Abstract:
Independent India accepted the Indian Constitution in 1950 and declared India a republic. It is clearly stated in the Constitution that education is a state subject. Due to this, views were also expressed on various aspects of education. In Article 45 of the Indian Constitution, the target was set to provide compulsory and free primary education to all boys and girls in the age group of 6 to 11 years within 10 years (ie by 1960). Even after a long time of 46 years, we are still far away from the goal of universalization of primary education. It is not that there has been no progress in this direction after independence. Rather, educational facilities for providing primary education have expanded greatly. The number of primary schools in the country, which was about 22 lakh in 1950-51, has increased to about 6 32 lakh today.
Primary education is the cornerstone of the education system of any country. While explaining the importance of primary education, Odd (1973) said, "Primary education is an object of primary importance in the life of any nation. It is a ladder, only by crossing which a nation can achieve its desired success."
The Indian Education Commission (1966) while enunciating the importance of education said - "The main objective of education is to strengthen social and national unity. To achieve this objective, we will have to universalize primary education. That is, children up to 14 years of age We have not yet been able to achieve the goal of providing free compulsory education to all children in all areas of the country, good and effective education up to five years by 1975-76 and 7 years of education by 1975-76.
