Advantages Of Universalization Of Secondary Education

Education is an important dimension in the developmental process of an individual. It drags a person out from darkness, poverty and misery and leads him on a road of enlightenment and prosperity. It can be seen as the process by which society transmits its knowledge, values and skills from one generation to the next. It contributes to the individual’s well being as well as overall development of nation. It is not only used to instill the values and norms of a given society, but is also an important element of the socialization process. It is a process of human enlightenment for achievement of better quality of life. It is an important mean for individuals to improve their contribution, build capacity, overcome obstacles and increase their available

and found that the main objective of universal secondary education cannot be attained unless the quality of elementary education system is enhanced as from Grade X to XI the pass percentage is very less, which does not suggest that goal of universalization of secondary education is possible in the next 20-25 years. The major problems in universalization of secondary education are that the status of primary education system is inefficient; number of habitations are there which have remained unserved; pass percentage from Grade X to XI is very low; low participation of girls across educational levels and attendance rates specially in secondary classes are very less. Rani (2007) studied Secondary Education in India: Determinants of Development and Performance and found that four states Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradhesh and Uttar Pradesh are the poor scorers at both the indices i.e. development and performance at secondary level and Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have improved their enrolment ratios at upper elementary level. Besides this Kerala, with six states viz, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradessh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, achieved high scores on both the indices specially during

Secondary Education Commission (1952-53) recommended that development of democratic citizenship, improvement of vocational efficiency, development of personality and development of the qualities for leadership should be the main aims of secondary education. Indian Education Commission, 1964-66 has suggested four aims of secondary education: (i) Increasing productivity; (ii) Promoting national and social integration; (iii) Accelerating the process of modernization; (iv) Cultivating social, moral and spiritual values. The National Policy of Education (1986) and Programme of Action (1992) also stressed the need of increasing facilities for secondary education in India and recommended that all round development of child, development of socialism, secularism and democracy, cultivating moral and ethical values, national system of education and education for equality should be the aims of secondary education. Further also gave the special emphasis to girl children, children belonging to Scheduled Casts (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and subjects such as science, commerce, and vocational subjects in the expansion process. The objective of vocationalization was to divert at least 25% of students to vocational courses but it was not achieved and remained up to 5% only (MHRD Annual Report, 2003). It is the need of the hour to search causes of such