This handbook is an important reference work in understanding education systems in the South Asia region, their development trajectory, challenges and potential. The handbook includes the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries for discussion---Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka---while also considering countries such as Myanmar and the Maldives that have considerable shared history in the region. Such a comparative perspective is largely absent within the literature given the present paucity of intra-regional interaction.
South Asian education systems are viewed primarily through a development lens in terms of inequalities, challenges and responses. However, the development of modern institutions of education and the challenges that it faces requires cultural and historical understanding of indigenous traditions as well as indigenous modern thinkers and education movements. Therefore, this encompassing referenc
e work covers indigenous education traditions, formal education systems, including school and preschool education, higher and professional education, education financing systems and structures, teacher education systems, addressing huge linguistic and other diversities, and marginalization within the formal education system, and pedagogy and curricula. All the countries in this region have their own unique geographical, cultural, economic and political character and histories of interest and significance, and have responded to common issues such as overcoming the colonial legacy, language diversity, or girls’ education, or minority rights in education, in uniquely different ways. The sections therefore include country-specific perspectives as far as possible to highlight these issues. Internationally renowned specialists of South Asian education systems have contributed to this important reference work, making it an invaluable resource for researchersand students of education interested in South Asia.
Author Biography:
Padma M. Sarangapani is Professor of Education and Chairperson of the Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education (formerly Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research) at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. Her research and publication are in the areas of ethnography of learning and childhood, indigenous (tribal) knowledge systems, quality of education debates, teacher education, culture and pedagogy, and the discipline of education. She has engaged with research-based and field action in areas of quality improvement in elementary education, mathematics education, and teacher education. Professor Sarangapani is lead of the Connected Learning Initiative (2015–2020), which was awarded the UNESCO-King Hamad Prize for Excellence in the use of ICTs in Education. She was member of the steering committee of the National Curriculum Framework 2005 and the National Council of Teacher Education, and has worked with the UNESCO Teacher Task Force and with the centraland several state governments in India. Her most recent publication is School Education in India: Market, State and Quality (co-editor and contributor, Routledge, 2018).
Rekha Pappu is Professor of Education and Chairperson of the Azim Premji School of Education at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, India. As a researcher, teacher, and evaluator, she has been working for over two decades with institutions in the academic and the development sectors. She was the Coordinator and Director of Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies, Hyderabad (1997 – 2003), and the Convenor of the Andhra Pradesh Social Watch (2004 – 2005) as part of which she edited the first Social Watch Report of Andhra Pradesh titled Rethinking Priorities: Making Policy as if People Mattered. Her research interests are broadly in the areas of education, gender, development, and social justice. In particular, Professor Pappu is interested in the areas of education policy, history of education, gender and education, childhood studies, as well as pedagogy and teacher professional development in higher educational institutions. Her publications in these areas have been included in anthologies and academic journals. She has led research projects and impact assessments for the state and central governments, as well as various national and international organizations.
