India has a population of 1.15 million people in 2009 and is second in population to only China. In the next 20 years, India's population (1.53 billion people by 2030) is expected to exceed the population of China. The uncontrollable population expansion in India is a significant barrier to the countries educational system. Overpopulation contributes to a number of economic, health and education issues. India's increase in demand for higher education institutions has left the country with an inability to provide enough educational opportunities to meet the populations need.
As part of the education reform initiative in India a multitude of programs have been established to reach disadvantaged, low income, and female students of the population. The educational Administration of Chandigarh at Sarangpur has implemented its World Class Project reform initiative to offer a greater number of attendance scholarships to certain social classes of female students.
India's caste system is comprised of constitutionally recognized population groupings made up of social classes that are ostracized, typically minorities and sectors of the population that are considered polluted or impure due to breaking the law or medical illnesses. The funding program is in an effort to increase enrollment in select castes of boys and girls to improve the provision of education to underserved populations. The number of castes or tribes in India continues to increase annually.
The World Bank sponsors a number of educational, social, technical, science and agricultural reform projects in India. In an effort to help produce engineers that meet international standards, the World Bank works to support improvements in the quality of education in engineering institutes in 13 states. The World Bank supports more than 400 Industrial Training Institutes that focus on providing education in highly demanded technical skills.
As a result of the unstable and unequal provision of post-secondary education the quality of most graduates is poor which results in an uneducated workforce. Additionally, little to no training is provided by the majority of employers. This also results in substantial migration of the educated individuals to areas with better jobs and increased incomes.
A leading cause of the shortfall in higher education is the denial of post-secondary opportunities due to the very limited capacity of institutions offering high quality academic programs. In 2009, India's Union government has committed to a large scale government investment to create academic institutions with high standards to meet the needs of students wanting to study in a variety of disciplines. However, the system is not with out its problems, existing higher education providers are antiquated educational systems that lack qualified teachers, communicate ambiguous academic standards, provide deficient administrative support, and are highly ineffective and disorganized.
India's literacy rate continues to be a barrier to educational reform and the success of the educational system. India is known for one of the highest rates of female illiteracy in Asia. In 1991 it was reported that less than 40% of the 330 million women were illiterate. India has made much progress toward literacy. Statistics show that today there are more than 200 million illiterate women in India. High literacy rates in both men and women affect the lives of their families. Illiteracy contributes to poor economic development, poor nutritional status, low earning potential, and negatively impacts the education, health and well-being of children.
India's higher educational institutions and educational structure are not adequate to provide basic literacy skills to the population of India. As a result of this, the majority of India's population is uneducated and this contributes to the level of poverty. Families living in poverty typically expect every family member to work as soon as they are able. Children at the age of 7 are expected to work to earn money for their family. Families who are able to earn extra money by having their children work do not value the benefits of education. Many times education facilities are not attainable or affordable for families and with lack of anything for the children to do they are expected to help the family. This becomes an expectation of tradition for their family and results in education being undervalued.
India continues to struggle with barriers to higher education. However, India's progress has resulted in a reduction in poverty by more than half, significantly improved literacy rates, improved health conditions, increased educational programming and improved higher education standards that have allowed the country to develop world renowned programs in information technology, business process outsourcing, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals.
