ABSTRACT
In 1987, a new educational policy in its first year of implementation aroused high hopes for advancement. A call for improved “education” has often been heard in the 150-year history of the Indian educational system. The most radical of all such calls was made in Mahatma Gandhi’s proposal for nai talim. It was part of his greater plan for India’s development along the lines of a new social order, which featured uplifting the oppressed castes, village-based decision making, and guaranteed employment. The distribution of equal educational opportunity was a major focus of educational policy in the first two decades after Independence. The government went about formulating a policy on education with unprecedented speed and focus. The government has indicated its plans to enlarge the nonformal educational sector, that is, formal instruction outside the schoolroom or later in life than “normal”.
