Bertrand Russell's educational thoughts significantly deal with reforming education for school going children and he also supported pre-primary education. He favored early childhood education for physical, intellectual and character development. His emphasis on character development of a child shows the significance of early years of life for…

Attempts to make free and compulsory education accessible to Indian children began a little more than a century ago. A strong consciousness for the need of free and compulsory Primary Education in India was highly moved by enactment of the Compulsory Education Act in 1870 in England. Education has been formally recognized as a human right since…

The original constitutional provision for free and compulsory education, granted under Article 45 stated that it was to be available for "all children until they complete the age of fourteen years", but it did not specify the lower age limit nor the stage of education (whether elementary or primary) that would be free and compulsory.…

The encounter between the pre-colonial education system in India, dominated by poor teachers and students, and the British education system, which defended and perpetuated the "English class system", created a complex and problematic relationship. This article explores this problematic relationship between poverty and education in the…

The first comparative study of the spread of mass education around the world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this unique new book uses a bottom-up focus and demonstrates, to an extent not appreciated hitherto, the gulf between the intentions of the government and the reality on the ground. This book is divided into four…

The article presents a historical overview of education in India, followed by a background on current demography, governance structures, and status. The role of parent involvement is traced from ancient times to the modern era to highlight how this phenomenon has evolved. A review of recent national policies stemming from the 2009 Right of…

Research Findings: This article traces the status of child rights in India, with special attention to traditional beliefs that have shaped and sustain gender discrimination. The article examines the possibilities and limitations of the newly implemented Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009 for operating as an equalizing…

The 18 papers of this conference were divided into five topics ranging from literacy to the history of progressive reform to history of education from an international perspective. Part 1 includes: "Isabella Graham and Joanna Bethune's Early American Experiments in Educating Illiterates" (L. Townsend); "The Dilemma of Equivalency:…