India

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India is the largest Commonwealth country, with a population of more than 1.2 billion. COL’s regional centre, the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, is based in New Delhi.

School-age Population by Education Level¹
177,432,640		121,369,632
Secondary		Tertiary

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Secondary Education for the school year ending 2019¹
75%		73%
Female		Male

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Tertiary Education for the school year ending 2019¹
30%		27%
Female		Male

Percentage of female teachers in ¹
43.5%		41.6%
Secondary (2018)		Tertiary (2018)

1. UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Centre, retrieved in June 2021

Highlights

COL works in many programme areas in India — girls’ and women’s education and training, open and innovative schooling, higher education, technologyenabled learning, lifelong learning for farmers, and technical and vocational skills development. Learners from India have also benefited from COL’s open online courses and other resources.

Partners

Partnerships are fundamental to COL’s work. Strategic partnerships allow COL to broaden its reach and engage at global, regional and national levels, while implementation partners support COL’s work in communities and institutions across Commonwealth Member States. Partners include multilateral organisations, regional bodies, national governments, government agencies, foundations, civil society organisations, public and private (not-for-profit) institutions and the private sector. COL partnerships assist in improving and extending teaching and learning services to people in the developing Commonwealth.

COL’s partners in India include:

Ministry of Education (formerly Ministry of Human Resource Development)
Ministry of Information Broadcasting
Andhra University
Arul Anandar College
Bankers Institute of Rural Development
Bilaspur University
BOSCH Ltd.
Central University of Himachal Pradesh
Centurion University of Technology and Management
Chetana Institute for the Mentally Handicapped
Department of School Education, Telangana
Department of Science and Technology, Government of India
Digital Empowerment Foundation
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University
Educational Technology and Management Academy
First Impressions Resources Pvt. Ltd.
Focal Skills
Foundation for MSME Clusters
Gopalganj-Debiana Fisherman Cooperative Society Limited
Graphic Era Hill University
Indian Institute of Skill Development
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Indira Gandhi National Open University
International College, Kolkata
IT for Change, Bangalore
Karnataka State Open University
Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University
Mann Deshi Foundation
M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
National Institute of Bank Management
National Institute of Open Schooling
National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development
Netaji Subhas Open University
Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society
Odisha State Open University
Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies
Reddiyarchatram Seed Growers Association
Rural Education and Development India
Sambhav Foundation
Save the Children
ScooNews | EdBank
Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University
Siliguri Global Engineering Institute
Skill Council for Green Jobs
State Resource Center, Kerala
Tamil Nadu Open University
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
University of Hyderabad
University of Kashmir
Uttarakhand Open University
Vardhman Mahaveer Open University
Vidiyal
Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University

Key Contacts

Board of Governors

Professor Sudhir K. Jain
Vice Chancellor
Banaras Hindu University

Focal Point

Mr Mrutyunjay Behera
Economic Adviser, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education

Notable Mention

Mr R.P. Agrawal, former member of COL Board of Governors

The late Mr. Sudeep K. Banerjee, former member of COL Board of Governors

Mr B.S. Baswan, former member of COL Board of Governors

Mr B.K. Chaturvedi, former member of COL Board of Governors

Ms Vibha Puri Das, former member of COL Board of Governors

Mr P.R. Dasgupta, former member of COL Board of Governors

Professor Vasudha Kamat, Honorary COL Adviser

Mr M.K. Kaw, former member of COL Board of Governors

Mr Kamaraj Keppanan, COL Honorary Fellow

Dr Abdul Waheed Khan, COL Honorary Fellow

Mr Amit Khare, former member of COL Board of Governors

Professor Badri Nath Koul, COL Honorary Fellow

Father T.V. Kunnunkal, COL Honorary Fellow

Mr Mahesh Chandra Pant, COL Honorary Fellow

Professor T.V. Prabhakar, COL Chair (Department of Computer Science, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur)

Professor Vasireddy Sivalinga Prasad, COL Honorary Fellow

Dr Mrs K. Rama, former Honorary COL Adviser

Professor Nageshwar Rao, COL Honorary Fellow

The late Professor G. Ram Reddy, COL Honorary Fellow and member of COL’s Founding Board of Governors

Mr K K Sharma, former member of COL Board of Governors

Mr Abhimanyu Singh, former member of COL Board of Governors

Ms Chetna Vijay Sinha, COL Honorary Fellow

Mr R. Subrahmanyam, former member of COL Board of Governors

The late Professor V.C. Kulandai Swamy, COL Honorary Fellow

Professor Ram G. Takwale, COL Honorary Fellow

Mr S.C. Tripathi, former member of COL Board of Governors

Literacy rate (2006)¹
50.8%		75.2%
Adult (15+) literacy rate Female		Adult (15+) literacy rate Male

Economic Activity (2010)¹
34%		64%
Adult (15+) economic activity Female		Adult (15+) economic activity Male

Political Decision Making (2014)¹
11%
Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Life expectancy (2012)¹
68		64
Female		Male

1. COL gender country profile April 2015

1.6	86.9
Fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants¹	Mobile-cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants¹

1.3	37.5
Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants¹	Mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants¹

16.6	34.5
Households with a computer (%)¹	Individuals using the internet (%)¹

1. International Telecommunication Union (ITU), retrieved in March 2020

India

Highlights

Partners

Key Contacts

Board of Governors

Focal Point

Notable Mention

More Information

News

Reports

Publications and Resources

Country Data Sources