The Holy Grail

India's Quest for Universal Elementary Education

R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar

Narrates, against the backdrop of national and global context, the developments in the area of elementary education in the momentous period after 1986.
Meticulously documents all the policies and programmes such as the Mahila Samakhya, Total Literacy Campaigns, Bihar Education Project, the District Primary Education (DPEP and its progeny the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), and outlines the challenges ahead.
Illuminates the inner workings of the Central and State Governments, and the political and administrative processes that were crucial in conceptualising and implementing the policies and programmes.

The Holy Grail

India's Quest for Universal Elementary Education

R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar

Description

From being a country that accounted for a third of the world's out-of-school children, India has now brought down that statistic to a minuscule 0.3 per cent. Instrumental in bringing about this change has been educational policy-making. This volume is a rare peek into the internal workings of the education ministry and development agencies through the eyes of a bureaucrat who saw from close quarters how educational policy is formulated.

The author locates the developments in the education sector within larger socio-political and global contexts. The book unravels the relations between Central and state governments in a federal polity and describes educational developments at the state, national, and international levels. It traces changing trends in developmental cooperation, as well as the functioning of bilateral, regional, and multilateral organizations like the World Bank. Using theoretical concepts of decision-making, negotiation theory, and international relations, this book helps open the 'black-box' of policy-making in India.

The Holy Grail

India's Quest for Universal Elementary Education

R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar

Preface
List of Abbreviations
1. The Tinsel Town
2. The Great Master
3. The Long Journey: Early Days
4. Course Correction: NPE, 1986
5. Sa¯ Vidya¯ Ya¯ Vimuktaye
6. Akshara Keralam to Akshara Bharatham
7. India and Jomtien
8. Good Intentions Not Enough
9. Big Bad Wolf
10. Test Case Project Becomes Testing
11. Change of Guard
12. New Lamps for Old
13. Opportunity Knocks at the Door
14. Muddling Through
15. Building New Jerusalem
16. Don't Count Your Chickens
17. Crucible of Fire
18. Ganga Descends from Heaven
19. Winds of Change
20. Caterpillar to Butterfly
Glossary
Select Bibliography
Index
About the Author