India as on date has the largest number of uneducated children in the world - two-thirds of whom are girls. Government reports indicate that 59 million children between 6-14 years do not attend school. Official information further indicates that just a little over one-third of all children who enroll in grade one reach grade eight.

The Indian government lays emphasis to primary education up to the age of fourteen years (referred to as Elementary Education in India.) The Indian government has also banned child labour in order to ensure that the children do not enter unsafe working conditions. However, both free education and the ban on child labour are difficult to enforce due to economic disparity and social conditions. 80% of all recognized schools at the Elementary Stage are government run or supported, making it the largest provider of education in the Country. However, due to shortage of resources and lack of political will, this system suffers from massive gaps including high pupil teacher ratios, shortage of infrastructure and poor level of teacher training. Education has also been made freefor children for six to 16 years of age or up to class X under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009.

There have been several efforts to enhance quality made by the government.The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched in 1994 with an aim to universalize primary education in India by reforming and vitalizing the existing primary education system. 85% of the DPEP was funded by the central government and the remaining 15 percent was funded by the states. The DPEP, which had opened 160000 new schools including 84000 alternative education schools delivering alternative education to approximately 3.5 million children, was also supported by UNICEF and other international programmes. This primary education scheme has also shown a high Gross Enrollment Ratio of 93-95% for the last three years in some states. Significant improvement in staffing and enrollment of girls has also been made as a part of this scheme. The current scheme for universalization of Education for All is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which is one of the largest education initiatives in the world. Enrollment has been enhanced, but the levels of quality remain low.

In recent times, several major announcements were made for developing the poor state of affairs in education sector in India, the most notable ones being the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The announcements are:

• To progressively increase expenditure on education to around 6 percent of GDP.
• To support this increase in expenditure on education, and to increase the quality of education, there would be an imposition of an education cess over all central government taxes.
• To ensure that no one is denied of education due to economic backwardness and poverty.
• To make right to education a fundamental right for all children in the age group 6-14 years.
• To universalize education through its flagship programmes such as Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid Day Meal.

However, even after five years of implementation of NCMP, not much progress has been done on these promises or announcements. The public expenditure on education has actually declined from around 3.23 percent of GDP in 2000-2001 to 2.88 percent in the recent times. As a proportion of total government expenditure, it has declined from around 11.1 percent in 2000-2001 to around 9.98 percent during UPA rule. A policy brief issued by [Network for Social Accountability (NSA)][88] titled "[NSA Response to Education Sector Interventions in Union Budget: UPA Rule and the Education Sector]" provides significant revelation to this fact. Due to a declining priority of education in the public policy paradigm in India, there has been an exponential growth in the private expenditure on education also. [As per the available information, the private out of pocket expenditure by the working class population for the education of their children in India has increased by around 1150 percent or around 12.5 times over the last decade].