Figure 1.--There are some excellent private schools in India, but the state system is totally inadequate for the country's needs. These boys attend the Stracey Memorial High School for elementary and upper grade students. It is a private school in Bangalore.

India has a population of more than 1 billion, and its universities turn out 260,000 graduates a year. Many of these graduates are children educated at private schools. There are corporations are setting up their new manufacturing and electronics industry to take advantage of well-trained Indian technicians and workers. Many companies located in Ameruca and Europe are taking advantage of this talent pool exporting jobs to India. We do not yet have detailed information on Indian schools. Available information, however, suggests that India may have the most inadequate school system of any important country. A HBC reader writes in 2005, "India spends just 1.9% of its gross domestic product on elementary education, about two-thirds of what it needs to educate all its children. One result is that over 40% of the population is illiterate. On average, Indians spend just over 2 years in school–-compared with the average of 5 years in China and more than 9 years in South Korea." Despite recent economic progress, India does not appear to be closing the education gap.

Created: 6:52 AM 9/21/2005
Last updated: 6:53 AM 9/21/2005