Network of Village Universities for Development of India's Rural Sector

Seventy percent of India's population lives in her villages. But, rural share of the national economy is less than twenty percent. There is a huge potential for business in services such as healthcare, sanitation and clean water in addition to industries in food and agriculture. But, in spite of significant investments by the government, growth in rural sector has been slow. We believe, an integrated educational approach at community level is necessary for ushering responsible participation of the people and boost growth. A few decades ago, Seva-Bharati, a society for education and rural development, demonstrated that significant socioeconomic upturn is possible through a constantly evolving life-based education. This paper presents the historic work of Seva-Bharati. Then, a discussion of their educational experiments are presented. Seva-Bharati created the concept of a model village university that fits in very well with the recommendations of India's new National Education Policy. In general, a village university may be implemented as a Higher Education Institute as a hub of education using existing educational infrastructure. The paper proposes a national framework for integrated education and development through a network of village universities across the nation.