Universalisation of Secondary Education

Abstract

The importance of investing and promoting secondary education in any developing country cannot be overemphasised. Secondary education plays a crucial role in ensuring economic growth, creating a pool of people that promote national growth, thereby reducing poverty levels and, reinforcing gender development and equality. However, despite such positive outcomes, the importance of secondary education has been neglected in India. Available statistics on the growth of secondary education and the performance of states in terms of enrolment and educational attainment paint a dismal picture. Many key concerns in this area have not even received the attention of educational planners and policymakers. Against this background, the Council for Social Development organised an international seminar, ‘Universalisation of Secondary Education’ to discuss critical policy issues and the practical problems hindering the development of secondary education. This is a brief summary of the proceedings of the seminar.