A problem-oriented history of education in postcolonial India is presented along with a forecast of India's educational future. The problems of providing quality education in India after 190 years of British rule, which left only l3 percent of the Indian population literate at the time of India's independence in 1947, are discussed. India's postcolonial attempts at modernizing its educational process through successive five-year plans of development are reviewed. Two aims of educational development are specified: to broaden access to education and to develop a national system of education which is rooted in the basic values of the Indian nation. A background history on India is provided which discusses the positive and negative aspects of British educational administration in India, the four Five-Year Plans and the three annual plans, the Kothari Commission Report and its recommendations, and postcolonial development of facilities at each educational level. Educational failures of the Indian government are reviewed. Most failures have been due to financial problems. The recent Five-Year Plan appears to be avoiding many of the failures of the past plans. References are included. (Author/DB)