Schooling for All: Can We Neglect the Demand?

Does substantial expansion of educational facilities by itself create the required demand for education? Since demand for education depends on many socio-economic, political, and religious factors, is the supply of free schooling alone adequate? Schooling for All demonstrates that there is still a substantial need to create demand for schooling among all levels of society, especially in those socio-economic groups which are yet to see the importance of education.

The volume critically analyses the primary drawbacks of the Indian education system-non-enrolment, dropouts, irregular attendance, and inadequate learning. It establishes the need to strongly encourage parents to recognize the importance of education for their children's future. Arguing that supply-side strategies-free education, midday meals, opening more schools-have not proved effective since the problem of inadequate demand is much larger, the authors delineate the measures that are required to boost the demand for education in India.

Santhakumar Velappan Nair, Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore.,Namita Gupta, visiting faculty, Azim Premji University, Bangalore.,Rama Murthy Sripada, Program Manager, Azim Premji Foundation, Bengaluru.

Santhakumar Velappan Nair is Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

Namita Gupta is visiting faculty, Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

Rama Murthy Sripada is Program Manager, Azim Premji Foundation, Bengaluru.