education. KGVB addresses this through setting up residential schools in the block itself.

MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME

With a view to enhancing enrollment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 15 August 1995, initially in 2408 blocks in the country. By the year 1997-98 the NP-NSPE was introduced in all blocks of the country.
In September 2004 the scheme was revised to provide cooked mid day meal with 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein to all children studying in classes I-V in Government and aided schools and EGS/AIE centres.
In September 2007, the name of the Scheme was changed from ‘National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education ‘to ‘National Programme of Mid Day Meal in Schools’ and the Scheme was extended to cover children of upper primary classes (i.e. class VI to VIII) studying in 3,479 Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) w.e.f. 1 October 2007.

The Scheme has the following Components:

Supply of free food grains @ 100 gms per child per school day for primary and @ 150 gms for upper primary stage from FCI godowns.
Assistance for transportation of foodgrains from FCI godowns to the schools.
For North Eastern States and Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand at the rater prevalent under the Public distribution system (w.e.f. 1 December 2009).

Mahila Samakhya Scheme

Pursuant to the objectives of the NPE, 1986, the Mahila Samakhya Scheme was started in 1989 to translate the goals enshrined in the NPE into a concrete programme for the education and empowerment of women in rural areas particularly those from socially and economically marginalized groups.

National Bal Bhavan

The National Bal Bhavan is an autonomous organisation fully funded by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Department of School Education and Literacy. Since its inception in 1956, it is a creativity resource centre for children in the age group of 5-16 years. The Bal Bhavan as a movement has grown by leaps and bounds throughout the length and breadth of the country and today there are 154 State Bal Bhavans and 77 Bal Bhavan Kendras affiliated to National Bal Bhavan.

National Council For Teacher Education

The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) was established on 17 August 1995 with a view to achieving planned and co-ordinated development of teacher education system throughout the country and for regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards of teacher education. As on 31 December 2010, 12,050 teacher training institutions offering 16,940 courses have been recognised by NCTE with an approved intake of 11.30 lakh teacher trainees.

Right to Education

The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002, inserted Article 21A in the Constitution which provides for free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.
In order to put in place a suitable legislation as envisaged under Article 21A, The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 was passed by the Parliament on 4 August 2009 and the RTE was published in the Gazette of India on 27 August 2009.
The Constitution (Eighty-sixth amendment) Act, 2002 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 have come into force w.e.f. 1 April 2010. The RTE Act provides children in the 6-14 age group the legal entitlement to free and compulsory education. It has considerable implications for the implementation strategies of SSA. As per roadmap of RTE (i) neighbourhood schools are to be established upto 31.3.2013, (ii) provisions of school infrastructure and teachers are to be made upto 31.3.2013.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan

Launched in March, 2009, this Scheme with the objective to enhance access to secondary education and improve its quality, envisages to achieve an enrolment rate of 75 per cent from 52.26 per cent in 2005-06 in secondary stage within five years by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance of any habitation. The other objectives include improving quality of education imparted at secondary level through making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, removing gender, socio-economic and disability barriers, providing universal access to secondary level education by 2017 and achieving universal retention by 2020.
Scheme for Setting up of 6000 Model Schools at Block Level
This is a Scheme to provide quality education to talented rural children through setting up 6000 model schools as benchmarks of excellence at block level at the rate of one school per block. The Scheme was launched in 2008-09 and is being implemented from 2009-10.

NATIONAL POPULATION EDUCATION PROJECT

The National Population Education Project was launched in April 1980 with the overarching objective of institutionalizing population education in the school education and teacher education systems to contribute to the attainment of population and development goals of the country. Up to 2002, this was implemented as externally aided Project which was fully funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Moreover, UNFPA decided to support a concomitant Project focused on adolescent reproductive and sexual health (ARSH) from 2004. During 2006-07, the
Environmental Orientation To School Education
To this end, a Centrally-sponsored Scheme ‘‘Environment Orientation to School Education’’ was initiated in 1988-89. The scheme envisages assistance to voluntary agencies for conduct of experimental and innovative programmes aimed at promoting integration of educational programmes in schools with local environmental conditions.

Kendriya Vidayalaya Sangathan

The Scheme of Kendriya Vidayalaya Sangathan (KVS) was approved by Government of India in November 1962 to provide uninterrupted education to the wards of the transferable central government employees. Initially, 20 regimental schools were taken over as central schools during the academic session 1963-64. This number has now gone up to 1067 functional schools including 3 abroad (Kathmandu, Moscow and Tehran) as on 1 February, 2011.

Central Board of Secondary Education

Set up in 1929, the second oldest Board of the country, Central Board of Secondary Education is an autonomous body working under the aegis of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. There are 10,599 schools affiliated with CBSE as on 31 December 2009.

National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)

Initiated as a project in 1979 under the Central Board of Secondary Education, the Open Schooling Programmes have now taken shape as an independent system of education in India. NIOS works through its five departments and two units at headquarters and 11 regional centres located at Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chandigarh, Delhi, Allahabad, Patna, Jaipur, Kochi and Bhopal. Three sub-centres of the regional centres of NIOS have been set up at Bhubaneswar, Dehardun and Darbhanga.

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

Established in 1961, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an apex resource organization of Government of India in the field of school education. It is an autonomous organization registered under Societies Registration Act to advise and assist the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and Departments of Education in States/Union Territories in formulation and implementation of their policies and major programmes in the field of education, particularly for qualitative improvement of school education.

Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti

The National Policy on Education – 1986 envisaged setting up of model schools, one in each district of the country. Accordingly, a scheme was formulated under which it was decided to set up co-educational residential schools (now called Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas). The scheme, which started with only two schools on experimental basis in 1985-86, has grown to 576 schools in 2009 covering as many districts in 34 States/UTs, with over 2 lakh students on rolls as on 30 September 2009. The Vidyalayas envisaged a new style of growth with identification and development of talented, bright and gifted children predominantly from rural areas who may otherwise be denied good educational opportunities. Efforts are made to ensure that at least 33 per cent of the students enrolled are girls.

Adult Education

Adult Education aims at extending educational options to those adults, who have lost the opportunity and have crossed the age of formal education, but now feel a need for learning of any type, including, basic education (literacy), skill development (Vocational Education) and equivalency. With the objective of promoting literacy and adult education, a series of programmes have been introduced since the First Five Year Plan period, the most prominent being the National Literacy Mission (NLM) that was launched in 1988 to impart functional literacy to non literates in the age group of 15-35 years in a time bound manner. By the end of the 10th Plan period, NLM had made 127-45 million persons literate, to which, 60% were females, 23% belonged to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 12% to Scheduled Tribes (STs). 597 districts were covered under Total Literacy stage and 328 reached Continuing Education stage.

Launch of Saakshar Bharat

The campaign for total literacy that began with the launching of National Literacy Mission (NLM) in 1988 has now completed two decades. During this period, literacy rates have moved up from 43.57 per cent in 1981 to 64.84 per cent in 2001. In the context of government’s overall policy aimed at empowerment of women and in recognition of the fact that literacy is a pre-requisite for socio-economic development, the National Literacy Mission has been recast as “SAAKSHAR BHARAT” with prime focus on female literacy.

The flagship programme of the Government will cover all adults in the age group of 15 and beyond though its primary focus will be on women. The scheme has not only been relieved of the shortcomings noted in its preceding editions, but also, several new features added to it. Basic Literacy, Post literacy and continuing Education programmes will now form a continuum, rather than sequential segments.

The Mission has four broad substantially.

Impact functional literacy and numeracy to non-literate and non-numerate adults.
Enable the neo-literate adults specially younger adults to continue their learning beyond basic literacy and acquire equivalency to formal educational system.
Impart non and neo-literates relevant skill development programmes to improve their earning and living conditions.
Promote a learning society by providing opportunities to neo literate adults and other potential learners for continuing education.

The principal target of the mission is to impart functional literacy to 70 million adults in the age group of 15 years and beyond. Auxiliary target of the mission is to cover 1.5 million adults under basic education programmes and equal number under vocational (skill development) programme. Within these targets, the Mission will primarily focus on, but not limited to, women. Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Minorities, other disadvantaged groups and adolescents in rural areas in low literacy States will be other focused groups. For each focused group and area, there will be a specific target and for each target, an eplicit approach and strategy.

Adult and Continuing Education

The programme has been rolled out in 167 districts in 19 States, to cover 3.83 crore non literates in over 80,000 Gram Panchayats under basic literacy programme and to establish 81,007 adult education centres, one each in a Gram Panchayat, under the Continuing Education component.

Female Literacy and Women Empowerment

The Government, on assumption of office in May 2009, had announced that literacy would be its key programme instrument for emancipation and empowerment of women. Efforts of the Government to give impetus to school education, health, nutrition, skill development and women empowerment in general are impeded by the continuance of female illiteracy. In the context of Government’s overall policy aimed at empowerment of women and in recognition of the fact that literacy, especially female literacy, is a pre-requisite to socio-economic develop-ment, it was considered imperative that the National Literacy Mission (NLM), as a programme instrument, be recast with an enhanced focus on female literacy. The articulated shift to inclusive development with substantial public investment in the 11th Plan makes it imperative that female literacy is focused upon to derive multiplier effects for inclusive development.

EDUCATION OF SCHEDULED CASTES AND SCHEDULED TRIBES

Constitutional Provisions: Article 46 of the Constitution states that, ‘‘The State shall promote, with special care, the education and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of social exploitation.’’ Articles 330, 332, 335, 338 to 342 and the entire Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution deal with special provisions for implementation of the objectives set forth in Article 46.

Minority Education

Article 30 (1) of the Constitution provides for the rights of the minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. The HRD Ministry has taken several steps to implement the recommen-dations of the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India-Sachar Committee. National Commission for Minorities Educational Institutions (NCMI) was established on 11 November 2004 to advise the Central Government or any State Government on protection of the Constitutional right of the minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice and other allied matters. The Commission has issued Minority Status Certificates to 3598 educational institutions till November 2010.

Educational Development in North-Eastern Region

There is special emphasis on socio-economic development of the North-Eastern Region comprising eight states. As per the Government orders, 10 percent Gross Budgetary Support of the HRD Ministry has been earmarked for implementing development schemes in the region. Out of 40 Central Universities of the country, there are nine Central Universities in the North-East Region. IGNOU has established a network of Open and Distance Learning institutes and centres in the region. At present, there are 8 regional centres and 433 learners support centres functioning in the region. Out of 10 new NITs proposed to be opened in the country during 11th plan, 6 NITs are proposed to be opened in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.

Promotion of Languages

Hindi

In order to assist non-Hindi speaking States/UTs to effectively implement the three language formula, support for teaching of Hindi in these States/UTs is provided by sanctioning financial assistance to appoint Hindi teachers in schools under a Centrally-sponsored scheme. Assistance is also given to Voluntary Organisations for enabling them to hold Hindi-teaching classes.
The Central Hindi Directorate runs programmes relating to purchase and publication of books and its free distribution to non-Hindi speaking States and to Indian missions.

Modern Indian Languages

States are given special help for the production of University-level books in regional languages. The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) has been functioning since April 1996 as an autonomous body for the promotion of Urdu language and also Arabic and Persian languages. The Government has also set up National Council for Promotion of Sindhi.
Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore conducts research in the areas of language analysis, languages, pedagogy, language technology and language use.

English and Foreign Languages

The Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL), Hyderabad, an Institution of Higher Learning deemed to be a University, is an autonomous organisation under this Ministry, which undertakes teacher education programme to improve the professional competence of teachers of English as the secondary language. It also offers teaching of major foreign languages like Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. It has regional centres at Shillong and Lucknow.

Strengthening of Culture and Values in Education

The National Policy on Education, 1986 (revised in 1992) and its Programme of Action-1992 has laid considerable emphasis on value education by highlighting the need to make education a forceful tool for social and moral values.

Sanskrit

Presidential Award of the Certificate of Honour is conferred on eminent scholars of Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic, and Persian in recognition of their lifetime outstanding contribution towards the propagation of these languages, every year on Independence Day. Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman has also been introduced for young scholars in the age group of 30-40 years who have made a breakthrough in interdisciplinary studies involving contribution of Sanskrit or ancient Indian wisdom, to the process of synergy between modernity and tradition.
The Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Prathisthan, Ujjain is an autonomous organisation, which promotes: a) Preservation, conservation and development of the oral tradition of Vedic studies; b) Study of the Vedas through Pathshalas as well as through other means and institutions; c) Creation and promotion of research facilities; and d) Creation of infrastructure and other conditions for the collection of information and storage of relevant material.
Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi is an autonomous organisation established by the Government of India in the year 1970. It is the nodal agency for the propagation, promotion and development of Sanskrit Education in the country. It is fully funded by the Government of India in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Secondary and Higher Education. Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan has been granted the status of a Deemed to be University.
Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati, provides courses of study from Prashasti (Intermediate) to Vidya Vardhi (Ph.D.). The Vidyapeetha has upgraded the Department of Pedagogy to an Institute of Advanced Studies in Education (IASE).
Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, New Delhi provides courses of study from Shastri to Vidya Vachaspati (D.Lit.). From 1997-98 the Vidyapeetha started diploma in Vedic and refresher courses. Two degrees, namely, Vidya Vardhi (Ph.D) and Manad Upaadhi (Honorary D.Lit.) are also given by Vidyapeetha.

Higher Education University and Higher Education

There were 20 Universities and 500 Colleges at the time of independence. At present, there are 544 universities and university-level institutions as on 31 December 2010 of which there are 261 State Universities, 73 private universities, 42 Central Universities, 130 Deemed Universities, 33 institutions of national importance established under Acts of Parliament, and five institutions established under various State legislations.

University Grants Commission

The University Grants Commission (UGC) which came into existence on 28 December 1953, became a statutory organisation by an Act of Parliament in 1956. It is a national body for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education. The University Grants Commission has its Regional Offices at Hyderabad, Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Guwahati and Bangaluru.

Autonomous Research Organisations

The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), New Delhi, set up in 1972, reviews the progress of historical research and encourages scientific writing of history. The Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), functioning from 1977 with offices in New Delhi and Lucknow, reviews the progress, sponsors or assists projects and programmes of research in philosophy, and gives financial assistance to institutions and individuals to conduct research in philosophy and allied disciplines.
The Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla set up in 1965 is a residential centre for advanced research in humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, is an autonomous body for promoting and coordinating social science research. The National Council of Rural Institute (NCRI) was set up in 1995 as an autonomous organisation fully funded by the Central Government to promote rural higher education on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi’s revolutionary and voluntary agencies in accordance with Gandhian philosophy of education and promote research as tool of social and rural development.

Distance Education Indira Gandhi National Open University

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) established in September 1985, is responsible for the promotion of Open University and distance education system in the educational pattern of the country and for coordination and determination of standards in such systems. The major objectives of the University include widening access to higher education to larger segments of the population, organising programmes of continuing education and initiating special programmes of higher education for specific target groups like women, physically challenged and people living in backward regions and hilly areas, such as NE, KBK, and those predominantly inhabited by tribals and SCs.
The IGNOU introduced its programmes in 1987 and has so far launched 117 programmes consisting of more than 900 courses comprising Ph.D., Master’s Degree Programmes, Advanced/Postgraduate Diploma, Diploma Programmes and Certificate Programmes, etc. During 2005 over 4.60 lakh students were registered for various programmes of study. The University has established an extensive student support services network consisting of 60 regional centres, 7 sub-regional centres and 1298 study centres situated in different parts of the country. IGNOU has established 269 study centres for women, SC/ST and physically challenged persons.
On 26 January 2001, IGNOU launched an education channel Gyandarshan which is now a 24-hour channel and has capacity for six simultaneous telecasts.

Technical Education

The Ministry of Human Resource Development caters to programmes at undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels. The technical education system at the central level comprises, among others, the following : a) The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which is the statutory body for proper planning and coordinated development of the technical education system; b) Fifteen Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs); c) Seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs); d) One Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore; e) Five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research and f) Twenty National Institutes of Technology (NITs).
To benefit from lower costs, AICTE and Indian National Digital Library for Science and Technology (INDEST) have joined hands to form a combined AICTE-INDEST consortium.

Indian National Commission for Co-Operation With Unesco (INCCU)

The Government set up an interim Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO (INCCU) in 1949, which was later put on a permanent footing in 1951.

Book Promotion

National Book Trust, India: The National Book Trust, India, an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, was established in 1957. The activities of the NBT are : (i) publishing, (ii) promotion of books and reading, (iii) promotion of Indian books abroad, (iv) assistance to authors and publishers, and (v) promotion of children’s literature. It produces books in Hindi, English and fifteen other major Indian languages under its various series and in Braille. Every alternate year, NBT organises the World Book Fair in New Delhi, which is the largest book fair in Asia and Africa. The Trust also observes 14-20 November every year as National Book Week.

Copyright

Administering the Copyright Act, 1957, one of the several legislations in India in the area of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), is the responsibility of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Secondary and Higher Education. The Copyright Office was established in January 1958 to register copyright of works under different categories. Under the provisions of Section 11 of the Copyright Act, 1957, the Government of India has constituted a Board to be called the Copyright Board. The Copyright Board is a quasijudicial body consisting of a Chairman and not less than two or more than fourteen other members. The Board hears cases regarding rectification of copyright registration, disputes in respect of assignment of copyright and granting licences in works withheld from public.

Copyright Enforcement in India: To curb piracy a Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council (CEAC) was set up of which has members from all concerned departments and representatives of industry.
Cooperation with WIPO: India is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) since 1976, a specialised agency of the United Nations which deals with copyright and other intellectual property rights and plays an important role in all its deliberations.

General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): The last round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994 gave rise to multilateral agreement on Trade under the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Prior to emergence of the WTO, there was no multilateral agreement on services. The WTO came into existence on 1 January 1995. Education is one of the twelve services, which are to be negotiated under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Education has been divided into five categories for the purposes of negotiations: Higher Education, Secondary Education, Primary Education, Adult Education and Other Education.

Sample MCQ:

1. Consider the following statements:

Before 1976, education was the exclusive responsibility of the states.
The constitutional Amendment of 1976 included education in the concurrent List.

Which of the above statements is / are correct?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 & 2
Neither 1 nor 2

2. Consider the following statements:

In order to ensure all-round development in the field of education, the ministry of Human Resource Development was created in 1985.
At present the HRD Ministry has three departments namely, Department of School education and literacy, Department of Higher education and Department of official language.