 THEMATIC ANALYSIS

Assessment, Goals and Objectives of Education

The tradition of learning is rooted in the history of India. The emphasis on values and morals had always been a strong point of Indian culture whether formal or incidental. Education had always been looked upon as the most effective instrument for the inculcation of values and morals. Thus, despite the fact that education, in free India, has been imbued with social, economic, and political goals, its role in the cultivation of values and morals is still held to be its dominant function.

Goals and objectives, in general, and values and morals, in particular, which always formed the kernel of education imported, appears to have aroused an added attention in the context of the proposed national policy on education. The publication of the document "Challenge of Education A Policy Perspective", read by majority of the respondents, unlike, in the case of the previous two volumes of "Citizens' Perception", seems to have provided the most opportune occasion to reinforce their plea to reinvest education with goals and objectives. Since these are put forward specifically in the context of the NEP, as has been occasioned by the document "Challenge of Education", it would be essential to take note of the goals and objectives.

There is a second reason why a close scrutiny of the goals and objectives, as suggested by the respondents, appears imperative and that is the numerical preponderance of these views as well as the degree of conviction underlying them. While every single, communication contains certain suggestions and the rationale and advantages thereof, nearly half of the responses refer specifically to goals, objectives. or assessment of the education system. This section is devoted to give an overview not merely of the assessment but also of the goals and objectives of the education, system as desired to be embodied in the National Policy on Education.

In most of the communications the assessment of the education system and the goals and objectives desired to bib invested with are given almost in the same breath. The reason seems obvious - the failure of the education system as it exists today, to be imbued with the stated and/or desired goals and objectives. Therefore, it would

be useful to preface this section with some illustrative opinions about the assessment of the education system.

what appears to be a cause of greater dissatisfaction is the failure to implement even the nationally accepted goals and objectives. The foremost of these relates to the uniform system of education, a feature Which most of the respondents feel, is critical bound up with the unity of the country. A college teacher is emphatic that:

One of the greatest ills that plagues our education system is the absence of uniformity. No uniform system has been evolved and implemented all over the country. The pattern of education in one state will be found to be different from that in another the much propagated 10+2+3 system has been implemented at few places only.

The stress on a uniform education system that one observers in the communications is so Universal, and the reason, invariably, is national unity. This is the concensus of the respondents, whether they are teachers, students, politicians or public. To an ordinary Indian, the need for "uniform pattern of Education all over the country" is so crucial that he feels that:

A national system of education is a must for promotion of national integration, for ending divisive forces arising from caste and religions and regional considerations and for getting our future generation immunised against separatist tendencies.

It is not as if that lack of uniformity of the education system is the only cause of dissatisfaction. There are many others and equally frustrating:

It we look at the present situation in the country, there is very little meaning ... very little linkage between learning, competency and creativity of an individual and making a decent living in the society. The various role models and examples available in the country are quite the contrary and suggest that education is basically a meaningless exercise, if one wants to go ahead in life ... hence, it is not surprising that children of these facilities of poor rural families and marginally educated and migrated to cities] do not go to school today.

One of the respondents seems to have the explanation for the lack of relevance between education, skill, and occupational position in life. This he attributes to the "vestiges of colonial legacy in our present educational system".

In the previous two volumes of ges"Citizens' Perception", the respondents' views regarding philosophical, general, individual and social goals of education have been examined in sufficient details. As these seem to recur without much difference, it appears worthwhile to focus here on specific goals stressed by the respondents. Most of these could be comprehended under the following captions.

(i) Uniform pattern of education all over the country is critically linked to the unity and integrity of India.

(ii) Building of character and inculcation of values and morals should be treated as an integral part of the education process from primary to university stage.

(iii) Study of Indian national ethos and cultural heritage, like uniform pattern, is a cementing factor of India's unity and integrity.

(iv) Education should make a person socially useful.

(v) Education should be closely related to the manpower requirements of the country so that it becomes employment oriented.

(vi) In order to promote national unity and integrity, education should also play a vital role through inculcation of the political/constitutional goals and values; and that education should be made as an instrument of stability; and

(vii) A clearly spelt out framework for implementation should form a part of the new education policy.

The representative character of these opinions - representative both from the point of numbers as well as the sections of Indian public could be seen from an illustration for each. The respondents' conviction of critical link between uniform pattern of education ail over the country and its unity was noted earlier. In respect of morals and values, a typical case is the following:

In today's system of education, moral values are lost sight of No persons should be treated as qualified at any level of education unless he really bears a good moral character. Efforts must be made to imbibe moral values. Moral education should play a vital role.

In similar vein runs the opinion of another respondent who is convinced that:

If the country has to have persons with high integrity and character, special attention has to be paid on linking, up education with character right from the nursery stage.

Yet another Indian seems to reinforce this view when he says that:

Education trains many minds to maturity and they are joined to nation's aspirations. So the policy should be so designed that it engenders a sense of sincere responsibility, national character and right aspiration in people besides job orientation. Their thinking should be developed to cover the nation and the humanity in general which reduces the problems arising from narrowness of caste, region, language and religion...

Besides emphasizing inculcation of values, morals and building national character, the respondents also putforth specific suggestions as a demonstrable means of imbueing the students with these values. In this regard, the suggestions of an ordinary citizen is worth noticing:

To maintain the national unity and integrity, four programmes should be taken up in which most of the students come in contact with the people of other parts of India. For the teachers, the leave travel concession is the best method in which they can acquire practical knowledge of different aspects such as social, industrial, biological, historical, geographical, etc., in other parts of the country.

The plea for the study of Indian history, tradition and culture as an integral part of the educational process is observed from the following:

The study of ancient Indian culture should be made compulsory for all the breaches of education. That would help the students to

take legitimate pride in the national heritage and feel committed to uphold India's unity and integrity.

India's unity seems to be positively related to the extent of democratic values sustained in India. Thus, seeing no contradiction but seeing them only as reinforcing agents of national unity, a college teacher speaks of India's constitutionally accepted values:

....If Indian democracy is to survive and if the goals of equality, liberty, Justice, secularism and socialism enshrined in the preamble of the constitution are to be attained, all the citizens should be educated and bred in the spirit of the constitution.

Closely related to the stress on the study of Indian culture to imbue the students with a sense of national unity and integrity is also the emphasis on the inculcation of certain political values. Speaking of this, a university professor states that "in the political context, all education has a function of providing value perspective through either the transmission of a tradition or the inculcation of an ideological position or a combination of both. Education is thus of the highest importance for the maintenance and stability of a community".

Even as most of the respondents stress morals and values, building of character and inculcating, national pride and patriotism, many feel that the social utility should not be lost sight of. What is even more significant is that this plea comes generally from the "others" category indicating that they represent the general public. In one such case, a respondent reckons that "education must have utility in the future life of the students. It must change the behaviour. It must make a person socially useful and make him a man of culture".

Between social value and job/skill orientation, there is really not much difference except in the manner in which each case is projected. Social relevance in the broadest sense includes vocational and job skills, which many would like to see in more specific terms as "earning capability". Many of the respondents desire to sandwitch the goal of "earning capability" between knowledge promotion and value inculcation goals. One observer, for instance desires:

The education must train a person in a craft, trade skill, on harnessing which he could earn a livelihood with decent Standard

of life and would be able to contribute towards the material stock of society.

Finally, it is not the number and variety nor the conviction adduced in their favour that makes their plea important. More than anything else the respondents feel that in the new education policy, a blue print for the implementation of the objectives and goals they have suggested, is important. A typical example of such a plea is the following:

I strongly feel that Education Policy must contain implementation proposals rather than platitudes and rhetoric.

The most concrete form in which some would like to see this social relevance is as under:

I suggest therefore that 20% of the school time is spent in developing in our children one or more of marketable skills. Even if a child leaves the school at the primary level, she or he should have a skill - a personal skill or an organisational skill in hand which almost means a job in hand.

In sum, the individual communications leave two distinct trends of opinions, both closely related. First, there is an unassailable faith in education, as an instrument of national unity, individual development, social relevance, economic and national development. To be able to meet these goals, education is desired to be uniform throughout the country and its unevenness, therefore, is of greatest concern and dissatisfaction. Having decried this deficiency, almost every single communication lays equal stress on the various goals and objectives with which education should be fortified. It is difficult to show the precedence of one or one set of goals and objectives over another. but these include the emphasis attached to (a) building of character and inculcation of morals and values; (b) sowing seeds of national unity with and integration in the minds of young children through the study of Indian History, culture as a compulsory element of the education process; (c) using education to change the social outlook, behaviour as well as social relevance more concretely through its practical and vocational orientation; (d) making education as an instrument for the inculcation of democratic values; and (e) according a high priority to implement educational policies calculated to achieve the goals and objectives through the instrument of education.

Structure of Education

The National Education Policy (1968) envisaged adoption of 10+2+3 pattern of education throughout the country. As a result a large number of States/Union Territories have gone for this pattern. However, some states are yet to switch over to the new pattern. The delay in adopting the pattern is attributed to a large number of factors. Among these, the problem +2 stage is more serious. This calls for additional infrastructure which the states normally are not able to provide. Moreover, it necessitates consequent changes in the educational system. It is significant to note that while the country was moving towards the 10+2+3 system, but as a result of New Education Policy beings formulated the question is being debated again. The advantages of 10+2+3 system ass well as of alternative system proposed are being discussed.

As noted in the earlier communications there was a strong plea for the 10+2+3 system. however, in the present set of communications this issue has not attracted much attention. Alternatively, a few new patterns have been suggested. For example, one of the respondents suggests education to be organised in the following four stages:-

        
             1.   Elementary stage         Class I   to V
        
             2.   Preparatory stage        Class VI  to VIII
        
             3.   Specialisation stage     Class IX  to XII
        
             4.   Higher Education stage   Class XII onwards.

The major thrust of the scheme suggested by the respondent is on work education so that when a student completes the preparatory stage, he is directed towards the profession he wants to pursure.

Another respondent writes along the same line suggesting an alternative system to the 10+2+3 :

In the new system for the first seven years the child will be in primary school and from 11 to 18 in the secondary school. At the end of the school education he will be 18 years, ready to take up a lob to earn his own livelihood.

Although it also assume that at the age of 19 a child will complete his schooling, it visualises only two stages instead of 4 in the present set up.

Significantly, earlier communications were confined to school education only. In this set of communications a respondent puts his views on structure of higher education:

Industries, Farm and Research Centres could grow around the professional institutions (university) where the students could be put to work even as they are learning. These universities which would eventually form the nucleus of the economic, scientific, and cultural activity should be located in rural areas, away from the polluting city atmosphere, and the students given free residential and boarding accommodation.

The urge contained in the above suggestion seems to be to promote education in the rural areas so that no only education makes a dent in these areas but the much needed development activity can be generated as a consequence of spread effect of the institutions of higher learning.

There is a plea to use `educated' for the cause of education and development so that there is a wider involvement of people to attain limited objectives of education such as Universalisation of Elementary Education and eradication of illiteracy.

At the age of 17 all students should be drafted for National Service in Education and Agriculture in rural areas, for one year. Education Army and Land Army will help in Elementary Education, adult education and non-formal education. Land Army will help in actual agriculture, horticulture, Forestry, Irrigation. Both the armies will help the rural problem of roads. drinking water, electricity, housing, hygiene, health and family Planning. This one years national service will be compulsory before you join a job or higher education. A stipend of Rs.300/- per month should be paid to these volunteers.

It is evident from the above that the major thrust in the area of structure is to evolve alternate system to 10+2+3 with a concern to make education oriented towards social problems.

Revamping Indian Education Pivotal hole of Content & Curriculum

Of all systems of organised human activities, education concerns the largest number of people. Education is also one field about which both the specialists and the laymen, affected as well as the interested, speak with equal degree of concern and liberty. Within education, the components of content and curriculum attract public interested, speak with equal degree of concern and liberty. Within education, the components of content and curriculum attract public attention as perhaps, no other aspect does. This feature, true, in the case of public attention as seen in all previous studies individuals, press, institutions, professional. bodies and state governments, is also true in this set of individual communications. However, within content and curriculum, broadly three issues are raised and they revolve around (i) nationally comparable (uniform) minimum learning, competence through what is known as the core curriculum for different stage; (ii) an assessment of the present syllabus, in terms of its relevance vis-a-vis its magnitude/load on children; and (iii) the desired thrusts in the syllabus.