Education for Sustainable Development in India: Problems and Prospects

India is considered as a world leader amongst the developing countries in terms of economic sustainability and growth. India also has a growing number of literate populations due to rapid expansion of secondary and post-secondary education landscape. However, when it comes to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), India stands more elitist to serve only privileged sections of population. A basic aim of Environmental Education (EE) is to succeed in making individuals and communities understand the complex nature of the natural and the built environments resulting from the interaction of their biological, physical, social, economic, and cultural aspects, and acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, and practical skills to participate in a responsible and effective way in anticipating and solving environmental problems, and in the management of the quality of the environment. Education is the single most important means for empowerment and sustained improvement in all well being. Sustainable development is a basic Human Right and unless this target is reached with the potent tool of Education the purpose of Education would remain unfulfilled. Education for Sustainable development is a dynamic undertaking where every person has a chance to benefit from Educational opportunities and learn the life style, behavior and values necessary to create a sustainable future.The present paper aims at identifying the role of education in attaining sustainable development, identifying the problems and future prospects of Education for Sustainable development in India. An attempt is made to recognize the challenges faced by India as regards its education system at various levels in attaining sustainability. Necessary strategies, guidelines and recommendations are provided for Higher Education Institutions in India.