Education in India

Education In India has a history stretching back to the ancient urban centres of learning at Taxlia and Nalanda. Western education became ingrained into Indian society with the establishment of the Brithsh Raj. Education in the Republic of India falls under the control of both the central government and the states, with some responsibilities lying with the centre and the state having autonomy for others. The various articles of the Indian constitution provide for education as a fundamental right.

India has made huge progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population. However, education is still far behind developing countries such as China or Thailand. Most children never attend secondary schools. An optimistic estimate is that only one in five job-seekers in India has ever had any sort of vocational training.

Monastic orders of education under the supervision of a guru was a favored form of education for India's noble castes. The knowledge in these orders was often related to the tasks a section of the society had to perform.

The priest class, the Brahmans, were imparted knowledge of religion, philosophy, and other ancillary branches while the warrior class, the Kshatriya, were trained in the various aspects of warfare. The business class, the Vaishya, were taught their trade and the lowest class of the Shudras was generally deprived of educational advantages. The book of laws, the Manusmriti, and the treatise on statecraft the Arthashatra were among the influential works of this era which reflect the outlook and understanding of the world at the time.