Abstract:
The first National Policy on Education, 1968, based on the comprehensive report of the Kothari Commission, made a commitment to implement the constitutional mandate. The policy says: "Strengthening efforts should be made for early fulfillment of the directive principle under Article 15 of the Constitution to provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14 years". The policy emphasized that a suitable program should be developed to reduce wastage and stagnation in schools and ensure that every child who is enrolled in school successfully completes the prescribed curriculum. Later, the National Policy on Education, 1986 reiterated this commitment. The policy resolved that "The New Education Policy will give highest priority to solving the problem of school dropouts and will adopt an array of carefully designed strategies based on micro planning. It will ensure retention of children in school. Will be implemented at the grassroots level throughout the country. This effort will be fully coordinated with the network of non-formal education. It will be ensured that by 1990 all children attaining the age of 12 years will have five years of schooling. or its equivalent through non-formal stream.Similarly, free and compulsory education up to the age of 14 will be provided to all children by 1995.Following this resolution, India participated in the World Conference on Education for All (EFA) organized by the World Bank and several international agencies including United Nations agencies. A careful analysis of the chronological events from the days of the Constituent Assembly to the present time reveals interesting facts. We started by relying on internal resource mobilization and now we are gradually shifting to foreign aid. Policy related to education is closely linked to this change in the source of funding for education. The commitment to providing education in general and to all children up to the age of 14 in particular continued till the late 80s. However, all government policies
