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DOES RHETORIC ALWAYS MATCH REALITY? AN OVERVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL DECENTRALIZATION IN KERALA, INDIA

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Abstract

Kerala State, which lies on the most southwestern tip of India, is widely known for its innovative approaches to social development and education, and is regarded internationally as a model for development. This tiny state with a most advanced civil society has been described as “a sort of Scandinavia of the ThirdWorld” (Tornquist, 2000, p. 118). The state has achieved universal primary education, near-universal literacy, and near gender equality in access to education.Kerala has received recognition for its history of social mobilization of education, health care, public distribution of food both at home and abroad, and for the many fundamental structural changes it has adopted, including land reforms. Yet paradoxically, Kerala has also been referred to as “a mystery inside a riddle inside an enigma” (Wallich, 1995, p. 37) because it has never succeeded in translating its human development indicators into economic ones (Mukundan & Bray, 2004).

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Authors
  1. M. V. Mukundan
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA

    CHRISTOPHER BJORK

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Mukundan, M. (2006). DOES RHETORIC ALWAYS MATCH REALITY? AN OVERVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL DECENTRALIZATION IN KERALA, INDIA. In: BJORK, C. (eds) Educational Decentralization. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4358-1_12

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