EDUCATIONAL PROFILE OF RAJASTHAN
Rajasthan is the largest state of India with an area of 3,42,239 sq. km. It is largely an
arid state. The large desert areas and inaccessible tribal belt present many problems related to
educational administration. Tribal population has a high concentration in the districts of
Banswara, Dungarpur, Udaipur, hilly areas of Sirohi, Kota, Baran and Sawaimadhopur
districts.
While Rajasthan is known for its glorious history, chivalry, rich cultural heritage and
entrepreneurship it is also known for socio-economic backwardness which is reflected in low
female literacy rate, high infant mortality rate etc. The main reason for the backwardness in
educational fields is its feudal past, social conservatism and high cost of providing
educational infrastructure in the inaccessible desert and hilly areas.
But after the independence special efforts have been made for the educational
development, many schemes have been launched by the state government for the promotion
of education of girls. With international cooperation and assistance from the centre projects
like Lok Jumbish and DPEP were launched for improving the conditions of Elementary
Education. The recent programs of S.S.A. and RMSA have helped in further progress of
school education and achieving the goal of UEE.
The scheme of Mid Day Meal has helped in increasing retention of children in
schools.
The literacy rate has gone upto 67.06% in 2011 from 8.95% in 1950 which is more
than seven fold increase in 60 years. The female literacy rate has increased more than 17
times it was only about 3% in 1950 which has gone upto 52.70% in 2011. The male literacy
rate of Rajasthan is higher than the National average. This development is the result of well
planned efforts of the state government, cooperation extended by voluntary agencies,
dedication of teachers and educational administrators, assistance from the centre and
international funding agencies.
PRIMARY EDUCATION – There is a separate Directorate of Primary education which
controls education from classes I to VIII. The enrolment in these classes in the state is over
12 million children.
SECONDARY EDUCATION – Secondary education is controlled by the Directorate of
Secondary Education from classes VI to XII. At present there are 6584 Secondary and 3571
Higher Secondary School with a total enrolment of 1.75 million in the classes VI to XII. The
state was giving grant to some private schools, which has been discontinued recently. (The
matter is being under consideration of the court).
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The Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan, located at Ajmer grant recognition to
Secondary and Higher Secondary School and conducts Secondary and Higher Secondary
Examination.
HIGHER EDUCATION – There are six State Universities of General education, two
Agriculture Universities, one Law and one Technical University. There is one Open
University at Kota. In addition to these there are three deemed Universities and many
privately managed Universities. There are 114 government colleges and 607 private colleges.
In these institution near about 2 lac students are studying.
TEACHER EDUCATION – The state has three tier system of teacher education (a) PrePrimary Teacher Education (b) Elementary Teacher Education (c) Secondary Teacher
Education
PRE-PRIMARY TEACHER EDUCATION – There is no government pre-primary
teacher education institution. But there are many privately run pre-primary teacher education
institutions which are known as NTT (Nursery Teacher Training) Most of these institutions
are not recognized by any agency.
Elementary Teacher Education - In the state of Rajasthan the course of elementary teacher
training known as BSTC (Basic School Teaching Certificate) is of 2 years duration. There are
42 Government institutions of elementary teacher education including 12 STC s and 30 DIETs
. There are 136 private STC s . The Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth a deemed
University conducts an integrated course of B.Ed. ( Bal Vikas) which prepares teachers who
can teach elementary as well as secondary classes. The curriculum for BSTCs is framed by
SIERT and the examination is conducted by the state department. The admissions to BSTC
are done centrally at present by Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur.
Secondary Teacher Education- The secondary teacher education course known as B.Ed. is
of one year duration conducted in Teacher Education Institutions affiliated to different
Universities of Rajasthan. There is one Regional Institute of Education at Ajmer and there are
779 Teachers Training Colleges in Rajasthan out of these 2 are Govt. institutions and the
rest are privately managed. Some of these colleges offer Shiksha Shastri Course also which is
considered equivalent to B.Ed. Some of these colleges also have M.Ed. and Ph.D.
programmes.
Under a centrally sponsored scheme of up gradation of Teacher Education Institutions
some of the teacher education institutions in Rajasthan were up graded as IASEs and CTEs.
There are 2 IASEs (both Govt. Institutions) and 10 CTEs in Rajasthan.
The admission to B.Ed. and M.Ed. courses are done centrally by the Universities
assigned this task by the govt. At present Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur is conducting
Pre Teacher Education Test (PTET) for admission to B.Ed. course and University of
Rajasthan, Jaipur, is conducting the test for admission to M.Ed. course.
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