Educating India

Besides providing grants to universities and colleges, it also tells the Centre and state governments what steps to be taken for the development of higher education. Universities are classified into four types depending on the manner in which they were set up. These are central universities, state universities, deemed universities and private universities.

Central University: Set up by an act of Parliament. There are 20 central universities in the country. The President of India is a visitor at all such universities, with a few exceptions. The University Grants Commission (UGC) is the agency that provides funding for maintenance and development of these universities.

Of the 20 central universities, the Indira Gandhi Open University and Central Agricultural University, Imphal, are not funded by the UGC, but are assisted by the HRD Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture, respectively.

The University of Delhi, Allahabad University, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Aligarh Muslim University are among the central universities.

State university: Set up or recognised by an act of the state legislature. There are 215 state universities in the country. Three of the country’s oldest institutions of higher learning, University of Calcutta, University of Madras, and University of Mumbai are state universities. State governments are responsible for establishment of state universities and provide plan grants for their development and non-plan grants for their maintenance. The UGC makes budgetary plan allocation for 113 state universities.

Deemed university: Institutions of higher learning, which are not universities, but granted the status of an university in recognition of their high standard of education. The status of a deemed university is accorded by the UGC. Section 3 of the UGC Act, provides for the conferring of this status of autonomy granted to high performing institutes and departments of various universities in India. Deemed university status brings not just full autonomy in setting course work and syllabus of those institutes and research centres but also allows them to set their own guidelines for the admissions, fees and instruction of the students.

As in other universities, students are conferred degrees on completion of their programme in deemed universities. There are 100 deemed universities in the country. National Institutes of Technology (formerly known as Regional Engineering Colleges), Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Symbiosis International Education Centre (Pune), Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore) are all deemed universities.

Private university: An institution of higher learning established through a state or central act by a sponsoring body, such as a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, or any other corresponding law for the time being in force in a state or a public trust or a company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956.

For an institution to be given the status of a private university, the state legislature conferring the status has to pass an Act by which the institution will receive the status. Private universities have to be recognised by the UGC if the degrees awarded by them have to be of any value. The Birla Institute of Technology and Science at Pilani in Rajasthan, funded and run by the Birla Group Trust, became an officially recognised university in 1964.

Technical Education: The HRD ministry caters to programmes at diploma, undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels. Technical education deals with courses and programmes in engineering, technology, management, architecture, town planning, pharmacy, applied arts and crafts.

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is the statutory body for proper planning and coordinated development of the technical education system and maintenance of norms and standards. It was set up in 1945 and later given statutory status in 1987 by an Act of Parliament.

AICTE has set up National Board of Accreditation (NBA), a quality-controlling arm for conducting evaluation of technical programmes on the basis of prescribed guidelines, norms and standards. Under the technical education system, there are seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), six Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), Indian School of Mines (Dhanbad), School of Planning and Architecture (New Delhi), National Institutes of Technology.

Secondary Education

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT): An apex resource organisation which assists and advises the Central and State governments on academic matters related to school education.

It undertakes programmes related to research, development, training, extension, international cooperation, publication and dissemination of educational information.

The most recent intervention was the development of National Curriculum Framework-2005, preparation of guidelines, syllabi and textbooks for different subjects of different classes.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE): An autonomous body working under the aegis of the HRD ministry, set up in 1929. Its main objectives are affiliating institutions in and outside the country, conduct annual exams at the end of Class X and XII, conduct entrance exams to professional courses for admission into medical and engineering colleges, update and design curriculum.

There are about 8,300 schools affiliated with CBSE, which include Kendriya Vidyalayas, government, independent and Navodaya Vidyalayas, located in India and 20 other countries of the world.

The National Institute of Open Schooling: An autonomous organisation of the HRD ministry, established in 1989. The largest open schooling system in the world, it has about 13 lakh students on the roll.

Kendriya Vidyalaya: Started by the Union government in 1962 to provide uninterrupted education to the children of transferable Central government employees. Initially, 20 regimental schools were taken over as Central Schools during the academic session 1963-64. This number has gone up to 931, including three abroad (Kathmandu, Moscow and Tehran). The HRD minister is the ex-officio chairman of the Kendriyya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya: Run by the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, an autonomous organisation under the HRD ministry. They are fully residential, co-educational institutions, providing education up to senior secondary stage. The scheme started in 1985-86 with two schools and has now grown to 540 schools in 34 states and UTs with 1.76 lakh students on rolls. Admission is made at the level of Class VI through a test.

(with Neha Sharma)