TOWARDS RESTRUCTURING INDIAN EDUCATION CITIZENS' PERCEPTION, VOLUME-II

 INTRODUCTION

Popular response to government policies provides an invaluable feeback which would guide the implementation of the policies in the desired -direction. People's involvement, an index of Popular response, in the formulation and implementation of policies thus, provides the `basis of' success of government policies. Such a process could, in the long run, become a self-propelling mechanism for more participation in and implementation of government policies and programmes as envisaged and planned initially.

If popular response is an invaluable input and people's participation, a sine qu non for the success of Government policies, this is even more so in the case of education. For, unlike perhaps any other sphere of activity in the world, education is concerned not only with the largest number of people as students, but also involves the largest number of people -- teachers, administrators, planners, policy makers, administrative personnel at, various levels, parents and public. Besides this, education is, also, a sector for the healthy functioning of which, the cooperation and coordination of more number of governmental agencies is needed. Therefore, an activity like education, which is concerned with and involves the largest number of people in any country, is also dependent, for its health development, on people's involvement and participation. The recent stress of the national leadership on people's opinions and suggestion for the restructuring of education appears to underscore this principle, namely, popular response and people's involvement as a pre- requisite for a healthy and purposeful educational development.

The previous monograph "Towards Restructuring Indian Education Citizens' Perception" presented an analysis of people's views and suggestions - views and suggestions put forward in response to the emphasis laid by the Prime Minister and the Union Education Minister, for the formulation of the new national policy on education. The present study is the second in the series based on an analysis of the

communications received between June and mid-October. Like "Citizens' Perception", this volume is also an outcome of study of a similar number of communications, 746, based on a scrutiny of 893 communications. Although second in the series, this study could be considered more than merely a second volume of "Citizens' Perception". True, conceptually, we have not departed from the framework of "Citizens' Perception". In this volume, however, the endeavour would be to refine and sharpen the tools or instruments of analysis than was possible in the first instance.

The volume would be useful for another reason as well. As it emerged from an. analysis of the contents, the communications received between June and October appear numerically larger, than though not as comprehensive as the earlier set of communications, yet, these have a better clarity of the issues involved, especially in the light of the widespread discussion and debate on the new national policy on education. An analysis of these communications, it is felt, would -provide a more holistic perspective than was possible to discern last time. Thus, the purpose of the present study is two fold : (i) to see the continuity or diversion of the views and suggestions of the correspondents in relation to what was found last time; and (ii) to go a step beyond the previous study, not in terms of the conceptual framework, but in terms of the instruments of the analysis as well as the examination of the range of the views and suggestions offered by the correspondents.

Design of a Analysis

The analysis in the study is based on a perusal of 893 letters received during the period June to mid-October, 1985 by the Ministry of human Resource Development and sent to National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration. After scrutiny, 746 letters, mainly from individuals, were identified for final analysis.

To comprehend the Contents, the analysis of the communications was undertaken oh two vital dimensions viz., (i) Background of the

persons who showed their concern regarding reforms in education; and (ii) issues in education system with which the people are most concerned.

The background of the persons has been analysed in regard to their statewise distribution and occupational status as in the earlier analysis. But based on the experience of earlier analysis, the category of `Teachers and Educational Administrators', which was one category earlier, has now been brokern into three categories i.e., `School Teachers', `College Teachers' and `Educational Administrators'. This has been done because (i) this is the largest category accounting for nearly two thirds of the responses; and (ii) to understand the possible differences of opinion on some of the issues raised by three different groups of respondents. In this analysis, the occupational categories considered are: 1. School Teachers, 2. College Teachers, 3. Educational Administrators, 4. Students, 5. Politicians, 6. Professionals outside Education, 7. Administrators outside Education, Eminent Persons, 9. Journalists, 10. Businessmen, and 11. Others.

The issues in education with which people are concerned, were classified in ten categories in the earlier analysis. Looking at the peoples' concern in this set of communication, we added two more themes namely, `Accesses to Higher Education' and `Vocationalisation of Education'. The major concern of the people with regard to the theme, `Access to Higher Education' pertains to the degree to which higher education should be made available to the students, whether all those passing out of school should be allowed to go for higher education or certain restrictions are to be imposed. "Vocationalisation of Education" focuses on vocationalisation at Secondary level, suited mostely to local needs. The themes under which we have attempted to analyse the concerns, views and suggestions of people in this study, therefore, are: (i) Goals of Education, (ii) Structure of Education, (iii) Content and Curriculum. (iv) Language in Education, (v) Evaluation and Examination Reforms, (vi) Financing of Education, (vii) Teachers, (viii) Social Justice, (ix) Delinking

Degrees from Jobs, (x) Access to Higher Education,, (xi) Vocationalisation of Education, and (xii) Planning and Management of Education.

A word for treating planning and management, of education as a separate theme is necessary. Although planning and management as an issue in, education runs through almost all the themes - be it content or curriculum, language, or, evaluation, or delinking degree from Jobs or Social Justice this has been deliberately kept at a separate theme because, of its importance. Broad issues of planning and management- which could not be included under other themes have been covered under this theme. These include, privatisation of education, politics and corruption in education.

The presentation in this study is divided broadly into following two sections:

A. Quantitative analysis of responses

B. Qualitative Analysis of various themes

The quantitative analysis presented in Section A attempts to analyse the background of the respondents in respect of their (i) statewise representation and (ii) major occupational categories. It then proceeds; to the areas of major concerns studied in terms of frequency of responses in regard to : (i) the major themes and, (ii) the level of education to which the responses relate.

The qualitative analysis is presented in Section B under the theme heads (i) Goals of Education, (ii)Structure, (iii) Content and Curriculum, including Vocationalisation of Education, (iv) Language, (v) Evaluation, (vi) Finance, (vii) Teachers, (viii) Social Justice, (ix) - Delinking Degree from Jobs, (x) Access to Higher Education, (xi) Planning and Management of Education.