 CONCLUSION

In the foregoing pages an effort has been made to discern views and suggestions of the correspondents who so generously responded to the interest and initiative of the national leadership to remodel the education system. Although this study is technically the second volume in the series, dealing with letters written more than six months after the Prime Minister's national broadcast, neither the degree of concern nor conviction of the people appears to be less in any way as compared to those studied in the first volume of "Citizens' perception". In fact, all the characteristics found in the communications examined in "Citizens' Perception" are found in even greater pronounced and articulated from in this case. Among others these characteristics include the range of views and intensity of concern and conviction, the variety of issues touched upon and the multiplicity of suggestions offered, the national character of the responses measured either in terms of the spectrum of people or region from which. the communications were written. Therefore, it has been our endeavour to give as fuller a picture of the impressions and submissions of the correspondents as we could.

It was with this end in view that both in regard to the category of respondents and well. the themes upon which they expressed their views were given a greater spread than last time, 12 in place of 9 groups of correspondents and 12 instead of 10 themes. This refinement in our research design was helpful to gain a better insight of the people and their views on the education system, existing as well as suggested. Being conscious of the limitations in including certain generic with specific themes, as well as in view of the pre-eminence of the task involved besides its overlapping character the question of planning and management was studied as the last theme.

The respondents' assessment, as is evident from the communications, leaves one struck by the unanimity of their views in

respect of the dissatisfaction with, and failure of the education system. Similarly, the observers also place so such expectations, upon the educational system which the policy maker could ill afford to ignore. Looking upto education as the most effective instrument of national unity, economic development, social well-being and individuals' progress and happiness, the correspondents went on to spell out the objectives and goals that education should be invested with. Seen in their totality, the stress on national unity, moral values, and development orientation could be seen as the threefold agenda for education as it emerges from the communications.

In the eyes of the respondents, contents and curriculum appear to be the most effective channel of achieving the goals and objectives of education. It is for this reason they lay the highest importance to the content and curriculum of the education system. Moaning the severe lack of uniformity and comparability both in content and curriculum as well as in academic standards, and decrying the excessive but largely irrelevant syllabi obtaining today, the respondents urge its total recasting, not only on a nationally uniform basis but also in harmony with our national heritage, cultural milieu, local needs, employment opportunities and national. development. Restricting and restructuring of higher education, relevant to job opportunities, vocationalisation of secondary education, relating elementary and primary education to the local environments emerge as the dominant concerns in respect of-content and curriculum

The structure of the educational system is seen to be critically related to the question of comparability of standards. Uniformity could be said to be the hallmark of the correspondents' plea, in respect of structure of education. The deficiency of the present educational system, its a alienation from the needs of society and national imperatives, is sought to be remedied by earmarking, a specific stage in the educational process, either at the end of the school or graduation, for a compulsory national service.

The language policy of our educational system appeared to have posed greater hurdles than its contribution to unity and also academic standards. The failure to promote the national language Hindi - as envisaged in the Constitution and to implement the nationally accepted three language formula appears to agitate the minds of the, respondents. Strict adherence to and implementation of these policies received the highest importance in their communications.

The erosion of the purpose, reliability and credibility of the examination system has been a subject of deep concern to the observers. Seeing the manifold evils of the present system of examinations as well as the malpractice resorted to, a strong plea has been made (i) to reduce the number of examinations, if not its importance itself, as it obtains today, and (ii) to switch over increasingly to continuous internal assessment.

The respondents feel that, it is only at the cost of the nationally accepted goals and targets, both of quantitative, expansion as well as of qualitative improvement that adequate finances for education could be withheld. Convinced that education is the most potent instrument of development, the respondents feel that it deserves adequate resources even at the cost of deficit financing.

Even to the layman, what counts in the educational process, more than any other single factor, is the role of the teachers, their ability to intervene in the learning process, their professional competence, their dedication and commitment to their profession. The respondents are also convinced that the status, social- and economic, they enjoy in society, determines the teachers' effectivity in the educational system. Much as the respondents blame the erosion of work ethics and ethos among the teaching community, on account of numerous factors, they are also emphatic that the teachers should not be made

to live on the kindness of others, either for their professional recognition or for their material status.

If there has been any single goal more unanimously accepted but least honoured in practices, the respondents feel, this is the goal of social justice. In education, the goal of social justice implies equal educational opportunities for all, on the one hand, and special care and efforts to promote the, educational and economic interests of the deprived - SC/STs, other backward classes and women.

Contrary to professions and even considerable initiatives on the part of the Governments, Central and State, inequities and disparities of various kinds not only persisted but have also widened alarmingly over the years. The concern of the respondents have, therefore, been to curb at least some of the sources of inequities like (i) the commercialisation of education, indulged by private agencies; (ii) the trend of urban bias and rural neglect in education; and (iii) the dichotomy of inadequate provisions for the educational growth of the deprived, on the one hand, and the resentment created as a result of the reservation policy, on the other.

The evils of unchecked expansion and the open door policy of admissions to higher education have been suggested to be curbed by restricting the access to higher education. The opinions of the respondents are two-fold (i) to regulate higher education on the basis of manpower requirements; and (ii) to restrict access to higher education only to the meritorious.

The question of delinking degrees from jobs has been viewed partly in the light of the rush for higher education, leading to educated unemployment and unemployable graduates and partly of devaluation of degrees in job market because of its lack of direct relevance to the requirements of the job. However, delinking as a solution either for restricting rush to higher education, thereby enabling it to regain its standard, or as a device that could make it possible to select candidates early for on the Job training, does not

command universal acceptance. On the other hand, there is a sharp difference of opinion either way, with equal force and conviction. However, there is a greater clarity not only of the issue itself, but also the implications in the event of delinking.

For every single evil identified in the educational system or improvement in any stage or aspect. The planning and Management dimension has been held responsible.

This aspect of the plea of the respondents runs through every single theme of the educational systems they have discussed. In particular, the evils of politics among students, teachers and other staff, political interference in educational institutions and the stranglehold of private agencies and commercialisation of education appear to dominate the views of the respondents. Nationalisation of the education system, making education as a Central subject, banning of politics and political interference from educational institutions are some of the suggestions put forth by the respondents.

Neither the concerns expressed nor the questions raised or even the suggestions put forth by the respondents are novel. But what adds significance is the urgency they plead to eliminate the evils and introduce measures of reform, the conviction with which they advance their views and the apprehensions they express about the consequences of the failure to incorporate them in the national policy on education. Obviously, the question before the national leadership is not one of whether or not, but that of how to re-design the educational system in deference to popular will and lay down the framework and ensure its implementation.