The New Horizons in Education: The Hope for Future

Abstract

Education for all has been an international driver in the past decade for states that have been progressing rapidly and been making remarkable progress in education practically eradicating illiteracy and achieving nearly universal primary education along with gender parity. India being the second largest populated country in the world constituting a significant portion of the world population has made significant progress over the last couple of decades in the field of education. This progress undoubtedly has been through the efforts of the political system within the country and undeniably it can be attributed to the international targets such as Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Such national and international efforts have been made to prepare globally competent citizens in India as well as in other countries. Yet as the deadline for EFA approaches, some states and regions within India remain far from achieving some goals and urban rural disparities exist that hold back India as a whole from achieving set targets for 2015 as a nation. India remains to be under the lower third in the Educational Development Index with EDI of .790 (UNESCO, 2012). Therefore, it is important to make a final assessment of progress under the framework of EFA with a vision beyond 2015 that will help achieve international and national targets in the coming decade. This paper concludes that as India prioritizes to prepare globally competent citizens in the coming years there needs to be a well thought-out education strategy that can be implemented via reforms in these key areas – access, quality, governance. Keywords: Global education, Millennium Development, Universal Primary Education, Sustainable Development, gender equality, childhood education