QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
Peoples' desire to restructure education to make it capable of responding to socio-economic needs is evident from the spontaneity with which they have communicated their suggestions. The intensity of concern and, possibility of relief from the ensuing reforms further highlights their desire. What is even more significant to note is that people from different regions of the country, belonging to different groups have expressed their feelings transcending the limits of social and political differences. In the following paragraphs, an attempt is made to discern trends in regional, group and thematic distribution of responses.
Regional Distribution of Respondents The regional distribution of respondents reveals that people from most of the states have shown their concern for reform in education system, However the distribution among States/Union Territories is less skewed than observed in certain attempts. It is noted that the largest number of respondents belong to Uttar Pradesh. The share of Uttar Pradesh in the present set of communications has gone down significantly. Altogether 85 respondent from Uttar Pradesh sent their suggestions which accounts for about 16 per cent total respondents. The state of Uttar Pradesh is closely followed by Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. These five states/UTs, together account for about 53 per cent of the responses. As against this, there is no response from Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Mizoram (See Appendix I)
The regional, distribution reveals that the share of Hindi speaking states (Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi) is as high as 54 per cent. As against this, the four Southern States account for only about 14 per cent of the responses. It is further noted that Nagaland, Tripura and the Union Territory of Chandigarh account for only one response each.
Occupational Distribution The occupational distribution of respondents would be useful to discern the intensity of concern which people in different walks of
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life have for educational reform. The respondents have been categorised into eleven groups as done in the last analysis. Out of these, four are directly concerned with the field of education. The following table presents the occupational distribution of respondents.
Table I
S.No. Category No. of letters Percentage share
1. College Teachers 97 18.00
2. Educational Administrators 88 16.32
3. School Teachers 60 11.32
4. Students 31 5.75
5. Professionals outside Education 33 6.12
6. Politicians 21 3.89
7. Administrators outside Education 19 3.53
8. Eminent Persons 12 2.23
9. Businessmen 09 1.67
10. Journalists 05 0.93
11. Others 164 30.43
It is evident that the first four categories which are directly concerned with education together constitute about 51 per cent of the respondents. This shows that people who are not directly engaged in educational sector are equally concerned about the state of art in education sector.
Out of the eleven categories mentioned, largest number of responses have come from `College Teachers' which represents 18 per cent of the total responses. This is followed by the category of Educational Administrators (16.32 per cent) and School Teachers (11.32 per cent) From the Students category there are 31 responses which is barely 5.75 per cent. The highest number of responses in the group from non-educational sector is from `Professionals' which is followed. Education (3.53 per cent) and Eminent Persons (2.23 per cent). The by the group, Politicians (3.89 per cent), Administrators outside last two categories, `Businessmen' and `Journalists' have not shown much response and they together constitute only 2.6 per cent of respondents. About 30 per cent respondents have either not mentioned their occupation or it is not clear from their communications and, therefore, they have been clubbed in the category of others.
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Thematic Analysis The people who have shown concern for educational reforms have raised various issues. For easy comprehension these issues have been classified under different themes. In the present analysis, fifteen themes have been identified as against 10 themes in the first volume and 12 themes in the second. The three new themes included in this volume are `Discipline and Politics', `Malpractices and Corruption' and `Infra-structure Facilities'.
The following table presents the distribution of responses or, each theme with their respective percentage:
Table 2
Themes No. of Responses Percentage
Goals of Education 237 43.97
Content and Curriculum 177 32.84
Planning and Management 167 30.98
Teachers 114 21.15
Vocational and job Oriented
Education 107 19.85
Language 105 19.48
Evaluation and Examination 72 13.36
Social Justice 63 11.69
Structure of Education 51 9.46
Finance 47 8.72
Access to Higher Education 38 7.05
Infrastructure Facilities 38 7.05
Malpractices' and Corruption 36 6.68
Delinking Degree from Jobs 35 6.49
Discipline and Politics 29 5.38
The thematic analysis of responses presented in the above table shows that the highest number of responses pertain to `Goals of Education' and the lowest, number of responses concerns the theme of `Discipline and Politics'. Looking at the earlier analysis, it could be noted that the theme `Content and Curriculum' had generated highest the previous two volumes. But as far as the priority of themes is number of responses, and goals of Education held the third place in Management which together accounted for the highest number of responses in the first two volumes is also evident in this study. However there is change in their internal priority order.
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The frequency of responses under the theme `Goals' is 237 which accounts for nearly 44, per cent of the total number of responses. `Goals of Education' is followed by `Content and Curriculum', (32.84- per cent) and `Planning and Management' (about 31 per cent). About one-fifth (i.e. nearly 20 per cent each) respondents have mentioned about various issues on `Teachers', `Vocationalisation' and `Language'. The other two themes, `Evaluation' and `Social Justice' have figured in more than 10 per cent responses each but is less than 15 per cent.
A statewise distribution of frequency of themes gives an idea about the extent to which people in different states are concerned with various themes. The responses from states on various themes is given in Appendix II. There are seven major states (major from the point of view of the number of responses received for this analysis) and an attempt has been made to show the concern of these seven states on various themes. The following table gives an idea of these seven states which have responded on various themes in order of priority.
Order of Priority
States/UTs First Priority Second Priority Third Priority
1. Bihar (36) Content and Goals Planning and
Curriculum Management
2. M.P. (72) Goals Planning and Content and
Management Curriculum
3. Maharashtra(77) Goals Content and Planning and
Curriculum Management
4. Rajasthan (53) Content and Evaluation Planning and
Curriculum Management
5. U.P. (85) Goals Content and Planning and
Curriculum Management
6. West Bengal(36) Goals Content and Planning and
Curriculum Management
7. Delhi (36) Goals Content and Planning and
Curriculum Management
All India (539) Goals Content and Planning and
Curriculum Management
The figures, in parenthesis show the total number of responses received from the respective State/Union Territory.
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The above table shows that out of the seven states, five have given first priority to `Goals' and only two, i.e. Bihar and Rajasthan, have shown priority for `Content and Curriculum'. As a second priority, five states mention `Content and Curriculum', one state i.e. Bihar mentions `Goals'. `Evaluation and Examination' is the second priority for the respondents from Rajasthan. `Planning and, Management' is the third priority for all the above mentioned States/Union Territories except Madhya Pradesh which has given third priority to `Content and Curriculum'. Overall, it is quite clear that these major states follow the all-India pattern as far as priority to various themes is concerned. In these priorities the only exception, is of `Evaluation and Examination' which has emerged as the second priority in the responses from Rajasthan.
Stage-wise Distribution of Responses The communications analysed in this volume deal with a specific stage or level of education. There are some responses where the problems of various stages of education have been discussed. Some of the respondents have also discussed certain general issues which are not related to any stage of education.
Similar to the analysis in the previous two volumes, the responses have been categorised into six stages. The responses which deal with general, problems and not with any specific stage, of education have been kept in the last category classified as `general'. The following table. presents the stage-wise distribution of responses.
Table 3
Stage No. of Responses Percentage of Distribution
1. Elementary 200 37.10
2. Secondary/Hr. secondary 201 37.29
3. Higher Education 126 23.37
4. Professional/Technical 73 13.54
5. Adult and Non-formal 58 10.76
6. General 251 46.57
(The percentage calculated in the table is out of 539 which is total number of responses. Since many responses have dealt with more than one stage of education, the total in the table is not 539 and total here is meaningless).
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The above table reveals that the highest number of responses deals with secondary/higher secondary level of education, followed by elementary education. This is quite contrary to the previous two volumes where the highest number of responses was on elementary education followed by secondary/higher secondary level. About 23 per cent responses are concerned with higher education which is followed by professional/technical education (13.54 per cent) and adult education (10.76 per cent).
The order of prominence of these three stages is the same as in the last two volumes. About 47 per cent responses are in the general category and do not deal with any specific level of education. This has also been the pattern in the. previous two volumes of the "Citizens' Perception".
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