Frequency of Themes The distribution of the responses in the order of their frequency reveals the flowing pattern:
Themes No. of Percentage of
Responses respondents
content and Curriculum 447 60.65
Planning & Management 274 37.17
Goals of Education 253 34.32
Teachers 188 25.50
Structure of Education 176 23.88
Language 126 17.09
Evaluation and Examination 100 13.56
Social Justice 96 13.02
Finance 46 6.24
Delinking Degrees from Jobs 42 5.70
It is evident from the table that the first three components of education, viz., Content, Planning and Management and Gels occupy prime importance. This, however, is understandable considering the fact that the respondents tend to feel that the majority of the problems which education faces today can be solved if these aspects are handled with due care.
The reaction of various groups of these issues is worth describing in detail. Cut of f253 letters containing observations on goals of education, 110 have been written by teachers and educational administrators. Similarly, out of 188 letters containing observations
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on teachers, 100 belong to the first category of teachers and educational administrators. It may be noted that as many as 172 of the letters written by teachers deal with content and curriculum (Appendix III).
Looking at the responses on the themes from various States, it is observed that the highest number of letters on goals of education came from Delhi and on content and curriculum as well as planning and management from Uttar Pradesh (Appendix IV).
Levels of Education The frequency of observations according to levels and type of education, reveals the following pattern:
Stage of Education No. of letters Percentage
to which observations Distribution
are related
Elementary 209 21.3
Secondary and Hr. Secondary 202 20.6
Higher Education 142 14.5
Technical Education 47 4.8
Adult Education 21 2.1
General 361 36.7
It is noteworthy that total number of responses in the table is more than the number of letters received and analysed. This is so because many letters have dealt with more than one level of education. of the total responses about one-fifth dealt with elementary and secondary and higher secondary education each. About 15 per cent of the responses have dealt with higher education. Although a little over one-third of the communications made some general remarks about
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the educational system, technical and adult education did not receive much attention. The above analysis can be taken to be indicative of the interest of the levels or stages of the levels or states of the education system which they desire to receive attention.
In the following pages, a brief analysis of the different viewpoints expressed by the respondents in respect of the various themes enumerated here are presented. A note of caution, sounded earlier, must be repeated here. What is attempted here is only the discerning. and portrayal of the respondents' views on the different aspects of the education system. The degree of concern evinced, as evident from the letters, speaks volumes about their faith in the catalytic role of education. Cur endeavour in this exercise is to underpin this essential faith in the midst of multiplicity of views.
We begin with the respondents' assessment of the present educational system. Each one of the themes, listed earlier, is examined separately. The last chapter abstracts the dominant trends and major suggestions that emerge from a careful study of the letters.
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