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Education in India

By Randall Shirley

India - The Great Contradiction

Believe it or not, India is educating the rest of the world. Traditions taught by some of India's greatest teachers - yoga, meditation, proper breathing - are now among the most popular "life-long learning" courses for Westerners, and are helping people manage many Western problems . . . like stress and anxiety.

But in India, few people sit around meditating all the time!

Education is still one of the nation's great contradictions.
In some Indian urban areas, education is so good that Indians are running American businesses, like call centers, from the other side of the world. In other areas, such as slums and remote villages, the quality of education is generally not as good. Many villages don't have schools, and children may not be able to travel to the nearest school.

The good news is literacy in India is constantly improving - approximately 76% of men and 54% of women are literate today - improving by 13% over ten years.1

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Did You Know?
India is the birthplace of some of the world's oldest universities, such as Nalanda between the 5th and 12th centuries, A.D.

The Indian government has lofty goals for improving education for all Indians, and especially women. It's very important for women to be literate - better literacy leads to improved health conditions and family planning.

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