1990年，在泰国召开的世界全民教育大会通过了《世界全民教育宣言：满足基本学习需要》，提出了到2000年实现全民基本教育的目标。这代表了世界各国和国际教育界作出的一项范围最为广泛的承诺，也是所有国家在教育领域的一个最严峻的挑战。要实现全民教育的目标，最艰巨的任务无疑落在发展中国家身上，尤其是发展中国家中的人口大国。本论文选择印度作为发展中人口大国的一个个案，从政策角度分析探讨印度在普及义务教育方面的经验和问题。论文有三部分组成。 绪论部分论述了选题的依据和目的，对义务教育的一般理论问题作了分析，并对该领域的研究现状作了文献综述。 第二部分包括第二至第八章，是对印度义务教育的各个方面的描述和分析。第二章介绍了印度普及义务教育的社会背景与历史。第三章分析了印度义务教育的管理体制与政策措施。在管理体制部分，论述分析了联邦一级和邦一级的教育管理体制，重点论述了印度近年来教育管理上权力下放的改革趋势。在政策措施部分，介绍分析了印度宪法、历次教育政策、五年发展计划中对义务教育的规定，并分析了实施义务教育的一些具体措施，包括示范学校计划、操作黑板计划、非正规教育计划、县级初等教育计划等等。第四章具体介绍分析了印度普及义务教育的现状。第一节介绍分析了印度义务教育的发展规模、入学率、辍学率、留级率、义务教育的内部效益等等，分析了造成印度义务教育入学率低、而辍学率高的原因。第二节论述了义务教育发展水平在各邦之间以及农村与城市之间的差异以及造成这种差异的原因。第五章论述了印度义务教育的学制、课程和教学质量，并对影响教学质量的各种因素作了分析。第六章探讨了印度义务教育中的社会处境不利群体，包括女童、表列种姓和表列部落以及童工，分析了他们的教育机会不平等社会原因。第七章论述义务教育的经费问题，分析了经费不足对义务教育发展的影响。第六章讨论印度义务教育的师资队伍建设问题。 最后一章构成论文的第三部分。本章结合其它一些发展中人口大国的情况，如巴西、巴基斯坦、墨西哥、埃及、印度尼西亚等，从义务教育在国家发展中的地位、经济发展与义务教育、经费投入与义务教育的发展、人口发展与义务教育以及女童教育等方面探讨了发展中人口大国普及义务教育面临的共同问题和解决这些问题的可能途径，并在此基础上提出了本文的结论。

The World Declaration on Education for All adopted in the Jomiten Conference in 1990 proposedthe goal of basic education for all by the year 2000. This is a very broad commitment made by everycountry and the international community. It is obvious that the major task for achieving the goal ofeducation for all lies in the developing countries, especially those with high population. This thesischooses India as a representative of those high-population developing countries, and attempts toexplore its experience and problems in the course of universalizing compulsory education which may have implications to other developing countries with high population. The thesis has mainly three parts.The first part discusses the purpose of this study and provides a literature review. It also dealswith some general issues of compulsory education from a theoretical perspective.The second part includes Chapter Two to Chapter Eight. It gives a detailed description andanalysis of compulsory education in India. Chapter Two offers a brief account of the historicalbackground for the development of compulsory education in India. Chapter Three is about theadministration system and policies for compulsory education in India. The first part deals with thepolicies of compulsory education, including the provisions in the Indian Constitution, variousnational educational policies and five year development plans. It also makes an analysis of the major measures for implementing compulsory education, including Navodaya Vidyalayas Program,Operational Blackboard, Non-formal Education Program and District Primary Education Program.In the second part, the thesis discusses the educational administration systems at both the federal and the state levels, focusing on the trends of decentralization in educational planning andmanagement in recent years. Chapter Four three analyzes the current status of compulsory educationdevelopment in India based on some indicators like enrollment rate, drop-out rate, repetition rateand the internal educational efficiency and makes an analysis of the reasons for low enrollment rateand high drop-out rate. It also discusses the gap among states and between urban and rural areas andthe reasons for the gaps. Chapter Five talks about the school structure, curriculum and schoolperformance and analyzes the various factors correlated with student achievement. Chapter Sixdiscusses education of the disadvantaged social group, including girls, children from scheduledcastes and scheduled tribal , and child labors. Chapter Seven deals with the financing ofcompulsory education and discusses the impact of insufficient expenditure upon the developmentof compulsory education. Chapter Eight discusses the issues of teachers.In the last part, India is grouped with other high-population developing countries like Brazil,Pakistan, Mexico, Egypt and Indonesia to form a framework of analysis. It discusses some commonissues that are relevant with all these high-population countries, such as the place of compulsoryeducation in the national development agenda, economic development and compulsory education,government investment on compulsory education, population growth and development ofcompulsory education. The thesis ends with a set of conclusions on the basis of the analysis made inthe previous part.