INDIAN EDUCATION - NCERT

CONTENTSEditor’s Note 3

Science Through Activities 5ARVIND GUPTA

Characteristics of a Constructivist Classroom in the 20Context of Science EducationSHASHI PRABHA

Out-of-school Science Experiences and Interest in 29Science of Upper Primary School Pupils of KeralaK. ABDUL GAFOOR AND SMITHA NARAYAN

Perception of Teachers for Quality School Culture and Climate 39with special reference to Kendriya Vidyalayasand Navodaya VidyalayasRAMAKAR RAIZADA

Paulo Freire: Some Reflections 56NAJMAH PEERZADA

Private Tuition and Its Implications on Quality Secondary Education 61NEERU SNEHI

The Teaching-learning Conditions for Quality Education 76in Inclusive SchoolsRASHMI CHOUDHURI

Community College—A means to Meet the Needs of the 84Excluded in Higher EducationE. ARUMUGA GANDHI

JOURNAL OF

INDIANEDUCATION

Volume XXXVI Number 1 May 2010

Attitude of HE Students Towards Privatisation of Higher Education 95A StudyLALIT KUMAR AND SUDHIR KUMAR

Effectiveness of Peer-tutoring on Reading Comprehension of 110School Students in Hindi LanguageMANJU SINGH

Role of Education and Awareness in Empowering Hill Women of 122Uttarakhand about Functioning of Panchayati Raj InstitutionsRAMA MAIKHURI

Reorientation of Teachers Teaching in Rural Areas 129ROOP N. KABRA

History of Missionary’s Education in Assam 134ALI AHMAD AND SAYEEDUL HAQUE

Book ReviewSuicide: A Study in Sociology by Emile Durkheim 1897 143AAKANKSHA AGARWAL

EDITOR’S NOTE

The National Focus Group on Teaching of Science (NCERT, 2005) observes ahuge gap in the education in general and science education in particularbetween the rural and urban students. The inequality, among other thingsmay be mainly due to poor infrastructure, inadequate support systems, lackof access to information and other resources in rural areas, and a cleanurban bias in various educational inputs. The focus group points out thatin terms of content rural life styles need to be reflected in the curriculum,which can be done very effectively in contextualised curricula. In the presentissue, our three contributors viz., Arvind Gupta, Shashi Prabha and K. AbdulGafoor and Smitha Narayan take up the issue of science education in Indianschools and deliberate upon it through their writings.

No doubt, for so long India has been making efforts towards achievingthe goal of quality education, yet there is a need to understand the deepmeaning of quality. The recent curriculum reform process in India providedanother dimension to quality by redefining it. As per the National CurriculumFramework 2005, “Quality is not merely a measure of efficiency; it also has avalue dimension. The attempts to improve quality of education will succeedonly if it goes hand-in-hand with stepts to promote equality and social justice.”In this issue, articles related to this very concern are contributed by RamakarRaizada, Najmah Peerzada, Neeru Snehi, and Rashmi Choudhuri. Thesearticles open doors for thinking and reflection on quality in education with achanged perspective. Two more research papers are included in this issue;one by E. Arumuga Gandhi and the other by Lalit Kumar and Sudhir Kumarwhich also deal with quality but with respect to higher education. Further,in this very series, an article by Manju Singh deals with techniques andstrategies of providing quality language education in schools and other articlesby Rama Maikhuri and Roop N. Kabra focusses on orienting rural teacherswith a purpose to provide quality education to women and children of ruralareas.

The issue also carries an article related to history of Missionary’seducation in Assam written by Ali Ahmad and Sayeedul Haque; and a BookReview by Aakanksha Agarwal.

Academic EditorJIE

Science Through Activities

I hearand I forget

I seeand I remember

I doand I understand

“Believe nothing, merelybecause you have been toldto, or because it is traditional,or because you yourselfhave imagined it. Do notbelieve what your teachertells you… merely out ofrespect for the teacher.But whenever after due

examination and analysis you findconducive to the good, and benefit thewelfare of all beings, that doctrine believeand cling to and take it as your goal.”

– Buddha

Science Through Activities*ARVIND GUPTA

Abstract

The search for teaching science meaningfully to rural children has been a very challengingtask for educators. Many attempts have been made in the past and there are severallessons to be learnt from them. Some, like the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme(HSTP) worked in over a 1000 village schools for over two decades. The HSTP unleashedthe creativity of thousands of children and teachers, but was ultimately shut down bythe State government. Every innovation leaves behind seeds for future innovation.

Is the chalk-talk method best suited to teach science? Is the ability to regurgitate afew definitions an indicator of comprehension? Isn’t expensive glassware andsophisticated plastic equipment in a typical school science laboratory a little out of syncwith the lives of ordinary village children? Shouldn’t the learning of science be mademore contextual – something which a child can relate to with her everyday experiences?

How do children learn science? Perhaps science is learnt best when it goes beyondthe four walls of the classroom and addresses the concerns and problems of the largercommunity. Then science becomes alive and vibrant. Also the use of local materials formaking simple science models helps children assimilate them better.

Apart from outlining tried and tested field experiments the talk will be interspersedwith practical and fascinating demonstrations.

* Text reproduced from NCERT Memorial Lecture Series published by NCERT, on a lecture deliveredduring the Mahadevi Verma Third Memorial Lecture on 11 February 2010 by Arvind Gupta. ArvindGupta is working at the Muktangan Children's Science Centre at the Inter-University Centre forAstronomy and Astrophysics in Pune.

6 Journal of Indian Education May 2010

Everything has a History

In most schools science is still learnt byrote. Children mug up definitions andformula and spit them out in the exam.This is certainly not a good way to learnscience. Science is perhaps a uniquesubject. The uniqueness stems from thefact that many of its postulates can betested and verified by practicalexperiments. Most other subjects can belearned with ordinary tools—such aspencil, paper, blackboard, textbooks anda few supplementary aids. These are alsoessential for the teaching of science but,if they are the only tools, sciencebecomes a dull and an uninterestingsubject. This uniqueness results fromthe variety of materials and experimentsnecessary for its effective teaching.

If it is to be learned effectively sciencemust be experienced. It must be learnedand not learned about.

The Philosophy

Ann Sayre Wiseman, creative director ofthe Children’s Museum in Boston andthe author of the landmark book, MakingThings, summed up the essence of goodscience in these words:

It’s OK to fail.It’s OK to make mistakes.You will learn a lot from them.It’s OK to take risks.It’s OK to take your time.It’s OK to find your own pace.It’s OK to try it your own way.It’s Ok to fail.You can always try again free of fear.It’s OK to look foolish.It’s OK to be different.It’s OK to wait until you are ready.

It’s OK to experiment (in safety).It’s OK to question the “shoulds”.It’s special to be you.It is necessary to make a messWhich you are willing to clean up.(The act of creation is often messy)

Gleam in the Eye

Children are naturally curious and havean innate desire to learn. Children alsohave a tremendous power to concentrate.If they are interested in a particularthing they put their heart and soul intoit. They want to know it. They have atremendous desire to understand how itworks. Children learn a great dealwithout being taught.

Maria Montessori demonstrated thisover a hundred years ago. She was Italy’sfirst woman doctor. After getting hermedical degree, Montessori startedworking with the children of slumdwellers. Montessori is famous the worldover for her deep pedagogical insights.She had designed hundreds of teaching-aids for children. Several of them are stillin active use, for instance, the post-box.This is a hollow wooden cubical box. Oneach surface of the box there is a cut-

7Science Through Activities

out of a particular geometrical shape —a circle, triangle, square, etc. There arecorresponding wooden blocks which haveto be posted in the respective slots. Awooden ball, for instance, would go intothe circular hole and a prism in atriangular slot.

There was an elderly priest who wasvery interested in Montessori’s work. Hewould drop-by on a Sunday to see thevarious experiments, which Montessoriwas doing with the children. One day,Montessori took the priest to one cornerof the class, where a little girl, was playingwith the post-box. The little girl wasdeeply absorbed in her work. Montessoriasked the other children to encircle thelittle girl and to sing a song aloud so asto disturb her concentration. But thelittle girl was so absorbed in her work—in trying to figure out which block will gointo which slot that she did not even lookup.

After some time Montessori lifted thelittle girl and seated her on a table. Assoon as the little girl got her berth sheonce again got absorbed in trying tofigure-out the block which will go into aparticular slot. She was totally lost in herown world.

The priest—a good old Samaritan,often used to bring some toffees andchocolates for the children. On that dayhe had got a big box of biscuits. Hestarted distributing biscuits to thechildren. He also gave the little girl abiscuit. The little girl reluctantly took thebiscuit. She intently looked at it. She sawthat the biscuit was rectangular inshape. So, she posted the biscuit in therectangular slot of the post-box. Childrendo not learn through bribes. They learnbecause they want to understand the

world. Mark sheets, certificates, medalsand prizes are bad substitutes for the realjoy of knowing the world.

The Beginning

Several pioneering experiments weredone in India prior to Independence tomake the learning of science contextualand interesting. One such welldocumented experiment took place inHimachal Pradesh in the 1920s.

Satyanand Stokes was an Americanwho came to India in 1910. He pioneeredthe plantation and propagation of applesin Himachal Pradesh. Being aphilanthropist, he also set up a schoolin Kotgarh for the local children. In 1920,the American economist RichardGreggs—deeply inspired by Gandhiji—came to work in India. For two years,Greggs taught activity based science tochildren in Stoke’s school at Kotgarh.Based on his real life experiences withIndian children, he wrote a book titledPreparation for Science in 1928. This bookwas first printed by Navjivan Prakashanfrom Ahmedabad. This remains the mostpioneering treatise on how scienceshould be taught to children in Indianschools.


Greggs wrote:The apparatus required is exceedinglysimple and inexpensive, and almostall of it is familiar to village children.Most of it can be made by villagecarpenters, potters or blacksmiths. Thechildren must not get an idea thatscience is machinery or strangetechnology. The great pioneers ofscience did their work with verysimple apparatus. It is possible,therefore, to follow their footsteps andlearn to do scientific thinking withoutmuch expensive or elaborateapparatus. After all, the student’s mindis the most expensive piece ofapparatus involved.

Greggs further commented:I do not want Indian children in villagesto get the idea that science is only aschool affair or only relates to shinybrass and glass devices andparaphernalia. I believe they can learnto think more clearly and to acquire ascientific attitude without all theexpensive and complicated apparatusused in western laboratories, or atleast with extremely little of it.

As has often happened in the historyof science, the prophetic book written in1928 remained buried until KeithWarren, a UNICEF consultantrediscovered it in 1975, illustrated partsof it, and brought it out as Preparationfor Understanding.

This book helps children to discoveran order in the world around them.Children are inspired to seek outpatterns using pebbles, twigs, leaves,wire, seeds and other natural materials– stuff which is free and doesn’t cost anymoney. Children who don’t have paperor pencil could draw patterns on theground with a stick. They could arrangeleaves and seeds to make several rangoli-like patterns.

Pieces of a brokenearthen pot could bejoined with wet clay tocreate a whole. This isakin to solving a 3-Djigsaw-puzzle.

In another exercise,a child takes foursimilar balls of clay.She then moulds each

into a different shaped animal, a cube, apot and a plate.

The child is then asked: Which oneis heavier? Does the shape change theweight? Children pour out the samecupful of water in four differentcontainers. Then they are asked, “Whichvessel contains more water?”


The basic tenet of the book is : Beforechildren can understand a thing, theyneed experience—seeing, touching,hearing, tasting, smelling, choosing,arranging, putting things together andtaking things apart. Children need toexperiment with real things.

This book is perhaps still the mostrelevant book on science activities forIndian village children. There is noplastic or glass apparatus—specialisedscience equipment to be bought. It showsthat children learn best from simplethings. And naturally it is most helpfulfor them to understand first those thingsthat are around them in their daily lives.

It is best for two or three children towork together at these activities so thatthey can share materials and help eachother. Thus they begin to learncooperation.

Science is built from curiosity,experience, analysis, and finally theexpression of discovery. The main partof this process is arranging objects,activities and ideas so as to create a neworder or pattern. Science is the discoveryof new patterns. These exercises willhelp children discover the patterns andarrangements of the world around themby using their hands, senses and minds.So, understanding is the discovery oforder.

The Hindi edition of the bookPreparation for Understanding, Samajh KeLiye Taiyari is fortunately still beingpublished by the National Book Trust.

Other Experiments

After independence a few initiatives weretaken in India to make science moreinteresting. During its formative yearsthe NCERT reprinted a few scienceactivity books developed by an AmericanUniversity. They were even translatedinto Hindi. Though the experiments camefrom an alien milieu and were not verycontextual to Indian needs it was still aprogressive step—a leap from the chalk-and-talk method and rote learningpractised in most Indian schools. TheNCERT also started the magazine SchoolScience in which many pioneering Indianscientists – Prof. D. N. Wadia and Prof. P.N. Maheshwari regularly contributedarticles of a very high quality. The classicStory of Stone by Prof. D. N. Wadia firstprinted in this magazine needs to berepublished as an independentillustrated book at the earliest. Some ofthe other science classics published bythe NCERT were the Akashdarshan Atlas– written by G.R. Paranjpe – the firstIndian Director of the Royal Institute ofScience, Bombay. This atlas gave theIndian names of all the stars andconstellations and so it made much moresense to an Indian student. Other goodscience books published by the NCERTwere Our Tree Neighbours by ChakravartiVenkatesh and What on Earth is Energyby D. P. Sengupta.

There were other isolatedexperiments to improve the way sciencewas taught in schools. In the late sixtiesMeera Parasnis experimented in theCampus School in IIT, Kanpur to makethe learning of science more experiential.She wrote a series of five illustrated bookstitled Science in Action in the early


seventies. These books were brought outby Macmillan and paved the way forfurther experiments.

Sputnik Spurs Race forScience Supremacy

On 4 October, 1957, the Soviet Unionsuccessfully launched the Sputnik.Sputnik’s launch changed everything. Ithad a worldwide effect on the way sciencewas taught in schools. As a technicalachievement, Sputnik caught the world’sattention and the American public off-guard. That launch ushered in newpolitical, military, technological, andscientific developments. The Sputnikshock shook the US and UK scienceestablishment. Several new initiativeswere taken to make science teachingmore interesting.

In a unipolar world it is easy toforget the major role played by theRussians in popularising science inIndia. Many Russian science classicslike Physics for Fun (1905), Fun withAstronomy written by the father ofRussian popular science YakovPerelman (1882-1942) were availablein English, Hindi, Marathi and otherregional languages in small towns onthe pavement for a very moderate price.Whereas the American books wereexpensive and only available in bigtowns, these beautifully illustrated

Russian science books were availablein taluka towns at a very affordableprice. Many people of my generationowe their interest in science to theRussian popular science books.

In 1905, for instance, Perelmandemonstrated the use of standardcoins – roubles and kopecks asstandard weights. As these coins hadbeen mint-made they had a standardweight and could be used by childrenas reference “weights”. Despite this itis sad to see the chapter on WEIGHTin most Indian books starts not withcoins (which are accessible to everychild) but with a picture of a fractionalweight box!

Nuffield Science

The Nuffield Science Programme in theUK in the early 60’s based itself on thediscovery approach. Children were notdoled out readymade answers. Instead,they were encouraged to fend forthemselves and to discover the answerthemselves. Children learn a great dealby themselves. It is unfortunate thatschools provide very little space forchildren to mess around and discoverthings for themselves. But wheneverthere is a pro-child atmosphere theresults are simply electrifying.

This happened in a Nuffield Scienceclassroom in England. The juniorscience students were given a lot of torchbatteries, bulbs, wires, resistances, etc.to experiment with. The children weresupposed to familiarise themselves withthese components and learn to makesimple circuits. After the children hadplayed with them and learnt to make arudimentary torch, etc. the teacher


decided to test their knowledge aboutthese components and gave them apractical quiz.

She gave them four identical woodenboxes with only two terminals on theirtop. Inside the box, the two terminals wereeither connected to a battery, a bulb, aresistance or nothing at all (i.e., an opencircuit). Children could only experimentby touching only the two terminals onthe top of the box. They could only attachwires to these two terminals. They hadto find out which box had whichcomponent hidden in its belly. It wasfairly simple if there was just a batteryhidden inside. The battery being anactive element, if one just attached a bulbfrom outside it would glow. If there wasan open circuit inside that was also easyto find out. But how does one find outwhether it was a bulb or a resistance,hidden inside the box? It was a toughquestion and not at all easy to crack. Ifyou connected a bulb and a battery fromoutside, in both cases the bulb wouldlight up. Even the teacher, who had setup the quiz, did not have a clue to theanswer.

But a little boy found out the answer.When he connected a single battery anda bulb to the two terminals, his bulb litup. As the glow of the bulb was a bit‘dim’—it meant that there was either aresistance or a bulb inside the box. Thenhe attached two batteries, and his bulbbecame a little bright. Then he just kepton adding more batteries and every timethe glow of the bulb became brighter. Butwhen he attached six batteries, the highvoltage busted something inside and thecircuit became open.

The little boy had found the answerbecause while playing he had fused twobulbs by connecting several batteries tothem.

UNESCO Source Book for ScienceTeaching

Many nations were devastated duringthe Second World War. Later on, thesecountries built schools but had no moneyto set up science laboratories. At thebehest of UNESCO, J.P. Stephenson,science master at the City of LondonSchool prepared a book on scienceactivities titled Suggestions for ScienceTeachers in Devastated Countries. Thisfully illustrated book showed teachershow to make their own apparatus fromsimple, everyday materials at little cost.

The title of the book Suggestions forTeachers in Devastated Countries took theworld by storm. It showed that expensive,fancy equipment were far removed fromthe lives of ordinary children – in factvery alienating. UNESCO agreed towiden and deepen the scope of the bookand thus came out the famous UnescoSource Book for Science Teaching – which50 years later still remains a bible for


science activities.In 1963 this bookwas translated inHindi by ProfessorGorakh Nath andpublished by theP u b l i c a t i o nDivision. Its thirdand last editionappeared in 1981.But for over aquarter centurythis wonderfulbook has been out of print in Hindi. Atabout the same time this book wastranslated in Marathi by BhaskarDhondu Karve – son of the great socialreformer Bharat Ratna Maharishi Karve.One lone edition of the Marathi editionwas published by Orient Longman in1963 and then the book was shelved.Recently the book has been republishedby Manovikas Prakashan and has beenhailed as the rebirth of a major classic.The UNESCO Source Book for ScienceTeaching must have been translated byinspired individuals in other Indianlanguages too. But given the apathytowards activity-based science learningthese language editions too must havebeen long buried into obscurity. I wishthat someone would digitise and uploadthem on the internet for posterity.

The UNESCO Source Book for ScienceTeaching periodically revised andupdated, has been translated into manylanguages of the world, reprinted scoresof times and has sold several millioncopies.

Good science teaching must be basedon observation and experiment. Therecan be no substitute for these. But

performing experiments and learning tomake close observations require specialfacilities, and these are lacking in manyparts of the world, especially in theelementary and middle schools of poorcountries. As a result, science teachingsuffers a severe handicap in theseregions. It is often believed—thougherroneously—that to introducelaboratory teaching, even at theelementary level, requires elaborateequipment made by commercialmanufacturers. Such materials areprohibitively expensive for most schoolsand in many parts of the world are quiteunobtainable because they are notmanufactured locally and cannot beimported because of the prohibitive costs.

Hoshangabad Science TeachingProgramme

The best Indian effort to revitalise schoolscience education was certainly theHoshangabad Science TeachingProgramme (HSTP). Started in 1972, theHSTP eventually spread over 1000government middle schools in 14districts of Madhya Pradesh. Inspired bythe Nuffield Science Experiment it wasbased on the discovery method wherechildren performed simple experimentsand then answered questions based onwhat they did. They were not “passiveconsumers” but “real constructors” ofknowledge. There were no textbooks, onlyworkbooks. The programme involved theactive participation of teachers indesigning the curriculum. It attractedmany passionate and competent people.Professor Yashpal came as the firstteacher trainer. It unleashedtremendous energy and creativity. The


task was not just to replace standardflasks with local glass bottles. The searchwas for local substitutes, low-cost, non-alienating materials, close to the culturalmilieu of the child. This required an openmind and a critical outlook. Childrendispensed “dissecting needles” in favourof “babool” thorns (see the illustration).Phenolphthalein – an indicator used fortitration—was discovered in the wellknown brand of laxative “Vaculax”. Thetablet was mixed in a known quantity ofwater to make a wonderful “indicator”.

A THORNY ISSUE

The Hoshangabad Science TeachingProgramme (HSTP) emphasised onactivity-based science learning. It wasthought that the best way to learnscience was by doing scientificexperiments. There was a lot of emphasison learning from the environment.

It was thought that the best way tolearn about various types of plant rootswas not by drawing pictures of taproots

and fibrous roots on the blackboard butby actually stepping out of the classroomand studying these real plants in thefield. For botanical observations thechildren were provided with hand lensesand dissecting needles.

One day the children went on a fieldtrip. They were to collect different wildflowers and dissect them. Soon thechildren were cutting the flowers andexamining the stamens, pistils andovaries. They were all using theirdissecting needles to pry open the flowerparts. But one girl had forgotten to bringher dissecting needle. What could shedo? She was searching for somethingpointed and sharp to open up theflowers. And soon she found a lot ofBabool (Acacia arabica) thorns. Thesethorns were strewn all around andworked as beautiful dissecting needles.

This little girl had taught the ScienceProgramme a great lesson. Why use thestandard dissecting needle—a long steelneedle embedded in a plastic handle,when you can use a thorn for the job.The needle had to be bought from thenearby town, as it was not available inthe village. The thorn on the other handwas free. Millions of those thorns werecrying to be picked up right there in thevillage. The humble Babool thorn hadbecome an important tool for scientificinquiry!

The HSTP inspired by the Nuffieldphilosophy of “learning by doing” had toreinvent all the hardware to suit localconditions. The idea was to critically lookat local resources and find possibilitiesof doing innovative science using local,low-cost, easily accessible materials. TheMatchstick Mecanno was usedsuccessfully to learn geometry and three-dimensional shapes. It used little bits of


cycle valve tubes and matchsticks tomake an array of 3-D structures.Matchsticks were readily found at homeand as bicycles had made inroads in allour villages cycle valve tube could bebought locally.

Government of Madhya Pradesh in 2002.Today, when the government iswelcoming corporate partnership in theeducation sector, the HSTP was hailedas the largest intervention in scienceeducation and a grand partnershipbetween the government and an NGO.The government provided theinfrastructure, money and, in turn, theNGO providing the passionate humaninputs. But, despite the fact that theprogramme had succeeded indemonstrating a paradigm shift—fromrote learning to understanding, it wasshut down. It was a big blow for thinkingpeople. Why was this relevant,appropriate, cost-effective, tried andtested programme shut down? Thereasons soon became clear. Nogovernment whether of the left of the rightwants any organisation (private or NGO)to intervene in education at the masslevel. The government feels deeplythreatened. As long as NGO’s work in afew schools the state is happy. If thereare more NGOs and more experimentsthe better for the state, because then thestate can “showcase” and trumpet this“bouquet” of educational initiatives andcan take legitimate credit for its liberalattitude for “letting a thousand flowers

The HSTP slowly spread from just 16schools in the district of Hoshangabadto more than 1000 schools in 14 districtsof Madhya Pradesh. At its peak over onehundred thousand village childrenlearnt science using appropriateteaching aids, where the emphasis wason comprehension and not rote learning.Especial testing methods andexaminations were devised which testedthe child’s “understanding” and not his/her ability to mug and spit.

But despite its innovative featuresthe HSTP was shut down by the


bloom”. But if the experiment is of aradical nature promoting the attitude of“questioning” everything and if theintervention is on a large scale then theruling class becomes jittery andpolitically stalls and “kills” the initiative.

The HSTP unleashed the creativityof thousands of teachers and gave anopportunity to academics in some ofIndia’s best research institutes tocontribute their bit to make the learningof science more interesting in villageschools—where their help was mostneeded. Though the HoshangabadScience Teaching Programme was shutdown the experience conclusivelydemonstrated that good scienceeducation in our village schools could bemade interesting and fun and relevantusing very cost-effective methods. TheHSTP has inspired scores of individualswho are trying to implement it in theirown regions with variations and regionalspecificities.

Science Kits

Experience the world over has shownthat prepackaged science kits seldomwork. On several occasions multi-national organisations have appointedconsultants and experts to designscience kits for village schools. Thenthese kits are “mass” produced anddistributed by a central authority to farflung village schools. This process is notunique to India alone. This is theexperience of many developing countries.In most cases the kits lie unopened. Asthe teacher did not think of them, designthem, assemble them so s(he) does notfeel confident to use them. The kit couldbreak when used. Who will bear the

consequences? So the teacher simplykeeps it locked.

But whenever teachers have beenshown possibilities of making simplescience models using everydaymaterials, readily available in theirsurroundings they have shown greatenthusiasm. When they make thingswith their own hands they feel“empowered” and are more likely to usethem in practice. If something breaksthey can always repair it.

We live in a consumerist societywhich produces mountains of junk—cardboard cartons, ball pen refills, oldpens, coins, broomsticks, newspapers,cycle tubes, matchboxes, tetrapaks, milkbags, ice-cream sticks, straws, etc. Thelist is endless. All this stuff can berecycled back into joyous science modelsand toys for children.

Recycle! Reuse! Reduce!

This ancient story carries a deep lessonabout conservation in a consumeristsociety.

We buy, use and throw. Often we buymuch more than we actually need. Thewhole consumerist culture is based onthe principle: “Buy more! Throw more!”Today as we splurge—we plunder theearth’s scare resources and produce somuch junk that not only our garbagedumps but even our parks overflow withrubbish.

But has it always been like this?Have we Indians always been soprofligate and wasteful? No. History tellsus that Indians have been fairly austere.They have had a different way of lookingat the material world. According to thisviewpoint a thing can have several uses.


Not just one, but several lives. Theconcept of reuse/recycle has very deeproots in the Indian culture. This 5,000year-old story shows a deep respect andsensitivity for the material world. It hasmany lessons for modern dayenvironmentalists.

One day the great Buddha wastaking a round of the monastery. He wasapproached by a monk who wanted a newwoollen shawl (angarkha).

Buddha asked him, “What happenedto your old shawl?”

“It had become very old and worn out.So I am presently using it like a bedsheet,” replied the monk.

Buddha asked again, “But whathappened to your old bed sheet?”

“Master, that bed sheet got old withuse. It was worn and torn. So I cut it upand made a pillow cover out of it,” repliedthe monk.

“But there certainly was a pillowcover before you made a new one. Whatdid you do to your old pillow cover?” askedthe Buddha.

“My head had rubbed a million timesagainst the old pillow cover and made abig hole in it. So I made a foot mat out ofit,” replied the monk in earnest.

Buddha was not satisfied by thisanswer. He always delved deep into anyissue. In the end he asked the monk, “Tellme what you did with your old door mat?”

The monk replied with folded hands,“Master the old door mat had got totallyworn with use. Because of repeated usethe warp and the weft had come out. SoI took the cotton fibres and braided a wickout of them. Later I burned the cottonwick in the oil lamp.”

Buddha smiled after listening to themonk. The monk got a new shawl.

Toys and Trinkets

There are many examples of creatingfairly sophisticated science models fromjunk. For instance, primary schoolchildren could make a wonderful handpump with two film cans joined by alength of old cycle tube with flaps of stickytape for “valves”. This inexpensive pumpcan inflate a balloon and throw water 10feet away!

Another wonderful example is oftrying to balance a dozen nails on thehead of a vertical nail. This experimentdoes not require any specialisedequipment—only nails and a piece ofwood-materials which are amplyavailable in the rural areas.

Toys have been used successfully todemonstrate principles of physics. Mostinspiring physics teachers have their pettoys hidden away in drawers, cabinetsand pant pockets. They include thingslike the dunking bird, gyroscopes, yo-yo’s,a tippy-top, propeller on a notched stick,Newton’s cradle, slinky and coupledpendulums. Most toys have an advantageover conventional demonstrationequipment in their relatively low-cost andthe fact that children relate well to them.Unfortunately most toys are not made forrepeated use and that they are often nolonger available when one looks forreplacements!


Children understand best when theysee a science principle incorporated in atoy. If they can play with it, then they geta better “feel” for it. “Centrifugal” and“Centripetal” forces are abstract words

and mean little to children. But abroomstick “spinner” can lend meaningto these words. A self-made toy acrobatwhich flays its hands and legs whenspun can concretise this concept. Ahundred such wonderful science toyshave been collated in a book titled TheJoy of Making Indian Toys by SudarshanKhanna (published by the NBT andcosting Rs 40 only). These toys have beenthere since ages. Every generation hasenlarged this repertoire and left thembehind in the public domain. These toys,made from ‘throw away’ stuff, are eco-friendly and the poorest children canenjoy them. In sculpting them, childrenlearn to cut, trim, glue, fix and assembletogether a variety of materials. They alsolearn great science.

The crisis of science is that peoplestill do not want to dirty their hands. Rotelearning, the chalk-and-talk method stillreigns supreme. Everyone is out to“cover” the course, forgetting that thewhole task of education is to “uncover”things.

Primary School Science

Over the years there has been a shift inthinking and schools are adopting moreprogressive measures. In manymainstream schools children in Class VIIor VIII are taken to the laboratory wherethe teacher “demonstrates” certainexperiments — how to make oxygen, etc.But still the children do not get a chanceto do experiments with their own hands.Often the primary years are the mostneglected phase where children seldomget a chance to mess around and doexperiments.


The UNESCO Source Book for Sciencein the Primary School, authored by WinnieHarlen and Jos Elstgeest, was firstpublished in the early 1990s. Itsinternational edition was priced at US$20. Fortunately, the National BookTrust reprinted a low-cost Indian editionof this wonderful book priced at justRs 95. This book has never been reviewedbut it is still in the fourth reprint. Thisreposes our faith in ordinary teachers—a good book, reasonably priced, will sellwell. The book has two parts: atheoretical section followed by fouramazing science activity sections—Children and Water, Children andBalances, Children, Mirrors andReflections and Children and theEnvironment. This book has alreadybeen translated and published in Hindiby the NBT. It will be wonderful if thisbook is published into other regionallanguages too.

Believing that science and thescientific method of problem-solvingshould play a significant role in anymodern educational scheme, UNESCOoffers this book in the hope that it willassist science teachers everywhere intheir important work. The point of viewtaken is that science is most effectivelytaught and learned when both teacherand pupils practise the skills of problem-solving by engaging in group andindividual study. The devising ofexperiments and the improvising ofsimple equipment for carrying them outshould form no small part of such study.Thus, the present includes instructionsfor the making of many pieces of simpleapparatus from materials usually foundin almost any region. It also proposes awide array of science experiments fromwhich a teacher may select those mostsuitable for providing the observationsupon which effective learning may bebased.

In many parts of the world, scienceeducation occupies a comparativelyinsignificant place in primary-schooleducation and unfortunately whatactually happens in the classroom underthe label of science is often totallyinadequate. Teacher training both pre-service and in-service, is one of the keysto this problem. Starting from thepremise that this training should becarried out in ways more closely relatedto the active methods which teachers areexpected to use in their schools, thissourcebook provides a variety ofmaterials for use in training workshopsfor primary-school teachers which canbe used both in group-work and byindividual teachers for independentstudy.


‘The String and Sticky TapeExperiments’ column was introduced inthe magazine The Physics Teacherbrought out by the American Associationof Physics Teachers (AAPT), in the early1980s. It showed experiments using thesimplest, least expensive materials. Thematerials could be purchased at thenearest store – you did not need anythingexpensive – not even need a stopwatch.All you needed were common rubberbands, cello tape, styrofoam or papercups, string, drinking straws, glassmarbles, plastic ruler, coins, pencil, paperand scissors to perform a series ofwonderful process-based experiments.

Conclusion

In the last few years there has been asilent revolution underway in terms ofthe quality of state textbooks. The NCERT

has tapped the best talents in thecountry to revise and upgrade itstextbooks. This is very significant. Formost of our children the textbooksperhaps will be the only books they willever read. So, making them world-classis a major achievement we all can belegitimately proud off. This is also true ofthe science textbooks. Today the NCERTtextbooks set new benchmarks for theprivate sector publishers to emulate. Theinternet has been a great leveller too.There are many organisations workingto make education and specially scienceeducation more interesting and relevantfor our children. Some pioneeringexperiments like the HoshangabadScience Teaching Programme mighthave been shut down for myopic politicalreasons, but they have left behind seedsfor future innovations.

In a traditional classroom teachertransmits knowledge, students passivelylisten while their minds may bedaydreaming. In a constructivistclassroom teacher transacts theknowledge, students are activelyinvolved, and their minds construct theknowledge. Constructivism seeslearning as a dynamic and social processin which learners actively constructmeaning from their experiences inconnection with their priorunderstandings and the social setting(Driver, Asoko, CLeach, and et al., 1994).In the context of science teaching

learning process, it is observed thatstudents conceptualise science asmaking sense of the world around themand as a mean of discovering theories,laws, and principles associated withreality. The constructivist epistemologyasserts that the only tools available to aknower are the senses. It is only throughseeing, hearing, touching, smelling, andtasting that an individual interacts withthe environment. The individual buildsa picture of the world from the messagefrom these senses only (Lorbach A. andTobin,K.,1997). Therefore, const-ructivism asserts that knowledge resides

Characteristics of a ConstructivistClassroom in the Context of

Science EducationSHASHI PRABHA*

Abstract

A constructivist classroom of science exhibits some marked features that aredifferent from a traditional classroom. National Curriculum Framework-2005emphasises on an environment in the science classroom which is conducive forconstructivist learning. The classroom environment is maintained in such a waythat students actively participate in learning which involves inventing andconstructing knowledge and new ideas. Teacher applies various approaches toteaching learning process in order to make her students inquisitive thinkers, whoquestion, reason, reflect, make association with prior learning, imagine and think.In the present paper some characteristics of a constructivist classroom in thecontext of science education are discussed.

* Reader, DESM, NCERT, New Delhi- 110016

21Characteristics of a Constructivist Classroom...

in students and that knowledgecannot be transferred without anytransformation from the head of a teacherto the heads of students. Students tryto make sense of what is taught by tryingto fit it with their previous experiences.Teacher seeks students’ point of view inorder to understand the formation of theirconcepts, not to validate their learningas in a traditional classroom.

Therefore teaching learning processis not only an arrangement of teachingstrategies but setting of situations andenvironment in which learning processis recognised and supported. For thissituation to be created for scienceteaching learning, a constructivistclassroom has certain characteristics asdiscussed below.

A Constructivist Classroom is ChildCentred

Constructivist classroom places a childin the centre position of the classroom.Ideas initiated by students are acceptedand encouraged. Students’ opinions arevalued. The National CurriculumFramework-2005 brought out by theNCERT emphasising constructivistapproach in classroom states “Teachersshould also nurture their classroomspaces as places where children can askquestions freely” (p.82). NCF-2005establishes the need to recognize thechild as a natural learner, and knowledgeas the outcome of the child’s own activity.Students’ experiences, their voices andtheir active participation are valued.Students are not ridiculed or rebuked forasking questions. They are allowed toask questions, make mistakes and tocorrect those mistakes. They learn from

the positive experiences of social set upof the classroom. Focus is given to whatstudents are learning rather than whatthe teacher is teaching. They are involvedin all the activities of classroom and atall stages of teaching learning processes.Understanding of scientific conceptsbecomes important to them thanmemorising them. Learning no longerremains like a treasure haunt to guesswhat is there in teachers mind but whatthoughts are being generated in theirown minds. Lindfors (1984) advises thathow we teach should originate from howstudents learn.

Students’ Prior Knowledge isAcknowledged and Valued

Students form some concepts pertainingto natural phenomena prior to theirexperiences in school. It might be corrector incorrect. Often the scientificinterpretation of natural phenomenadiffers from the students’ interpretation.During teaching learning processstudents construct meanings that fitwith their experiences and expectations.This can lead them to constructmeanings different from what wasintended by a teacher. As a resultstudents experience a cognitive conflict.They often resolve this conflict byseparating school science from their ownlife experiences. In other words, studentsdistinguish between scientificexplanations and their “real world”explanations (Driver, 1989). For example,students imagine that matter isdestroyed during burning; they thinkthat constant motion requires a forceto maintain it and electric currentis used up in lighting a bulb


(Driver, R., et al.1994). Awareness andacknowledgement of students’ priorknowledge are essential for teachinglearning process in a constructivistclassroom. Teacher needs to provide anencouraging environment in whichstudents are comfortable with what isnot yet known to them and feel at easeto share their ideas with their peers andteacher. She should ask open ended andprobing questions in order to know theirexisting cognitive structures. It facilitatesstudents to construct and reconstructtheir knowledge relating it with theirprevious knowledge. In this regard theconcept mapping can be a powerful toolto dismantle the naive ideas and preventtheir enrooting which can also be a bighurdle in the process of assimilation ofscientifically accurate concepts ofreflection and refraction.

Students and Teacher areInteractive in a ConstructivistClassroom

This is another feature of a constructivistclassroom. Meaningful learning ofscience cannot take place by reading,listening to the teacher or memorisinginformation from the textbooks. Belenky,Clinchy, & Tarule (1986) observe thatconstructivists distinguish didactic talk(where participants report experiencesbut no new understanding occurs) fromreal talk where an interaction betweenteacher and students creates anenvironment within which emergingideas can grow. Learning takes placewithin a net of social relationships asteachers and pupils interact bothformally and informally. Teacher createsinteractive situations for understanding

students’ concepts and then refines orrevises those concepts by askingquestions, posing contradictions,engaging them in inquiries and/orencouraging research. Meaning of thewords and the concepts not yetcomprehended emerge after discussionsof those activities. There is nodomination of teacher and learning takesplace in a collaborative environment andexperiences. Collaborative teaching,group discussion, group work andassignment and project work are someof the essential elements of an interactiveclassroom. Teacher makes all possibleefforts to make her classroom interactive.This interaction is multidirectional.Students interact with their peers as wellas teacher.

‘Others’ are Important inConstructivist Classroom

Learning is restructuring the knowledgethat students already have. For this,students must realize that their existingconceptions of the world need a change.Then they try to make sense out of thesituations based on what is alreadyknown. Their existing knowledge is basedon their experiences, i.e. their interactionwith events, phenomena, objects orpersons. Students learn science byobserving those phenomenon and eventsand performing experiments andactivities and interacting with others. Asothers are part of students’ experientialworld, those are important forconstructing their knowledge.Interaction with others constrains theirthinking; hence they make adaptation intheir thinking to make new meaning ofthe world. Others are part of their


experiential world. Thus, “others” areimportant for constructing theirknowledge (Gray, A., 1997).

Negotiation is Compulsory forConstructivist Teaching

Negotiation is an important element forconstructivist classroom. It bringsteacher and learner on a commonplatform. Boomer (1992) explains thatwhen negotiating, it is important for theteacher to talk openly about how newinformation be learned and aboutvarious constraints such as curriculumand available time. He comments on themeaning of negotiating curriculum asdeliberately planning to invite studentsto contribute and to modify theeducational programme so that they willhave real investment in terms of learningprocess and the outcomes. Students cannegotiate themes that may requireintegration of different topics of scienceor even social sciences, literature or arts.Negotiation also involves selection ofreference books from the provided pilesof books in the classroom. Students mayparticipate in the design of assignmentsand its evaluation too, although theteacher may fix the parameters.Negotiation in classroom also meansproviding opportunity to comparestudents’ new experiences with previousone, discovering discrepancies betweenthem and achieving equilibrium byresolving them. Here equilibrium impliesthat there will not be any curiosity withrespect to their previous knowledge. Itmay take place during discussion andattentive listening to others, makingmeaning to it and comparing personalmeaning. When a student understands

how his peers are making sense of a pointof view, it is then possible to discusssimilarities and differences between thetheories of peers within a group.Justifying one position over another andselecting those theories that are viablecan lead to consensuses that areunderstood by those within a peer group.The process of learning should not stopat what has been learned in thenegotiation of a class consensus. It isimportant that students learn tocompare their knowledge constructed inclass with knowledge constructed by thecommunity of scientists. This processcan involve accessing other learningresources such as books, videotapes, etc.By engaging in such a process studentscan realize that what is regarded as aviable theory depends on what is knownat the time and the context in which thetheory is to be applied. In this processthey understand how to select the besttheoretical formulation for use in aparticular set of circumstances(Lorsbach, A., Torbin, K 1997). Cook(1992) explains why negotiating thecurriculum is important. Students workharder and better and what they learnmean more to them if they arediscovering their own ideas, asking theirown questions and fighting hard toanswer them for themselves. Out ofnegotiation comes a sense of ownershipin students for the work they are doing.Therefore they become committed tolearning. In a constructivist classroomthe teacher trusts her students, offersthem options and choices aboutlearning, invites them to construction oftheir knowledge. Active involvement ofstudents in their own learning as well


as in other actions such as doingactivities and at the same timemaintaining discipline is a vital realityof constructivist classroom. Regardingdiscipline NCF-2005 mentions “It isnecessary to involve children themselvesin evolving rules, so that they feelresponsibility in ensuring that it isfollowed.” (p.87)

Process Approach is Emphasised inConstructivist Classroom

Process approach in science is methodsand techniques of learning science. In aconstructivist classroom processapproach is emphasised. A context iscreated within which students are ableto explore new ideas and experiences(Langer and Applebee, 1987). Studentsare provided opportunities to performand participate in various activitiesand experiments. Teacher may designsimple or complex activities dependingon the contexts and contents. Sheleads her students to the path ofconstruction of knowledge and helpsthem to become inquisitive learners.They are encouraged to generatetentative hypotheses, singularise thehypotheses, making observations,collecting data, drawing conclusion,and communicating. They learn tohandle and manipulate apparatus andmaterials. They make lively uses oftheir senses. They may reject someinformation and accept other observedinformation to arrive at correctconclusion on their own when teacheracts as a facilitator of learning. Theylearn to develop an orderliness andreasoning in their thinking. When theydraw same conclusions from different

sets of experimentations under similarconditions they generalize thoseconclusions and become equipped toapply them in new situations in theireveryday lives. In this context they getchance to focus on their ideas anddevelop more complex thinking andreasoning skills as they participate in thediscussion and defend their ideas. Theprocesses of learning science becomemore important than the product oflearning science. Students enjoylearning as they get ample opportunitiesto interact among them selves and theirteacher and to explore the environment.They learn how to learn. At the sametime they get familiarised with theprocess of process skills of science. Thus,from a constructivist perspective, scienceis not a search for truth. It is a processthat assists us to make sense of ourworld. It is an active, social process ofmaking sense of experiences, as opposedto what we now call “school science.”Indeed, actively engaging students inscience (we have all heard the call for“hands-on, minds-on science”) is the goalof most science education reforms. Usingconstructivism as a referent can possiblyassist in reaching that goal. From aconstructivist perspective, learningscience becomes more like the sciencethat scientists do (Lorsbach, Tobin,1997).

Management of the Classroom isDemocratic

Democratic environment of theclassroom facilitate constructivelearning. Such environment emphasisesshared responsibility in learning anddecision-making. Students are directly


involved in all the activities of theclassroom. Students on both extremes oflearning levels are provided equalopportunities. Teacher in aconstructivist classroom designs andmanages her activities in such a waythat students are eager and ready toexchange their ideas. They are not afraidof being ridiculed. Teacher encouragesher students to ask and share thethought processes going on in theirmind. She assures to her students thatno question is silly one. Gettingfamiliarised with students thoughtpatterns help her to help students inconstructing their knowledge.Relationship among students andteacher is also democratic andresponsive. It stimulates interest in thesubject matter and develops a sense ofself-achievement in students. Rules aremade flexible and teacher’s focus is onstudents learning rather than on herown performance.

Students Learn from Whole to Part ina Constructivist Classroom

Teacher presents the curriculumholistically in a constructivist classroom,not in bits and pieces. She organises theinstructional materials in conceptualclusters, or themes. For example, Energy,Air pollution, Greenhouse Effect, GlobalWarming, Measurements, etc. may beconsidered as themes expanding in thedomain of different subjects. Theboundaries between different subjectsget softened in a constructivistclassroom. Subjects are not treated aswatertight compartments. Students’ wayof viewing world is emphasised.Instructions in the classroom are

provided inter-relating many contentsarea at once. Students construct theirknowledge by breaking the whole intoparts and in this process they getequipped to apply their knowledge ineveryday life situations. They understandrelationship between science, technologyand society. Emphasis is given onprimary facts rather than on a set ofdisconnected discrete facts.

Power in a Constructivist Classroomis Shared

Empowering students to learnthemselves is basic in constructivistphilosophy. Teacher makes every effortto develop skills and abilities to becomean autonomous learner. Calkins (1986)laments that in most classrooms weneither teach students to ask questionsnor allow them to ask questions but onlyallow them to answer our questions. It isnot realised that asking question ischallenging and part of thinking andlearning process. When some questionpops up in their mind and they areencouraged to make a query, theydevelop a control over their thinking.Emphasis is given on students thinkingrather than on their answers andmemorization of facts. She allows themto make mistakes, as she understandsthat those mistakes are critical inlearning. Students and teacher together,develop teaching aids and materials fromlocally available materials. Working withconcrete objects they investigate theconcept of science themselves. It helpsthem to think critically and gainconfidence in problem solving abilities(Paulu & Martin, 1991). Concepts are notswallowed from prescribed texts like


capsules. Students enjoy their hands onexperiences. Learning takes placenaturally. It provides students the powerto construct their knowledge. Teacher ina constructivist classroom keeps onexploring ways and means and situationsof asking questions. She controls herclass indirectly but involves her studentsdirectly in all the activities of theclassroom. Contrary to the popular beliefa constructivist classroom is highlyorganised (Gray, A.1997). Students aregiven a lot of choices in their activities,curriculum and behaviour, but withincertain parameters. In such a classroomcontrol comes from involving thestudents in responsibilities and not fromimposing strict rules. Thus the teachercan focus on students learning.

Assessment is Interwoven withTeaching Learning Process

In traditional classroom, teachers assessstudents by paper-pencil test, gradingassignments, worksheets and ratingstudents’ work as right and wronganswers. In contrast, in a constructivistclassroom of science, assessment ofstudents learning is done in the contextof daily teaching. It is continuous andcomprehensive. NCF-2005 suggests thatmaintaining a daily diary based onobservation helps in continuous andcomprehensive evaluation. Assessmentis not considered as separate andpatchwork, but interwoven in teachinglearning process of a constructivistclassroom. It is done in totality oflearning experiences. Instruction itself isbased on inquiry process. Providingplenty of spaces for interaction helps theteacher to diagnose faulty mental

schema of her students. She obtainsimmediate feedback. These evidences oflearning serve to guide the teacher infurther lesson planning too, and mayindicate the need for modification orchange of strategies of teaching learningprocess. For example, if a teacherperceives clear evidence of some faultycognitive structures, she can revisit theconcept to enhance clearerunderstanding and accordingly she canplan learning experiences to takeremedial measures. Not only scholasticbut co-scholastic areas of studentslearning are also assessed. Process skillsof science are assessed by making thestudents perform various activities andexperiments and projects. Learningprocess is managed to be open ended andopen to change by using suitable tools ofassessment. Science teacher in aconstructivist classroom embraces“alternative assessment” strategies also,in order to truly understand whatstudents are thinking and to identify thesteps they have taken to constructmeaning out of their learningexperiences. Alternative assessmentsstrategies include teacher observationsstructured by checklists, interviews,rubrics (preconceived expectations oflearning), concept maps, journals,performance assessment tasks, open-ended problems, drawings, and portfolios(Chiappeta, Koballa, & Collette, 1998).Novak and Gowin (1984), Novak (1991)also describe the use of concept mappingstrategies in order to analyze and assessthe changes that occur in students’cognitive structures as a result ofinstruction. Concept maps areparticularly useful as alternative


assessments because they can be usedto identify misconceptions held by alearner both prior to and afterinstruction (Roth, 1992). Asking tocontribute one more alternative tomultiple-choice questions, solvingcrosswords and puzzles, framingquestions from given situations orparagraph, making labeled diagrams,etc. can be some other ways ofalternative assessment. Position PaperNFG on Examination Reforms suggestopen –book and on-demand examinationfor the reform in the present system (p.2).Alternative assessment complements theconstructivist approach to teaching byproviding ongoing assessment of learningand more accurate measure of students’actual understanding. Displays of

REFERENCES

APPLEBEE, A.N. 1993. Literature in the Secondary School: Studies of curriculumand instruction in the United States. National Council of Teachers of English,Urbana, Il

BELENKY, M.F., B.M. CLINCHY, N.R. GOLDBERGER and J.M. TARULE. 1986. Women’sways of knowing: The development of self, voice, and mind. Basic Books,New York

CALKINS, L. 1986. The art of teaching writing. Portsmith, NH, Heinemann

CHIAPPETTA, E.L., JR. T.R. KOBALLA and A.T. COLLETTE. 1998. Science instructionin the middle and secondary schools (4th ed.), Prentice Hall, Upper SaddleRiver, NJ

COOK, J. 1992. Negotiating the Curriculum: Programming for Learning. G. Boomer,N. Lester, C. Onore, and J. Cook. (Eds.), 1992, Negotiating the Curriculum:Educating for the 21st century (pp. 15-31, 4-14). The Falmer Press, London

DRIVER, R. 1989. Changing Conceptions. In: P. Adey (Ed.), Adolescentdevelopment and school science. Falmer Press, London

DRIVERS, R., H. ASOKO, J. LEACH, E. MORTIMER and P. SCOTT. 1994.“Constructing Scientific Knowledge in the Classroom”, EducationalResearcher, 23(7), 5-12

attainment and progress by assessmentenhance understanding of concepts ofscience, which can become jumping offpoints for further enrichment of thestudents’ learning.

Lester & Onore (1990) propose thatgenuine learning comes not disregardingall prior learning but reassessing ourexisting belief about the world. Reflectingon one’s teaching practices enable ateacher to transit from transmission totransaction mode of her classroom. Shecreates an environment in which shecan challenge the beliefs and practicesof a traditional classroom and become afacilitator and provider of experiences toher students in which they can constructtheir knowledge in a constructivistclassroom.


DRIVER, R., A. SQUIRES, P. RUSHWORTH and V. WOOD ROBINSON. 1994. Making Senseof Secondary Science: Research into Children’s Ideas, Routledge, London

GRAY, A., SSTA Research Centre Report#9707http://saskschoolboards.ca/research/instruction/97-07htm#referenceshttp://www.auroraschool.org/docs/traditional.vs.progressive.pdf

LESTER, N.B. and C.S. ONORE. 1990. Learning Change: One school district meetslanguage across the curriculum, Portsmith, NH, Boynton/Cook Publishers

LINDFORS, J. 1984. “How children learn or how teachers teach? A profoundconfusion”, Language Arts, 61 (6), 600-606

LORSBACH, A.K., TORBIN, 1997. Constructivism as a Referent for Science Teaching,http://www.narst.org/publications/research.cfn

NCERT, 2005. National Curriculum Framework, New Delhi

NOVAK., J.D., and D.B. GOWIN. 1984. Learning How to Learn: CambridgeUniversity Press

NOVAK, J.D. 1991. Clarify with concept maps: A tool for students and teachersalike. The Science Teacher, 58 (7), 45-49

PAULU, N. and M. MARTIN. 1991. Helping your child learn science, U.S.Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement

POSITION PAPER. National Focus Group on Teaching of Science, 2006, NCERT, (p. 8)

. National Focus Group on Examination Reforms, 2006, NCERT, (p. 2)

PRABHA, S. 2005. Project Report: To Study the Change in the ConceptualStructures pertaining to Reflection and Refraction through ConceptMapping of the Students of Class X, p. 50. Regional Institute of Education,Ajmer (ERIC), NCERT

ROTH, W.M. 1992. Dynamic Evaluation. Science Scope, 15 (6), 37-40

Amidst the mounting evidences ofdecline in the interest of young people inpursuing science (report of ninth meetingof Global Science Forum , 2003) there issimilar trend of decline in scienceinterest in India also. National ScienceSurvey (Shukla, 2005) has shown thatinterest in science as well as satisfactionwith the quality of science teachingdeclined as the age increased. Surveysacross the globe suggest that lack ofinterest in science is mainly due toscience being less intrinsicallymotivating (Global Science Forum, 2003;

National Science Survey, Shukla, 2005),nature of science being cut off from realworld and its content being overloadedwith matters unrelated to the life ofstudents (Hill & Wheeler, 1991; Osborne& Collins, 2001). One way of makingscience relevant is to base science onexperiences pupils are interested in andfind applications in real life.

Model of experiential learning (Kolb,1984) brings out the holistic nature oflearning from experience. Experienceaddresses cognitive, affective andphysical aspects of learner. Theory of

Out-of-school Science Experiences andInterest in Science of Upper Primary

School Pupils of KeralaK. ABDUL GAFOOR* AND SMITHA NARAYAN**

This study explored out-of-school science experiences and interest in science ofupper primary school pupils of Kerala. Data collection made use of Lickert-typescales on topics chosen from the Science curriculum and Science-related experiencesthat pupils indulge in their daily life. Percentage analysis revealed moderate extentof out-of-school science experiences and relatively high interest in science. Meandifference analysis showed that significant difference existed among pupils in theextent of out-of-school science experiences and interest in science based on gender,locality and type of management of school. The results indicate that in order toreduce disparity among pupils in opportunity to learn teachers need to knowabout what experiences pupils bring to classroom, monitoring interest should beginfrom primary classes itself to reduce transitional problems at later stages of studyand policy makers and curriculum planners should cater to the special needs ofgirls as well as rural and aided school pupils.

Abstract

* Reader, Department of Education, University of Calicut, Calicut University-673635, Kerala** Department of Education, University of Calicut, Calicut University-673635, Kerala


experience (Dewey, 1938) further impliesthe significance of experience in learning.So knowing the experiences thatchildren bring to classroom is important,as it is upon this base that teacher hasto build up education of child.

Rationale of the Study

Recent studies on science interest inIndia demonstrate a shift away fromscience at the plus two and under-graduate levels (Patil, 2003; Shukla,2005). As interest in science developsquite early in life (Gardner, 1975), declinein interest in science in later years of lifecan be tackled to a certain extent byproviding all the factors conducive to thedevelopment of science interest fromquite early years itself.

Exploration in the field of influenceof out-of-school science experiences oninterest in science is not substantial inIndia. Present study on out-of-schoolscience experiences and interest inscience of upper primary school pupilsin Kerala attempts to find out whetherthe trend of declining interest in scienceis evident among upper primary pupilsof the most literate state in India.Decline in the number of womenchoosing science (Global Science Forum,2003), and, lesser number of womenopting for scientific careers (IndianNational Science Academy, 2004; citedin Bamji, 2004) raises concern aboutwomen’s interest in science. Locality maybe contributing to the difference ininterest in science owing to widelydiffering conditions in quality of life.Hence it is significant to know the effectof gender and locality on out-of-schoolscience experiences and interest in

science. This study explores science-related activities that childrenthemselves choose without any externalsuggestion and the resultant influencethese activities have on interest in thetopics that they learn in their scienceclasses.

Objectives of the Study

The major objective of this study is to findout the extent of out-of-school scienceexperiences and interest in science ofupper primary school pupils and theinfluence of gender and locale on out-of-school science experiences and interestin science. Attempt is made to find outwhether there is significant relationshipbetween out-of-school scienceexperiences and interest in science.

Methodology

The sample used is 1461 upper primarypupils selected from 14 schools ofKozhikode district in Kerala, usingproportionate stratified random samplingtechnique giving due weightage togender, locality of the school and type ofmanagement of the school. One classeach was randomly selected from eachof the three grades in the upper primarysection.

Two tools–Scale of Out-of-schoolScience Experiences (SOSSE) and Scaleof Interest in Science (SIS) (Gafoor &Smitha, 2008) were used.

SOSSE included 89 out-of-schoolscience experiences with which pupilsare familiar. SOSSE is modelled after thetool used in the project ‘The Relevanceof Science Education’ conducted bySchreiner and Sjoberg (2004). The

31Out-of-school Science Experiences and Interest in Science...

experiences were chosen after aninformal interview with children of theage group 10-14 years, from varyingsocio-economic and home backgrounds,to ensure that scale did not have itemsunfamiliar to pupils. Four categories ofexperiences, viz. Observation, Collection,Activity and Experimentation areincluded in the scale, with an increasein the level of involvement of children asthey move from observation toexperimentation. ‘Observation’ requiresthe pupil to show merely an inclinationto attend carefully to surroundingphenomena while ‘Collection’ implies atendency to respond and acquire theobjects that have captured theirattention. ‘Activity’ involves taking activeparticipation in an event that satisfiesthem without being much aware of theirimplications whereas ‘Experimentation’deals with the attempt on the part of thepupil to explore the underlying causesof a phenomenon. SOSSE consisted ofitems related to all three types ofexperiences, viz. direct, indirect andvicarious experiences (Kellert, 2002) fromthree fields of science, viz. Biology,Physics and Chemistry.

SIS included 63 topics selected aftera thorough analysis of the contents inthe science textbooks of standards III toVII. Topics included in the scale pertainedto science and technology, space and thesky, human biology, plant and animallife, light and sound and dangerousaspects of science and technology.

The items in SOSSE and SIS wererated on a three-point Lickert scaleindicating the frequency of experienceand degree of interest respectively. ForSOSSE, total score, scores on

experiences in each subject area andscores on categories of experiences, viz.observation, collection, activity andexperimentation in each subject areawere obtained. For SIS, total scores andscores on each subject area wereobtained. All these scores were convertedto 2, in order to facilitate comparisonamong subject areas and categories.

Test-retest coefficient of correlationof SOSSE was 0.78 and that of SIS was0.70. Split-half coefficients of correlationfor the scale and the sub scales werecalculated as further evidence ofreliability: SOSSE (r=0.88), observation(r=0.75), collection (r=0.68), activity(r=0.70), experimentation (r=0.81), SIS(r=0.70), Interest in Biology (r=0.86),Interest in Physics (r=0.84), and Interestin Chemistry (r=0.86). The internalconsistency was established byestimating the Cronbach’s alphacoefficient of homogeneity for the scaleand sub scales: SOSSE (r=0.93),observation (r=0.80), collection (r=0.73),activity (r=0.82), experimentation(r=0.81), SIS (r=0.95), Interest in Biology(r=0.88), Interest in Physics (r=0.87) andInterest in Chemistry (r=0.87). SIS hassubstantial positive correlation of 0.56with the grades that pupils obtained inscience. This positive substantialcorrelation can be taken as an index ofconcurrent validity of the scale.

Findings

Out-of-school science experiences wasanalysed at three levels–(1) total out-of-school science experiences, (2) out-of-school science experiences in the threefields of science, viz. biology, physics andchemistry and (3) four categories of out-


of-school science experiences in eachfield, viz. Observation, Collection, Activityand Experimentation. Interest in sciencewas analysed in two levels–(1) totalinterest in science and (2) interest in thethree fields of science, viz. biology,physics and chemistry.

Extent of out-of-school scienceexperiences

Out-of-school science experience ofupper primary pupils was found to bemoderate in nature (M=1.27;Extent=63%) with pupils derivingcomparatively more experience frombiology (M=1.38; Extent=69%) than fromphysics (M=1.24; Extent=62%) andchemistry (M=1.22; Extent=61%). Pupilsderived more biology experiences fromcollection (M=1.51; Extent=76%) and lessfrom observation (M=1.22; Extent=61%).In the case of physics, observation(M=1.29; Extent=65%) contributed moreto out-of-school experience andexperimentation (M=1.15; Extent=57%)contributed the least. Similarly, inchemistry too pupils conducted moreobservation (M=1.35; Extent=65%) andless experimentation (M=1.01;Extent=51%).

Extent of interest in science

Upper primary pupils had relatively highinterest in learning various topics in theirscience curriculum (M=1.50;Extent=75%) with biology (M=1.53;Extent=77%) Physics (M=1.53;Extent=77%) is comparatively moreinteresting than chemistry (M=1.49;Extent=75%).

Gender difference in out-of-schoolscience experiences and interest inscience

Table 1 presents gender-basedcomparison of out-of-school scienceexperiences and out-of-schoolexperiences in biology, physics andchemistry.

TABLE 1Details of Test of Significance ofDifference between Girls and Boys in MeanScores of out-of-school science (OSSE),biology (OSBE), physics (OSPE) andchemistry (OSCE) related experiences

VariableGirls (N=653) Boys (N=808)

tM

1SD

1M

2SD

2

OSSE 1.27 0.25 1.30 0.25 -2.99**

OSBE 1.38 0.26 1.37 0.27 -0.49

OSPE 1.21 0.30 1.27 0.29 -5.98**

OSCE 1.23 0.33 1.22 0.34 -0.58

Note: **Significant at 0.01 level

Significant gender difference existedin the extent of out-of-school scienceexperiences (CR = -2.99, p<.01) with boyshaving more experience than girls did(Table 1). Out-of-school physicsexperience was more for boys (CR = -5.98,p<.01) while the extent of out-of-schoolbiology experiences (CR = 0.49, p>.05)and out-of-school chemistry experiences(CR = 0.11, p>.05), exhibits no genderdifference.

Boys have significantly moreexperience in biology activity (Mboys=1.31; M girls=1.26; % of difference= 2.5; CR = -2.56, p<.05), physicsobservation (M boys=1.31; M girls=1.26;% of difference = 2.5; CR = -2.67, p<.01),physics activity (M boys=1.30;


M girls=1.17; % of difference = 6.5; CR =-7.86, p<.01), physics experimentation (Mboys=1.19; M girls=1.07; % of difference= 6; CR = -6.21, p<.01) and chemistrycollection (M boys=1.25; M girls=1.11; %of difference = 7; CR = -4.70, p< 0.01).Girls had higher extent of biologycollection (M girls=1.54; M boys=1.49; %of difference = 2.5; CR = 2.41, p<.05),physics collection (M girls=1.33; Mboys=1.27; % of difference = 3; CR = 2.05,p<.05), chemistry observation (Mgirls=1.40; M boys=1.30; % of difference= 5; CR = 5.66, p<.01), and chemistryactivity (M girls=1.37; M boys=1.31; %of difference = 3; CR = 2.18, p<.05).

Table 2 presents Gender-basedcomparison of interest in science in thethree fields of science.

TABLE 2Details of Test of Significance ofDifference in Mean Scores of interest inscience (IS), biology (IB), physics (IP) andchemistry (IC) between Girls and Boys

VariableGirls (N=653) Boys (N=808)

tM

1SD

1M

2SD

2

IS 1.53 0.30 1.51 0.30 2.00*

IB 1.55 0.31 1.50 0.31 3.08**

IP 1.50 0.38 1.55 0.34 -2.70**

IC 1.53 0.36 1.46 0.37 3.34**

Note: *Significant at .05 level**Significant at 0.01 level

Girls showed more interest inscience than boys did (CR= 2.00, p<.05)(Table 2). Higher interest of girls inscience was mainly due to their higherextent of interest in biology (CR = 3.08,p< 0.01) and chemistry (CR= 3.34, p<0.01) where as in physics boys showedmore interest than girls do (CR= -2.70,p<0.01).

Locality-based difference in out-of-school science experiences andinterest in science

Table 3 presents comparison of out-of-school experiences in biology, physicsand chemistry between urban and ruralpupils.

TABLE 3Details of Test of Significance ofDifference between Rural and Urban Pupilsin Mean Scores of out-of-school science(OSSE), biology (OSBE), physics (OSPE)and chemistry (OSCE) related experiences

VariableRural (N=1108) Urban (N=353)

tM

1SD

1M

2SD

2

OSSE 1.27 0.24 1.33 0.28 -2.98**

OSBE 1.36 0.25 1.42 0.29 -3.27**

OSPE 1.22 0.29 1.30 0.31 -3.48**

OSCE 1.21 0.32 1.26 0.36 -2.35*

Note: *Significant at 0.05 level**Significant at 0.01 level

In the extent of out-of-school scienceexperiences, urban pupils hadsignificantly higher score than ruralpupils (CR = -2.98, p<.01) (Table 3).Urban pupils excelled rural pupils in theextent of out-of-school biologyexperiences (CR = -3.27, p<.01), out-of-school physics experiences (CR = -3.48,p<.01) and out-of-school chemistryexperiences (CR = -2.35, p<.05).

Urban pupils had higher extent ofbiology observation (M urban=1.26;Mrural=1.20; % of difference= 3; CR = -3.10,p<.01), biology activity (M urban=1.36; Mrural=1.27; % of difference= 4.5; CR = -4.44, p<.01), biology experimentation (Murban=1.43; M rural=1.37; % ofdifference= 3; CR = -2.45, p<.05),physics observation (M urban=1.37;


M rural=1.26; % of difference= 5.5;CR = -5.39, p<.01), physics activity (Murban=1.29; M rural=1.23; % ofdifference= 3; CR = -3.16, p<.01), physicsexperimentation (M urban=1.20; Mrural=1.12; % of difference= 4; CR = -3.39,p<.01), chemistry collection ( Murban=1.25; M rural=1.17; % ofdifference= 4; CR= -2.25, p< 0.05) andchemistry experimentation (Murban=1.09; M rural=0.99; % ofdifference= 5; CR = -4.03, p<.01).

Table 4 presents locality-basedcomparison of interest in science in thethree fields of science.

TABLE 4Details of Test of Significance ofDifference in Mean Scores of interest inscience (IS), biology (IB), physics (IP) andchemistry (IC) between Rural and UrbanPupils

VariableRural (N=1108) Urban (N=353)

tM

1SD

1M

2SD

2

IS 1.50 0.31 1.58 0.27 -4.00**

IB 1.51 0.32 1.58 0.28 -3.82**

IP 1.51 0.37 1.60 0.31 -4.42**

IC 1.47 0.37 1.54 0.35 -3.05**

Note: **Significant at 0.01 level

Urban pupils are more interested inscience than rural pupils are (CR= -4.00,p<.01) (Table 4). Urban pupils showedmore interest in all the three fields ofscience viz., biology (CR= -3.82, p<.01),physics (CR= -4.42, p<.01) and chemistry(CR= -3.05, p<.01).

Correlation between out-of-schoolscience experiences and interest inscience

Out-of-school science experience hadpositive and substantial correlation with

interest in science (r =0.46, p<0.01).Positive and substantial correlation isevident between out-of-school biologyexperiences and interest in biology (r=0.44, p<0.01) while the relationship ispositive but low between out-of-schoolphysics experiences and interest inphysics (r =0.35, p<0.01) and out-of-school chemistry experience and interestin chemistry (r =0.29, p<0.01). None ofthe categories of out-of-school scienceexperiences had substantial correlationwith interest in science, coefficients ofcorrelation ranging between r = 0.16,p<.05 and r = 0.35, p<.01.

Discussion

Extent of out-of-school scienceexperiences is moderate with pupilsderiving more experience from biologythan from chemistry with physicsexperiences in between. It is quitestrange that pupils derived the leastbiology experience through observation.Theoretically, one can get lot of biologicalexperiences through observation.Nevertheless, active nature of youngchildren may not let them remainsatisfied with observation alone, whichis a passive process. The least amountof physics experience is fromexperimentation indicating that childrenderive more experience from vicarioussources than from direct ones. Boyshave more out-of-school experiences inphysics and girls in chemistry. Thisfinding is similar to those from otherparts of the world (Farenga & Joyce,1997; Sjoberg, 2000; Christidou, 2006).Generally, boys, compared to girls,indulge more in activity and girls,compared to boys, indulge more incollection. Science is doing; hence, boys


who indulge more in activities willnaturally have higher extent ofexperience in science. Urban pupilsexcel rural pupils in out-of-school scienceexperiences.

Interest in science is relatively highwith biology and physics being moreinteresting than chemistry. Studyconducted abroad (Borrows, 2004) alsoshows lesser preference for chemistryamong pupils. The extent of interest inscience is more for girls, owing mainlydue to their higher interest in biology andchemistry. Increased interest of girls inbiology corroborated by other researchesas well (Gardner, 1975; Sjoberg, 2000;Uitto et al, 2006) is related to girls’ higherinterest in people and life orientedaspects of science (Miller et al, 2006). Thefinding that boys are more interested inphysics has support of previousresearches (Tsabari & Yarden, 2005;Christidou, 2006). It may be that abstractconcepts of physics appeal girls less(Tsabari & Yarden, 2005) and they haveless experience in physics; experiencehas an influence on interest (Johnson,1987; Sjoberg, 2000). Urban pupils aremore interested in all the three fields ofscience than rural pupils suggestingsocietal influence on interest in science.In accordance with earlier studies (Joyce& Farenga, 1999; Uitto et al, 2006,Zoldozoa, 2006) this study reveals thatOut-of-school science experiences havepositive correlation with interest inscience. The influence of experiences oninterest is more in biology than inphysics and chemistry.

What the above findings imply forschools?

One cannot do much to control out-of-school experiences, but knowing about

what pupils bring to the classroom willhelp for providing better education.Knowledge of pupils’ out-of-schoolexperiences is invaluable as the presentexperiences are building blocks of thefuture experiences. Knowing students’experiences assists in providing thoseexperiences that pupil lack, in choosingexperiences that can result in optimumdissonance with existing experiencesand in helping pupils to see the meaningand significance of life experience in whatthey learn at school.

Interest and attitude that onedevelops in the lower classes influencetheir future choices (Lloyd & Contreras,1984). Identifying pupils’ diverseinterests helps to nurture thoseinterests. Teaching needs to helpchildren realise that chemistry issomething that is going on all aroundand within us will help them see itssignificance. Pupils need to see that thevery essence of biology rests on chemicalreactions. This would help themappreciate the significance of chemistryin our lives. Schools cannot ignore thedisparity in out-of-school experiences, assubstantial positive correlation existsbetween out-of-school scienceexperiences and interest in science. Girlshave to be more accustomed to physicsand made aware of the significance ofphysics, lest they remain behind in themodern techno-savvy world. Disparitybetween urban and rural schools can donothing but contribute to thebackwardness of rural pupils. Providingmore computers and better lab facilities,supplemented with frequent educationalexcursions to places of scientific interestmight be one-step in rural childrengetting more experience.


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School education plays a significant rolein shaping the destiny of children. Itinculcates self-confidence, self-relianceand career mindedness along with habits,manners and values in students to delvedeep into realm of knowledge and scalenew heights of success and glory. It alsoprovides base for building future careerand helps to achieve desired goals. But

in reality students are graduating fromschools and colleges, unprepared to meetthe demands of a society. They are notprepared to become responsibleproductive citizens, do not meet the needsof their next generation and becomeburden on the society. Educationalpolicies strongly articulated the need fora qualitative improvement in education

Perception of Teachers for QualitySchool Culture and Climate

with special reference to Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas

RAMAKAR RAIZADA*

Abstract

School education plays a significant role in shaping the destiny of the students andthe nation as a whole. School culture and climate inculcates and develops values,manners, habits, self-confidence, self-discipline, self-reliance and career mindednessin a person right from the childhood. It provides base for building future career andhelp to achieve the desired goals. Quality is a complex and relative term and has nophysical measurable form. Different individuals perceive the concept of quality indifferent manners. In school education teachers are the major providers of the educationservices to the consumers of the system, i.e. students. So, the teachers’ views forquality school atmosphere have a great significance. In present paper efforts aremade to study the quality of school education in Kendriya Vidyalayas and NavodayaVidyalayas from the eyes of their teachers. The perception of teachers on schoolculture and climate is visualised along with their expectations. The paper also suggestsmeasures and prioritises concerns for improvement in quality of education at schoollevel to make it more vibrant and effective in accomplishing the task of providingquality education to all children.

* Associate Professor, Regional Institute of Education, Shyamla Hills, Bhopal,Madhya Pradesh-462 013


system in India. The quality of the schooleducation depends of school environmentwhich consists of numerous factors, like-school building, physical infrastructure,quality of teachers, teaching-learningprocess, the school environment,students, parents, community, localresources, etc. These are the bestavailable in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs),Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) and some ofthe public schools. Teachers can betterperceive school culture and climate forquality education.

About 980 KVs and 580 NVs in thecountry are pace setting institutions withtheir own identity for qualitativeeducational practices. They playsignificant role as silent workers in the fieldof school education. KVs are non-residential and serve the urban areas andthe NVs are residential and work for ruralsegment of society. KVs admit wards ofDefence and other all India transferableemployees and NVs admit rural talent oncompetition basis. Both work up to highersecondary level and are affiliated to theCentral Board of Secondary Education(CBSE). Results of NVs proved better thanKVs in the 2008 examinations. In a recentlyheld grand equity survey conducted by anational daily the KVs have been rated astop most brand in the field of schooleducation strategies leading to customersatisfaction. Teachers of these Vidyalayaswork in two of the best education systemsand they can judge the quality of theinstitution culture and climate carefully.

Objectives

A study was conducted on teachers ofNVs and KVs located in different parts ofthe country, with the following objectives:

1. To study the school climate inKendriya Vidyalayas and NavodayaVidyalayas.

2. To study the teachers perception ofquality components in theVidyalayas.

3. To find out the teachers’ views forstrong points and weaknesses ineducation system.

4. To suggest measures for qualitativeeducation in residential and non-residential schools in the country.

Methodology

A questionnaire with rating scales wasdeveloped to access the perception ofthe teachers about the school cultureand cl imate. It contained basicinformation about the school andteaches in Part A and their perceptionabout school environment and facilitiesin Part B. It was administered on theteachers of these Vidyalayas (60 in NVsand 13 in KVs). To seek free and frankopinion the teachers were asked not tomention their identity on the format.The responses were further analyzedand discussed to confirm their opinionand suggestions.

The institutional culture andcl imate was assessed on elevenaspects – infrastructural facilities,impression of school in the society,community support , schoolenvironment, students’ care – atschool and home, academic climate,quality teaching, service conditions,professional growth of the teachers,management patterns and qualitymanagement in the school. On everyaspect different parameters were usedto judge the views of the teachers.

41Perception of Teachers for Quality School Culture and Climate...

Major Findings

On the basis of the comprehensiveanalytical study of the filled-upquestionnaire and rating scales thefollowings major findings were made:

(a) Infrastructural facilitiesIn present competitive world, theincreasing pressure of population and

advancing technology has created therequirements of quality education forwhich strong basic infrastructuralfacilities in the schools are necessary.There has to be adequate space forexpansion and growth for future needs.These needs of the facilities are also to beassessed on regular basis. Table 1 givesthe teachers’ opinion on these parameters.

TABLE 1Infrastructural Facilities

(In percentage)

S. Parameters Strongly Agree Partially Disagree StronglyNo. Agree Agree Disagree

1. School has ample space for further 41.10 42.42 6.85 2.74 6.85growth & development

2. Future needs of the school are 9.21 57.89 22.37 7.89 2.63worked out regularly.

TABLE 2Impression of the School in Society

(In percentage)


1. Board results show qualitative 30.67 50.67 16 1.33 1.33improvement in the school

2. The life in school is dull and dry 1.32 9.21 11.84 51.32 26.32

3. School discipline is going down 2.44 10.98 15.85 48.78 21.95day-by-day.

4. Students love and like the school 30.13 50.68 13.70 5.48 00

5. It is a pleasure and privilege for me 52.05 36.99 6.85 4.11 00to work in the school

6. There is nothing to be proud of in 2.70 8.11 2.70 48.65 37.84the school.

7. School has a special status in 34.20 50.00 7.89 6.58 1.32the society

8. School has hardly any future 1.39 25.00 18.06 30.56 2.50prospects.


Table 1 shows that about 84% of theteachers feel that there is sufficient spacein their schools for future growth anddevelopments. But formal regularestimations or working on the futureneeds, requires attention as only about9% teachers were found to befully confident (strongly agree) and 58 %teachers could agree on this parameter.

(b) Impression of school in thesociety

A school should have good reputation inthe society. School results in boardexaminations, quality of school life,students’ discipline, teachers’ andstudents’ liking for the school, etc.contribute to popularity of the school andthe teachers and students feel proud ontheir school. The school life should alsonot be dull and dry. These parametersin the school culture and climate of KVand NV in the views of their teachers areshown in table 2.

Teachers of these schools werefound to have the feeling that boardresults of these schools are qualitativelyimproving as 81% of them agree or

strongly agree on this issue. About 78%of the teachers were found to disagreeon the parameter that school life is dulland dry, more than 70% teachers werefound to have the impression thatschool discipline is not going down,more than 80% were found to have thefeeling that students love and like theschool, more than 89% teachers feelpleasure on serving in these schoolsand more than 86% teachers werefound to be proud of their school. About85% teachers were of the opinion thatKVs and NVs have special status insociety, but on future prospects of theschools any clear opinion could notbe seen.

(c) Community support

Schools have to work in coordinationwith the community. Community extendssupport to the school and full utilizationof the community resources is necessary.Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Ex-students’ Alumni Association have agreat role in development of communitysupport. Opinion of teachers on theseparameters is given in table 3:

TABLE 3Community Support to the Schools

(In percentage)


1. Community helps in development 5.26 38.16 27.63 27.63 1.32of School.

2. School fully utilises its’ resources for 23.68 48.68 15.79 10.53 1.32development

3. Ex-students’ meetings are organised 16.00 52.00 18.67 12.00 1.33in school

4. Parent-teacher meetings are 5.56 31.94 13.89 36.11 12.50ineffective.


Table 3 shows that about only 43%teachers feel that in KV and NV thereis any type of community help but about70% teachers were found to agree onthe parameter of full utilization ofcommunity resources. So, communityextends less help to the schools butwhatever help is extended that is fullyutilised in the schools. 68% teachersagree that ex-students meeting areorganised but on the parameter ofeffectiveness of PTA meetings, theycannot give any clear-cut opinion.

(d) School environment

A peaceful encouraging academicclimate with full of enthusiasm is

necessary for quality education in theschool. For such atmosphere the schoolshould have clear-cut long term goalssupported by short-term targets, andtension-free life of the students andteachers with priority for qualityeducation in a motivating atmosphere.The teachers should be well versed andshould work with positive attitude. Inpresent era of globalisation, a realcompetitive spirit in all spheres ofeducation is also necessary. Theseparameters were tested on the sampleand the results are given in table 4.

Table 4 shows that about 88%teachers agree or strongly agree forquality life in KVs and NVs, having

TABLE 4School Environment

(In percentage)


1. Quality of life in school is poor. 1.28 12.82 5.13 57.69 23.08

2. School does not have clear-cut goals. 1.33 4.00 6.67 50.67 37.33

3. Quality education is the priority 29.33 58.67 5.33 4.00 2.67of the school

4. Positive attitude achieving excellence 4.05 20.27 9.46 43.24 22.97is missing in school

5. Achievement targets are not fixed. 2.63 13.15 11.84 44.74 27.63

6. There is motivating atmosphere 19.74 53.95 18.42 6.58 1.32in school

7. Little is known to teachers of what 1.33 24.32 35.14 25.68 13.51is going on in school.

8 Teachers have hardly any time to 15.58 37.67 15.58 22.08 9.09work on innovative practices.

9. Activities are organised in school for 4.00 46.67 16.00 24.00 9.33activity sake only

10. Co-curricular activities are organised 9.33 12.00 9.33 49.33 20.00on special occasions only.

11. School participates in inter-school 28.00 58.67 12.00 00 1.33competitions/activities.


clear-cut goals/achievement targets andpriority for quality education (parameter1, 2 and 3). On the issue of motivat-ing atmosphere about 55% teachersagreed but were not confident as thescore for strongly agree was low.Similarly, well informed teachers withpositive attitude, availability of time forworking on innovative practices,effective organisation of activities andschools’ participation in competitiveactivities, were also lacking in theschool.

(e) Students’ care

School plays significant role indevelopment of good habits and shaping

the career of the students. The principal,teachers and all supporting staff shouldcare for students with impartiality.Special attention is needed for thestudents who are either talented or weakin studies to get flying colours inexaminations. They are to be givenpractice of speed-cum-accuracy tests tosecure higher marks in examinationsand School should have a plan of actionfor its students for creation of career-mindedness in them. KV and NVteachers’ views on these parameters aregiven in table 5.

Table 5 shows, about 85% teachersfeel that the schools take care for thefuture of their students. 80% and more

TABLE 5Students’ care

(In percentage)


1. No one is worried about future of 1.30 6.49 7.79 49.35 35.06students.

2. Attention is paid to students who are 17.81 63.01 5.48 6.85 6.85good in studies

3. Good attention is paid to 13.51 72.97 1.35 8.11 4.05handicapped students

4. Students are given practice of 9.33 70.67 10.67 6.67 2.67speed cum accuracy tests.

5. School has a plan of action for 15.73 55.26 19.74 6.58 2.63creating career minded nessamong students

6. Talented students do not get proper 1.35 20.27 8.11 48.65 21.62attention

7. Students who are weak in studies do 00 13.33 10.67 48.00 28.00not get special attention.

8. Regularity and punctuality is missing 00 5.40 2.70 48.65 43.24in the school.

9. Students hardly get educational 13.70 36.62 21.92 15.07 13.69support from their parents.


teachers expressed that speed-cum-accuracy tests are given to the studentsfor better performance. The students whoare good in studies are well nurtured andattention is also paid to handicappedstudents. About 90% teachers agreedthat there is regularity and punctualityin the schools and 70% and 75%teachers were found to be of the opinionthat talented and weak are taken careof. But on the issue of plan for creationof career mindedness in students theiragreement was found to have thestrength of 70% only. In KVs studentsget educational support from theirparents which is lacking in NVs.

(f) Academic climate in the school

School culture and climate play adominant role in shaping the career of

the students. Teachers should becautious for future needs andaccordingly should demand audio-videoand printed material for libraries.Educational tours and trips, quizcompetitions, etc. should be organised forreal exposure and development ofcompetitiveness and grasping power. Thestudents should attend to classes andco-curricular activities and be seriousabout their studies. Academicenvironment of the schools should go onimproving day-by-day without anycompromise with the standards ofeducation. Teachers’ opinion on theseparameters is given in table 6.

Table 6 shows that about 90%teachers were found to be of the view thatquiz competitions are regularlyarranged. Organisation of educational

TABLE 6Academic climate in the schools

(In percentage)


1. School environment needs to be 14.86 44.59 24.32 06.76 09.46improved.

2. Educational Trips are organised 10.26 46.15 12.82 23.08 07.69in the school

3. Quiz competitions are arranged 25.33 66.67 06.67 00 01.33in school

4. Teachers needs and requirements 08.11 48.65 17.57 20.27 05.41are assessed regularly

5. No compromise is done with the 38.16 42.11 14.47 00 05.26standard of education.

6. Students are hardly serious about 15.17 30.14 24.67 15.07 15.06their studies in the school

7. Students leave classes during 01.32 17.11 05.26 44.74 31.58school hours.


trips was supported by only 55%teachers. Schools do not want to makeany compromise with the standards ofeducation (as more than 80% teachersagreed or strongly agreed) but regularassessment of teachers needs andrequirements was agreed on by only 56%teachers. Students were found to beattending their classes regularly (as morethan 85% teachers disagree on studentsleaving classes during school hours) butthey are not found to be serious for theirstudies (as only 45% teachers agree onparameter 6) and henceforth about 60%teachers also feel for improvements in theschool environment.

(g) Quality teaching in the school

Teaching is a major activity of the schoolsas it involves all students at most of thetime and gives better board results tocreate name and fame of the school incommunity. Effective teaching needs

teacher’s command on the subject areaand delivery of content using variety ofmethods suitable to the content andclass. The teachers should not bedeployed elsewhere on jobs other thanteaching. They should be available forteaching work all the times. All subjectteachers should meet periodically forimprovement of teaching and making itstudent centred. The schooladministration should facilitate teachingand teaching should not be suspendedfor one or the other petty reason. Thestudent should also listen, understandand take notes of classroom teachingcarefully and should not bunk classes.The teachers’ opinion on theseparameters is given in Table 7.

Table 7 clarifies that about 65%teachers agree on the issue of runningclasses without suspending them for co-curricular activities (CCA) etc. andteachers have command over their

TABLE 7Teaching in the school

(In percentage)


1. Mostly lecture method is followed 2.63 21.05 35.53 23.64 17.11in teaching.

2. Only few teachers have command 3.95 13.16 17.10 46.05 19.74over their subject.

3. Teachers are often given work which 16.22 17.57 29.73 32.43 4.05has no relevance to their job.

4. Subject teachers often meet and 26.67 60.00 8.00 4.00 1.33decide actions to improve teaching.

5. Often teaching is suspended to 2.63 10.53 23.68 40.79 22.37arrange co-curricular activities.

6. Students leave classes during 1.32 17.11 5.26 44.74 31.58school hours.


subject in the opinion of about 80%teachers. Teachers meet and decideaction for improving teaching in theopinion of about 85% teachers andstudents also attend classes in theopinion of about 75% teachers. But onthe parameter of not engaging teachersin non-teaching works, only 35%teachers could agree and similarly 58%agreed on following lecture method inteaching. Here, there is scope forimprovement.

(h) Service conditions of theteachers in the schools

Teachers are human resource ineducation system and have to be suitablymotivated and rewarded for extraction ofgood work. They should be selected on

merit, should have attractive serviceconditions with job security and themanagement should organise teacherwelfare activities. The problems andsuggestions of teachers should be wellattended to by the school administration.Teachers should get opportunities toimprove performance in teaching; theirgood work should be recognised andshould be assessed through self-appraisal to make them moreresponsible. The teachers of KV and NVgave their opinion on these issues asmentioned in Table 8.

Table 8 shows that about 65%teachers were found to have the opinionthat teachers in KV and NV are selectedon merit, have job security, getopportunities to improve their

TABLE 8Service conditions of the teachers

(In percentage)


1. Teachers have job security in the 18.18 44.16 16.88 20.78 000school.

2. Service conditions for teachers 06.58 39.47 31.58 17.11 05.26are attractive.

3. School management provides 05.41 39.19 24.32 29.73 01.35welfare activities.

4. Teachers’ problems are well 02.67 42.67 26.67 18.67 09.33attended in school.

5. Teachers’ work is assessed 04.17 43.06 25.00 25.00 02.78through their self-appraisal.

6. Good work is recognised by the 09.33 54.67 28.00 6.67 01.33school management.

7. Teachers get opportunities to 16.88 49.35 14.29 15.58 03.90improve their performance.

8. Teachers are selected on merit. 22.67 42.67 12.00 18.67 04.00


performance and their good work isrecognised. Teachers feel that theirservice conditions are attractive in KVs(due to urban base) and not muchattractive in NVs (due to rural base). Butthere found to be less concentration ofopinion on solution of problems ofteachers by management, assessmentsthrough self-appraisal and welfareactivities for the teachers.

(i) Professional growth of teachersin the school

Professional growth is necessary forcareer development of the teachers.School administration should be positiveto the changing needs of future andshould take care of growth anddevelopment of teachers. For thisrefresher courses should be organised,new ideas of teachers for betterment inteaching learning activities should beencouraged. The opinion given by the KVand NV teachers on these parameters aregiven in Table 9.

Table 9 shows, about 75% KV and NVteachers feel that their schooladministration is worried for progress ofthe teachers and takes care of theteachers’ future needs. According to 88%teachers of the sample the refreshercourses are organised and new ideas areencouraged and incentives are given foroutstanding performance according toabout 70% teachers.

(j) Management patterns in theschool

School management should be based onpre-decided policies, procedures andrules. Administration should support theschool activities, teachers’ views onvarious problems should be taken in staffmeetings and there should be no placefor groupism in management of school.Table 10 shows views of the teachers onthese parameters.

Table 10 shows that about 80%teachers were found to be having theview that there are set procedures for

TABLE 9Professional growth of teachers in the school

(In percentage)


1. No one is worried about the 04.00 06.67 10.67 49.33 29.33progress of the teachers.

2. Administration does not encourage 01.30 15.58 15.58 49.35 18.18new ideas.

3. Incentives are given to teachers who 26.67 42.67 17.33 13.33 00achieve outstanding performance.

4. Refresher courses are arranged for 22.39 65.79 10.53 00 01.32the teachers

5. Management is positive to changing 18.06 55.56 16.66 5.56 04.17needs of the teachers.


smooth functioning of the schools. About70% teachers felt that schools haveenough support from the schooladministration, 65% respondents feelthat teachers are consulted in decisionmaking. But the staff meetings are justformalities and management takes itsown decision. Groupism exists in theschools as the teachers could not expressfirm opinion on these parametersbut about 60% respondents feel thatthe school is not a victim of mismanage-ment.

(k) Quality management in the school

In twenty-first century quality is a mustin each and everything for survival. It isequally applicable in education sectortoo. Change is a requirement for qualityshift in education sector and morespecifically in a developing country, likeIndia. New techniques of managementare to be applied in education sector inwhich the Principal should assume aleadership role (not as an authoritative

administrator). Regular supervisionthrough inspections is required formonitoring the improvements in theperformance level and all shouldcooperate in the quality management ofschool. Teachers have to play a specificrole and assume responsibility for qualityof education in a school. Opinion of theteachers on these parameters is givenin Table 11.

Table 11 shows that about 92%teachers agree on the parameter ofapplication of new techniques ofmanagement for quality improvement ineducation in school. Majority of them(about 77%) had the opinion that theprincipal’s administrative role is alsoregularly assessed for improvements andschool has made progress in his/herleadership in the opinion of about 76%teachers. About 87% teachers agree thatinspections are conducted regularly forimprovement. But, some of them (about42%) opined that teachers flatter themanagement and the principal.

TABLE 10School Management Pattern

(In percentage)


1. Teachers are consulted in 05.19 61.04 19.48 11.69 02.60decision making.

2. There are set procedures for 06.76 72.97 09.46 09.47 01.35smooth functioning in the school.

3. Groupism exists in the school. 01.33 33.33 20.00 29.33 16.00

4. School gets enough support 14.47 55.26 22.37 07.89 00from the management.

5. Staff meetings are just formalities. 05.19 20.78 18.18 40.26 15.58

6. School is the victim of 00 18.67 21.33 34.67 25.33mismanagement.


Observations

KVs are CBSE affiliated English andHindi medium co-educational institutionslocated generally in urban areas andprovide education upto Class XII.Normally, they run in one shift, in ownbuildings and teachers teach about 6-8periods per day at primary level whichreduces later. Principals are alsorequired to teach 6 periods per day. KVshave adequate school buildings,classrooms, playgrounds, staffroom,games room, computer facilities, schoolhall and separate craft room, fine artroom and music room. There areadequate science practical facilities forhigh school students and for highersecondary students’ facilities exist forseparate physics, chemistry and biologypractical. The libraries are equipped withtextbooks, reference books, properfurniture for seating arrangements, etc.and at few places photocopying facilitiesare also available. There are adequate

toilets separate for boys and girls but atdrinking water points normally rush isbeing seen as the students come at thetime of intervals, only. There is neat andclean academic environment with writingof great saints and sages and dulymaintained display boards. KendriyaVidyalayas have very good results, useplay-way methods of teaching and child-centred approaches of education. Thereare some healthy practices also, likeclass teachers take lunch in theclassrooms with their class (morespecifically in primary classes), dustbinsare kept and widely used, latest booksare available in the library and latestversion of computers are available. Butsometimes the school seems to be smallfor accommodating all children.Vidyalayas feel need for a trainedcounsellor. Parent-teacher meetings andstaff development programmes areorganised regularly. At some places thecleanliness, display boards, seatingarrangement and photocopying facilities

TABLE 11Quality Management in the School

(In percentage)


1. Administration applies new 12.00 60.00 20.00 06.67 01.33techniques of management forqualitative improvement.

2. Principal’s leadership role is also 10.39 67.53 14.29 05.19 02.60assessed.

3. School has made progress in the 34.21 42.11 13.16 06.58 03.95present leadership.

4. School inspection is done by 32.05 55.13 07.69 03.85 01.28the management.

5. Some of the teachers can be seen 05.80 36.23 21.74 20.29 15.94flattering the management/principal.


lack in library, but there is alwaysshortage of school transport as schoolsdo not have their own buses. There aregood relations between teachers andstudents, teachers and principal andamong teachers and studentsthemselves. Sometimes the teachers feelmore interference of parents in the day-to-day working and some teachers alsofeel need of vocational education in theschool. Chairmen visit the school atseveral occasions and motivate the staffand students. Students mostly getselected in competitive exams like PET,PMT, IIT, NDA, etc. and there are thefacilities of NCC, Scout and Guide for thestudents.

Navodaya Vidyalayas are co-educational residential schools fullyfinanced and administered by theGovernment of India through anautonomous organisation NavodayaVidyalaya Samiti established in ruralareas working for Classes VI to XII insingle shift. They are affiliated to CBSEand provide good quality moderneducation on the lines of KVs to thetalented children predominantly from therural areas, without any regard to thesocio-economic conditions of the family.Admissions are made at Class VI leveland medium of instruction is mothertongue/regional language up to ClassVIII. They serve each district of thecountry in 27 States and 7 UnionTerritories and work for attainingreasonable level of competence in therural children. These Vidyalayas run inown specious pucca buildings withsufficient infrastructural facilities likeclassrooms, staffrooms, hostels, roomsfor games, work experience, computers,fully equipped labs, libraries, etc. These

schools also have their own transportfacility. About two lakh students are onroll of the Navodaya Vidyalayas.Students for these Vidyalayas areselected through admission test.Supervised studies, remedial teachingand special coaching are the mainfeatures of the Vidyalayas, which resultto better performance in examinations.These institutions follow many innovativepractices in nurturing rural talentwithout any type of discrimination. Inthese Vidyalayas teacher/student ratiois maintained as 1:30 to 1:40. Theseinstitutions develop moral, ethical, socialand national character through theirday-to-day working and migration policy.Students and teachers live together andwork for quality education in a team sprit.

Changed role of the Principal

Principal is an academic leader andmanager of the educational institution.Her/his management should be basedon reliable data of students’ per-formance, cost and financial analysisand bench marking. She/he shouldmeasure his success by the success ofindividuals within the organisation andshould have a vision for the future andget the teachers and staff to acceptownership of the vision as their own.Then the teachers and staff will becommitted to achieve the goal. They mustcreate strategies, systems and methodsfor achieving academic excellence.Encouragement for participation andcreativity in all students and staff is amust for quality education. Involvementof all in activities, like planning, reviewof education quality performancestandards, recognising staff for qualityachievements, re-enforcing values and


encouraging leadership at all levels. Theprincipal should:

• Enhance the value of school to thestudents through development of newneed-based educational services.

• Reduce inconsistence, which placethe credibility of educational processin question.

• Improve responsiveness to students’requirements.

• Improve productivity andeffectiveness in use of resources.

Reward and recognition systemshould be re-enforced. Factors withbearing upon the safety, health, well-being and morale of teacher, staff andstudents must be a part of continuousimprovement. Students must geteducation and training in quality skillsrelated to performing their jobs andunderstanding problem-solving tools andtechniques. Assessment is necessary toensure correctness of activities. It mayinvolve stakeholders and has to takeplace before, during and after completionof the jobs. The quality definition ofassessment is:

• Ensuring that what is supposed tohappen actually happened.

• Ensure that everything we do hasadded value in the school

• Ensure that the schools do providevalue to the customers.

• Ensure that we work efficiently.• Ensure that we constantly strive to

improve output.• Ensure that we are never resistant

to change.

Fulfilment of students, communityand staff needs has to be assessed recordkeeping; target setting at all levels and

for all activities must be an on-goingprocess, feedback processes and activityanalysis and corrective action has to betaken in time. It establishes a culture tofocus on meeting the needs of thestudents, staff, better learning andworking environment, improvedefficiency and productivity, effectiveteam work, improved outcome,recognition by staff, students andcommunity. Now-a-days, educationsystem is under immense pressure tochange. Re-structuring programmes arebeing implemented to improveperformance and school tone.

Suggestions

In India, teaching is not a well paidcareer. For some it is the last careeroption because other doors had shut intheir face. Teachers may be demoralisedby financial difficulties and a perceivedlack of prospects. Too often they feel as ifthey can do little to shape their students’future. Therefore, this is the collectiveresponsibility of society to infuse selfconfidence in teachers and ensure thatthey realize the mighty mission they haveundertaken. For this purpose societydemands improvement in quality ofeducation but it fails to supporteducation’s efforts to improve due to lackof resources.

1. Regular researches should beconducted for development andimprovement in quality of educationsystem in the schools. For thispurpose separate wing ordepartment may be created atregional level.

2. Parent-teacher meetings should beregularly organised and better


support from the community has tobe taken.

3. The future requirements forexpansion of the KVs and NVs shouldbe worked out regularly andprovisions should be madeaccordingly.

4. Use of Educational Technology (ET)and other modern facilities should beextended to the classroom in theseVidyalayas. One ET Lab may beestablished in each and every school.

5. The community should have properrepresentation in the managementcommittee meetings of the schools.Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)meetings should be conductedperiodically for linkages andproposals of these meetings shouldbe implemented judiciously.

6. The Vidyalayas should have tension-free motivating atmosphere forquality education.

7. Teachers should be well-versed andfeel belongingness with the school.For this purpose regular dialogue andconduct of staff meetings indemocratic manner is necessary.

8. Sufficient number of teachers in allsubject areas should be on the postedstrength in the school so that theremay not be any pressure forcompletion of courses by lecturemethod and to get time for innovativepractices in teaching-learningprocess. Good innovative practicesshould be praised and suitablyrewarded.

9. Students of KV and NV go to privatecoaching centers as there is nofacility/plan for their careerdevelopment. Schools should sketchplans to develop career mindedness

in the students and accordinglyfacilities should be provided. Thenthe students will be more serious fortheir studies in school.

10. Classroom teaching should be thefirst priority of the teachers and theyshould not be engaged in other workat the time of teaching.

11. Personal problems of the teachersshould be taken care of inconsideration of transfers, etc. tomotivate them for working wholeheartedly and their outstanding workshould be suitably awarded.

12. Generally, the principals manage theschool taking few or some of theteachers in confidence. This may leadto groupism in the school dependingon the nature of the teachers in hisconfidence. He/she should take thevice-principal in confidence and allimportant decisions should come-upin the staff meetings for which properminutes, etc. should be recorded.

13. Recruitment of the teachers has tobe made on merit. Teachers shouldbe well cared for by theadministration to be dedicatedemployees. This will also controlflattering by teachers of theirprincipal or administration

Policy Implications

Quality is on-going process, needs goodleadership, massive training andinvolvement of everyone. It establishes aflexible infrastructure, which can quicklyrespond to society’s changing demand.Creation of quality has four essentialcomponents—

(i) Commitment to change which mayevoke fear in the minds of people as


the change may also be from publicto private institutions.

(ii) Clear understanding of where weare and how the system ofeducation is working.

(iii) Clear vision of future in every oneto remain focused and committed toquality transformation.

(iv) Clear plan for implementing qualityin team with a set of guidelines.

Some policy implications of theresearch are as under:

1. A research and development wing orsection should be established to planfor future in headquarter andregional offices of the KVs and NVs.

2. One ET lab should be established inall Vidyalayas to ensure effective useof computers and IT in the schoolsby the students and teachers.

3. Good linkages are to be establishedwith the community.

4. Sufficient number of subjectteachers should be posted in theschools to teach the studentswithout any pressure of time and alsoto think of innovative practices inteaching learning process, whichshould be suitably recognisedthrough research and developmentwing or section of the organisation.

5. The problems of teachers should betaken care of by the administrationto improve loyalty andbelongingness. Transfers,promotions, rewards and appraisalsystem should be suitably developedfor this purpose.

6. There should be a post of counsellorin all Vidyalayas to guide andcounsel the students for their career.

7. Satisfactory and satisfied workforceof teachers should be developed inthe schools.

ConclusionQuality education requires futureorientation and commitment to staff,students and citizen. Strategies plansand resource allocation must reflectthese commitments and addresstraining, staff and students’development, technological evolutionsand other factors that have bearings onquality. Education must undergo aparadigm shift, old norms and beliefsmust be challenged. For this, teachersmust learn to help students develop theskills they need to compete in a globaleconomy. No plan for quality educationmay be constant as it has to reflectchanges. All internal and externalenvironmental factors that have animpact on education should change. Ittakes time in changing attitude of all andwide investment in training is alsorequired. Quality in education willimprove when educationaladministrators, teachers, supportivestaff, students, parents, etc. all developnew attitudes that focuses on leadership,teamwork, cooperation, accountabilityand re-organize everything. The leadersin educational scenario in the form ofprincipals and administrators must becommitted to quality. Sometimes, theymay not agree with the suggestions andrecommendations of the staff but shouldalways listen to them. They shouldencourage the staff to find new ways toimprove efficiency, productivity andservice quality.

The quality vision in educationfocuses on meeting the needs of the


customers (students, parents,employees, etc.) providing totalcommunity involvement, developingsystem to measure the added value ineducation support system that the staffand students need to manage changeand continuous improvement, alwaysstriving to make the product of educationbetter. So, the quality schools shouldhave:

• Long-range vision and mission forimprovement

• Pre-decided goals and objectives• Beliefs of values for all• Management by objectives• Customer focus• Total involvement of all with

commitments• Continuous improvement and fast

responses

• Critical success factor andmeasurement of improvements.

Adequate attention on all factors isnecessary for success in qualityimprovement of the school. Theeducation system must develop studentsas valued citizens, who meet the futurechallenges and changes of a globalsociety. The quality schools create anenvironment that enables everyone tobring measurable quality improvementin their work process. There has to be apartnership with students, staff,teachers and other educationalorganisations for quality improvement.Within the school system, there has tobe evolution and development of regularcommunication, approaches to evaluateprogress and methods to accommodatethe changing conditions.

REFERENCES

CHOPRA, R.K. 2003. “Primary School Teachers in Haryana: Explorations intheir Working Conditions”, Indian Educational Review, Vol. 39, No.1,January, 2003

KALAM ABDUL APJ. 2006. “Mission for MANUU”, News Magazine, issue no. 10,January, 2006, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad

NCERT. 2000. National Curriculum Framework for School Education,New Delhi

. 2005. National Curriculum Framework. New Delhi.

. 2005. Development of Quality in School Education, Report of PACProgramme No. 16.05/ 2004-05

. 2006. Tools for Monitoring; Monitoring Formats for Quality Dimensionsunder SSA

Paulo Freire: Some ReflectionsNAJMAH PEERZADA*

Abstract

Paulo Freire had contributed a philosophy of education that came not only fromthe classical approaches stemming from Plato but also from the modern Marxistand anti-colonialist thinkers. The article briefly summarises the biography of thePaulo, his thoughts, specially his writings on the Pedagogy of the Oppressedwhich he dedicated to the oppressed and to those who suffer with them and fightat their side. Freire includes a detailed Marxist class analysis in his exploration ofthe relationship between the coloniser and the colonised. Freire is also known forattack on what he called the banking concept of education in which the studentwas viewed as an empty account to be filled by the teacher.

Paulo Regulus Neves Freire, a Brazilianeducator, a renowned contemporaryeducational philosopher was born in1921 in Recife, the centre of one of themost extreme situation of poverty andunder development in the Third World,he experienced the situation directly. Hehas made a profound impact not only inthe field of education but also in the overall struggle for national development. Theeconomic depression of the 1930s hit theFreire’s middle class family and hisstudies got disturbed. He was so stirredup that he took a vow at the age of eleventhat he would dedicate his life to thestruggle against hunger so that otherchildren would not have to face the agonyhe was then experiencing.

He established law school at theUniversity of Recife in 1943. He got hisPh.D in 1959 from the University ofRecife and later he worked as Professor

of History and Philosophy of Educationin the same University. Freire spent fiveyears working with UNESCO and theChildren Institute for Agrarian Reformin the Programmes of Adult Education.

Freire acted as a Consultant atHarvard University’s School of Educationand worked in close association with anumber of groups engaged in neweducational experiments in rural andurban areas.

He worked as Secretary of Educationat Sao Paul City Brazil and Professor atthe Pontifical Catholic University of SaoPaul Puc/SP. He served as specialconsultant to the Office of Education ofthe World Council of Churches atGeneva.

Paulo Freire has published avast collection of books which havebeen translated into a total ofeighteen languages. More than twenty

* Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Kashmir Hazratbal, Srinagar,Kashmir-190 006

57Paulo Freire: Some Reflections

universities throughout the world haveconferred on him the title of DoctorHonoris Causa. His most popularpublication, “Padagogy of the Oppressed”(1970) is dedicated to the wretched of thisworld and to those who identify with,suffer with and fight for theimpoverished. He received numerousawards including honary doctorates, theKing Balduin Prize for InternationalDevelopment, the Prize for outstandingChristian Educators in 1985 with Elzaand UNESCO 1986 prize for educationfor peace.

Paulo Freire was a man with greatsense of humour yet at the same time aman distinguished with all types ofinjustice. He is father of five children byhis first wife Elza. After her death hemarried his famous student Ana Maria.On 2 May 1997, Paulo Freire died of heartfailure at the age 75.

Paulo Freire’s educationalphilosophy

Paulo Freire was a renowned educationalphilosopher. Due to his revolutionaryphilosophy he was exiled from hiscountry. His thought represents theresponse of a creative mind and sensitiveconscience to the extra ordinary miseryof the oppressed people around him.According to him the ignorance of massesand their lethargy, are direct product ofthe whole situation of economic, socialand political domination. The existingsociety, he felt, instead of encouragingand equipping them to know and respondto the concrete realities of life, hascompelled them to live in a situation inwhich their critical awareness andresponse were practically impossible.

Paulo Freire’s philosophy ofeducation evolved from his owneducational experiments and its mainthesis of involving the totality of the childin the process of education. In hisfamous book Pedegogy of the Oppressed ,he has presented a stimulatingexposition of the phenomenon ofoppression in our ordinary educationsystem and a society and the mannerin which this oppressing action can bereversed and defeated. He criticises whathe calls “banking concept” of educationwhich treats children and students asadaptable, manageable beings andminimises their creative power.

Paulo Freire, a distinguishedBrazilian educationist, has advocated foran education which will enable the manto critically look at his world. Education,according to him is not only to help thepeople to learn how to read and write butalso to discover how to hold history in theirown hands. That is they can make historywith the help of education whichaccording to him is “Cultural Action”.Education was perceived as aninstrument of social change by the PauloFreire. His experience of sharing his lifewith poor led to the realities, the role ofeducation in bringing the masses into themain stream of the social and political life.He feels that previous role of educationwas to maintain the status quo, i.e.“culture of silence” but now education hasto uplift the poor and down-trodden fromthe position of deprivation andsubjugation to that of active participationand makers of the new society. Accordingto him, education should generate newawareness of self and a new sense ofdignity among the people so that they can


utilise their potentiality and freedomcritically and creatively.

Freire advocates “Problem Posing”education which creates of dialogicrelation between teachers and pupils. Hepoints out that problem posing educationis revolutionary and futuristic incharacter and that it affirms humanbeings as capable of transcendingthemselves and moving forward andlooking ahead.

Paulo Freire takes education as a toolto change the dehumanising conditionsof man and society, created by thecolonial rule. A humanising education isthe path through which men and womencan become conscious about theirpresence in the world. Education is anattempt to arouse people from “cultureof silence” and conscientise them totransform the dehumanising structureof society and ultimately realize theirfreedom.

Freire’s theory of education hasspecially developed in the context ofadult education. He developedmethodology for the efficient training inliteracy to the adult. By literacyeducation, he made the people aware ofthe cause of their suppression of rightsand exploitation by the dominant class.Education according to Paulo Freire is ameans to revolutionise the traditionalsociety which is structured in dialecticalrelation of oppressors and oppressed,theoriticians and activists vocal andsilent, undeveloped dependent anddeveloped dominant, etc. Paulo Freire’srevolution, as we observed, is a non-violent revolution. His emphasise is oncritical reflection and study of historicalsituation.

Conscientisation

Conscientisation is a new concept in theeducational philosophy of Paulo Freire.The word Conscientisation was usedduring a round table meeting ofProfessors at Brazil Institute of HigherStudies in 1964. So Freire adopted thisword in his educational philosophicalterminology and since then it has becomea crucial concept of Freire’s educationaltheory. Originally this word is“Conscientizacao”. Paulo Freire’s bookEducation The Practice of Freedom (1973)originally published in (1967) containsa chapter on Education andConscientizacao. He wrote on thisconcept in three parts, the first two partsof which appeared in the May 1970 issueof the Harward Educational Review andthe third part, in his Cultural Action forFreedom. According to Paulo Freire,education is a liberating process. But itcannot liberate people from their miseryunless it arouses new awareness inthem. This process of arousing newawareness is called Conscientisation. Inthe process of liberating education,conscientisation plays a vital role. It isthe instrument for ejecting the culturalmyths which the people retain despitethe new reality. Further, it is forcecountering the bureaucracy, whichthreatens to deaden the revolutionaryvision and dominate the people in thevery name of their freedom.Conscientisation is a defence against thepotential mythification of the technologywhich the new society requires totransform its backward infrastructures.

Freire’s says Conscientisation is nota magical charm for the revolutionariesbut a basic dimension of their reflective

59Paulo Freire: Some Reflections

action. If men were not conscious bodies,capable of acting and perceiving, ofknowing and recreating, if they were notconscious of themselves and the world,the idea of conscientisation would makeno sense—but then neither would theidea of revolution. So According to Freirethe aim of education is to break theculture of silence among the oppressedand conscientize them in order to makethem fully human.

The Banking Concept of Education

Freire has introduced the newterminology of ‘banking concept’ ineducation. He explains this by statingthat narration of the teacher turnsstudents into ‘containers’ into‘receptacles’ to be filled. Education thusbecomes an act of depositing, in whichthe students are the depositories and theteacher is the depositor. Instead ofcommunicating, the teacher issues,

communiqués and makes deposits whichthe students patiently receive, memoriseand repeat.

He talks about the fallacy of lookingat the education system like a bank, alarge repository where students come towithdraw the knowledge they need forlife.

Conclusion

After going through the above discussionon Paulo Freire’s educational philosophywe can safely draw the conclusion thatFreire is an example of radical philosophyof adult education, non-formal andextention programmes. He as aneducator and philosopher has advocatedlove for the oppressors. He regards roleof teacher as a facilitator, andstimulating the learning process. To him,education is the socialising processtowards humanity and a most effectiveand non-violent means of social change.

REFERENCES

AGGARWAL J. C. and GUPTA. 2006. Great Philosopher and Thinkers on Education,Shipra Publications, Delhi

BOSTON, BRUCE O. 1974. Conscientisation and Christian Education, Learning forliving, January 1974

BOURNE, RICHARD. 1973. “Alternative to School Pedagogy of the Oppressed andCultural Action for freedom”, Latin American Review of Books, No. 1, Spring,1973 (ed.) by Colin Harding et al.

CHAIN, BAVERLY C. 1974. “An Examination of Three Paulo Freire’s InspiredProgrammes of Literacy in Latin America”, Literacy Discussion, Vol. 5, no. 3

FREIRE, PAULO. 1998. “Cultural Action and Conscientisation” HarvardEducational Review

. 1985. The Politics of Educational, Cultural, Power and Liberation,MacMillan, London

. 1970. “Cultural Action and Conscientisation”, Harvard EducationalReview, Vol. 40, no. 3, August 1970


FREIRE, PAULO. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed Harmondaworth Middle-sexEngland, Penguin Books Education Series

GEETA RAM. 2000. Adult Education Literacy to Liberation

GLASS, DAVID. 2000. On Paulo Freire’s Philosophy for Praxis and the Foundationsof Liberating Education. Basic books, New York

GRIFFITH, WILLIAM. 1974. “Paulo Freire: Utopian Perspective in Literacy Educationfor revolutionary literacy”, Discussion, Spring

HAVILAND, R. MICHAEL. 1973. “An Introduction to the writings of Paulo Freire”,Adult Education, Vol. 45, no.5

HOGY, ARTHUR S. 1972. Freire, Conscientisation and Adult Education, Vol. XXIII

JARRIS, P. 1987. Paulo Freire, Twentieth Century Thinkers in Adult Education,Beckenham, Croom Helm

LEACH, TOM 1983, “Paulo Freire: Dialogue, Ploitics and Relevance”, InternationalJournal of Lifelong Education, Vol.1, no. 3

SEETHARAMU, A. S. 2000. Philosophies of Education, Ashish Publishing House,New Delhi

Private Tuition and Its Implications onQuality Secondary Education

NEERU SNEHI*

Abstract

Provision of quality school education is one of the major challenges before theGovernment in the present times. Reforms initiated in school education sector areaiming at expansion and creation of an effective and high quality educationalenvironment for all children. At the same time emerging education scenario ishighly competitive and market oriented. Phenomenon of private tuitions has gainedfirm footing for enhancing one’s performance in school, public examinations andadmission or entrance competitions. Over the years, it has grown from an individualpaid job to a professional institutionalised system. Nevertheless, the practice ofprivate tuitions has affected the quality of education system in general andparticularly secondary education system in India. The paper attempts to bringforth the factors influencing the growth of private tuitions and their implication onquality of teachers, teaching-learning process, classroom/school environment andother related dimensions.

* Assistant Professor, Department of Higher and Professional Education, National Universityof Educational Planning and Administration, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi-110 016

Introduction

Quality school education is essential forbuilding an open, democratic society,maintaining social structures and valuesand for improving the quality of life ofpeople in any country. In the postliberalisation period, major political andsocioeconomic transformations havetaken place leading to reforms in theeducation systems. The aim of thesereforms has been the creation of aneffective and high quality educationalenvironment for all children inconsonance to the emerging market

needs. Therefore, policy initiatives andinterventions on provision of equitableaccess and quality education havecontributed significantly to the ongoingexpansion in school education sector.However these reforms have producedunpredicted consequences which areinfluencing the access and quality ofschool education. One of such significantpractice is private tuitions which hasaffected the quality of education systemin general and particularly secondaryeducation system in India.

Despite the widespread nature ofprivate tuitions, to date there is little


systematic quantitative research intothe causes of the popularity of privatetuitions, and its impact on a student’sacademic performance vis-à-vis qualityof secondary education. This paper isbased on the results of the studyundertaken to explore the nature, causesand consequences of ‘Private Tuitionsin Delhi’. As per the policy, teachersserving in both the government andprivate schools are not allowed to giveprivate tuitions. But there is ampleevidence indicating that it is takingplace on a very large scale. Apart fromschool teachers, unemployed youth,students, men/women at home all arecontributing to this practice. Privatetuitions along with formal educationsystem have spread from an individualpaid job to a professional institutionalisedsystem. The sample of the study includedClass X and Class XII students fromcentral government, state governmentand privately managed schools. It is inthis context the paper attempts to bringforth the factors influencing growth ofprivate tuitions and their implication onquality of teachers, teaching-learningprocess, classroom/school environmentand other related dimensions. Thispaper begins by briefly reviewing theliterature on the extent, causes andimpact of private tuitions in Section 2.Section 3 describes the secondaryeducation system in India and thesituation of private tuitions. Empiricalresults of practice of private tuitions inDelhi are then discussed in Section 4and Section 5 brings forth theimplications of private tuition practiceon the quality of secondary educationand concludes.

Private tuitions: Is it a parallelsystem of education in making?

Spread

Private tuitions is not an issue uniqueto developing countries like India. Indeed,it is widespread and can be found incountries as diverse economically andgeographically as Canada, Cambodia,Egypt, Greece, Japan, Kenya, Singapore,Taiwan, Morocco, Romania, the UnitedKingdom, the United States, andZimbabwe. In Japan private tutoring hasa large market, where such centres arecalled Juku, after school classes thatprepare youth for competitive examsused for entry into elite universities. Thedemand for private tuitions is increasingin Western Europe, North America andAustralia, where the phenomenon wasless prominent earlier (Bray, 1999, p.29).In South Korea, Kim and Lee (2002) findthat parents spent an amountapproximately equal to 2.9% of thenation’s GDP on private tuitions forprimary and secondary students. Asurvey of the extent of private tutoringin selected countries can be found inDang (2006).

Earlier private tuitions were like acottage industry, organised in homesand run through personal networksamong individual tutors and students.International Encyclopedia of Educationalso reinforces this description accordingto which tutoring is a method of teachingin which one student (or small group ofstudents) receives personalised andindividualised instruction. Traditionallytutoring was considered to supplementtraditional classroom instruction.Various research studies conducted in

63Private Tuition and Its Implications on Quality Secondary Education

different countries have tried to study theinternational variations in the marketdemand for tutoring. In some casesprivate tutoring is rampant where thecountries have post secondary entranceexams, major status differences amongtheir post secondary institutions anddirect occupational rewards for entryinto those institutions (Bray, 1999; Bakeret al., 2001; Stevenson and Baker, 1992).The studies conducted have revealedthat private tutoring leads to increase instudent achievement scores inColumbia, The Dominican Republic, thePhilippines, Tanzania and Thailand(Jimenez et al., 1991).

Causes

There are several possible reasons for thegrowing existence of private tutoring.First, private tutoring can be consideredsome form of private supplementaryeducation: it thrives in countries wherethe public education system fails to satisfythe needs of the students—as is the casenot just in most developing countries(Glewwe & Kremer, 2006), but also inSouth Korea (Kim & Lee, 2002; Kim 2005)or Canada (Davies, 2004). In this role,private tutoring is also popular incountries where passing examinationsbecomes the gateway to further educationand advancement in society (Bray, 1999;Dore, 1976). Second, private tutoring canresult from corruption in the educationsystem in some developing countries,where teachers require their students togo to their extra classes to supplementtheir income because they are poorly paidand monitored (Biswal, 1999; Buchmann,1999). Last but not least, cultural factorscan play an important role in the

development of private tutoring. Most ofthe high school graduates in Vietnamprefer to continue their education atcollege rather than do something else(Dang & Le, 1999); consequently, they arefully prepared to attend private tutoringclasses to get admitted to college.Competition in all the fields includingeducation is another factor, which isinfluencing the practice of privatetutoring. The achievement in educationis also associated with ‘rate of returns’.There is a view that if supplementarytutoring helps people to stay in educationsystems longer then for those people itmay be a very good investment(Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 2004). Asa result it is observed that the society inwhich education influences the livingstandard; the private tutoring enhancesthe benefits. Another factor, whichinfluences the extent of private tutoring,is the existing examination orientedsystem as the students have to performin examinations to transit over to otherlevels of education. It is also observed thatin teacher-centred education system alsoprivate tutoring is more prevalent.Research studies have revealed thatprivate tutoring is more prevalent inurban areas as compared to rural areasfor instance in Cambodia it is 60.6% inurban areas as compared to 9.1% in ruralareas (Bray, 1999); In Malaysia 59% ofstudents in urban school receive tutoringas compared to 28.5% in rural areas(Chew and Leong, 1995).

Impact

Private tutoring phenomenon may havesignificant impact on the differentaspects of education system. It may


significantly affect the dynamics ofteaching and learning in the mainstreamclasses. It is observed that privatetuitions can significantly help studentsto understand their lessons better bycatering to their individual needs. Privatetutoring also enables the children toundertake remedial teaching, the needfor which can arise due to number offactors such as availability ofexperienced and qualified teaching staff,teacher absenteeism, ineffectiveteaching and negligence on the part ofteachers or biased behaviour. “Effectiveprivate tuition may help overcome thesegaps or deficiencies in students learningand build their confidence enabling themto compete with others and experience ahappy and pleasant life” (De Silva, 1994,p.5). Supplementary tutoring may alsobenefit the brighter/good students to getmore out of their mainstream classes. Forinstance ((Yiu, 1996, p.78) reported thatHong Kong teachers provided positivefeedback about the supplementarytutoring in study of upper secondaryclasses. On the other hand, privatetutoring may impede the teaching–learning process in the mainstreamclasses. Describing the situation inKuwait it was reported that the studentswho take supplementary tutoring showlack of interest and even tend to disturbthe classes during the classroomprocesses. They feel that they can get therequired help for passing examinationsby paying the tutors. Classroom presenceis also affected, since there is tendencyto attend regular classes only when theyare required to do so due to school rulesand regulations (Hussien, 1987). Moststudents tend to rely on private tuitions

for everything including homework andexam tips. As a result classroomattention tends to suffer creatingdiscipline problems for schoolteachers.Supplementary or top up teaching isbecoming more important than thesynergistic classroom experience (inBray, 2003, p.30).

Impact of supplementary tutoring isnot only reflected in students approachtowards mainstream classes but also onthe teacher’s attitude. Efficiency of thetutors as well as students who taketuitions is also affected. Most of thestudents who receive supplementarytutoring go straight from mainstream tosupplementary class. As a resultsupplementary tutoring produces fatiguein teachers and students. In this contextreferring to situation in Sri Lanka, deSilva (1994) stated that due to fatigueboth teacher and pupil might relax whenat school, thereby reducing productivityof that part of each day. Similarobservations were made with regard tosituation in Malta (de Silva, 1994; citedin Fenech and Spiteri, 1999).

Another significant aspect of schooleducation, which is affected due toprivate tutoring, is teaching-learningtransaction process for achievement ofgoals set (curricular and co-curricular)for the particular grade level by theeducation departments. The teachingstrategies in tutorial classes/institutesare examination oriented, they transactthe curriculum/content according towhat they perceive is relevant for successin examination. As a result theirapproach towards education differs frommainstream schooling and can lead todifficult experiences for the child. For


instance it is reported that in Taiwan“government efforts to introduceconstructive approach that enhance theunderstanding of mathematics have beenundermined by the fact that many tutorsteach students how to secure correctanswers through mechanicalimplementation of formulae.” Foondun(1992) reported that in Mauritius theaverage hours per week spent on tuitionby primary students stood at 5.7 and bysecondary pupils at 5 hours(Joynathsing et al., 1988, pp 3 & 6). Sincesuch a considerable amount of student’stime is devoted to studies, it is bound tohave impact on physical and socialdevelopment of the child. In fact it waspointed out that children are made towork for longer hours than their parents.

Another major concern emerged asa result of phenomenon of private tuitionrelates to equity issues in terms ofopportunities and affordability ofeducation. It appears that rich people areable to reap more benefits as comparedto the poor. This also reflects theprevalent attitude that the more theinvestment in education larger would bethe gains. On the other hand in spite ofenormous negative influence ofsupplementary tutoring it can be arguedthat since higher levels of educationleads to higher economic gains, it maybe considered in same light asmainstream schooling (Bray, 2003, p.36).

Thus, the literature reveals thatprivate tuitions is the most common formof tutoring and follows the curricula ofmainstream/formal school system andtherefore referred as ‘shadow education’(Stevenson and Baker, 1992; Bray 1999;Baker et al., 2001). It has assumed the

proportions of a parallel system ofeducation to enhance the student’sformal school career on the one hand andprepares them for further/highereducation. Based on the complex natureand impact of supplementary tutoring onthe society as a whole it is felt that thisarea calls for a wider debate andextensive research in order tounderstand its implications on qualityof school education.

School education in India andprivate tuitions

School education constitutes twelveyears of schooling. While most of thestates have accepted the 5+3+2+2 (10+2)pattern of school education, i.e. five yearsof primary schooling, three years ofupper primary education, two years ofsecondary and higher secondaryeducation each as recommended by theKothari Commission and suggested byNational Policy on Education (1986).Nevertheless, the implementation of10+2 pattern has not been uniformacross states. Some states haveattached the +2 stage to tertiary level ofeducation, while others have made it aterminal stage of school education. Thereis a common curriculum for first 10years of schooling and at highersecondary stage diversification intodifferent streams of humanities,commerce and sciences takes place.

School education is impartedthrough schools managed bygovernment, local bodies, stategovernments and private organizations/societies/trusts, etc. Central governmentalso manages schools at secondary andhigher secondary level namely Kendriya


Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, SainikSchools, Military schools, etc. which arespread across the country. The numberof secondary/senior secondaryinstitutions has increased from around7500 in 1950-51 to more than 1.6 lakhsin 2005-2006 while the enrolment atsecondary and senior secondary stagehas increased from 1-5 million to 38.4million in the same period (MHRD, 2008).Despite the enormous expansion ofsecondary and senior secondary systemdata reveals that around 45% childrenwho join schools do not complete eventen years of schooling.

Secondary education is the crucialstage of the schooling system in India. Itserves as a gateway to higher educationand the labour market. Presently thereis a public examination at the end ofClass X and the successful candidatesare admitted to +2 stage. They are allotteddifferent streams of subjects based ontheir choice, performance andavailability of places. Demand for varioussubjects is also influenced by theperceptions related to their relevance tofuture employability prospects. At theend of +2 stage i.e. Class XII again thereis a public examination for admission tohigher education. These examinationsare conducted by National/Central andState Boards of Education established inmost of the States. However due to lackof equivalence in the evaluationprocesses followed by different Boardsmanagement of quality aspects ofsecondary and senior secondaryeducation is a continuing challenge. Inaddition to this public examination,admissions to most of the institutions ofhigher education conduct entrance

examinations for entry in to reputedprofessional courses/educationalprogrammes such as engineering,medical, business administration, andalso for almost all the academic subjects.These competitive exams are conductedjointly at all India level or individuallyby the institutions.

During the last two decades alongwith the mainstream school education,phenomenon of private tuitions has alsobecome widespread to supplement schooleducation. In 1970s and 1980s accessingprivate tuitions or coaching was limitedto academically challenged students andstudents whose parents were not able toguide their children. There was a socialstigma attached to those who neededprivate tutors for passing theirexaminations. Yet on the other hand thehigh performing students also used toattend tuitions but for competing inentrance examinations and that alsousually prior to examinations. This wasaimed to assess their approach,confidence and preparation for theexamination. Thus, during that periodthese coaching classes fulfilled a needand benefited many. Moreover, the retiredexperienced teachers, educated familymembers, students specialising in therequired subjects and a few schoolteachers used to provide private classes.Slowly the scenario changed, more andmore school teachers joined the tuitionbrigade during 1980s. It startedemerging as a lucrative practice to earnmore money, and students takingtuitions were favoured with theinformation and content of questionpapers so that they can secure moremarks. This strategy attracted more


students for tuitions. It was also observedthat teachers reserved better notes andstudy material for the students takingtuition from them while during theschool hour’s extent and standard ofteaching declined. This practice furtherflourished due to our examinationoriented education system where marksreigned supreme since examinationoriented coaching became a convenientmeans to get better results. On the oneside was regular schools meant forproviding holistic education and on theother extreme was coaching/tuitioncentres catering to only examinationneeds. As a result the equilibriumstarted shifting towards these coachingclasses and presently the practice oftaking tuitions has reached to an extentthat attendance in schools is only meantfor obtaining official entry tickets fortaking examinations.

At the same time, the formalschooling system has emerged as aninstrument for developing academic,social and life skills and is beingconsidered as an investment. Writtenexaminations have become thedeterminers of success/failure as well asopportunities for better placement.Consequently, the present competitiveexamination oriented educationalsystem has led to seeking learningalternatives like private tuitions/coaching for enhancing academicachievement. The phenomenal increasein the number of private institutions/teaching places in India (and othercountries), which operate outside thesystem of formal education and existparallel to the regular schools andcolleges has taken place. It was stressed

that although on the one hand they seemto perform supplementary role but on theother side certainly reflect theinadequacy of the regular/formaleducation (Singh, 1996).Growingnumber of students are seekingadditional help in maintaining or raisingtheir marks through private tutoring. Asa result, large numbers of coachinginstitutes, tuition bureaus have beenestablished even in the interiors of thecountry. Some of these institutes providespecialised coaching for variouscompetitive examinations at differentlevels while others work assupplementary tutoring agencies formainstream education. Although thephenomenon is widespread in urbanareas it is growing fast in rural areas.Private coaching has become a bigbusiness, totally commercialised withextensive resource mobilisation andemploying many people. Apart from theexpenses incurred for the mainstreamschooling parents invest large sums onprivate coaching too depending upon thecourses taken up by their children. Thepractice of facilitating private tuition tothe children is prevalent not only in caseof the students going to government orlocal body schools but also in privateschools. Thus, it appears private tuitionsystem has emerged as a paralleleducation system with ever increasingdemand.

Private tuitions in Delhi

Background

Delhi schools present a highlydifferentiated composition in response todifferentiated demands for school


education. These schools are local body,and government schools; government-aided schools; private unaided schoolsestablished by different trusts, privateorganisations and religious bodies, etc.Besides this there are KendriyaVidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, Sainikschools that are established undervarious centrally sponsored schemes.Thus even among the government runschools there is a large variation in termsof management by MunicipalCorporation, Delhi Administration, NewDelhi Municipal Corporation andKendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan andothers. These schools include all typesof schools such as primary schools,upper primary schools, secondaryschools and senior secondary schools.Further the secondary schools underprivate management have developedtheir own criteria for school managementand functioning under the guidelinesprovided by Delhi Education Act, 1973,which has been modified in 1990. Theprivate unaided schools except for thecurriculum and the final boardexaminations enjoy a large degree offreedom and autonomy. Government-aided schools in the city and in otherstates also enjoy some degree of freedomand autonomy in some aspects such aslocally elected management committeesmanage such schools, in many casesteacher recruitment is school based andso on within the rules and regulationsprovided by the concerned state’sstatutes (Mukhopadhyay, 2002, p.11). Insharp contrast the government schoolsare directly under the states’ control. Ingeneral private schools are for thosepeople who can buy education. Among

the private schools also there is largevariation in terms type and quality ofeducation they provide. The other groupconstitutes Kendriya Vidyalayas andNavodya Vidyalayas, established bycentral government and they are beingdeveloped and promoted as pace settersand role models for other schools.Government schools are the majorproviders of school education to themasses in the city. Efforts for improvingthe quality of education provided by themare ongoing though goals are still elusive.For instance, in order to providecontinuous education some of the middleand secondary government schools beingrun by Delhi Administration are nowconverted to schools having all thesections, i.e. from Class I to Class XII andare called as Sarvodaya Schools. Inaddition some government-managedschools are being developed as Modelschools and Prathibha Vikas Vidyalayasto provide quality education.

Sample

This paper is based on the data collectedfor a study on private tuition in Delhi.As pointed out earlier there is a largevariation in education providers in termsof educational institutions namelyschools, colleges and universities, largenumber of coaching centres and tuitionbureaus in the city of Delhi andelsewhere. In addition this practice isfound to be prevalent at all the levels ofeducation whether it is preparatory stagefor school education, elementary stage,secondary or higher education stage.Even for getting jobs, which involvespreparation for interviews, coaching issought by the prospective candidates.


The analysis in this paper will berestricted to secondary and seniorsecondary stage specifically at Class Xand Class XII level where the studentsappear at public examination. Thesample of the pilot study consisted ofchildren studying in Class X and XII of agroup of schools who allowed collectingof data related to private tuitions sinceevery school as a policy advocates andinsists students not to take privatetuitions. These six schools includedthree government managed (GS) andthree private unaided (PUA) schools. Thefindings are presented and discussedseparately for sample of Class X andClass XII students.

Methodology

This study was undertaken to exploredifferent aspects of the phenomenon ofshadow education, i.e. privatesupplementary tutoring or privatetuitions taking place in Delhi. This studywas conducted in Delhi as it has diverseeducation providers at school levelespecially at secondary and seniorsecondary level. Six schools whichallowed collection of data constituted thesample of study. A questionnaire wasdesigned for collection of data from thestudents. A brief opinionnaire wasdeveloped for exploring teachers, viewsregarding private tuitions. Collecteddata was then analyzed for both Class Xand Class XII students.

Findings from responses of studentsstudying in Class X

The sample consisted of 269 studentsstudying in Class X from five differentschools who responded the questionnaires.

As pointed out earlier out of the fiveschools constituting the sample, twoschools namely GS2 and GS3 are run bygovernment authorities while theremaining three PUA1, PUA2 andPUA3 are privately managed institutions.The proportion of girls in the sampleis 43.5 %.

• Phenomenon of taking privatetuitions is common to 83% of studentsirrespective of the management ofschool;

• Situation of students taking tuitionswas not much different amongdifferently managed schools; yetnearly all the students of GS2 weretaking tuitions as compared toothers. However gender bias was notindicated;

• Disparities exist in expenditure onprivate tuitions; 67 % students ofGS2, 40 % students of GS3, 53percent students of PUA1, 40 % ofPUA3 were spending around Rs.750per month on tuitions while 66 % ofstudent’s of PUA2 were spendingmore than Rs.1000 per month ontuitions;

• Type of private tuitions availed by thestudents are influenced by thepaying capacity of the parents.Nevertheless it was observed thatparents with low family incomespend much larger amount onprivate tuitions as compared to whatthey pay for government schooleducation;

• Perceptions regarding difficulty andimportance of subjects determinesthe choice of subjects for takingprivate tuitions; English (11%), Hindi(2%), Mathematics (72.5%), Science


(55%), Social Studies (2%);• At the secondary level, i.e. Class X

level better understanding and earlycompletion of courses for increasedachievement is driving force fortaking tuitions; on an averagestudents spend around eight hoursper week on tuitions; further takingtuitions in smaller groups ispreferred.

Findings from responses of studentsstudying in Class XII

The sample of Class XII consisted of thestudents from all the six schools namelyGS1, GS2, GS3, PUA1, PUA2 and PUA3studying in arts, commerce and sciencestreams. The total sample size was 648students containing 275 girls and 373boys.

• Phenomenon of taking privatetuitions is common to 77% ofstudents irrespective of themanagement of school; privatetuitions in arts, commerce andscience stream was found to be 62%,84% and 78% respectively;

• Gender wise distribution of studentstaking tuitions in Arts stream was58% boys and 68% girls; in commerce88% boys and 78% girls and inscience stream 46% of girls and 55%of boys were found to take tuitions.Around one third of studentsstudying in science stream indicatedthat they would be joining the newbatches starting next month for theirtuitions, however gender bias wasnot indicated;

• Situation of students taking tuitionswas not much different amongdifferently managed schools;

• Type of private tuitions availed by thestudents are influenced by the payingcapacity of the parents. Neverthelessit was observed that parents with lowfamily income spend much largeramount on private tuitions ascompared to what they pay forgovernment school education. Nearlyone fourth were spending more thanRs.1200 per month; on an averageeach student was spending betweenRs.750–Rs.1000 per month ontuitions. Expenditure made by 35% ofgirls was around Rs.1000 per monthand 21% were spending more thanRs.1200 per month. Only 3% ofstudents pointed out that they haveenrolled in coaching institutes forcompetitive examinations and havepaid exorbitant sums in the range ofRs.40,000/–Rs.60,000 for Class XIand XII;

• Perceptions regarding difficulty andimportance of subjects determinesthe choice of subjects for takingprivate tuitions; English (12%),history (6%), Business Studies (6%),Political Science (11%), Accounts(80%), Physics (79%), Chemistry(65%), Biology (15%), Mathematics(70%), and Economics (45%);

• At the Senior secondary level, i.e.Class XII level increase inachievement and success incompetitive examinations is themotivating factor for taking tuitions;time spent varies from studentsstudying in arts, commerce andscience streams and is largest forscience students; Students prefer tostudy in groups;

• Expenditure on private tuitions ismuch higher at senior secondary


stage and expenditure in case ofstudents studying in science streamwas higher than commerce students.Students studying arts stream werefound spending the least;

• Students studying arts andcommerce subjects reported betterunderstanding and solving ofindividual difficulties as the majorreason for taking tuitions while incase of science students in additionto solving of difficulties, preparationfor competitive exams was thedetermining factor.

• The study revealed that privatetuition system is running afterschool hours on the working daysand during weekends and holidays;

• Parents and teachers are in supportof private tuitions due to existingcompetitive environment and arguein favour of specialised coaching aseducational achievements at thisstage determine the future prospects.

Implications of private tuitions onquality of secondary education

The findings of the study revealed thelarge extent to which practice of privatetuitions has spread. The increasingtrend of availing private tuitionsindicates strongly about the lack ofquality of education provided in theeducational institutions. Consequently,the phenomenon of private tuitions hasmajor implications on the followingdimensions of school education systemto improve the quality of secondaryeducation system in the country:

• The rigidity of formal schooleducation system may be one of thereasons encouraging parents to

invest resources in private tuitionsfor their children. This has significantimpact on equity, equal opportunitiesand access issues in education.There is need to develop inherentflexibility so that students have morechoice in selecting courses as pertheir aptitudes. In addition provisionof quality education in all schoolscould be realized through relevantpolicy formulations and effectiveimplementation of these plannedinterventions for reducing genderbias and promoting equity.

• Curriculum and content of thesyllabi of different grades need to bereviewed and restructured regularlyto make it relevant and skill orientedto cater to the present needs andrestricts promotion of rote-learning/memory based education.

• In order to reduce the demand forprivate tuition need for change in theexisting examination orientededucation system is reflected.Subject-specific interventions andstrategies need to be developed forreducing the dependence of learnerson private tuitions. The shift fromexamination oriented educationsystem to learning competencies toface the challenges of increasingcompetitiveness for gainingadmissions to institutions of higherlearning.

• Employment opportunities and bettercarrier options are associated withthe quantity and quality of educationreceived. The study reveals thatprivate tuition is gaining popularityeven among the high achievers toimprove and maintain their highperformance. Moreover it appears


that tendency to take the privatetuitions is increasing in all thestudents whether they are in highachieving private schools (mostlyhigh fee charging) or in governmentschools. Therefore a system atnational level may be developed fortransition to higher education levelinstead of differentiated institutionalpolicies and practices. In depthanalysis for the need for privatetutoring is ascertained to formulatepolicies for unhealthy practices inprivate tuitions.

• Strengthening of the availableclassroom teaching learning facilitiesis essential. But this will only bepossible when concerted efforts wouldbe undertaken to improve theexisting situation of educationfacilities through efficientmanagement and sound monitoringsystem. Initiatives for peer tutoringcould also restrict the need to go forprivate tuitions.

• The demand for private tuitionscomes from both parents andstudents. In case the tuitionproviders are teachers of the schoolsone of the reason cited specially incase of private schools includessupplementing there low salaries. Inthis context government should lookinto ways of sufficientlyremunerating teachers in order toenhance their motivation. Secondlywhen mainstream teachers providetuitions to the students other thanthey teach in mainstream system,they are no different from any otherentrepreneur who could and withskills also provide the service. In

such cases teachers may be temptedto relax during normal teachinghours and if their salaries are notbased on specified and measurableoutcomes, it is important to developa clear monitoring system, if privatetuition is accepted as a policy option.

• High student teacher ratio in theclassroom also promotes privatetuitions. This calls for regular in-service training to improve teachinglearning methods for incorporatingactive interventions duringcurriculum transaction.

• Independent entrepreneurs likestudents, educated unemployedyouth, and educated housewivesrepresent a different class of tutors.In some cases tuition provided bythem is well recognised but in othercases there is no means ofbenchmarking. There is need todevelop standard benchmarkswithin which tuition providersoperate. There is need to take stepsfor its legitimisation and regulationin the existing educational set up.

• The initiatives by the different stategovernments to ban private tuitionsby mainstream schools teachershave not delivered the desiredresults. The context in which privatetuitions are ongoing should beconsidered critically beforesupporting or condemning thewidespread phenomenon of shadoweducation.Thus, concerns related to quality of

provisions and processes in the schoolsraise their heads again every year whenNational and State Board examinationsresults and process of admissions to


higher education institutions begin.Nearly half the students are not able toachieve even the basic minimumrequired for passing the secondary andhigher secondary stage. In view of the factthat around one third of the persons ofthe relevant age group join secondaryschooling this trend is quite disturbing.Further the still smaller proportion i.e.around 10-12 percent of persons goingto higher education has to strugglethrough various competitiveexaminations. The ills of private tuitions

contribute significantly to this situation.Time and again it has been emphasizedthat although quality of education is anelusive concept, yet provision of goodphysical and academic infrastructurealong with supply of high quality humanresources, both for imparting instructionand for governance of the system, arecritical to achieve good quality education.However, the widespread practice ofprivate tuitions is evidence that we havefailed miserably in providing qualitysecondary education.

REFERENCES

AGGARWAL,Y. 1996. Primary Education in Delhi, NIEPA, New Delhi

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BANDHOPADHYAY, S. 2001. Education: The Role of Markets. Second B R ShenoyEssay Competition, Centre for Civil Society, Kailash Colony, New Delhi

BISWAL, B.P. 1999. Private tutoring and public corruption: A cost-effectiveeducation system for developing countries. The Developing Economies37(2): 222-240

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The Teaching-learning Conditions forQuality Education in inclusive Schools

RASHMI CHOUDHURI*

Abstract

There has been recent theoretical and policy interest in the two areas of qualityeducation and inclusive education. Inclusive education has been already launchedin our country through Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. This paper discusses the conceptsof quality education and inclusion and then reflects at the Indian scenario with afocus on teaching-learning conditions in schools where inclusion is promoted.

Introduction

There are two terms ‘inclusion’ and‘quality education’ which are in muchcirculation and use these days. Whileinclusion was stimulated in part by theSalamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994),and by a ‘rights’ agenda (Evans & Lunt,2002), quality education gainedprominence from Dakar Framework ofAction (World Education Forum, 2000).The two terms bear concepts which areof much importance, and when combinedtogether – quality education in inclusiveschools becomes all the more importantand relevant in the present Indiancontext.

Inclusion

The inclusion movement was born in theearly 1980s with the advent of the RegularEducation Initiative (REI). Specialeducation, which continued to grow as a

separate system, unintentionallysegregated students with disabilities andthereby leading to REI. The reform inspecial education increasingly becamesymbolised by the term ‘inclusiveschools’ (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994, p. 299).But there is no one view about inclusion(Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994), rather a widerange of different conceptualisation anddefinitions of ‘inclusion’ exist (Evans andLunt, 2002), which encompass a numberof confusions (Hornby, 2001).

Full inclusion

Inclusion or ‘full inclusion’ is aprincipled and ideological stance aspromoted by Thomas (1997), whosuggests that “inclusion must be at theheart of any society whichcherishes…..a liberal political systemand a pluralistic culture: one thatcelebrates diversity and promotes

* Reader, Faculty of Education, Kamacha, Banaras Hindu University-221010 Uttar Pradesh.

77The Teaching-learning Conditions for Quality Education in Inclusive Schools

fraternity and equality of opportunity”(p. 106). The ‘inclusive school’ accordingto advocates of ‘full inclusion’ denotesa place rid of special educators wherefull inclusion reigns (e.g. S. Stainback& W. Stainback, 1992). According tothese advocates, “the concepts of LeastRestrictive Environment – a contimumof placements and a cascade of serviceswere progressive when developed but donot today promote the full inclusion ofall persons with disabilities in allaspects of societal life” (Lipsky &Gartner, 1991; p. 52, emphasis inoriginal). Therefore, “an inclusive schoolor classroom educates all students inthe mainstream. No students, includingthose with disabilities are relegated tothe fringes of the school by placementin segregated wings, trailers, or specialclasses” (S. Stainback & W. Stainback,1992, p. 34). The advocates of fullinclusion believe that “eliminatingspecial education….will force generaleducators both to deal with the childrenit heretofore had avoided and, in theprocess, to transform itself into asmore responsive, resourceful humanesystem” (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994). Thefocus of ‘full inclusion’ is “onsocialization skills, attitude change andpositive peer relations” (Fuchs & Fuchs,1994, p. 301).

Cautious or responsible inclusion

The other held views on inclusion arethat of ‘cautious inclusion’ (Kauffman,1995, Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994) or‘responsible inclusion’ (Vaughn &Schumm, 1995, Hornby, 1999). Thecritics of ‘full inclusion’ proposed theseforms of inclusion. They criticised full

inclusion on the grounds that “the questfor full inclusion contains a measure ofexpressive zeal which denies some of therealities of disability” (Low, 1997). Farrell(2000) pointed out “the very realdifficulties one can get into if argumentsabout inclusive education are pursuedsolely in terms of human rights”. Theprimary concern of these critics is“strengthening the academicperformance of students with disabilitiesand those at risk for school failure”(Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994, p. 301). They didnot advocate an end to special education;rather they wanted the teachers andadministrators of special education tohave a role in such inclusion. This viewgets support from Reynolds (1989) whosays, “We need to move special teachers(of students with mild disabilities) intomainstream structures as co-teacherswith general teaching staff where bothgroups share in the instruction. Thespecial education teachers can lead insuch matters as child study, workingwith parents, and offering individualised,highly intensive instruction to studentswho have not been progressing well” (p.10). Pijl and Meijer (1991) concluded fromtheir study that ‘the countries seem toagree that at least 1.5 per cent of thestudents are difficult to integrate on acurricular level in regular education’.According to Palmer et al. (2001), parentswho oppose inclusion largely indicatethat the severity of their children’sdisabilities precluded any benefit fromsuch programs or that the generaleducation classroom program would notbe educationally appropriate orwelcoming to their children. O’Brien(2001) in a recent volume on ‘enabling


inclusion’, very rightly suggests that, ‘wehave to answer, with integrity, thequestions about where and how a pupillearns best’ (p. 49).

It has been pointed out by Norwich(1996, 2000 b) that the field of specialneeds education demands the balancingof multiple values such as those ofquality, individuality, social inclusionand practicability, and the tolerance of‘ideological impurity’.

Quality Education

The World Bank while trying to definequality in education in the report‘Priorities and Strategies for Education’(1995) observed that “quality ineducation is difficult to define andmeasure. An adequate definition mustinclude student outcomes. Mosteducators would also include in thedefinition the nature of the educationalexperience that help to produce thoseoutcomes – the learning environment”(World Bank, 1995, p. 46).

Quality has also been dealt from aperspective of quality assurance andquality improvement as done byMorgatroyd and Morgan (1994) who givethree basic definitions of quality:

1. Quality assurance which refers to“the determination of standards,appropriate methods and qualityrequirements by an expert body,accompanied by a process ofinspection or evaluation thatexamines the extent to whichpractice meets these standards”.

2. “…….contract performance, wheresome quality standards have beenspecified during the negotiation offorming a contract.”

(3) “Customer-driven quality refers to anotion of quality in which those whoare to receive a product or servicemake explicit their expectations forthis product or service and qualityis defined in terms of meeting orexceeding the expectations ofcustomers.” (p. 45-46).

Another aspect of defining quality ineducation is whether quality is only amatter of learning things well. It has beenargued by Education International (2004)that what you learn is also of crucialimportance. “From this perspectivequality is to learn the right things andto learn them well. It is not good enoughto learn the right things only half welland it may be even worse to learn thewrong things well.” (EducationInternational, 2004).

Coombs (1985) in his description ofquality says, “quality (……) also pertainsto the relevance of what is taught andlearned, to how well it fits the presentand future needs of the particularlearners in question, given theirparticular circumstances and prospects.It also refers to significant changes inthe educational system itself, in thenature of its inputs (students, teachers,facilities, equipments and supplies); itsobjectives, curriculum and educationaltechnologies and its socio-economic,cultural and political environment.”(p. 105).

For the sake of this paper, thedefinition of quality education (asadopted from ETUCE, 2002) is given as‘the education that best fits the presentand future needs of the particularlearners in question and the community,given the particular circumstances and


prospects. The quality concept also hasto embrace the development of thepotential of every member of each newgeneration.’

Providing quality education is themost obvious way for our country to moveforward to secure the future of millionsof children, improve the quality of life,sustain economic progress and promotesocial justice (Shivakumar, 2003). It isalso the best way for our country to getrid of the tag of underdevelopment andbackwardness by 2020 (Shivakumar,2003) and compete in the globaleconomy.

With this in background, it ispertinent to discuss the difficulties andproblems encountered in our schools indelivery of education and what can bedone to provide quality education ininclusive regular schools.

1. The Overburdened Teacher

In the present times, teaching isbecoming a more and more complex task.A teacher has to perform the function ofteaching, class management andguidance. Within teaching, a teacher hasto plan his lesson, prepare or searchappropriate teaching aids, teach in theclassroom, give exercises and drilllessons, conduct unit tests andexaminations, evaluate the students,prepare marksheets. Besides, he/shealso has to organise and conduct co-curricular activities and engage in manyother academic tasks.

Another function of a teacher iscontrolling the children andmanagement of class (Bhatia & Bhatia,1964). A teacher meets a large numberof children and young persons from

different backgrounds with varying kindsof nature and abilities. Therefore, “it isno easy task to handle a class of childrenof different temperaments and varyingtastes. There are shy children, extrovertchildren, mischievous children, andinattentive children.” (Bhatia andBhatia, 1964, p. 9).

Guidance is another importantfunction of a teacher. He/she has to guidethe students to right thinking and doing,to make right choices and decisions.

Meeting the parents, giving themfeedback about their children’sperformances and listening to them isyet another duty of a teacher.

In addition to this, teachers are givenmore and more responsibilities like inmid-day meal programme, and engagedin other government duties such aselection, census survey, and verificationof ration cards (TOI, 2.8.05, p. 4).

With such a heavy work load, howcan we expect a teacher to do justice withthe teaching profession and that toowhen he has to teach the mixed group ofstudents including slow learners, giftedstudents and different ability groups?Every student (able or with disabled) hasdifferent learning ability, differentlearning style and pace of learning. It isnot hard to realise then that this makesdifficult for a teacher to identify theappropriate level at which to teach,assess students’ work and progress andevaluate one’s own teaching.

Therefore, for quality education ininclusive school, teachers’ burden mustbe lessened. With excessive load,teachers at their work places mayundergo stress and tension which maylead to reduced efficiency and


productivity on the part of the teacher,and thereby bring down quality ofeducation in inclusive setting.

2. Overcrowded Classes

The students’ strength in the classes isunusually high in our schools, 1:100+ isthe teacher-student ratio in schools ofrural area of east U.P. (Kumar, 2004).Kumar (2004) is justified in saying that,“the idea that someone can useinnovative methods to cope with thatkind of ratio is a joke.” Beginningteachers get reality shock when they facethe real teaching situation after havingcompleted practice teaching (Singh,2004) in smaller classes with limitednumber of students. The teacher-pupilratio of 1:40 which is considered an idealone is often not met in the classrooms invillages, where there is a surge in publicinterest in education, as in U.P. (Kumar,2004). Looking at the presentcircumstances there is less likelihood ofreaching this ideal ratio in the immediatefuture.

To think of inclusive education andthat too quality education in such anadverse situation where there is scarcityof teachers, is not only unrealistic butimpracticable and unachievable. AsHumayun Kabir has said, “teachers arethe key to any educationalreconstruction”, without them we cannotpossibly think of any education, leaveaside inclusive education in regularschools.

The class-size needs to be reducedto give attention and care to all thestudents in general and the studentswith disabilities in particular. Manyparents of children with disabilities

would perhaps be reluctant to send theirchildren to such classes where propercare and attention is not given to them.Teachers’ caringness and their attentionto individual child are consideredimportant and satisfying by the parentsof children with disabilities (Green &Shinn, 1994).

So, more preparation of teachers andappointment of teachers is neededimmediately to deal with the problem ofeducating the surging mass of studentsand improving the teacher-pupil ratio inour classrooms. Then only can we goahead with the idea of inclusive qualityeducation in general schools.

3. Scarcity of Special Teachers

There is an acute shortage of well-trainedspecial teachers who are must for‘responsible inclusion’. Placing childrenwith disabilities into regular educationclassrooms where there are no specialteachers or resource teachers istantamount to ‘dumping’ them.Specialists of all kinds are needed whocan provide services to any student whomay be in need. On the other hand,special teachers or resource teachersderive strength from the subject specificexpert knowledge of regular teachers.Regular teachers with their expertisecan help in teaching of concepts,application of concepts and principlesrelated to specific subjects, such as, lifesciences, mathematics or languagesthrough innovative methods and devices.

Cooperation between specialeducation and general education isnecessary for ‘responsible inclusion’.What the regular classroom teacherlacks can be improved by the infusion of


special teacher and vice-versa (Panda,2003). In this way, the quality ofeducation in inclusive schools can beensured.

Since there is a dearth ofprofessionally trained special teachers inour country, we can make do withitinerant resource teachers but theyshould be there in school daily for fewhours. Unless this is met, qualityeducation for students with disabilitieswill remain doubtful. It is advocated thatmore special teachers be prepared sothat every regular school can have them.

4. Support System

Appropriate and adequate supportservices are needed for ‘responsibleinclusion’ in regular schools. The schoolbuilding and surroundings around itshould be made barrier-free so thataccess to various parts of the school iseasy for all children. It is seen that manyschools even those with expensivearchitectural building, are devoid oframps, hand-rails, low-level water taps,disabled-friendly toilets and signboards.

Children with disabilities sometimesrequire an intensity and systematicity ofinstruction uncommon to generaleducation classrooms (Fuchs & Fuchs,1994). Advocates of children with hearingand visual impairments fiercely support

specialized services to their children. So,the school must have resource roomfacility where children with special needscan be given extra needed support. Theequipments related to education shouldbe easily available for the child when inneed. The special equipments should beprovided in the classroom too, whereinclusive education is imparted to meetthe special needs of students, if andwhen required. For example, classroomamplification systems, a form of assistivelearning device, are needed to linkteachers to students with hearingimpairment. Similarly, anti-glareblackboards are needed for children withlow vision and partially sighted.

Conclusion

The philosophy behind inclusion ispraiseworthy but what is questionableis how we put theory into practice, howdo we bring about inclusion andmaintain quality in inclusive schools.Responsible inclusion is justified buteven for this we need to overcome thedifficulties and problems which exist inour regular schools. It will not be fair tocompromise on quality in the name ofinclusive education. Hence, theteaching-learning conditions must bechanged as suggested and made suitablefor the purpose.

REFERENCES

BHATIA, K. and B.D. BHATIA. 1964. The Principles and Methods of Teaching.Doaba House, Delhi

COOMBS, P.H. 1985. The World Crises in Education: The View from the Eighties.Oxford University Press, Oxford

EDUCATIONAL INTERNATIONAL. 2004. ‘Quality Education: The Teachers’ Role’. NewFrontiers in Education, XXXIV, 3, 260-274


ETUCE, 2002. Quality in Education: Presentation of ETUCE’s work(1995-2001). ETUCE, Brussels

EVANS, J. and I. LUNT. 2002. ‘Inclusive education: are there limits?’ EuropeanJournal of Special Needs Education, 17, 1, 1-14

FARELL, P. 2000. ‘The impact of research on development in inclusiveeducation’, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 4(2), 153-162

FUCHS, D. and L. FUCHS. 1994. ‘Inclusive schools movement and theradicalisation of special education reform’, Exceptional Children, 60 (4)294-309

GREEN, S.K. and M.R. SHINN. 1994. ‘Parent Attitudes About Special Educationand Reintegration: What is the Role of Student Outcome?’ ExceptionalChildren, 61, 3, 269-281

HORNBY, G. 2001. ‘Promoting responsible inclusion: quality education for all’.In: O’Brien, T. (Ed.) Enabling Inclusion: Blue Skies… Dark Clouds? TheStationary Office, London

KAUFFMAN, J.M. 1995. ‘The regular education initiative as Reagan-Busheducation policy – a trickle down theory of education of the hard to teach’.In: J.M. Kauffmann, and D.P. Hallahan, (Eds.), The Illusion of full Inclusion:A Comprehensive Critique of a Current Special Education Bandwagon. Tex:PRO-ED. Austin

KAURA, S. 2004. ‘Not up to the Grade: Bonsai Effect in Basic Education’, Timesof India, 12 January 2008

KUMAR, K. 2004. ‘Village Voices: Positive Trends in Education in U.P.’, Timesof India.

LIPSKY, D.K. and A. GARTNER. 1991. Restructuring for quality. In J.W. Lloyd,A.C. Repp and N.N. Singh (Eds.). The Regular Education Initiative: Alternativeperspectives on concepts, issues and models pp. 43-56 Sycamore, IL,Sycamore

LOW, C. 1997. ‘Is inclusivism possible?’ European Journal of Special NeedsEducation, 12 (1) 71-79

MORGATROYD, S. and C. MORGAN. 1994. Total Quality Management and the School.Open University Press OECD. Buckingham/Philadelphia

NORWICH, B. 1996. ‘Special needs education or education for all: connectivespecialisation and ideological impurity’, British Journal of Special Education,23, 2, 100-104

. 2000b. ‘Inclusion in education: from concepts, values and critique topractice’. In: H. Daniels (ed.) Special Education Reformed: Beyond Rhetoric?Falmer Press, London.

O’BRIEN T. 2001. Enabling Inclusion: Blue Skies… Dark Clouds? The StationaryOffice, London

PALMER, S.D., K. FULLER and T. ARORA. 2001. ‘Taking Sides: Parent views onInclusion for their Children with Severe Disabilties’. Exceptional Children67 (4), 467-484


PANDA, K.C. 2003. ‘Your Vision – Our Future: Inclusive Education Revisited’.Resource Paper presented at 17th National Conference on Mental Retardation,15-17 December 2003, Kolkata

PIJL, S. and C. MEIJER. 1991. ‘Does integration count for much ? An analysisof the practices of integration in eight countries’. European Journal ofSpecial Needs Education, 6 (2) 100-111

REYNOLDS, M.C. 1989. An historical perspective: The delivery of specialeducation to mildly disabled and at risk students. Remedial and SpecialEducaiton, 10, 7-11

SHIVAKUMAR, A.K. 2003. ‘Common School System: End Apartheid in Education’.Times of India, 10, 11 November

SINGH, A. 2004. ‘Priorities in Research in Teacher Education’. New Frontiersin Education, XXXIV, no. 3, 197-200

STAINBACK, S. and W. STAINBACK. 1992. Curriculum considerations in inclusiveclassrooms: Facilitating learning for all students. Baltimore: Paul Brookes

THOMAS, G. 1997. ‘Inclusive schools for an inclusive society’, British Journal ofSpecial Education, 24, 3, 103-107

TIMES OF INDIA. page 4, 2 August 2005UNESCO, 1994. The Salamanca Statement and Framework on Special Needs

Education, UNESCO, ParisVAUGHN, S. and J. SCHUMM. 1995. ‘Responsible inclusion for students with

learning disabilities’. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 28, 264-270WORLD BANK. 1995. Priorities and Strategies for Education. The World Bank,

Washington D.C.WORLD EDUCATION FORUM. 2000. The Dakar Framework for Action. UNESCO, Paris

Community College—A means to Meet theNeeds of the Excluded in Higher Education

E. ARUMUGA GANDHI*

Abstract

At the end of the twentieth century a number of community colleges wereestablished in Tamil Nadu to reduce the mismatch between education andemployment. Roughly a decade has passed by since establishment of such collegesin Tamil Nadu and therefore, it is the right time to evaluate the functioning of suchcolleges in achieving the expected goal. The present paper is one such modestattempt made on community colleges to evaluate in terms of number of collegesstarted and their governance, their location, courses offered, students’ enrolmentpattern in various courses and their pass-outs from 1998 – 2005. To facilitate theevaluation, an empirical study was conducted by making personal visits to someselected community colleges to understand the students’ perception towards suchcolleges and the findings are discussed in the paper.

Introduction

Education is the manifestation ofknowledge already in man. It is also acontinuous process of perfecting theinherited as well as learnt knowledgeskills to serve the society. It could bemuch better and useful when providedat a right stage. The number of schools,colleges, and universities have increasedmanifold. However, the right type ofeducation is not being imparted to theyoung learners. A large number ofstudents coming out of these institutionsbeing unable to find suitable employmentmoreover, not being fully equipped to facelife and its challenges. As a

consequence, unemployment ispersisting in all the developing countriesand is increasing over the years. It isnecessary to ask the question, for whomthese educational institutions, if they donot prepare young men and women forlife in the real world. Indeed, educationwhich is provided both through theformal as well as non-formal educationcentres has not created confidence in thestudent community. On the other handthey have made them depend upon theoutside agencies. We need educationwhich is not only competitive, but alsoseen to be fair, and closely linked toemployment opportunities. Combating

* Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Gandhigram Rural Institute, Deemed University,Gandhigram-624 302, Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu.

85Community College—A means to Meet the Needs...

the two may be able to satisfy betterrequirements of both ability andaspiration of the school leaving students.Therefore, it is felt need to respond thedeficiencies of the vocational educationsystem through proper industry-institutional linkage, competenceassessment, and on-the-job training onthe basis of local needs. Hence,community college can be an alternativesystem of education to liberate andempower such desperated groups ofsociety and to include the excluded inemployment opportunities by impartingthe needed skills for their livelihood.

Community College: An EducationalAlternative

The concept of community college is aninnovative and recent phenomenon.Philosophically, community college is onethat accepted the responsibility forproviding both transfer to highereducation regardless of financialresources and also prepare for someoccupation. It is an institution whichsatisfies the demands of the communityboth for post-higher secondary educationand for middle-level manpower of thenation. It is expected that communitycollege would accommodate allapplicants; over-achievers as wellunder-achievers. In other words, it isan educational institution of the peopleby the people and for the people.Community college is a twentiethcentury phenomenon, generated bythree principal forces. First is thegrowing trend to reject the elitist view ofhigher education. Next is the tendencyof government and of industry to viewhigher education as a only source of

trained manpower and finally, there isthe need created the technologicalexplosion to supply theoretical scientistswith a support structure, comprised oftechnicians.

Community college is an Americanconcept, but is not new one to Indianeducation because it was alreadyrecommended by SampurnanandaCommittee on Emotional Integration,way back in 1962 to provide skills andwork-oriented education to meet theneeds of the students who have finishedschool. The original concept ofcommunity college modified and adoptedaccording to Indian situation. However,it has been started in India only in 1995.Community college system specificallyfocuses on the education for livelihood.It is expected to promote job-oriented,work-related, skills-based, and life-coping education to the unreachedsection of the society. Access is thekeyword to the community college. Theyare cost-effective, offering low cost,quality programmes to specific needs ofa variety of clients. Therefore, it attractsthe poor of both rural and urban, andwomen.

Need for the Study

The traditional colleges and universitiesare elitist in their approach to highereducation, and aimed at preparingstudents for degrees. Students passingout from such educational institutionsare expected to fill up leadershippositions in the society and the economy.All such institutions paid scant attentionto the educational and training needs ofthe growing number of persons enteringmiddle level positions where competence


rather than degrees matter. In this waythe traditional colleges are unable tosatisfy the educational needs of thecontemporary society and aspirations ofthe people. Hence, community collegewould be a major instrument for fulfillingthis gap and would be an alternativearrangement in higher education tosatisfy the educational-occupationalneeds of the community.

The idea of community college isconsidered to be an important part ofrestructuring Indian education. It hasbeen gained the internationalsignificance already, for dealing withlarge numbers and training of middle-level manpower for the economic andsocial needs of a nation and now in ourcountry. It is a new social invention tointervene structurally, between theschool and the university though it beinga part of the higher education and not ofthe school. In India, community collegeis intended to serve the students of theadolescent age-group, but it is flexible toeveryone in the community from thecommunity of the very aged. Courses ofstudy and duration are formulated inrelation to the demands of the communityand national needs of educationalvocational choices for consistent ofindividual aptitudes and manpowerrequirements at different levels.

During the end of the twentiethcentury private initiatives have beentaken to establish institutions based onthe American community college modelin India. These institutions come upbecause of the vision and commitmentto make the difference and create aneducational alternative in the countryand therefore, many community collegeswere started, particularly in Tamil Nadu

and spread over in the entire State.However, the concentration of communitycolleges is found to be more in southerndistricts of Tamil Nadu. It is the righttime to recognise that the communitycollege has an identity of its own thoughit is a part of the totality of education. Itoccupies a strategic position and hadproductive relationship with highersecondary schools and college anduniversity system. Hence, an attempthas been made to conduct an evaluationon these colleges; therefore, the presentarticle is an outcome of a detailed studyon some selected community colleges ofsouthern districts of Tamil Nadu.

Objectives of the Study

The present evaluation on communitycolleges was carried out with the followingobjectives.

(a) To assess the nature and growth ofcommunity colleges in South TamilNadu;

(b) To understand the students’enrolment pattern and their pass-outs in various courses offeredthrough community colleges;

(c) To assess the infrastructure facilitiesmade available at communitycolleges;

(d) To understand the socio-economicbackground of the students studyingin community colleges; and

(e) To know the students’ attitudetowards community college, thecourses offered and their plan forfuture.

Research Design

For the purpose of the present studyparticulars about the number of


community colleges with started year,courses offered, students’ enrolment andtheir respective results from thebeginning 1998 to 2005, its governance,and so on were collected. To supportthe present study, an empirical studywas conducted on some selectedcommunity colleges. For this, of the totalof 32 community colleges functioning inKanyakumari, Tirunelveli, and Tuticorindistricts, four of them were randomlyselected as sample. From these fourcolleges, 100 students were selected assamples from a total of 220 students.Efforts were taken to include the student-respondents from all the courses offeredin these colleges.

The required data were collectedfrom the selected 100 student-respondents by using a structuredinterview schedule prepared for them. Inaddition to the interview schedule eachcollege office was approached forcollecting details regarding its origin,governance, structure, functioning,composition of courses, andinfrastructure – by making personalvisits. To arrive at general conclusionsthe collected data were analysed andinterpreted by using descriptive methodslike percentage, proportion, ratio andaverage and presented in summary form.No attempt has been made to formhypotheses since the sample size was toosmall and accordingly to test them.

Community Colleges in Tamil Nadu:An Appraisal

The number of colleges functioning, theirlocation, governance, courses offered,students’ enrolment and their pass-outsin various courses of community colleges

from the beginning are analysed in thissection. The analysis reveals that theestablishment of community colleges insouth Tamil Nadu starts from 1998 anda total of nine colleges were started atthat time. The total number ofcommunity colleges is increased to 42 atthe end of the year 2003. However, thenumber of colleges declined to 32because the University’s approval hasbeen withdrawn for 10 colleges duringthe year of 2004–2005. They are servingfor the community in three southerndistricts – Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli,and Tuticorin – of the State and atpresent, there are a total of 32community colleges functioning in thesethree districts. Of the total colleges foundin these districts 46.9% of them are inKanniyakumari, followed by Tirunelveli(37.5%), and Tuticorin (15.6%). All theyare affiliated to ManonmaniamSundaranar University, Tirunelveli.Figure 1 portrays this.

It is observed that about 60 per centof the total community colleges are inrural areas while the remaining 40 percent serving the needs of the urbancommunity proves that most of thecommunity colleges functioning in thesouth Tamil Nadu are responding to theeducational needs of the ruralcommunity and hence the proclaimingof “Find the need and meet it” has beenrealised.

The colleges are run either by NGOs,Charitable Trusts, or ChristianMissionaries. While considering thenumber of courses offered in communitycolleges, a minimum of three courseshaving been offered in some colleges andranged upto six in some colleges. It is to


be noted that there are a total of 26programme-courses have been offeredthrough community colleges in thesethree districts. Most of the colleges offerComputer Applications, Female NursingAssistance, Pre-school Teachers’Education, and Medical LaboratoryTechnology courses for study since theyare wanted by the majority. Both sexesare admitted in all colleges and, however,some courses like Four WheelerMechanism, Two Wheeler Mechanismare kept away for females similarly Pre-school Teachers’ Education, FemaleNursing Assistance, Home Nursing andHome Remedies, and Tailoring andEmbroidery for males.

The wide range of programme-courses of community college has led tothe adoption of an open admission policybased on minimum qualification but

without the requirement of any collegeadmission tests which are usuallyimposed by traditional colleges anduniversities. Its easy accessibility, openadmission, opportunity for low-costlearning, and on-the-job trainingarrangements attracted the students –particularly poor – towards communitycolleges. It is proved through the presentstudy that enrolment of students in thecourses of community college has beenincreased from 2.7 per cent to about 20per cent from the beginning that is from1998 to 2005. Figure 2 evidences this.

Enrolment and Pass-outs

While considering the students’enrolment in various programme-courses offered at community collegesduring the reference period it reveals thatthree-fourths (75.4%) of the total

Fig. 1 : Year-wise growth of Community Colleges


students studied Female NursingAssistance (32.1%), Pre-school Teachers’Education (17.9%), Medical LaboratoryTechnology (13.4%), and ComputerApplications (12%) that shows students’preference towards courses for study incommunity colleges.

The analysis of students’ pass-outsin various courses offered at communitycolleges indicates that 100 per centresults has been achieved in courses likeMultipurpose Rural Development Work,Marketing Management, IntegratedFarm Development, Two-wheelerMechanism, Drugless Therapy, HomeNursing and Home Remedies, Tailoringand Embroidery, and Dairy Managementand Technology whereas the lowestresults (87%) achieved in Physiotherapy,and Information Technology courses. Itis important to note that, of the total

students (8,856) appeared in finalexaminations an average of 97 per centof them (8,566) obtained diplomas thatproves the success of communitycolleges.

As far as the status of the fourcommunity colleges included for thestudy is concerned two of them are runby Christian institutions and theremaining two are by a non-governmentorganisation (NGO) and a community’strust, each respectively. Theseorganisations, who have ventured intocommunity colleges, run manyeducational institutions like schools,polytechnics, I.T.I., and colleges. Threeof the selected colleges are located inrural while the remaining one is in anurban centre. All the four colleges arestarted between 1998 and 2000. Theyoffer one-year Diploma programme in

Fig. 2 : Students’ Enrolment in Community Colleges: 1998–2005

25

20

15

10

5

0

1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05

No. of Students Enrolled

2.7

8.3

15.0 15.3

17.5 18.9

22.3


Female Nursing Assistance, FourWheeler Mechanism, Medical LaboratoryTechnology, Computer Applications,Printing Technology, ComputerTechnology, and Pre-school Teachers’Education and admit 30 students in eachcourse as restricted by the Universityand offered four of these courses at themaximum.

All the community colleges under thestudy are equipped to run computer-based courses and have atleast onecomputer for two students (1:2). Whileanalysing the infrastructure facilitiesprovided at the community colleges,sports, retiring, and hostel facilities arein progress; students are provided ofdrinking water adequately and thefacilities like lavatory, cycle stand, andlibrary are provided.

Who’s Coming to CommunityColleges

To understand that who is coming tocommunity colleges the student-respondents’ socio-economic particularsregarding their sex, age, birth order,religion, caste, parental occupation andtheir monthly income, place of residenceand distance to college, annual expensefor their education, and marks securedat higher secondary school leavingexaminations are concerned. Theanalysis of them reveals that more thanhalf of the total strength (60.9%) of thecommunity colleges are girls. Hence, thesame truth is reflected in the sample(62%) also. It is found that 56 per centout of the total students are hailing fromrural areas. It is important to mentionthat community college attracts mostlyfresh candidates (81%) who are below of

20 years old. The mean age of communitycollege student is 20. It is evidencedthrough the present study that a largemajority (90%) of the total students havejoined the colleges after ‘plus two’ coursewhile there are some graduates as wellas those discontinued their degreecourses, and about three-fourths (73%)of the total pursuing Diploma in FourWheeler Mechanism (28%), ComputerApplications (26%), and MedicalLaboratory Technology (19%) that showstheir interest on professional courses.

The concept of the ‘including theexcluded’ has been realised throughcommunity colleges since three-fifths(60%) of the total students belongs toBackward Castes whereas ScheduledCastes and Most Backward Castesconstituted 21% and 19%, eachrespectively. Though atleast two collegesunder the study are run by Christianaffiliated institutions, Hindus (65%) havejoined in large number. However,Christians (29%) constituted a sizeablepart. The proportion of Muslims is foundto be only 6 per cent in the total.

It is clear from the study thatcommunity colleges provided chance forcandidates with varied backgroundstudents from all walks of life and havemade use of such concept since thestudents reckoned from Governmentservice (27%), Business (26%),Agriculture (25%), and daily wagers(22%). Therefore, it is understood thatthe concept of ‘equality of opportunity’has been achieved through communitycolleges.

Community colleges are beingutilised by the poor and the needy isevident from the students’ parental


income. Their parents earns an averageof Rs. 3, 840 per month. It is to be notedthat the concept of community collegehas reached smaller families where thereis an average of five members and amongthem the second child has the maximumchance to make use of such colleges.

It is found that large majority (85%)of the total students selected the coursethemselves and are not forced. A largenumber of them sought admission inthese colleges because of short durationof courses, employment-orientedcourses, and low fee structure. It issignificant to mention that low tuitioncost attracted many students towardscommunity colleges. It has beenevidenced through the study since theaverage expense for the students isRs.5, 930 per year and therefore, almostall they are satisfied towards expense forcontinuing their education in communitycolleges.

Nearly three-fourths of the totalstudents are living within an average of6.3 kilometre radius from their college,

but the distance is not a major problemto commute their college for somestudents. Half (50%) of the total studentsreache college either by bicycle or by foot.What the present study evidences thatthe proximity of these colleges to theirplace of residence is found to be one ofthe important factors for the selection ofa particular community college for studyby the students.

Community college providesopportunities for under-achieved aswell as over-achieved students. It isproved through the present study sinceabout half (48%) of the total studentssecured 600–700 out of 1200 marks intheir higher secondary school (+2)leaving examinations. Another 47 percent in the total secured 700–900marks. Therefore, it is significant tonote that the students who securedan average of 733 (61%) out of 1200marks seek admissions in communitycolleges that evidences the importanceof such colleges for educationally poorstudents.

TABLE 1Mean for Some Selected Variables

Variable Mean (N=100)

Parental monthly income Rs. 3,840

Household size 5

Students’ birth order 2

Students’ age 20

Marks secured in +2 (out of 1200) 733 (61%)

Annual expense Rs. 5,930

Distance to College from place of residence 6.3 km

Student-computer ratio 2:1


Students’ Perception

For the evaluation of community colleges,as a part of the present study students’perception towards students union,arrival of experts for conducting classes,infrastructure facilities availed for them,fee structure, entrepreneurial as well asjob opportunities, and the functioning ofcommunity college are collected.

While probing is there anyorganisation for students in communitycolleges it is found that none of theselected colleges provided the chance forthe students to form “Students Union”.Of course, the majority of the studentsstrongly felt for it both to press theirdemands (50%) and express themselves(42%) whereas only few (8%) opined thatshort duration of the course would notaccommodate students union.

It is found that a large majority (72%)of the total students agreed that specialclasses used to be conducted in theircolleges by outside experts. Most (68%)of them said that internship is arrangedby their college managements from timeto time and nearly three-fourths (73%)of them are satisfied with the usefulnessof the practicals/internships made bytheir colleges.

Most of the students are satisfiedabout the classroom, facilities providedfor practicals and qualification ofteachers, and expect more as far aslaboratory facility is concerned. All thestudents of Four Wheeler Mechanismexpressed their willingness towardsworkshop facilities in their collegepremise. Most of the students aresatisfied about the facilities, viz.,drinking water, lavatory, cycle stand,and library.

None of the students paid capitationfee for their admission. A vast majorityof the students (94%) are in satisfactionabout the fee structure for the course.Likewise, the perception of the majorityof these students (84%) aboutexpenditure for the course is that ofmoderate one and more than half of themfelt that studying in community collegeis worthy for time and expenditure.

It is found that a large number (70%)of students are not ready forentrepreneurship risk immediately afterthe completion of their course as it iscostly experiment, and therefore, theyprefer experience in job before venturinganything new. More than one-thirds ofthe total students said that they do nothave the necessary capital for startingup self-employment avenues. However,many of them are positive that they couldarrange money either from their parentsor banks and most of them have positiveperception about their parental supportto self-employment openings.

The fact that more than half of thetotal students (58%) are sure about thatthe community college could alleviate theproblem of unemployment whereasanother one-fourths in the total does nothave any idea regarding this. However,all the colleges making arrangements foron-the-campus interview for theirstudents’ job-placement, since almost allof them would like to have. Of course,nearly half of the students (48%) knowabout the prospects of getting attractivejobs with community college’scertificates.

For many students speciallydesigned courses, positive image aboutcommunity college, parent’s wish, andabsence of nearly college are the


important factors for the preferencetowards community college. It issignificant to note that about half ofthe students (49%) do not have anyidea about university’s role in runningthe community colleges. However, allthey opined that universities shouldtake over community colleges for properadministration, lesser fees, recruitmentof efficient teachers and safeguardingthem from capitation fee in future. Itis to be noted that nearly one-thirds(31%) of the total students do not knowthe difference between polytechnic,I.T.I, and community college whilenearly another two-thirds in the totalknew the distinction among thesethree and also about the coursesoffered, their duration, fees andteaching, etc. Very few (12%) understoodthe community college and the natureof duration of the courses. Whileasking the students’ perception aboutthe positive changes in the functioningof community colleges more than halfof them (53%) do not have any idearegarding what kind of changes thatare possible to make for the effectivefunctioning of such colleges. It isimportant to note that almost all thestudents want the teaching languageshould be their mother tongue.

Conclusion

We may conclude from the present studythat the community college has come along way and going to stay as a viablealternative to empower the

disadvantaged, underprivileged, andexcluded through imparting themappropriate skills and making themgainfully employed than the conventionaltransfer courses offered by a largenumber of colleges and universitiesacross the country. However, there is alag found in venturing of communitycolleges after 2004 so that the factors forsuch stagnation have to be identified andto be solved. It is an opportunity toencourage community colleges to offerskills, and work-oriented education tomeet the needs of the students who havefinished formal school education andhence, it would be a multi-campus realityfor skill-based education. To impartentrepreneurial interest in students acounselor would be appointed incommunity colleges and guides forventuring self-employment to be availedto them. As a result, the studentcommunity can make use of these job-oriented courses, instead of movingtowards transfer kind of education.Therefore, all universities of the State aswell the country should take necessarysteps both to start and supervise thesecolleges for the prescribed infrastructurefacilities, fee being collected and otherfacilities necessary for the course,students and teachers. TheConstitutional provision of Access,Equity, and Relevance can be achievedby establishing more community collegesin India. Then only community collegewould become the “College forCommunity.”


REFERENCES

AUDREE, M. CHASE. 1999. “Attending Community College Can Really LaunchYour Career”, Educational Courses in Britain and America. 19 and 20(4 and 6)

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION. 1962. Government of India. Report of the SampurnandaCommittee on Emotional Integration. New Delhi, K.L. Joshi, Problems ofHigher Education in India. Popular Prakashan, 1977. Bombay

THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM – An Educational Alternative: Perspective,Philosophy, Recognition and Affiliation, First Consultation of CommunityCollege in Tamilnadu, 4 July 1998

THERESA NOVAK and MICHEL MOFFETT. 1999. “Community Colleges – Academicand Professional Success”, Studying in America. 2 (2)

XAVIER ALPHONSE, S.J. 1996. Changing Track: Community Colleges in India,Aiache Publications, New Delhi

Attitude of HE Students TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education

A Study

LALIT KUMAR*SUDHIR KUMAR**

Abstract

Several researches have shown that attitude has its bearing on so manyattributes and capabilities [Kumar (1994, 1998), Singh and Sharma (1995)].Several other studies have reflected that different variables have their bearingon different types of Attitude [Krishna and Rao (1992), Kumar (1995, 1996,2003, 2007)] and that is why the researchers undertook this study. In thepresent study to measure the attitude of higher education students towardsprivatisation of higher education the tool developed and standardised byKumar, Lalit. (Attitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education Scale) hasbeen used to collect the data. In this survey type of research 500 highereducation students have been taken as sample by using Stratified RandomSampling Technique. Statistics like Percentage, Mean, Standard deviationand t-value have been calculated to test the hypotheses. The study revealsthat most of the Higher Education students do not possess favourable attitudeTowards Privatisation of Higher Education and types of courses, Categoryand Types of Institutions have their bearing on Attitude Towards Privatisationof Higher Education.

* Senior Faculty Member, Faculty of Education, Patna University, Patna.** Research Scholar, Faculty of Education, Patna University, Patna.

Privatisation of Higher Education is aburning and comprehensive issue inthe context of growing financial need tofulfil the demand of higher education inone way and state obligation to take

care of higher education of the poor anddowntrodden to suit the welfare natureof the state in another way. Privatisationof higher education in a country likeIndia where there is a huge population


of first generation learners is really atough decision. State alone cannotmanage the ever growing financialburden of higher education and so thereis a suggestion to allow to the privateagency to run the higher education. Inthis age of knowledge generation andgrowing financial need, the issue hasbecome even more intense and it needsa survey of opinion to reach at a pointas there is no possibility of agreementof both the groups (who favours and whodoes not favour). Some favours andsome does not favour, some favours oncertain issue or point and disagrees atanother issue and point. Consideringthe complex nature of the problem andto search a suitable answer to theproblem the researchers haveundertaken this study.

Attitude research started with theexplorations of the nature and structureof attitudes, development of the methodsof attitude measurement, andidentification of the correlates ofattitudes. Influence of attitudes on suchpsychological processes as learning andremembering; perception and thinkingand reasoning has also beeninvestigated in some detail. Maximumwork has been done in connection withthe survey of attitudes and opinions ofvarious groups of people towards allkinds of social, political, cultural andeconomic issues that the country isfacing. A major bulk of research hasbeen done in area of education – onattitudes of teachers and studentstowards various academic and psycho-social phenomena.

(Krishna and Rao. 1992)[1] foundthat male teachers expressed more

favourable attitude towards science thanfemale teachers. (Kumar, Lalit. 1994)[2]

found that attitude towards mathematicsplays a significant role in thedevelopment of mathematical creativity.(Singh and Sharma 1995)[3] found thaturban background provides a morefertile land for developing favourableattitude towards population educationand small family norm. (Kumar, Lalit.1995)[4] found insignificant differencebetween the attitude of male and femalestudents towards mathematics. (Kumar,Lalit. 1996)[5] concluded that only a fewprimary school teachers possess highfavourable attitude towardsmathematics. (Kumar, Lalit. 1998)[6]

found that attitude towards mathematicsis positively and significantly correlatedwith achievement in mathematics. Hefurther found that high attitude towardsmathematics group is significantlysuperior in his achievement inmathematics in comparison to the lowattitude towards mathematics group.(Kumar, Lalit. 2003)[7] concluded thatmost of the B.Ed. students do notpossess favourable attitude towardsprivatisation of Higher Education andmale and female B.Ed. students do notdiffer significantly in their attitudetowards privatisation of HigherEducation. (Kumar, Lalit. 2004)[8] foundthat General and reserved categoriesB.Ed. students differ significantly intheir attitude towards privatization ofhigher education. He found Generalcategory B.Ed. students group higheron mean values.

Above mentioned studies and fewothers gave insight to the researchers toselect the variables to shape the

97Attitude of HE Students Towards Privatisation of Higher Education

undertaken study. Review of attituderesearches also directed the researcherto employ suitable tool, statistics andappropriate sampling technique. Theresearchers are of the opinion that thestudy will serve the purpose in the waymost of the survey researchers do. It willopen an issue, will stimulate theresearchers, teachers and the policymakers to think on the issue andcontinue with comprehensive studies tocollect more specific views to generaliseor to reach at a state of decision.

Objectives

1. To study the Attitude of HigherEducation Students TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education.

2. To compare the Attitude Scores ofGeneral Category and ReservedCategory Higher Education Students.

3. To compare the Attitude Scores ofGeneral Courses and ProfessionalCourses Higher Education Students.

4. To compare the Attitude Scores ofPrivate and Government InstitutionsHigher Education Students.

Hypotheses

1. Higher Education Students do notpossess favourable attitude towardsPrivatisation of Higher Education.

2. General and Professional CoursesHigher Education students do notdiffer significantly in their attitudetowards Privatisation of HigherEducation.

3. General and Reserved categoryHigher Education students do notdiffer significantly in their attitudetowards Privatisation of HigherEducation.

4. Private and Government InstitutionsHigher Education students do notdiffer significantly in their attitudetowards Privatisation of HigherEducation.

Methodology

In the present study the researchershave used Descriptive Survey Method tostudy the Attitude of Higher Educationstudents towards Privatisation of HigherEducation.

Sample

Five Hundred graduate and post-graduate students of Patna district wereselected as sample by using stratifiedrandom sampling technique.

Tool used

Attitude Towards Privatisation of HigherEducation Scale developed andstandardised by Kumar, Lalit was usedto collect the required data. It is abilingual scale (English and Hindi) andcontains 24 items related to Privatisationof Higher Education. In this Likert typescale, Attitude Towards Privatisation ofHigher Education has four dimensions –Quality, Control, Exploitation andWelfare. There are three positively wordedand three negatively worded items foreach dimension. Thus, out of 24 items –12 items are positively worded where as12 items are negatively worded. Scoringof the response is as 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 inthe direction from strongly agree forpositively worded items and fornegatively worded items as 4, 3, 2, 1 and0. The dimensions score range from 0 to24 where as total score on attitude scoreranges from 0 to 96. The scale and its


dimensions have high positive reliabilitycoefficient ranging from 0.68 to 0.79. Theinventory also has optimum face andcontent validity as the opinion andsuggestions from the experts andstudents have been taken. The constructvalidity, A matrix of coefficient ofcorrelation between the scores on fourdimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education scaleand the total score on the scale, rangesfrom 0.33 to 0.86.

The selection of dimensions has beenmade after reviewing a large number ofarticles, and writings. In this processdiscussions and opinions have also beentaken into account. The rationalesbehind the dimensions are in the formof questions – Will privatisation affectquality of Higher Education? Will it becontrolled by the private party to makemoney? Will the employees of the systembe exploited and will the welfare of thehigher education related persons besafe-guarded?

Meaning of important terms

(a) Attitude Towards Privatisationof Higher Education

Attitude Towards Privatisation ofHigher Education is an internal statewhich affects an individual’s choiceof action towards privatisation ofHigher Education. In the presentstudy attitude towards privatisationof higher education has beenreflected in terms of four distinctdimensions of attitude towardsprivatisation of higher education –Quality, Control, Exploitation andWelfare.

(b) Category

In the study the researchers havetaken category as it is defined interms of (i) General category and (ii)Reserved category.

(c) Types of Courses

In the study the types of courseshave been identified as (i) Generalcourses (Science, Arts, andCommerce) and (ii) Professionalcourses (Engineering, Medical,Management and Education (B.Ed.& M.Ed. only)

(d) Types of Institution

Two types of institutions have beentaken (i) Private institutions and (ii)Government institutions.

(e) Higher Education Students

Students studying at Graduationand Post-graduation level have beentaken as Higher Education students.

Variables

In the present study Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education isdependent variable, where as Category,Types of Courses and Types ofInstitutions are independent variables.

Statistical Treatment of Data

Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviationand t-value were calculated to testhypotheses. It was decided that thefavourable attitude score against aitem, against a dimension and againstthe composite score will be 03, 18 and72 respectively. The product of the


number of statements and the numericalvalue assigned to the statement Agree(for positively worded statement) orDisagree (for negatively wordedstatement) has been considered as theminimum score for the consideration offavourable attitude. All the score belowthis score has been treated asunfourable attitude score. 20% Highscorer has been considered as Highergroup and 20% Low scorer has beentaken as Lower group.

Analysis and Interpretation

Table 1 reveals that out of 500 students89 students have favourable attitude onQuality dimension. On Control,Exploitation, Welfare dimensions and onComposite attitude there are 45, 44, 80and 20 respectively. It indicates that only17.88% students have favourableattitude on Quality dimension. OnControl, Exploitation, Welfare dimensionsand on Composite attitude these are 9%,8.80%, 16.00% and 4% respectively. Itfurther indicates that very few highereducation students have favourableattitude towards Privatisation of HigherEducation.

Findings

(i) Only 17.80% Higher Educationstudents are of the opinion that theQuality of Higher Education willimprove if it is privatised.

(ii) Only 9.00% Higher Educationstudents are of the opinion thatHigher Education will be controlledproperly if it is privatised.

(iii) Only 8.80% Higher Educationstudents are of the opinion thatExploitation in Higher Educationwill be looked after only if it isprivatised.

(iv) Only 16.00% Higher Educationstudents are of the opinion thatWelfare of Higher Education relatedpersons will get attention if HigherEducation is privatised.

(v) Only 4.00% Higher Educationstudents are of the opinion thatHigher Education will function,serve and develop only if it isprivatised.

(Kumar, Lalit. 2003)[9] has similarfindings in his study conducted on 200B.Ed. students. He has concluded –

TABLE 1Number and Percentage of Higher Education Students BearingFavourable Attitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education

Attitude Dimensions Number Percentage

Quality 89 17.80%

Control 45 9.00%

Exploitation 44 8.80%

Welfare 80 16.00%

Composite 20 4.00%


“(a1) Only 25% male and 25% female

B.Ed. students think that thequality of higher education willimprove if it is privatised.

(a2) Only 19% male and 11% female

B.Ed. students think that highereducation will be controlled well ifit is privatised.

(a3) Only 10% male and 5% female B.Ed.

students think exploitation inhigher education will be managedproperly if it is privatised.

(a4) Only 12% male and 10%

female B.Ed. students think thatthe welfare of higher educationpeople in particular and societyin general will receive dueattention if higher education isprivatised.

(a5) Only 7% male and 3% female

B.Ed. students think that highereducation will function and serve ina better way if it is privatised.”

Table 2 reveals that the obtained t-value between General and Professionalcourses higher education students onQuality, Control, Exploitation andWelfare dimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education are2.07, 3.38, 3.72 and 1.51 respectively. Oncomposite Attitude the obtained t-valueis 1.74. It further indicates that theobtained t-values on Quality, Controland Exploitation dimensions aresignificant at 0.05, 0.01 and 0.01 level ofsignificance, but the obtained t-valueson Welfare dimension and also onComposite Attitude are not significant.

Mean values indicate that thegeneral courses higher educationstudents are superior to professionalcourses higher education students onQuality, Control and Exploitationdimension of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education(df = 498).

TABLE 2Mean, SD and t-value Between General and Professional Courses

Higher Education Students on Different Dimensions ofAttitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education

Attitude Category Mean SD N t-value Level ofDimensions significance

QualityGeneral 14.46 3.69 250

2.07 0.05Professional 13.74 4.06 250

ControlGeneral 13.52 3.62 250

3.38 0.01Professional 12.36 4.03 250

ExploitationGeneral 12.78 3.56 250

3.72 0.01Professional 11.56 3.77 250

WelfareGeneral 13.46 3.71 250

1.51 NSProfessional 12.94 3.98 250

CompositeGeneral 52.47 9.31 250



TABLE 3Mean, SD and t-value Between Higher Group of General Courses and Higher Group

of Professional Courses Higher Education Students on different dimensions ofAttitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education












Table 3 reveals that the obtainedt-value between Higher Group of GeneralCourses and Higher Group ofProfessional Courses on Quality,Control, Exploitation and Welfaredimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education are0.84, 0.30, 0.58 and 0.24 respectively; onComposite Attitude the obtained t-valueis 0.09. All these values are notsignificant (neither on 0.01 nor on 0.05level of significance).

Table 4 reveals that the obtained t-value between Lower group of generalcourses and Lower group of professionalcourses higher education students onQuality, Control, Exploitation andWelfare dimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of higher education are2.10, 4.99, 5.03 and 3.37 respectively;on Composite Attitude the obtainedt-value is 6.06. All these values aresignificant at 0.01 level (except on

Quality dimension, on which thet-value is significant at 0.05 level) ofsignificance.

Mean values indicate that GeneralCourses higher education students aresuperior to professional courses highereducation students on all the dimensionsof Attitude Towards Privatisation ofHigher Education and also on CompositeAttitude.

Findings

Following is the summary of the tables2, 3 and 4 in relation to Types ofCourses.

(i) General Courses Higher Educationstudents are higher on mean valueson Quality, Control and Exploitationdimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education incomparison to Professional CoursesHigher Education students.


(ii) Lower Group of General CoursesHigher Education students is higheron mean values on Quality, Control,Exploitation and Welfare dimensionsof Attitude Towards Privatisation ofHigher Education; and also onComposite Attitude in comparison toLower Group of Professional CoursesHigher Education students.

Perhaps General Courses highereducation students have more concernabout the Quality and Infrastructure ofthe higher education institutions incomparison to professional courseshigher education students and that iswhy they think in the way (Gupta, P.V.2003)[10] is thinking, “Our main aim has tobe expansion of technical andprofessional education with higheracademic standards. Excellence ingeneral education and more so in higherprofessional should motivate us. Toachieve these objectives, privatisation

definitely helps and this has been wellestablished.”

Table 5 reveals that the obtained t-value between General Category andReserved Category Higher Educationstudents on Quality, Control,Exploitation and Welfare dimensions ofAttitude Towards Privatisation of HigherEducation are 1.50, 4.68, 0.98 and 0.87respectively. On Composite Attitude theobtained t-value is 1.59. All the valuesare insignificant except on controldimension.

Mean values indicate that GeneralCategory higher education students aresuperior to Reserved Category highereducation students on Control dimensionof Attitude Towards Privatisation ofHigher Education (df = 498).

Table 6 reveals that the obtainedt-value between Higher Group of GeneralCategory and Higher Group of ReservedCategory Higher Education Students on

TABLE 4Mean, SD and t-value Between Lower Group of General Courses and Lower

Group of Professional Courses Higher Education Students on differentdimensions of Attitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education



2.10 0.05Professional 8.80 2.78 50


4.49 0.01Professional 6.70 1.19 50


5.03 0.01Professional 5.00 2.13 50


3.37 0.01Professional 7.30 2.10 50


6.06 0.01Professional 37.10 4.18 50


Quality, Control, Exploitation andWelfare dimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education are

TABLE 5Mean, SD and t-value Between General Category and Reserved

Category Higher Education Students on different dimensions ofAttitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education



1.50 NSReserved 13.84 4.03 250


4.68 0.01Reserved 12.46 3.91 250


0.90 NSReserved 12.02 4.34 250


0.87 NSReserved 13.06 3.97 250


1.59 NSReserved 51.94 10.32 250

TABLE 6Mean, SD and t-value Between Higher Group of General Category and Higher

Group of Reserve Category Higher Education Students on different dimensions ofAttitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education


Quality General 19.10 2.47 50 1.26 NS

Reserved 18.50 2.29 50

Control General 18.70 2.37 50 3.02 0.01

Reserved 17.50 1.50 50

Exploitation General 17.60 1.62 50 1.10 NS

Reserved 18.00 2.00 50

Welfares General 18.40 2.24 50 1.47 NS

Reserved 17.80 1.83 50

Composite General 67.50 5.68 50 0.19 NS

Reserved 67.30 5.04 50

1.26, 3.02, 1.10 and 1.47 respectively. OnComposite Attitude the t-value is 0.19.All these values are insignificant except


on Control dimension of AttitudeTowards Privatisation of HigherEducation.

Mean values indicate that HigherGroup of General Category HigherEducation students is superior toReserved Category Higher group of HigherEducation students group (df = 98).

Table 7 reveals that the obtained t-value between Lower Group of GeneralCategory and Lower Group of ReservedCategory higher education students onQuality, Control, Exploitation andWelfare dimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education are3.33, 4.86, 3.47 and 1.20 respectively. OnComposite Attitude the t-value is 2.80.All these values are significant at 0.01level of significance (except on Welfaredimension, on which the t-value is notsignificant even at 0.05 level ofsignificance).

Mean values indicates that the LowerGroup of General Category highereducation students group is superior toLower Group of Reserved Category HigherEducation students Group on all thedimensions and also on CompositeAttitude, except on Welfare dimension ofAttitude Towards Privatisation of HigherEducation.

Findings

Following is the summary of the tables5, 6 and 7 in relation to category –

(i) General category higher educationstudents are higher on mean valueson Control dimension of AttitudeTowards Privatisation of HigherEducation in comparison to ReservedCategory Higher Education students.

(ii) Higher group of General Categoryhigher education students is higher

TABLE 7Mean, SD and t-value Between Lower Group of General Category and Lower Group

of Reserve Category Higher Education Students on different dimensions ofAttitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education



3.33 0.01Reserved 8.50 2.69 50


4.86 0.01Reserved 7.00 2.45 50


3.47 0.01Reserved 5.80 2.13 50


1.20 NSReserved 7.80 2.32 50


2.80 0.01Reserved 38.00 4.36 50


on mean values on Controldimension of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education incomparison to Higher Group ofReserved Category Higher Educationstudents.

(iii) Lower Group of General Categoryhigher education students is higheron mean values on Quality, Controland Exploitation dimensions ofAttitude Towards Privatisation ofHigher Education and also onComposite Attitude in comparison toLower Group of Reserved CategoryHigher Education students.

(Kumar, Lalit. 2007)[11] in his studyconducted on B.Ed. students havesimilar findings as he found GeneralCategory B.Ed. students higher on meanvalues in comparison to Reserved

Category B.Ed. students. He foundsignificant difference in the attitudemeans of General and Reserved Categorystudents on Quality, Control and Welfaredimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education andalso on Composite Attitude. OnExploitation dimension of AttitudeTowards Privatisation of HigherEducation no significant difference wasfound between General and Reservedcategory B.Ed. students.

Table 8 reveals that the obtainedt-value between Private institutions andGovernment institutions HigherEducation students on Quality, Control,Exploitation and Welfare dimensions ofAttitude Towards Privatisation of HigherEducation are 1.28, 1.98, 0.943 and3.163. On Composite Attitude the t-value

TABLE 8Mean, SD and t-value Between Private Institutions and Government Institutions

Higher Education Students on different dimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education

Attitude Institutions Mean SD N t-value Level ofDimensions significance

QualityPrivate 13.90 3.87 250

1.28 NSGovernment 13.46 3.84 250

ControlPrivate 13.30 3.90 250

1.98 0.05Government 12.62 3.78 250

ExploitationPrivate 12.38 4.17 250

0.943 NSGovernment 12.04 3.89 250

WelfarePrivate 13.66 3.96 250

3.163 0.01Government 12.60 3.52 250

CompositePrivate 53.66 10.30 250

2.21 0.05Government 51.66 4.89 250


is 2.21. Obtained t-value are notsignificant on Quality and Exploitationdimensions though on Control (0.05level) and Welfare (0.01 level) dimensionsthe obtained t-value are significant. OnComposite Attitude the obtained t-valueis significant at 0.05 level of significance.

Mean values indicate that PrivateInstitutions higher education studentsare superior to Government Institutionshigher education students on Controland Welfare dimensions of AttitudeTowards Privatisation of HigherEducation and also on CompositeAttitude (df=498).

Table 9 reveals that the obtainedt-value between Higher Group of PrivateInstitutions and Higher Group ofGovernment Institutions on Quality,Control, Exploitation and Welfaredimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education are

1.26, 0.90, 1.66 and 0.71 respectively. OnComposite Attitude the t-value is 0.26.All these values are not significant (eitherat 0.01 level or at 0.05 level).

Table 10 reveals that the obtainedt-value between Lower Group of PrivateInstitutions and Lower Group ofGovernment Institutions on Quality,Control, Exploitation and Welfaredimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Education are1.89, 1.70, 1.78 and 0.80 respectively. OnComposite Attitude the t-value is 0.23.All these values are not significant (eitherat 0.01 level or at 0.05 level).

Findings

Following is the summary of the tablesVIII, IX and X in relation to Types ofInstitutions–(i) Private Institutions higher

education students are higher on

TABLE 9Mean, SD and t-value Between Higher Group of Private Institutions and Higher

Group of Government Institutions Higher Education Students on differentdimensions of Attitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education


QualityPrivate 19.10 2.47 50

1.26 NSGovernment 18.50 2.29 50

ControlPrivate 17.80 1.83 50

0.90 NSGovernment 17.50 1.50 50

ExploitationPrivate 18.10 2.07 50

1.66 NSGovernment 17.50 1.50 50

WelfarePrivate 18.30 2.19 50

0.71 NSGovernment 18.00 2.00 50

CompositePrivate 78.00 4.47 50

0.26 NSGovernment 77.70 6.86 50


mean values on Control and Welfaredimensions of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher Educationand also on Composite Attitude incomparison to GovernmentInstitutions Higher Educationstudents. Doubt made by the(Panda, Sudhakar. 2009)[12] may bethe reason behind comparativelyless concern of Governmentinstitutions Higher Educationstudents towards privatisation ofHigher Education. Panda, Sudhakarspeaks, “A debate has also beenraised whether the privateuniversities would serve the ‘Publicinterest’, particularly the academicpursuits of the students comingfrom the socially disadvantagedcommunities. This stands in sharpcontrast to the care and benefitswhich the state universities havetraditionally been giving to the poor

and meritorious student in terms ofscholarship, book subsidies, hostelfacilities and travel grants, etc. Inother words, there are genuinedoubts whether the privateuniversities can create an educationsystem that will address the problemof social justice and prepare thestudents from the backwardcommunities for a meaningful andeffective participation in society.”

General Conclusions

Considering the findings of the studyand taking into account the hypothesesof the study following conclusions havebeen drawn–1. Most of the Higher Education

students do not possess favourableattitude Towards Privatisation ofHigher Education.

2. (a1) General courses and

Professional courses higher

TABLE 10Mean, SD and t-value Between Lower Group of Private Institutions and Lower

Group of Government Institutions Higher Education Students on differentdimensions of Attitude Towards Privatisation of Higher Education


Quality Private 09.80 2.67 50 1.89 NS

Government 08.80 2.60 50

Control Private 07.90 2.59 50 1.70 NS


Exploitation Private 06.90 2.12 50 1.78 NS


Welfare Private 08.30 2.41 50 0.80 NS


Composite Private 39.10 4.59 50 0.23 NS



education students differsignificantly in their AttitudeTowards Privatisation of HigherEducation on Quality, Controland Exploitation dimension ofAttitude Towards Privatisationof Higher Education. Generalcourses higher educationstudents are higher on meanvalues.

(a2) Lower group of General courses

and Professional courses highereducation students differsignificantly in their AttitudeTowards Privatisation of HigherEducation. General courseshigher education students arehigher on mean values.

(a3) “Types of Courses” has its

bearing on Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of HigherEducation.

3. (a1) General category and Reserved

category Higher Educationstudents differ significantly intheir Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of HigherEducation on Controldimension of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of HigherEducation. General categoryhigher education students arehigher on mean value.

(a2) Higher Group of General and

Reserved category HigherEducation students differsignificantly in their AttitudeTowards Privatisation of HigherEducation on Controldimension of Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of Higher

Education. General categoryhigher education students arehigher on mean value.

(a3) Lower Group of General and

Reserved Category HigherEducation students differsignificantly in their AttitudeTowards Privatisation of HigherEducation on Quality, Controland Exploitation dimensions ofAttitude Towards Privatisationof Higher Education and also onComposite Attitude. GeneralCategory higher educationstudents are higher on meanvalues.

(a4) “Category” has its bearing on

Attitude Towards Privatisationof Higher Education.

4. (a1) Private and Government

Institutions Higher Educationstudents differ significantly intheir Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of HigherEducation on Control andWelfare dimensions of AttitudeTowards Privatisation of HigherEducation and also onComposite Attitude. PrivateInstitutions higher educationstudents are higher on meanvalues.

(a2) “Types of Institutions” has its

bearing on Attitude TowardsPrivatisation of HigherEducation.

5. Quality, Control, Exploitation andWelfare are the concerns of HigherEducation students (in some way orother) with respect to itsPrivatisation.


REFERENCES1 KRISHNA, D.G. and K.V. RAO. 1992. “Attitude of Teachers Towards Science– A

Study”, The Educational Review, Vol. CI, No. 9, Madras, pp. 211-2142 KUMAR, LALIT. 1994. “A study of the relationship between mathematical

creativity and Attitude towards mathematics among secondary schoolstudents”, Indian Psychological Review, Vol. 42, No.11 and 12, pp. 34-39, Agra Psychological Research Cell, Agra

3 SINGH, N.P. and M. SHARMA. 1995. “Attitude of Muslim ladies towardspopulation education and small family”, The Educational Review, Vol. C,No. 7, pp.115-118, Madras

4 . 1995. “A study of attitude towards mathematics among secondaryschool students in relation to sex”, The Educational Review, Vol.-CI,No. 3, pp. 56-58, Madras

5 . 1996. “A study of Primary school teachers towards mathematics—Astudy”, School Science, Vol.-XXXIV, No. 4, pp. 50-54, NCERT, New Delhi

6 . 1998. “A study of the relationship between attitude towardsmathematics and achievement in mathematics”, International Educator,Vol. 13, No. 1 and 2, pp. 47-49, Thiruvananthapuram

7 . 2003. “Attitude of Student Towards Privatisation of Higher Education:An Empirical Study”, Concepts and Currents Journal, 3rd issue, pp. 34-38, Directorate of Higher Education, Uttaranchal

8 . 2007. “A study of the Attitude of B.Ed. students towards privatisationof Higher Education”, People’s Dialogue on Education Journal, Vol. 1,No. 1, pp. 154-160, Deptt. of Education, Patna University, Patna

9 . 2003. “Attitude of Student Towards Privatisation of Higher Education:An Empirical Study”, Concepts and Currents Journal, 3rd issue, pp. 34-38, Directorate of Higher Education, Uttaranchal

10 GUPTA, P.V. 2003. “Privatisation of Professional Education”, Privatisation ofHigher Education, Association of Indian Universities, pp. 50-54,AIU House, New Delhi

11 KUMAR, LALIT. 2007. “A study of the Attitude of B.Ed. students towardsprivatisation of Higher Education”, People’s Dialogue on EducationJournal, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 154-160, Department of Education, PatnaUniversity, Patna

12 PANDA, SUDHAKAR. 2009. “War against Private Universities in Orissa”,Mainstream, Vol. XLVII, No. 38, pp. 5-6, New Delhi

Introduction

Education is a goal-oriented processwhich continues throughout human life.It is a potent force for the harmoniousdevelopment of the personality of anindividual. Various attributes of humanpersonality like truth, goodness andbeauty may be attained througheducation. In this connection, Gandhijirightly said, “Education is thepreparation for complete living,adjustment to environment, perfection ofone’s nature, character building andharmonious development of personality.”

It has an implication that education hasthe responsibility to develop the qualitiesof hand, heart and head as well astraining in 3R’s, i.e. reading, writing andarithmetic. Reading and writing are basicskills which are equally important for allthe subjects taught to students. That iswhy there should be more emphasis onreading comprehension, vocabularydevelopment and writing skills of thestudents from the vary beginning ofschooling. This will not only strengthenthe linguistic ability of the students butalso enhance the academic achievementin all the subjects like mathematics,

Effectiveness of Peer-tutoring on ReadingComprehension of School Students

in Hindi LanguageMANJU SINGH*

Abstract

The present investigation was intented to study the effectiveness of peer-tutoringstrategy as against conventional method of teaching Hindi language in terms ofstudents’ reading comprehension. The quasi-experimental research design,i.e. pre-test-Post-test control group design was used and the study was conductedon a representative sample of 168 Class VIII students drawn from two schools ofAgra district of Uttar Pradesh. It is evident from the analysis that peer-tutoringstrategy has a significant role in enhancing the level of reading comprehension ofeighth grade students in Hindi language. Further, experimental group studentshave made significan tly higher gains in reading comprehension in comparison totheir counter parts, i.e. conventional group students.

* Senior Lecturer, SRM Institute of Management and Technology (Deemed University) NCRCampus, Delhi-Meerut Road, Sikri Kalam, Modinagar-201204

111Effectiveness of Peer-tutoring on Reading Comprehension...

science, history, geography, etc.including languages taught to them.Therefore, due emphasis is being givenon language development of the childrenfrom the primary stage of schooling.Teachers are doing their best to developlinguistic potential among the childrenby adopting various methods of teachingbut they are not satisfied with theachievement of the students. Perhaps,our teachers stick to the textbook andstereotyped teaching methods till date.These teaching methods are not onlyineffective but also fail to activate theminds of the pupils. The National Policyon Education (1986) criticised theteaching methods adopted in Indianschools by pointing out that by and large,“the methods of teaching are quiteoutmoded. Quite often, these encouragememorising the contents of books andreplication of the expected answers.”This is unfortunate particularly whenthere is a knowledge explosion all round.Hence, participatory learning andteaching, emotion and experience needto have a definite and value place in theclassroom (NCF-2005).

UNESCO Report (1972) pointed outthat “No doubt, the teacher has to importknowledge, but the more importantfunction is to encourage thinking on thepart of the students. He has to devotemore time and energy to productive andcreative activities; interaction;discussion; stimulation; understandingand encouragement”. Hence, there is aneed to identify and try out such amethod through which languagepotential like reading comprehension,verbal ability, etc. could be enhanced.There may be various methods, viz.textbook method, lecture, project,

narration, story telling, individualisedinstruction, peer tutoring, etc. Out ofthese, a method is needed through whichindividual needs of the learner may befulfilled at his own level or potential. Amethod known as peer tutoring fulfillthis criteria where students get fullopportunity to satisfy their individualneed without hesitation becauseteaching is done by his or her ownclassmate. It helps the students not onlyto expose with their mates and meet outthe individual demand but alsostrengthen their confidence. This, freeand fair atmosphere, helps the individualto learn more with their classmate.Hence, there is a need to explain peerrelations and learning as well as themethod so as to know what it is, and howit applied in the classroom situation.

Peer Relations and Learning

Children’s communication with theirpeers has qualities that differ from thequalities of adult-child communication.For example, peer dialogues are usuallymore equal than conversations betweenadult and child; children usually listenmore respectfully to adults than to peersfor information and guidance. Suchdifferences have serious implications forlearning. Educators have become awareof these differences and have begun todesign classroom strategies that bestexploit the learning opportunitiesprovided by both peer and adult-childrelations. This entry discussescontemporary methods for applying thespecial features of children’s peerrelations to their academic learning.

Piaget (1932) in his work on moraljudgement, introduced the notion thatchildren live within “two social worlds,”


one of unilateral adult-child commands,the other of mutual peer cooperation.Developmental psychologists haveelaborated this distinction further(Youniss, 1980; Hartup, 1985). Whereas,adult-child interactions reflect afundamental asymmetry of power andknowledge, peers interact on an equalfooting. This means that adults usuallydirect and structure the agenda in theirconversations with children, whereaschildren negotiate and “co-construct” theagendas of their peer encounters.

Hence, peer tutoring occupies aninstructional ground somewhere betweenadult-child and true peercommunication. Like adult-childinstruction, peer-tutoring is based upona transmission of knowledge model. Thismode assumes that one party knows theanswers and must communicate themto the other party. Knowledge is “passeddown” from person to person in a linearfashion rather than co-constructed bypersons who are both seeking answers.Unlike adult-child instruction, however,in peer-tutoring the expert party is notvery far removed from the novice partyin authority or knowledge: nor has theexpert any special claim to teachingcompetence. Such differences affect thenature of discourse between tutor andtutee because they place the tutee in lessof a passive role than does the adult-child instructional relations. Being closerin knowledge and status, the tutee in apeer relation feels free to expressopinions, ask questions, and riskuntested solutions. The interactionbetween instructor and pupil is morebalanced and more lively when the tutoris a peer (Damon and Phelps, 1989).

Further, peer-tutoring not only helpsin making teaching effective but alsogood the students to trap their talent orabilities and bring out their leavingpotentiality into full play. However, thereis a dearth of empirical evidencesconcerning with the effectiveness of peer-tutoring in Hindi Language in Indianclassrooms setting. The present studyanswers the following basic questions:

(1) Does peer-tutoring in HindiLanguage raises the level of readingcomprehension of the pupils?

(2) Is peer-tutoring more effective thantraditional method of teaching?

So far peer-tutoring is widely usedas a teaching method for learners of allages and all levels, viz. elementary,secondary, higher education, adulteducation and vocational education. Itis most often imparted during or after theregular school hours by someone otherthan the teacher.

Peer-tutoring Strategy: An Overview

Paolitto (1976) traced the historical rootsof peer-tutoring back to the first centuryA.D. when Quintilian noted the practiceof having younger children taught byolder children in his Institution Qratoria.The method was subsequently employedon a limited basis in Germany and Spainin the sixteenth century. Establishmentof peer-tutoring on a formalised andwidespread basis is generally credited toAndrew Bell, a Scotsman, who in the lateeighteenth century established a schoolin Madras, India for orphans of Britishsoldiers and Indian mothers. Bellmodified the ancient Hindu tutoringsystem and in a 1797 report describedthe successful application of individual


and group peer tutoring as a method ofinstruction and discipline. Bell’smethods were enthusiastically adoptedby an English educator, JosephLancaster, who strongly advocated“tutorial” or “monitorial” method ofinstruction. In what came to be calledthe Bell-Lancaster system, professionalteachers instructed older students whoin turn instructed younger ones, withthe younger students teaching stillyounger ones. Although variations of theBell-Lancaster system were adopted byother European countries in the early1800s, popularity of the system wasshort-lived, since increasingly, teachingwas being viewed as a professionrequiring training and talent and moremoney were being devoted to publiceducation. Nevertheless, peer-tutoringwas an accepted practice in the “one-room school-houses” of the early colonialperiod in American history.

Renewed interest in peer-tutoring asa teaching method in the United Statesbegan to be taken in the early 1960s dueto concern over shortages of teachingpersonnel and the belief that somechildren might learn more effectivelyfrom another child than from an adult.One of the first and the most extensiveof the tutoring programmes was the highschool home work helpers programmestarted in 1962-63 in New York City. Inthis programme approximately onethousand 16-18 year-old students servedas paid tutors to approximately sixthousand ninth and tenth graders (age11-15) from disadvantaged backgroundsand with reading problems.

Later on, various researchers studiedthe impact of peer tutoring on reading

comprehension of children and found thatparticipating children gained in readingability or achievement or performance orattitude towards reading. (Nahem : 1978;Stern : 1978; Rogers : 1979; Jones : 1981;Limbrick, and Glynn : 1986; Brown : 1987;Tooping : 1988; Cinbula : 1991; Perry :1991; Baland-Williams : 1992; Leach :1993; Taliver : 1994; Fuchs and Others :1995; Bulter : 1999; and Noell George,et.al. : 2000). However, researchers likeAgris (1979), Bohac (1981), Nevi (1982),Reynolds (1987), and Vaughn, Klinger andBryant (2001) could not observesignificant gain in children reading scoresor word recognition or improvement intheir attitude towards reading.

Objectives of the study

1. To organise and undertake theteaching of Hindi language throughpeer- tutoring at the elementarystage.

2. To study the level of readingcomprehension of students ofexperimental and control groups.

3. To compare the gains accrued inreading comprehension ofexperimental and control groupsafter the experimentation.

Hypotheses

1. Students who are taught throughpeer-tutoring method do not differsignificantly in their readingcomprehension from those taughtthrough traditional method.

2. Gains (accrued) which flow to thepeer-tutored students in theirreading comprehension do not differsignificantly from those tutoredthrough traditional method.


Research Design

In this study, one of the quasi-experimental designs, namely pre-test-post-test-control group design was used.In this design, two parallel, equatedgroups are selected. To have two equatedgroups, randomized group technique isused in which both the groups areselected from a large population usingrandom selection of subjects so thatgroups formed were equal in theircomposition. One of the groups wasknown as Experimental Group (E) andthe other was Control Group (C). Boththe groups were given pre-testcomprising general intelligence, socio-economic status scale (SES) and readingcomprehension test in Hindi Language.During the treatment phase,experimental group was taught throughPeer tutoring while control group wastaught through traditional method.After the experimental treatment, post-test was given on the same set of variable.A schematic brief is presented in Table 1.

Variables

Independent : Peer Tutoringvariables Approach

: Traditional Method.Dependent : Reading Comprehensionvariables in Hindi languageControlled : General Intelligencevariables

: SES: Age: Status and type of

school (Public schools)

Sample

The study aimed at finding out theefficacy of the two methods, viz. peer-tutoring approach and traditionalmethod. Hence, two sections of class VIIIfrom each of the two schools were takenfor the experimentation. Theexperimental and the control groupswere decided by the draw of lots. Thedetail about two groups which were takenas the experimental and the controlgroups are given in Table 2.

TABLE 1Schematic representation of the experimental design

S. Stage Experimental Group Control Group N=84No. N=84

1 Pre-test comprising of the following tests:

1. Raven’s Progressive Matrics

2. Kulshreshta’s SES Scale

3. Reading Comprehension Test

2 Treatment Peer-tutoring Traditional method ofteaching

3 Post-test-Reading Comprehension Test


comprehension test. In this way, thestudents were tested on two occasions,that is, before the treatment and afterthe treatment on same test. This wasdone to see how much the students hadgained as a result of teaching throughpeer tutoring and the traditional method.

Data Collection

The data for reading comprehension wascollected on two occasions; one was pre-test occasion (before the treatment) calledoccasion I and the other was post-testoccasion (after the treatment) calledoccasion II.

Statistical Techniques Used

Following statistical techniques wereemployed to analyze the data:

1. In order to know the nature of thedata, the measure of centraltendency and dispersion like meanand standard deviation (S.D.) wereemployed.

2. Two-tailed test was used to test thenull hypotheses of no differencebetween means of two large andindependent groups.

3. In order to find out the significantdifference between two means,‘t’ ratiowas calculated.

4. For deeper understanding, bardiagrams were plotted wherevernecessary.

Tools Used

The tools employed in this study are listedbelow:1. Raven’s Progressive Matrices2. Kulshreshtha’s SES Scale3. Reading Comprehension Test

Experimentation

The experiment was conducted underthree phases. In the first phase, thestudents of both the treatment groupswere administered readingcomprehension test. After theadministration of this test, the studentswere provided orientation andinstruction about the treatment to begiven to them.

In second phase, regular treatmentwas given to both the groups accordingly.Each of the treatment group was taughtwith a particular method of teaching.The experimental group was taught byadopting the lecture-cum-peer tutoringmethod while the control group wastaught by using the traditional method,the method which is usually applied bytheir teachers in the class, i.e. lecture-cum-book method.

Third phase was the evaluationphase, where the evaluation of readingcomprehension ability was done. For this,the students of both the treatmentgroups were again tested on reading

TABLE 2Number of students in the experimental and control groups

S. Institution Experimental Control Group TotalNo. Group

1 S.R.K. Inter College, Agra 40 40 80

2 R.B.S. Inter College, Agra 44 44 88

Total 84 84 168


Results and Discussion

In order to study the effect of peer-tutoring and traditional method ofteaching on reading comprehension, therelevant data were analysed in term ofmean scores, S.D. and ‘t’ value. Thedetailed analytical description is givenin Table 3. The bar diagram for meanvalue of reading comprehension beforeand after the treatment is plotted inFigure 1.

It is evident from Table 3 that beforethe treatment, experimental and controlgroups were obtaining nearly equal meanscores for reading comprehension. Thecalculated ‘t’ value is 1.30, which isinsignificant at acceptable level ofconfidence. It means, both groups weremore or less same in their performancefor level of reading comprehension. Butafter the treatment, it was observed thatstudents of peer-tutoring group wereachieving higher mean scores (M=12.24)than the students of control group(M=9.76). The calculated ‘t’ value is10.33, which is significant at .01 level ofconfidence. Hence, the hypothesis (Ho

1)

that “students who are taught throughtraditional method do not differsignificantly in their reading

comprehension from those taughtthrough traditional method” is rejected.

It means that students of peer-tutoring group were attaining significantlyhigher level of reading comprehension incomparison to traditional group students.In other words, experimental groupperformed better on readingcomprehension test after treatment thantheir counterparts, i.e. control group.Probably, it is due to the classroomclimate during peer tutoring where theyinteracted in free and fair environmentwhich motivated the students totranslate, interpret and extrapolate thelearning material as per their potential.Moreover, students try to put his/herviewpoint with logic to convince otherswhen they have healthy interaction andcompetition with their classmates. Thissituation helps them to improve theircomprehension in Hindi Language.Similar findings have been reported byTooping (1988), Cinbula (1991), Leach(1993), Fuchs and Others (1996), andNoell et al. (2000) in language other thanHindi. Howover, Agris (1979), Nevi (1982),Reynolds (1987) and Vaughn, Klinger andBryant (2001) could not find thesignificant effect of peer-tutoring on thereading improvement in their studies.

TABLE 3Mean scores, S.D. and ‘t’ value for reading comprehension

of students before and after the treatment

S. Tests Groups N Mean S.D. ‘t’ value SignificanceNo. Scores

1 Pre-test Experimental 84 9.07 2.24 1.30 Not significant

2 Pre-test Control 84 8.64 1.99

3 Post-test Experimental 84 12.24 1.46 10.33 .01 level of confidence

4 Post-test Control 84 9.76 1.70


Comparison of Gains Achieved bythe Experimental and Control Groupsin Reading Comprehension

It is clear from the foregoing discussionthat peer-tutoring strategy has asignificant effect so far as improvementthe reading comprehension of thestudents in Hindi language is concerned.But a careful observation of the resultspresented in the Table 3 indicates thatboth the experimental and control groupstudents are progressing on the variableunder study. Here, the question arisesthat whether the progress shown by boththe groups is due to the maturation of thesubjects under study or it is because ofthe two teaching strategies. To get theabove mentioned doubt resolved, thegains made by the subjects ofexperimental and control groups werecompared variable-wise for both theschools as well as for total scoresaltogether and discussed as under.

The gain scores made by theindividuals of two groups in the pre-testand post-test on reading comprehensionwere compared. The results arepresented in Table 4. The bar diagram

for mean gain scores of readingcomprehension of different groups i.e.,experimental and control, has beenplotted in Figure 2.

Table 4 reveals that both theexperimental groups (experimental groupof R.B.S. Inter College and S.R.K. InterCollege as well as the total sample ofexperiment) made significantly highergains in reading comprehension incomparison to the respective controlgroups, as the ‘t’ values in Table 4 arefound statistically significant. Hence, thehypothesis (Ho

2) that “gains (accrued)

which flow to the peer-tutored studentsin their reading comprehension do notdiffer significantly from those tutoredthrough the traditional method” isrejected. It connotes that students ofpeer-tutoring groups performedsignificantly better than conventionalgroup students. Thus, after eliminationof the individual maturation effects onthe reading comprehension scores, it canbe safe to conclude that peer-tutoring isan effective strategy in raising the levelof reading comprehension of thestudents.

TABLE 4Mean scores, S.D. and ‘t’ value of gain scores for reading comprehension

Schools Experimental Group Control Group ‘t’ value Significance

N Mean S.D. N Mean S.D.

R.B.S. Inter 44 3.05 1.45 44 1.02 0.79 8.12 .01 levelCollege, Agra

S.R.K. Inter 40 3.30 1.38 40 1.33 0.76 7.88 .01 levelCollege, Agra

Total Sample 84 3.17 1.41 84 1.17 0.79 11.11 .01 level


Conclusion

The findings of the study lead to theconclusion that peer-tutoring strategy hasa significant role in enhancing the level ofreading comprehension of the children inHindi language. Further, it may begeneralised that the experimental groupshave made significantly higher gains inreading comprehension in Hindi languagein comparison to the control groups.

Educational Implications

The major educational implications of thestudy are as under:1. Peer-tutoring is a desirable approach

for forestalling student unrest andburgeoning indiscipline in thechanged social milieu of the country,for giving a discipline-orienteddirection to the students’ behaviourpatterns and for raising the level ofeducation, for tackling the emergingsocial, political, educational andeconomic problems. Peer-tutoringcan be considered as a highlydesirable method for triggering theall-round development of thestudents’ personality. It is due to theinbuilt structure and freedom towork in groups where the studentsget so many opportunities to carry outvarious types of activities as tutorsand tutees. It helps them to developtheir potentials because students invarious situations identify theproblems and issues involved in andtake decisions at different occasions.Such exercises broaden the mentalhorizon of students and developconfidence in them.

2. The peer-tutoring method iseminently suitable for inspiringstudents, giving them personaliseddirection, for keeping them fruitfullyoccupied and creatively active, forinculcating in them the ethos of self-discipline, for installing a measureof self-confidence, for channelisingtheir activities into creative paths, forgiving fillip to the regime ofintrospection, development ofarguing and debating skills and forarriving at solutions on their own tothe emerging problems in theteaching and learning situations.

3. It gives students a betterunderstanding of their teachers’problems leading to the improvementof their own classroom behaviour aslisted below:• The tutors are enabled to view the

teaching-learning situation fromthe teachers’ position and thusare led to make the classroomclimate more psychological,congenial and less suppressiveand authoritarian.

• It permits student to put some oftheir own ideas into practice.

• It increases their own knowledgeby requiring them to masterwhat they are teaching and to fillin gaps in their information.

• As tutors, they enjoy anenhanced sense of competenceand personal worth.

• It increases the cognitive abilitiesand raises the level of readingcomprehension in Hindilanguage.


REFERENCES

AGRIS, M.S. 1979. A study to determine the effect of a student programmedtutoring project in first grade reading, (Ed.), Ph.D. Thesis. In DissertationAbstracts International, Vol. 40, No. 6, p. 3105A

BALAND –WILLIAMS, ANNETTE 1992. Improving the reading attitude of early primarystudents through peer-tutoring. In Resources in Education, Vol. 27, No. 7,pp. 527

BEST, J.W. 1963. Research in Education, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, NewJersey

BOHAC, C.A. 1981. Supplementary peer instruction in a title remedial readingprogramme. Ph.D. Thesis. In Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 42,No.7, pp. 153A

BROWN, J.C. 1972. Effect of token reinforcement administered by peer-tutorson pupil reading achievement and tutor collateral behvaiour. DissertationAbstracts International, 32 (7-A). pp. 3775

BROWN, W. 1987. Handicapped students as peer-tutors. In PsychologicalAbstracts. Vol. 75, No. 2, pp. 5656

BULTER, F.M. 1999. Reading partners: Students can help each other learn toread. Education and Treatment of Children, Vol. 22 (4), pp. 415-426

CINBULA, JUNE CLARK. 1991. Implementing strategies in content reading forincreasing reading comprehension of fifth grade students. In Resources inEducation, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 634

DAMON, W. and E. PHELPS, E. 1989. Critical distinctions among three approachesto peer education. International Journal of Educational Research, 13(1).pp. 9-19

FUCHS, DOUGLAS and OTHERS, 1995. “Peer assisted learning strategies: Makingclassrooms more responsive to diversity”, Nash Ville, Vanderbit University.In Resources in Education, Vol. 32, No. 10, pp. 29

GARRETT, H.E. 1986. Statistics in Psychology and Education. Vakils, Feffer andSimons Ltd., Bombay

HARTUP, W.W. 1985. Relationships and their significance in cognitivedevelopment. In R.A. Hinde, A. Perret-Clemont, J. Stevenson-Hinde (Eds.).Social Relationships and Cognitive Development. Oxford University Press,Oxford

JONES, C.P. JR. 1981. “A Descriptive Study of cross-age-peer-tutoring as astrategy for reading improvement in two selected middle schools of theHighland – Michigan School System from 1970 to 1978”. Ed.D. Thesis.In Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 250


KULSHRESTHA, S.P. 1980. Socio-Economic Status Scale for Urban. NationalPsychological Corporation, Agra

LEACH, A. CAROL. 1993. The effect of paired reading program on readingachievement and attitude in third grade classroom. William PatersonCollege, Exit project, 82p. In Resources in Education, Vol. 28, No. 11, pp. 35

LIMBRICK, E. M. S. and TED GLYNN. 1986. “Reading gains for underachievingtutors and tutees in a cross-age tutoring programme”, Journal of ChildPsychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines. In Psychological Abstracts,Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 10355.

MHRD, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 1986. National Policy on Education, New Delhi

NAHEM, JOSEPH. 1978. “The effects of tutoring on reading achievement,self-concept and intellectual achievement, responsibility of sixth gradetutors”. Ph.D. thesis in Education. In Dissertation Abstracts International,Vol. 39, No. 12, Part I, pp. 7248.

NCERT. 2005. National Curriculum Framework, New Delhi

NEVI, C.N. 1982. Cross-age tutoring— The effects on intermediate studentsinvolved as reading tutors. Ed.D. Thesis. In Dissertation AbstractsInternational, Vol. 43, No. 3, Part-A. pp. 666A

NOELL, H., et al. 2000. “Increasing intervention implementation in generaleducation following consultation: A comparison of two follow up strategies”,Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 271-284. InPsychological Abstracts 2001, Vol. 88, No. 1, pp. 344

PAOLITTO, D.P. 1976. The effect of cross-age-tutoring on adolescence: An inquiryinto theoretical assumptions. Rev. Educ. Res., 46, pp. 215-237. In theInternational Encyclopedia of Education, Vol. 9, T-Z, 1985

PERRY, M.J. 1991. “The effects of peer-tutoring intervention programme onthe reading levels of underachieving fifth grade students”. In Resources inEducation, Vol. 26, No. 5

PIAGET, J. 1932. The Moral Judgement of the Child. Free Press, New York

RAVEN, J.C. 1960. Standard Progressive Matrices. Lewis & Co., London

REYNOLDS, E.H. 1987. “Comparison and effects of inverse and traditionaltutoring on reading improvement in 1984-1987”, Combell CountrySecondary Vocational Improvement Programmes. Ed.D. Thesis.In Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 47, No. 10, pp. 3745

ROGERS, J.M. 1979. “The effects of tutoring by sixth graders on the readingperformance of first graders” Ed.D. Thesis. In Dissertation AbstractsInternational, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 1252a

SHARMA, I.S. 1983. A Study in the Comprehensibility of Language Used inScience, Social Science and Language Textbook at Primary Level. NCERT,New Delhi


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Role of Education and Awareness inEmpowering Hill Women of

Uttarakhand about Functioning ofPanchayati Raj Institutions

RAMA MAIKHURI*

Abstract

At present, all over the country, states have delegated powers to Panchayati RajInstitutions (PRIs) in terms of article 243 and the Eleventh Schedule of theConstitution have decentralized governance up to the village level. The activeinvolvement and participation of PRIs and its mandated functions in most of thesectors of rural economy is urgently required which would not only providelivelihood and food security locally but also contribute towards minimising existingpressure on natural resources. The hill women play a significant role in naturalresource management, on which the rural livelihood and the very survival of hillfamilies/communities depend. Despite of that, women have been and still areexcluded from production of and representation in many socio-cultural and politicaldecision making activities. Therefore, there is need to provide detailed informationabout rural development programmes/activities (being executed by the state/centralgovernments and their line departments) and make them empower about rolesand functions of PRIs through education and awareness. The present paperdescribes in detail that how hill women are actively involved in various mandatedactivities of PRIs for hill area development.

Introduction

Two of the significant shifts in India,during the 21st century, have been theincreased attention to the delivery ofpublic services on one hand and greaterdecentralisation of responsibilities fortheir services on the others. Ever since

the Constitution becomes operational,various states have experimented withdifferent models of Panchayati RajInstitutions (PRIs). However, this dreamof Mahatma Gandhi was in true sense,fulfilled in 1992 when the Parliamentthrough the 73rd Amendment providedthe constitutional backing for

* Department of Education HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar (Garhwal)Uttarakhand-246 174

123Role of Education and Awareness in Empowering Hill Women...

establishment and functioning of PRIsfor rural self governance for sustainabledevelopment. The 73rd and 74th

Amendments to the Constitutiontogether would always be remembered forcreating leadership opportunities formillions of men and women at thegrassroots level. It is also proposed that50% reservation would be provided towomen in the PRIs to represent theissues of rural development in the rightperspective so as to achieve the goal ofgood governance at the grassroots levels.

Women serve as the backbone of thehill societies. They represent more than50% of the population living in the hillsand actively participate in the social,cultural and economic activities. Theyare the major contributors to the labourof farming, livestock, domestic and forestresource collections/utilisation systemsetc. They play a significant role in naturalresource management, on which therural livelihood and the very survival ofhill families/communities depend.Despite that, women have been and stillare excluded from production of andrepresentation in many socio-culturaland political decision making activities.Hill women have further challenges toface, they belong to societies that aremarginalized, traditional, and cut off fromthe mainstream societies. Hardships ofliving in remote and far-flung areas,harsh environment, and topographywhich make their tasks more arduousand increasing tendency for men tomigrate for employment is furtherincreasing women’s workloads. But thereis a general lack of appreciation ofwomen’s role and skills in managing andlooking after the responsibilities of their

own families, and are often left out fromthe various capacity building programmeand training in rural development anddecision making processes.

Therefore, there is need to providedetail information about rural developmentprogrammes/activities (being executed bythe state/central governments and theirline departments) and make them empowerabout roles and functions of PRIs througheducation and awareness. Education needto be encouraged as a means of empoweringwomen from grass root level. Educationaland awareness programmes for womenneed to incorporate the mandatedfunctions and responsibility of PRIs forvillage development and thus developcapacity and skill in the field ofenhancement of rural livelihood, leadershipand strategic planning skills as well asconfidence building, role in decision-making in local level governance, etc.Policies need to support mainstream genderissues and acknowledge that women arenot only capable to manage their familiesbut also acquired knowledge of managingtheir resources and environment. Thus, hillwomen need to be involved in PRIs and theirrole need to be ensured in variousprogramme activities that improve theircapacities in addressing the issues relevantto rural development and natural resourcemanagement. Besides, women are also tobe involved in policy making at local,regional and national level and given equalopportunities to participate in decisionmaking that meet norms set out for publicaccountability of including financialaccountability, both upward as well asdownward to the people. Moreover,empowered women play an active role andresponsibility to effectively monitor and


exercise vigilance over the work of theirelected representatives to secure botheffectively gains in service delivery by thePanchayats and promote transparent,responsive and accountable grassrootsdevelopment through grassrootsdemocracy.

Problem, Definition and Concept ofWomen Empowerment

Women and their problems haveacquired a steadily growing importancein our socio-cultural milieu. But eventoday no where women do have equalrights and status with men. Women havealways made a very significantcontribution to their societies, but apatriarchal conspiracy has preventedwomen’s role from receiving its duerecognition (Maria, 1980). Womenempowerment is fast emerging as animportant slogan from the 1990s. Thisslogan is gradually being integrated withthat of participation, advanced sovociferously by many in the late 1970sand 1980s. Over the past two decades,conditions of women have improved.There have been improvement in severaldomains of women’s activity. More andmore women are entering the work force.A greater number of women areovercoming traditional barriers to realizetheir potentials. Yet a gap exists betweenmen and women with respect to overalldevelopment (Padamnabhan, 2001).Although a number of explanations havebeen advanced to account for this gap,the most important part of this analysisserves only academic purposes. Whatappears to be important is the strategyto bridge the gap and to implementcorrective measures and strategies for

women’ development (Neeta, 2000). In thecontext of empowering women, theseveral programme/activities andstrategies have been geared to political,social and economic agenda.

Empowering and Involving Womenin Various Roles and MandatedFunctions of the PRIs

• Women’s roles and services inparticipatory planning anddecision making

Hill women have enormous farmingworkloads than men, shareadditional domestic responsibilitiesand other work jobs. Although theyare increasingly integrated at all levelin the management of familystructure, had only limited successin gaining access and rights to, andparticipation in, decision makingprocesses with the family level.Appropriate technologies to reducethe physical burden of hill womenneed to be designed, improved,tested, implemented anddisseminated using traditional/indigenous knowledge.

• Education, information andcommunication for villagehuman resource management

Illiteracy and lack of access to health-related information affects hill womenmore than men. Education need to beencouraged as a means ofempowering women. Educatedwomen delay marriage, prefer fewerchildren (small family) and more likelyto adopt family planning measures,and understand their rights better. Astrong mechanism need to be


developed to increase grassrootswomen’ participation and provideforum through which they can updatetheir knowledge and advocatecommon interests and concernsrelated to rural development. Besides,educational and skill developmentprogrammes for women need toincorporate managerial and technicalskills, encompass occupationsthought of as men’s domain and majorfocus on development related issues.Access to information about markets,other livelihoods that recognise,utilize and support the diversity of hillenvironment needs to be facilitated.Capacity building activities andplatforms for the sharing ofexperiences and information withother need to be encouraged.

• Natural resource managementand livelihood issues and theirrelevance of environmentalgovernance at the local level

Hills are rich in natural resourcesaside purely for conservation andmanagement can lead to conflictbetween the resource users andauthorities responsible forconservation. Banning the resourcesmay affect the marginal hill societiesdisproportionately, and increase theworkloads for women. Such restrictionon bioresources on which they havetraditional rights over centuries canalso lead to rapid depletion of resourcesas the sense of ownership is lost.

• Women oriented framework,policies and approach in PRIs

Although gender mainstreaming isimportant in developing appropriate

policies in aspects of governance,women focused programme can beuseful in situations in which womenlack a voice, and can helpparticipants build confidence, socialcapital, and skills.

• Capacity and skill developmentin the area of entrepreneurshipand appropriate ruraltechnologies

The involvement of womenrepresentative(s) of PRIs is limitedeven though livelihood improvementis the major goal as listed in themandated functions of PRIs. Thus,enabling access to hill specific simplerural technologies would be partlyabout making more productive,useful technologies available andpartly providing opportunities(institutional, financial, social,micro-credit, skill etc.) that supportaccess to rural women in thesetechnologies linked toentrepreneurships. But buildingwomen’s capacities/skills to makethese choices means not just bringingnew rural technologies to theirdoorstep, but addressing theirorganisational capacities andopening new channels of informationand knowledge. This is particularlyvery important in the hills wherewomen have very limited access tomodern facilities or to secure externalhelp for solving the local problems.Women need to be provided accessto the knowledge and skills neededto plan, operate and manage anenterprise so that they can sustaintheir enterprises with the returns.The training must focus on the


conditions and resources available inthe regions and help promote skills,quality management, and businessdevelopment, market linkages forproducts that acknowledge thecultural and biological diversities ofthe communities.

• Involvement and participation inplanning advocacy and decisionmaking bodies of PRIs

Women have an important role to playin the development of sustainableand environmentally soundproduction and consumptionsystems, but they always remainsidelined when it comes to decisionmaking. Women’ representation needto be ensured in decision makingbodies at all levels of PRIs. They needto be informed about their rights andinvolved in decision making and thedevelopment of the plans for ruraldevelopment, and provided withtraining so that they can overcomethe fear of participating. Formationof hill women’ association need to besupported and facilitated to help inbringing women issues to the forum.They must be given a voice and theirspecific concerns addressed whenformulating policy planninginitiatives.

• Awareness for social securityand functions and programmeactivities of PRIs for ruraldevelopment

For empowering women governmenthave launched several develop-mental schemes/programmes fortheir well being. But it was found thatmajority of the women in rural areas

are not at all aware about theseprogrammes/activities. The majorfocus of all these programmes is tobring them into the mainstream ofdevelopment. The specialprogrammes have been envisagedwith the view to enhance the socio-economic conditions of women in thepaid employment. Therefore,motivating and mobilising them forparticipation in such activities andhelping them to enjoy the fruits oftheir labour, define the holistichuman perspective of a community.

In addition, rural women need tobe made fully aware about thefunctions and roles of PRIs in otherrural development programmessupported by central/stategovernments those are beingexecuted by state/central lineagencies/department in the followingsectors: (a) agriculture, irrigation andwater management, (b) social forestryand forestry, (c) small scale village andcottage industries, (d) rural housing,(e) drinking water, (f) rural roadnetwork, (g) rural electrification andnon-conventional energy sources,(h) poverty alleviation, (i) education,(k) cultural activities, health, familywelfare and sanitation, (l) women andchild development, social welfare,social welfare of weaker sections/SC/ST/youth, and (m) public distributionsystem, etc.

• Effective participation ofwomen in local levelgovernance through PRIs

The hill regions require basicstructure and support systems tobring about fair, transparent and


good governance. Unfortunately thisis totally lacking in most of theregions. Women at grassroots levelneed to be empowered and theircapacities to be developed. The socialand political frameworks to bedeveloped to encourage initiatives bylocal communities. There is a needto further devolve and define rolesand functions, empower and developcapacities of district and grassrootslevel institutions particularly atPanchayat level. On the basis of theprinciple of sharing, participation ofwomen groups at different levels indecision-making and implemen-tation, is extremely relevant for therural development governance.Governance is about a process thatincludes formal government but alsoembraces a wider notion of all thoseagencies and stakeholders that playa role in the control of individuals andgroups in society.

Conclusion

Rural development issues need to besegregated in a manner ensuringeffective interventions are made at theappropriate level. Women have alwayshad a central role in managing andoperating in most of the householdactivities in the rural areas of the hills.Their activities also maintained theessential linkages between the forest,livestock and agriculture. The role ofwomen merits special recognition andconsideration in development. In recentyears, however, environmentaldegradation, poor resource manage-ment, and increased migration of mento plains have deteriorated food securityand added more workload of women.

Women are much more inclined thanmen to attend educative and trainingcourses. After having been isolated fromthe development and communication forcenturies, they are more curious thantheir male counterparts, more generousand more open to new ideas. The gapbetween knowledge and action, betweeninformation and implementation haswidened. In order to better address theissues relevant to hill women, it isnecessary to understand the status ofwomen compared to men and tostrengthen women’s roles in integratedrural development. Thus relevantinformation in various areas such asproper education, training and skilldevelopment in rural developmentprogrammes/activities facilitation,information and opportunities need tobe made available or provided to ruralwomen. There are reasons for whichany social policy for the hills hopes tosucceed must be able to cope with theneeds and desire of women, which canno longer be ignored or underestimated.Active participation of women ingrassroots planning will bring about thedesired transformation of the region bydeveloping suitable options of livelihoodenhancement that would leads towardsprosperity.

Encourage and facilitate womengroups at village level to restructurethe system of self-government at thePanchayat level to achieve theconstitutional objective of making theminstitutions of self-government.Although, strengthening is required atall levels. The weakest link seems tobe the local level in rural developmentrelated governance issues. An effective


local level unit of governance could belocated at the district. Whilestrengthening the various institutions,there is a need to have a paradigm shiftin personal and administrativepolicies. All the policies andprogramme should lead to quantifiableimprovement in rural developmentquality. In fact all the agencies haveto have cross-sectoral concerns intheir developmental agencies. In fact,good governance with regard to rural

development and bioresourcemanagement is difficult to attain unlessthere is an equally effective overallgovernance structure. An improvedrural sector governance andimplementation of effective povertyalleviation programmes could be steptowards this goal. Re-engineering ofvarious process and an effective use ofmodern information could also lead toan improved rural development relatedempowerment and governance.

REFERENCES

MIES MARIA. 1980. Indian Women and Patriarchy. Concept Publishing Company,New Delhi

PADAMNABHAN, B.S. 2001. “Women Empowerment in Farm Sector”. Yojana, 45(1)

SOBHA, I. 2001. “Women in Agriculture: A Case Study”. Yojana, Vol. 45

THAPLIYAL, B.K., B.K. SASTRY, and R.R. SLATER. 1994. Economic Development ofRural Women, NIRD. pp. 23. Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad

THPAN, NEETA. 2000. Need for Women Empowerment, Rawat Publication, Jaipur

Reorientation of TeachersTeaching in Rural Areas

ROOP N. KABRA*

Abstract

There is need of the teachers for providing proper school education in rural areas.Many field experience reveal that teachers often focus on the urban and feelcomfortable in urban areas. It is necessary for the teachers to play a vital role inbringing awareness to the rural areas. As a democratic society we needinterdependency among the people in sharing the ideals, institutions andexperiences. Developing countries like India needs to develop proper linkagesbetween rural-urban educational settings so that it will bring equity in the society.

During most of my service period I haveserved as a teacher purely in rural areas.So I am a bonafide rural teacher and tomy mind there is no educational work ofgreater importance for the welfare of theIndian people than the preparation ofteachers for the rural areas of thecountry. The vast majority of our peoplelive in villages, where the standard of lifeis so low that the role of the rural teacheris not only that of an educator of thechildren who come to his school but alsothat of a torch-bearer to the entire ruralpopulation. Potentially, the rural teacheris the true creator of his people. But towhat extent is he so in reality? Whatefforts are being made to prepareteachers who can effect a ‘silent socialrevolution’ in rural India, a revolutionthat will make the country safe fordemocracy, peace and happiness?

Formerly, only knowledge of three R’swas expected from the primary schoolteachers. But now the real function ofthe village teachers is much more vitaland significant. The task of the villageschool like that of the urban school is toprovide such educational experiences aswill prepare boys and girls for a moreabundant life; physical, economic, social,moral and spiritual. The task of thevillage teacher, like that of the urbanteacher, is to assist the children to growand develop mentally, physically, morallyand spiritually. What then, distinguishesthe village school from the city school,and the task of the village teacher in ourcountry from that of the urban teachers?

Broadly speaking, the distinguishingelements are two; one is the need to relatethe education of the village child to hisnatural environment, within which it

* Lecturer in English (Retd.), — Kishore Kutir, A-438, Vaishali Nagar, Jaipur-302 021


must prepare him to live effectively. Theyounger generation of the villages mustbe taught the occupation of their parentsand the crafts of the locality, of course,with better understanding and improvedtechnique. They must be made to realizethe importance of better and improvedlife. They must be taught spinning,weaving, tailoring or other moreproductive works like making chalk, ink,tooth powder, soap and hair oil, etc. andcomputer education, so that they canenjoy their leisure usefully. They mustbe taught to have clean, cheerful andcomfortable and yet simple and cheaphouses with an abundance of sunshineand fresh air and a proper drainage ofwater. They must be impressed with theneed of beautifying their houses withgardening and vegetation. Besides thesematerial values, they must also be taughtthe extremely important lesson of thriftand self-sufficiency on the one hand andcooperation and service on the other. Toachieve all these values it is importantto make the village schools rural in toneand teachers rural minded. Secondly,there is the nature and extent ofcontribution they have to make to theentire life of the community. Restoringcottage industries is possible. Fosteringthe value of recreation to break themonotonous drudgery of their lives isalso essential. Diseases can be preventedeven without doctor if we takeprecautions or preventive measures.

As agriculture and rural educationare interdependent, the village teacherand his school should be an importantchannel through which suggestions forthe improvement of agriculture can flow.A well-informed teacher can acquaint his

pupils as well as help their affairs wisely.The most valuable thing is to lead itspeople to help themselves actively fortheir own progress. There again theteacher has a role as a guide and a friend.It means that the school as a cooperativebody of teachers and older pupils shouldbe a live community centre for the wholevillage radiating light and happiness allaround. The reform of village life and ofmoral education depends upon securingthe right kind of teachers who arepurposeful and resourceful, who areimbued with the spirit of service, whopossess minds that are awake andgrowing, flesh that active and faith thatis dynamic and who have beenadequately prepared for rural teachingand moral uplift. It is the task of theinstitution engaged in teacher trainingto select and to prepare such teachersfor work in the rural schools.

The main responsibility in thisreorientation programme is that of theteacher training institutions. Teachersfrom rural background must be expectedto go and serve their areas and thisgroup of teachers should be given specifictraining to deal with the problemsparticular to rural areas. For example,• the language teachers must be

trained for adult educationtechniques;

• science teachers must be givenpractical training to handlemachines and tools common tovillages, e.g. the water-pump, electricmotors, diesel and oil engines (flourmills, etc.)

• the civics teachers must be wellversed with the Nyaya Panchayatrulings and its functioning. Heshould be accepted as an advisor;

131Reorientation of Teachers Teaching in Rural Areas

• some teachers must be given perfectfirst-aid training;

• the P.T.I must be trained to know anddevise games, functions, festivals andprogrammes suitable to the village;

• above all a spirit to work withdevotion and dedication be infusedin the teachers and the headmastersto serve these areas. The traininginstitution must serve as afountainhead of inspiration and zealand establish in them a taste to workin the rural set-up contrary to theusual apathy and distaste for rurallife.

School an Institution

School should become an institution forthe improvement of agriculture and rurallife as well as for the teaching; the aimmust be:1. to teach the dignity of labour and

cultivate the school and the home;2. to develop a habit of accurate and

patient observation as opposed tohasty deductions;

3. to develop an intelligent and activeinterest in the main occupation of therural population;

4. to give the teachers the necessarybackground for ruralreconstructional work and to developthe habit of reading literature onagriculture, local history, local folk-tales, local geography (soil andclimate), village panchayat (actualworking, powers, duties, election andadvantages), hygiene and everydayscience;

5. extra-curricular activities such asYoung Farmers Club, ExcursionClub, Village Games Club,

Cooperative Society, and CommunityWelfare, etc. must be taken up.

For the growth of democracy in Indiathe teachers must be alive to theproblems of the community which theyhappen to serve through the school. Theteachers should be familiar with at leastthe following parts of the community:

1. Population (number andcomposition)

2. Housing3. Industries and occupation4. Employment opportunities5. Welfare agencies6. Reception centres7. Political make-up8. Cultural make-up and religious life9. Tax rate and taxable resources

10. Possibility of exploiting communityresources for classroom purposes

11. Attitudes of the community towardsthe school

12. Needs and problems of the children13. Home lives of the pupils14. Computer literacy

Much of the above information maybe had by living and being a part of thecommunity. The teacher’s behaviour inthe community is of paramountimportance. Our democratic society is achain of interdependent people,institutions, ideals and experiences.Teachers must remember that ‘a schoolroom is a sociological laboratory in whichthey are to solve the problems of humanrelations. Teaching is hard work. In factthe task is never done.’

Should the curriculum of primaryschools and secondary schools in urbanand rural areas be different or should itbe uniform throughout the country? But


surely, the teachers for the rural schoolsbe trained specially to assimilate a ruralbackground and to imbibe the ideals ofsocial work and activity methods ofteaching. Activity methods which providework experience and emphasisecooperative action between pupils areseen to be suited for schools intended tohelp community development. Teachersoccupy a pivotal position in anyeducational system, so that the successand failure of schools and particularlyrural schools, depend largely on them;teachers for rural schools have to besuitably trained in institutions having aproper rural setting and concentratingon a study of rural environment andsocial service.

Some people may object to thedifferentiation between rural and urbanschool curricula and consequently to asimilar differentiation in teachertraining, and argue that such policy isdetrimental to national unity. Whilesaying this they quite forget that thereis already a wide gulf between the urbanand the rural set-up and it is towardsfillings this that we propose thisdifferentiation. They point out that adifferent rural school curriculum heavilycharged with practical work would tendto block the progress of rural child whowants to enter secondary or other formsof post-primary education, while ruralparents often object to having a specialrural programme which might endangerthe progress of their children in furthereducation.

But these are all vague fears.Industrial countries, where good roadsexist, where rural communities areadvanced, and where even agriculturehas become a form of industry, may feelthat the gap is so reduced between town

and country that there is no morejustification for differentiated ruralschool curricula and rural teachertraining, except in minor adaptations.Countries like India where farmers livea destitute life of disease and poverty,may feel, on the other hand the ruralschools and consequently the ruralteachers must be dedicated to improvingthe life of the village communities, andthus may decide on a special ruralteacher training programme.

Another problem is the isolation ofthe rural teacher; not only the physicalisolation of distance from a big city butalso the discomfort of poor andunhealthy housing, the lack of medicalcare, the lack of a regular supply of suchthings as fruits, milk, and vegetables, notto mention books, magazines, internetfacilities and the broadening contactswith the outside world. Attempts mustbe made to grant additional allowancesto rural teachers placed in remotedistricts and to provide them withhousing accommodation. Teacherstherefore, tend to avoid rural service. Notonly are teachers with a city backgroundaverse to service in the villages, but eventhe teachers coming from the rural areas,educated in urban centres, have beenknown to be unwilling to go back to thevillages. Teachers from the rural stockare to be trained in the ruralenvironment itself.

Conclusion

To sum up, the following points have tobe emphasised upon for proper andefficient reorientation:

1. The right selection of teacherskeeping in view the rural the ruralneeds and their bias.

133Reorientation of Teachers Teaching in Rural Areas

02. The development of aptitude andspirit to work with dedication for theuplift of the villages.

03. Right, useful and suitable trainingto suit rural requirements.

04. Follow-up work to be carried out bythe headmaster.

05. Rewards and punishments.06. Rural allowances.07. Library, full of life and utility to all

equipped with xerox, computer andnet services and phone, etc. in ruralschools.

08. The P.T.I. to know and devise gamesand functions suited to rural folks.

09. The village Sarpanch, the H.M. andthe Department must coordinateeffectively.

10. Common rural expectations as givenbelow should never be lost sight of;(i) First-aid(ii) mechanical knowledge and

handling of common tools

(iii) tips on good farming(iv) Panchayat working(v) suitable recreations(vi) housing, drainage and

architecture(vii) Computer literacy

11. Radio and TV to serve towardsestablishing a good rapport betweenthe school and the community.

12. Developing faith and interest of thecommunity towards schools.

And in this way the teacher maybring about the ‘silent-social revolution’and our villages may prosper anddevelop. The extra finance for rewardsand encouragements in the shape ofrural allowances will have to bearranged. It would have to be givenspecial status and then only the gap willbe filled. The teachers serving in the ruralareas are the best personnel forminimising the gulf between rural andurban life.

History of Missionary’s Education in AssamALI AHMAD*

SAYEEDUL HAQUE**

Abstract

The missionaries are regarded as the founders of modern system of education inIndia by many scholars including northeastern region. Many British and AmericanChristian Missionaries started working to promote education and well being ofpeople of Assam especially the local tribes as early as 1626 A.D. They alsoestablished English medium schools in town and urban areas. Besides theyestablished boarding schools for destitudes, orphans and girls. They workedtowards the promotion of vernacular schools as well as for the upliftment of thetribal areas of Assam. In the post Independence period their work in Assam wasnot only confined to its educational efforts but it has extended its activities invarious other spheres of life. In the last quarter of the twentieth century someimportant developments took place in the functioning for missionary in Assam.

History of Missionary’s Education inIndiaThe Portuguese Missionaries can well beregarded as the founders of modernsystem of Education in India. “Among theearliest Missionaries to arrive, and thebest known among them, was aPortuguese, namely, St. Francis Xavier,who arrived India in 1542 A.D.”1 In 1575,he founded a University, i.e. St. AnneUniversity, at Bandra, near Bombay andestablished a press at Cochin. Another

Portuguese religious Missionary wasRobert De Nobili, whose services in thecause of Christianity were remarkable.“The Portuguese established the firstJesuit College in 1575 at Goa. In 1580,more colleges were established at Goaand other places too.” 2

In the beginning of the seventeenthcentury the Dutch also established theirtrading companies in India. They startedtheir commercial centres at Chinsuraand Hoogli in Bengal. There, they

* Professor, Department of Education, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202 002 (U.P.)** Research Scholar, Department of Education, Aligarh Muslim University (U.P.)

1 DODWELL, H. H., The Cambridge Shorter History of India, Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, U.K., 1938, p. 391.

2 MAHAJAN, V. D. and MAHAJAN, SAVITRI,: British Rule in India and After, S. Chand and Co., NewDelhi, India, 1968, p.7.

135History of Missionary’s Education in Assam

established some schools for theeducation of the children of company’semployees. The Indian children too wereallowed to study in these schools. Theypreached the tenets of the ProtestantsChurch among the Christians througheducational institutions. They extendedthe sphere of their activities even uptoCeylon. “The French established theirfirst trading company in India in the year1664. They opened their factories atMahe, Yaman, Karaikol, Chandranagarand Pondicherry.”3 At these places, theystarted their schools too. Theyestablished a secondary school atPondicherry where French language wastaught. “In 1659, the Court of Directorsof the East India Company declared theirearnest desire by all possible means topropagate the Gospel, and allowedMissionaries to embark on their ships.”4

“In 1670, they made inquiries about theeducation of children of Fort St. Georgeat Madras and in 1673, appointed aScotch preacher named Pringle to teachthe children of Portuguese and BritishEurasians.”5

The above discussion indicates theinitial stages of Missionary’s educationalenterprise in India. In the beginning, theMissionaries had to pass throughvarious stages of ups and downs andgradually their educational institutionsspread all over the country.

The State of AssamAssam is one of the North-Eastern statesof India. Its capital is Dispur, a suburbof Guwahati city in Kamrup district. Itcomprises of three natural divisions, viz.,the Brahmaputra River valley, the BarakRiver Valley and the Karbi Anglong andthe North Cachar Hills with an area of78,438 square kilometres. “Assam isconnected to the rest of India by a narrowstrip in West Bengal popularly known asthe Chickens Neck”.6 It also sharesinternational borders with Bhutan andBangladesh.

“The word ‘Assam’ as interpreted bysome scholars is derived from the nameof ‘The Ahoms’, the dynasty that ruledthe land for six hundred years prior toits annexation by the British.”7

Assam comprises of 3.7% Christianpopulation. According to the NationalCensus of 2001, the Christian populationis 9,86,589 out of the total populationof 26,655,528. The literacy rate ofAssam’s Christian population is 56.4%which is remarkably low in comparisonto the national norm of Christian literacy,i.e. 80.3%.

“The low rate of literacy amongChristians of Assam is due to the factthat Christian population of Assam islargely made up of tea garden labourersand ex-tea garden labourers chieflydrawn from Bihar, Orissa and Andhra

3 MAHAJAN, V. D. and MAHAJAN, SAVITRI, op.cit., p.7.4 VAKIL, K. S. and S. NATARAJAN : Education in India, Allied Publishers,Calcutta, India,

1966, p. 48.5 Law, N. N., op.cit., pp. 11-12.6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam;7 SRIVASTAVA, DAYAWANTI and MOHAN CHANDAK, India 2008, A Reference Annua, Publication

Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, New Delhi,2008, p. 388.


i.e. they comprise of 80% of theChristians in Assam.”8

Assam is consisting of twenty seven(27) districts. These are:

Districts in Assam

1. Tinsukia, 2. Dibrugarh, 3. Sibsagar,4. Dhemaji, 5. Jorhat, 6. Lakhimpur, 7.Golaghat, 8. Sonitpur, 9. Karbi Anglong,10. Nagaon, 11.Marigaon,12.Darrang,13. Kamrup Rural, 14. Nalbari, 15.Barpeta, 16.Bongaigaon, 17.Goalpara,18. Kokrajhar, 19.Dhubri,20. NorthCachar Hills, 21.Cachar,22.Hailakandi23. Karimganj, 24. Kamrup Metropolitan,25. Baksa, 26. Chirang and 27. Udalguri.

Missionary’s Education in Assam

The Christian Missionaries landed inAssam in as early as 1626 A.D. “TwoCatholic Portuguese Jesuit Missionaries,Cabral and Cacella reached Hajo andGuwahati as travellers on September 26,1626 A.D., on their way to Tibet fromHoogly.”9 Though they didn’t settle downin Assam yet, they were considered to bethe first Christian Missionaries to set footin Assam.

“Assam came under the British rulein February 24, 1826, after the treaty ofYandaboo was signed between theBritish and Burmese, when the latter

was defeated at the hand of the Britisharmy.”10 It was only after 1826, that theMissionary educational effort started inAssam. From the very beginning of theBritish rule in Assam, Missionaryactivities were favoured by theGovernment. David Scott, who was thefirst agent to the Governor–General inNorth East Frontier, encouraged theestablishment of a Mission in Guwahati,the chief station (Headquarter) of theprovince, and he also urged forestablishing a Mission school there. “In,1829, the Baptist Missionary Society(B.M.S) or the English Baptists startedtheir activities in Assam by opening abranch of Serampore Mission inGuwahati on the request of Scoot.”11

Simultaneously, the Guwahati MissionSchool was founded at the initiative ofMr. Adam White, Assistant to theCommissioner in Lower Assam.

“Robertson, the successor of Scott,during his short administration (April1832 – January 1834) was more occupiedin the administrative work, and hadhardly anytime to do somethingregarding the propagation of Gospel. Mr.Francis Jenkins, the next Commissionerof Assam was much interested inevangelical activities.”12 He felt that thebackward hill people were really in need

8 RAO, O. M., Focus on North East Indian Christianity, Indians Society for Promotion,Christian Knowledge (ISPCK), Delhi, India, 1994, p. 52.

9 Catholic Directory of India, St. Paul’s Publications, Bangalore, India,(2005-2006), p. 601.

10 TAHER, M. and P. AHMED. Geography of North-East India, Mani Manik Prakash, Guwahati,Assam, India, 2001, p. 5.

11 SWORD, V. K., Baptists in Assam, Macmillan & Co., Chicago, U.S.A., 1935,p. 36.

12 BARKATAKI, M. S., British Administration in North East India (1826-74), Mittal Publications,Delhi, India, 1985, p. 88.


of a spiritual reformation and education.With this object in view, he sent aninitiation to Reverend W.H. Pearce, of theBritish Missionary Society in Calcutta.“But instead of sending BritishMissionaries, Reverend Pearce suggestedthat the American Baptist Missionary,already working in Burma, had aninterest to work among the Shans (aMongoloid hill tribe of Assam), andtherefore, they should be invited toAssam.”13 Accordingly, two AmericanMissionaries, Reverend Nathan Brownand Reverend Oliver Cutter were askedto proceed to Sadiya, a town in UpperAssam. “In September 1835, theyreached Calcutta with their families.After a tedious journey of four months inthe river Brahmaputra, these twoMissionaries reached Sadiya on the 23rd

March 1836.”14 “They were the firstAmerican Missionaries to land in Assam,and under their supervision a schoolhouse was built and classes started inJune 1836.”15 Thus, simultaneously, twoMissions started their work in Assam,one in Guwahati, Lower Assam under theBritish Missionary Society (B.M.S.), abranch of the Serampore Mission, andthe other at Sadiya, Upper Assam underthe American Baptist Mission.

In April 1838, Bronson moved toJaipur, a place near Sadiya in Assam-Nagaland border with his family. In

Jaipur, Bronson found that the Nagas,one of the local tribes, to be morepromising for Missionary works than theother hills tribes and decided to workamong them. “In 1839, the Home Boardsent Cyrus Barker, another Missionaryto Jaipur to work among the Nagas.”16

But the Missionary’s life at Sadiya wasnot safe due to frequent aggression of theKhamtis (a local tribe of Sadiya region).Soon, they found that Sadiya was not theproper place to teach the Shans, andtheir attention was naturally turned tothe people of the plains. Moreover, Barkerintended much to work among theAssamese of the plains where, he wasconfident that the Missionaries would besuccessful in their schemes. So, Barkerwanted a place where Assamesepopulation was more, and from this pointof view he decided to settle down atSibsagar, a town in Central Assam. “On24th May, 1841, Barker shifted toSibsagar and established a Missionthere.”17 Reverned Brown followed him.As a result, Bronson was no moreencouraged by them to stay at Sadiya.“Finally Bronson, too, gave up the work,and came to Nowgong in October 1841at the suggestion of Jenkins, and starteda Mission there.”18 By the end of 1843,the Missionaries were fully establishedat Sibsagar, Nowgong and Guwahati. “InDecember 1845, the first Baptist Church

13 GAMMEL, WILLIAM A. M., History of American Baptist Mission, Boston, U.S.A., 1850, p. 212.14 BARKATAKI, M. S., op.cit., p. 89.15 CHAKRAVARTY, ARCHANA, History of Education in Assam (1826-1919), Mittal Publications,

Delhi, India, 1989, p. 125.16 DOWNS, F. S., The Mighty Works of God , L.B.H. Publication, Guwahati, Assam, India,

1971, p.2317 Ibid, p. 28.18 GAMMEL, WILLIAM A. M., op.cit. p. 219.


was opened at Guwahati. By January1845, Brown and Oliver Cutterestablished fourteen schools under theSibsagar Baptist Mission.”19 Theylearned English, simultaneously, withtheir vernacular studies. “Theaggressiveness of hill tribes was absentin Brahmaputra valley but the realopposition came mostly from theAssamese Brahmins, who became agreat obstacle to the flow ofevangelization.”20 The opposition from theBrahmins were confronted in all thethree centres, viz. Guwahati, Nowgongand Sibsagar.

Apart from these, for the orphansand destitutes, boarding schools wereestablished in Nowgong, Guwahati andSibsagar. “In 1844, Miles Bronsonestablished an orphan school at Nowgongwith the contribution from the Englishresidents of Assam.”21 In addition to this,he also established two English schools,one in Nowgong and the other in theKhasi-Jayantia Hills. The NowgongMission School was also established byMiles Bronson in 1846.

The American Baptists had the creditof starting the first school for girls inAssam. “In 1844, the first school of thiskind was established at Sibsagar by Mrs.Cutter and Mrs. Brown. This wasfollowed by two other girl schools atNowgong and Guwahati.”22 “In 1946,

three years after their settlement atSibsagar, the American BaptistMissionaries started the publication ofa native monthly newspaper ArunudoiSambad Patra from the Sibsagar BaptistMission press. It was the first vernacularnewspaper in Assamese and ReverendO.T. Cutter was its first editor.”23

During the famous languagecontroversy of Assam, which startedafter the Despatch of 1854, when theGovernment tried to impose Bengali asthe state language and medium ofinstruction in schools against the will ofthe native Assamese people. TheMissionaries wholeheartedly supportedthe native’s cause and also tried toreplace the then prevailing Bengali withlocal Assamese at the law courts andschools. “Reverend Brown and O.T. Cutterproduced in 1836, the First AssameseSpelling Book for use in their schools. In1839, Robinson published a grammarbook in Assamese; in 1848, Brownpublished Grammatical Note inAssamese.”24 “In 1867, ReverendBronson after a hard labour of 12 yearspublished an Anglo-Assamese dictionaryfrom the Baptist Mission press ofSibsagar.”25

The Revolt of 1857 brought about aradical change in the policy ofGovernment towards Missionaries in thewhole country. They were considered

19 BARKATAKI, M. S., op.cit., p. 97.20 SWORD, V. K., op.cit. 72.21 GAMMEL, WILLIAM A. M., op.cit., p. 223.22 CHAKRAVARTY, ARCHANA, op.cit., p. 129.23 CHAKRAVARTY ARCHANA, op.cit., p. 59.24 Assam District Gazetteer, Sibsagar, Revised edition, Government of Assam, Shillong,

India, 1967, p. 387.25 BARKATAKI, M. S., op.cit. p. 11.


responsible to a great extent for theunfortunate happenings. But theGovernment of Assam, however, thoughtthat the teaching of the Bible or any otherholy scripture was not objectionable andharmful, particularly, in a hill state likeAssam.

The Missionaries also directed theirattention to the backward remote areasof the plains as well. In 1857, the ChurchMissionary Society opened some schoolsin the district of Darrang to educate theKachari, Mikir and other non-Aryantribes confined to that area. Theseschools were placed under themanagement of Reverend C.H.Hesselmeyer, Superintendent of theTezpur Church Mission.

The above discussion gave a clearpicture that the Baptist Missionarieswere the torch-bearer of the Moderneducation in Assam. They renderedunique service towards the promotion ofvernacular schools and also for theupliftment of the tribal areas of theregion.

But, since 1850, the CatholicMissionaries from different Europeancountries also became actively involvedtowards educational upliftment of theregion. At present, most of theMissionary schools in Assam are underthe supervision of the CatholicMissionaries. As discussed earlier thatthe Catholics Missionaries were first tohave landed in Assam in as early as1626, but the Catholic’s educationalenterprise in Assam began only during

the later part of the nineteenth century,when “In June 1850, Father RobinBourry, Krick and Bernardi of theInstitute of the Foreign Missions of Parisreached Guwahati.”26 Father Robin triedto learn Assamese and established acentre at Bongia, a place near Guwahati.Father Krick proceeded to Nowgong andfrom there to Dibrugarh with theintention of going to Tibet. “Father Krickwas the first Catholic Missionary to reachDibrugarh, on September 6, 1851.”27 InFebruary 1854, while trying to make theirway to Tibet along the Lohit River, aMishmi (A tribe in Upper Assam) Chiefkilled Father Krick and Father Bourry.In 1860, Mr. Mercier, the Arch Bishop ofDacca is known to have visitedDibrugarh. In 1870, Assam was made apart of the Prefecture Apostolic(Catholic’s Regional Headquarters) ofKrishnagar, of West Bengal, which wasentrusted to the Foreign Missionaries ofMilan (Italy). “Mr. Jacopo Broy, of theInstitute of the Foreign Missions of Milantook up residence in Guwahati andlooked after the entire ‘Assam Missions’from this central place. Soon, he went toNowgong where he built a small church.In Guwahati, he built a brick church in1883.”28 In February, 1890, the GermanSalvatorian Missionaries reachedGuwahati. Father Gallus Schrole andRudolph Fontaine, of the GermanSalvatorian Mission were the two greatCatholic Missionaries of Assam Valley.

By this time, many Catholics fromChota Nagpur came to Assam to work in

26 “Catholic Directory of India”, op.cit., p. 601.27 Ibid, p. 479.28 Ibid, p. 601.


the tea gardens of the state. “In 1889,the Prefecture Apostolic of Assam wascreated with headquarters at Shillong,and was entrusted to the GermanSalvatorian Fathers. With the outbreakof World War I, the German SalvatorianFathers were forced to return to theircountry and Jesuits of Calcutta lookedafter Assam till it was entrusted to theSalesians of Don Bosco (Italy) in 1921.”29

In 1922, the Salesians of Don Boscoarrived in North East. This was regardedas the turning point towardsdevelopment of Missionary’s SecondarySchools in Assam. At present, most ofthe Missionary Schools in Assam areunder the supervision of Salesians ofDon Bosco. From 1923, Father Piaseckilooked after the whole of Assam valleyfrom his headquarter at Guwahati. It wasfrom Guwahati that the Missionary worksin upper Assam, Tezpur, Garo Hills andBhutan were started. Some of the firstCatholic Missionaries of Manipur andNagaland had studied at Guwahati. “In1931, Father Piasecki opened theDibrugarh Mission.”30

In the post Independence period, theMissionary’s work in Assam was not onlyconfined to its educational efforts. But,instead, it has extended its activities inthe various spheres of social services likeestablishment of Vocational andTechnical Institutes for orphans,boarding for working girls and women,old-aged homes, crèches, hospitals,dispensaries, press and publicationsunits, etc. But these Missionaryinstitutions flourished full when the

Catholic Missionaries through their wellorganized administrative systemestablished their institutions in everynook and corner of the state.

At present, the whole of theMissionary activities in Assam iscontrolled by its headquarter inGuwahati, which is called the‘Archdiocese of Guwahati.’ It is headedby the ‘Archbishop’ and under hisleadership the whole of the Missionarywork in entire Assam is controlled andgoverned. This ‘Archdiocese’ is furtherdivided into sub-headquarters known as‘Diocese’ and, at present, in Assam thereare four ‘Diocese’ under ‘Archdiocese’ ofGuwahati. These are (a) Diocese ofDibrugarh, (b) Diocese of Tezpur,(c) Diocese of Diphu, and (d) Diocese ofBongaigaon.

Each of these Dioceses has a uniquehistory of development which is brieflydiscussed in the following paragraphs.

In 1951, the Diocese of Shillong,which was then the headquarter of theMissionary work in Assam was bifurcatedand the Diocese of Dibrugarh was createdwith Reverend O. Marengo, as the FirstBishop. “On 10th May, 1964, His HolinessPope Paul VI visited Tezpur, and theDiocese of Shillong was once againdivided and the Diocese of Tezpur wascreated and Reverend O. Marengo, whowas then the Bishop of Dibrugarh wastransferred to Tezpur and on August 23,1964, he became its first Bishop.”31 In1969, Shillong Diocese was raised to thestatus of Metropolitan See (district underthe Archbishop) and a new Ecclesiastical

29 Ibid, p. 1075.30 Ibid, p. 601.31 Ibid, p. 479.


Province (Arch Diocese) of Shillong–Guwahati was created and ReverendHubert D’ Rosario was transferred fromDibrugarh to Shillong as its first ArchBishop. The Archdiocese of Shillong–Guwahati was divided again in 1973 toform the Diocese of Tura (in Meghalaya).The next division of Shillong–GuwahatiArchdiocese led to the creation of Diphudiocese on 5th December 1983, detachingthe district of Karbi Anglong from theArchdiocese of Shillong–Guwahati anddistrict of North Cachar Hills from theDiocese of Silchar. Most Reverend MathaiKochuparampil was appointed as thefirst Bishop of this new Diocese.

Further bifurcation of Shillong-Guwahati Archdiocese was made in 1992with the creation of Guwahati Diocese.“Pope John Paul II erected the Diocese ofGuwahati on 30 March, 1992. TheArchdiocese of Guwahati was erected byPope John Paul II on 1st August, 1995.”32

The Diocese of Bongaigaon was carvedout of the Archdiocese of Guwahati in2000, and it consists of Baksa, Barpeta,Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dhubri, Kokrajhar,and Nalbari districts of lower Assam thatcovers the surface area of 13,630 sq.km.

One of the most important aspects ofthe Missionary’s work in entire NorthEastern region in the post independenceperiod was that in mid-sixties soon afterthe Chinese war, the north easternregion as a whole had become a

disturbed area. The Government hadgreat difficulty in stopping the unrest inNagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipurand recently in Assam itself. Violencebecame part of daily life in North EastIndia as a whole. So, in the midst of thesedisturbances the Missionaries,especially, foreign Missionaries becamethe target of the attack. “The anti-Missionary movement began to increaseafter the Chinese invasion and by 1968,it made headlines in the country’s newsmedia and ushered in an open policy ofthe Government to restrict the foreignMissionaries in North-East India. Thereason the Government gave was thatNorth-East India had become a ‘Sensitivearea’.”33 In 1968, the Baptist ChristianCommunity had a protest conferencewith the Roman Catholics about this atthe Dibrugarh on the campus of the DonBosco High School. “By 1974, most of theforeign Missionaries had left from all overNorth-East India, and the last one, aNursing Superintendent of GuwahatiMission Hospital, Miss Mary Suderman,left in 1984.”34

In the last quarter of the twentiethcentury two important developmentstook place in the entire Missionary worksof Assam.(i) From the beginning of the Missionary

work in Assam, both the Foreign aswell as Indian Missionaries startedtheir work uniformly for the entire

32 Catholic Directory of North-East India, St. Paul’s Publications, Bangalore, India, (2002-2003), p. 32.

33 SAIKIA, S. K., History of Education in India, Mani Manik Prakash, Guwahati, Assam,2002, p.48.

34 RAO, O. M., Among the Churches of the Hills and Valleys of North East India, ISPCK,Delhi, India 2005, p.xxx.


masses of the state, but in the recenttimes, the Indian CatholicMissionaries did extensive workamong the Tribals and Hill people ofthe state and found them to be moreripe field for their proselitisationactivity. The conversions amongthese hill people of animisticbackground were great compared tothe Assamese, who with their ancientHindu faith did not respond well tothe Christian Gospel.

(ii) Likewise, it is noticed that with thecommencement of the teaplantations in North-East India andthe importation of the tea-gardenlabourers from other parts of India,

the Missionaries found that thesealien settlers were more receptive tothe Gospel, as conversions took placeon a large scale. So, a marked shifttook place in the Mission work in theplains of Assam, i.e. from the town andvillages of the Assamese to the teasettlement areas. Thus, at present,though most of the Missionaryinstitutions like schools, hospitals,orphanages, women’s hostels, homesfor senior citizens, crèches, presses,etc. were maintained in urban centreslike Guwahati, Nagaon, Jorhat,Sibsagar, etc. and the work in theplains of Assam has become largelya rural Mission work.

Suicide, the third major work ofFrench sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), is of great importance because itis the first serious effort to establishempiricism in sociology, an empiricismthat would provide a sociologicalexplanation for a phenomenontraditionally regarded as exclusivelypsychological and individualistic.

The masterpiece, which runs intoover 400 pages, is divided into threeparts, and addresses the phenomenonof suicide and its causes. While its firstpart delves into the “Extra-SocialFactors”, part two investigates the “SocialCauses and Social Types”, and part threelooks into “General Nature of Suicide asa Social Phenomenon”.

Written by one of the world’s mostinfluential sociologists—Emile Durkheim,the classic argues that suicide primarilyresults from a lack of integration of theindividual into society. Suicide providesreaders with an understanding of theimpetus for suicide and its impact on thevictim, family, and society.

Durkheim proposed this definition ofsuicide: “the term suicide is applied to

all cases of death resulting directly orindirectly from a positive or negative actof the victim himself, which he knows willproduce this result” (excerpt fromSuicide). Durkheim used this definitionto separate true suicides from accidentaldeaths. He then collected severalEuropean nations’ suicide rate statistics,which proved to be relatively constantamong those nations and among smallerdemographics within those nations.Thus, a collective tendency towardssuicide was discovered.

To Durkheim, men were creatureswhose desires were unlimited. Unlikeother animals, they are not satiatedwhen their biological needs are fulfilled.“The more one has, the more one wants,since satisfactions received onlystimulate instead of filling needs.” Itfollows from this natural insatiability ofthe human animal that his desires canonly be held in check by externalcontrols, that is, by societal control.Society imposes limits on human desiresand constitutes “a regulative force[which] must play the same role formoral needs which the organism plays

BOOK REVIEW

Suicide: A Study in Sociology

BY

EMILE DURKHEIM 1897

TRANSLATED BY

JOHN A. SPAULDING and GEORGE SIMPSON 1951ROUTLEDGE and KEGAN PAUL LTD., LONDON

NO. OF PAGES: 405COST: 2.95 DOLLAR


for physical needs.” In well-regulatedsocieties, social controls set limits onindividual propensities so that each inhis sphere vaguely realizes the extremelimits set to his ambitions and aspiresto nothing beyond . . . Thus, an end or agoal [is] set to the passions. When socialregulations break down, the controllinginfluence of society on individualpropensities is no longer effective andindividuals are left to their own devices.Such a state of affairs Durkheim callsanomie, a term that refers to a conditionof relative normlessness in a wholesociety or in some of its componentgroups. Anomie does not refer to a stateof mind, but to a property of the socialstructure. It characterises a condition inwhich individual desires are no longerregulated by common norms and where,as a consequence, individuals are leftwithout moral guidance in the pursuitof their goals. Although complete anomie,or total normlessness, is empiricallyimpossible, societies may becharacterised by greater or lesserdegrees of normative regulations.Moreover, within any particular society,groups may differ in the degree of anomiethat besets them. Social change maycreate anomie either in the whole societyor in some parts of it. Business crises,for example, may have a far greaterimpact on those on the higher reachesof the social pyramid than on theunderlying population. When depressionleads to a sudden downward mobility, themen affected experience a de-regulationin their lives — a loss of moral certaintyand customary expectations that are nolonger sustained by the group to whichthese men once belonged. Similarly, therapid onset of prosperity may lead some

people to a quick upward mobility andhence deprive them of the social supportneeded in their new styles of life. Anyrapid movement in the social structurethat upsets previous networks in whichlife styles are embedded carries with it achance of anomie.

Durkheim argued that economicaffluence, by stimulating human desires,carries with it dangers of anomicconditions because it “deceives us intobelieving that we depend on ourselvesonly,” while “poverty protects againstsuicide because it is a restraint in itself.”Since the realization of human desiresdepends upon the resources at hand, thepoor are restrained, and hence less proneto suffer from anomie by virtue of the factthat they possess but limited resources.“The less one has the less he is tempted toextend the range of his needs indefinitely”.

By accounting for the differentsusceptibility to anomie in terms of thesocial process — that is, the relationsbetween individuals rather than thebiological propensities of individuals —Durkheim in effect proposed a specificallysociological theory of deviant behavioureven though he failed to point to thegeneral implications of this crucialinsight. In the words of Robert K. Merton,who was the first to ferret out in thisrespect the overall implications ofDurkheim’s thought and to develop themmethodically, “Social structures exert adefinite pressure upon certain persons inthe society to engage in non-conformingrather than conforming conduct”.

Durkheim uses three proxies forsocial integration: religion, maritalstatus and political upheavals. In hisinterpretation, the degree of integrationof religious groups is associated with a

145Book Review

lower suicide rate. While suicide is at leastcommon in tightly integrated Jewishcommunities, it appears more oftenamongst Catholics, while the highestsuicide rate occurs amongst Protestants.Concerning the marital status, he findsthat the suicide rate varies inversely withthe integration of families. Married peopleare less likely to take their own lives, whilethis likelihood even decreases with thenumber of children they have. As topolitical upheavals, Durkheim finds thatthey lead, at least temporarily, to a moreintegrated society by stirring up collectivesentiments.

Durkheim’s programme of study, theoverriding problems in all his work,concerns the sources of social order anddisorder, the forces that make forregulation or de-regulation in the bodysocial. His work on suicide — of whichthe discussion and analysis of anomieforms a part — must be read in this light.Once he discovered that certain types ofsuicide could be accounted for by anomie,he could then use anomic suicide as anindex for the otherwise immeasurabledegree of social integration. This was notcircular reasoning, as could be argued,but a further application of his methodof analysis. He reasoned as follows:There are no societies in which suicidedoes not occur, and many societies showroughly the same rates of suicide overlong periods of time. This indicates thatsuicides may be considered a “normal”,that is, a regular, occurrence. However,sudden spurts in the suicide rates ofcertain groups or total societies are“abnormal” and point to someperturbations not previously present.Hence, “abnormally” high rates inspecific groups or social categories, or intotal societies, can be taken as an index

of disintegrating forces at work in asocial structure.

Durkheim distinguished betweentypes of suicide according to the relationof the actor to his society. When menbecome “detached from society,” whenthey are thrown upon their own devicesand loosen the bonds that previously hadtied them to their fellow, they are proneto egoistic, or individualistic, suicide.When the normative regulationssurrounding individual conduct arerelaxed and hence fail to curb and guidehuman propensities, men aresusceptible to succumbing to anomicsuicide. To put the matter differently,when the restraints of structuralintegration, as exemplified in the operationof organic solidarity, fail to operate, menbecome prone to egoistic suicide; when thecollective conscience weakens, men fallvictim to anomic suicide.

Anomic suicide was of particularinterest to Durkheim, for he divided it intofour categories: acute and chroniceconomic anomie, and acute and chronicdomestic anomie. Each involved animbalance of means and needs, wheremeans were unable to fulfil needs. Eachcategory of anomic suicide can bedescribed briefly as follows:

• Acute economic anomie: Sporadicdecreases in the ability of traditionalinstitutions (such as religion, guilds,pre-industrial social systems, etc.) toregulate and fulfil social needs.

• Chronic economic anomie: Long termdiminution of social regulation.Durkheim identified this type withthe ongoing industrial revolution,which eroded traditional socialregulators and often failed to replacethem. Industrial goals of wealth and


property were insufficient inproviding happiness, as wasdemonstrated by higher suiciderates among the wealthy than amongthe poor.

• Acute domestic anomie: Suddenchanges on the micro social levelresulted in an inability to adapt andtherefore higher suicide rates.Widowhood is a prime example of thistype of anomie.

• Chronic domestic anomie: Referred tothe way marriage as an institutionregulated the sexual and behaviouralmeans—needs balance among menand women. Marriage provideddifferent regulations for each,however. Bachelors tended to commitsuicide at higher rates than marriedmen because of a lack of regulationand established goals andexpectations. On the other hand,marriage has traditionally served toover-regulate the lives of women byfurther restricting their alreadylimited opportunities and goals.Unmarried women, therefore, donot experience chronic domesticanomie nearly as often as dounmarried men.

In addition to egoistic and anomictypes of suicide, Durkheim refers toaltruistic and fatalistic suicide. The latteris touched upon only briefly in his work,but the former is of great importance foran understanding of Durkheim’s generalapproach.

Altruistic suicide refers to cases inwhich suicide can be accounted for byoverly strong regulation of individuals,as opposed to lack of regulation.Durkheim argues in effect that the

relation of suicide rates to socialregulation is curvilinear—high ratesbeing associated with both excessiveindividuation and excessive regulation.In the case of excessive regulation, thedemands of society are so great thatsuicide varies directly rather thaninversely with the degree of integration.For example, in the instance of the Hindunormative requirement that widowscommit ritual suicide upon the funeralpyre of their husbands, or in the case ofhara-kiri, the individual is so stronglyattuned to the demands of his societythat he is willing to take his own life whenthe norms so demand. Arguing fromstatistical data, Durkheim shows that inmodern societies the high rates of suicideamong the military cannot be explainedby the deprivations of military lifesuffered by the lower ranks, since thesuicide rate happens to be higher forofficers than for enlisted men. Rather, thehigh rate for officers can be accountedfor by a military code of honour thatenjoins a passive habit of obedienceleading officers to undervalue their ownlives. In such cases, Durkheim is led torefer to too feeble degrees of individuationand to counter pose these to the excessesof individuation or de-regulation, whichaccount, in his view, for the other majorforms of suicide.

Durkheim’s discussion of altruisticsuicide allows privileged access to someof the intricacies of his approach. He hasoften been accused of having an overlyanti-individualistic philosophy, one thatis mainly concerned with the taming ofindividual impulse and the harnessingof the energies of individuals for thepurposes of society. Although it cannotbe denied that there are such tendencies

147Book Review

in his work, Durkheim’s treatment ofaltruistic suicide indicates that he wastrying to establish a balance between theclaims of individuals and those of society,rather than to suppress individualstrivings. Acutely aware of the dangersof the breakdown of social order, he alsorealized that total control of componentsocial actors by society would be asdetrimental as anomie and de-regulation. Throughout his life heattempted to establish a balancebetween societal and individual claims.

Durkheim was indeed a thinker inthe conservative tradition to the extentthat he reacted against the atomisticdrift of most enlightenment philosophyand grounded his sociology in a concernfor the maintenance of social order. AsRobert Nisbet has shown convincingly,such key terms as cohesion, solidarity,integration, authority, ritual, andregulation indicate that his sociology isanchored upon an anti-atomistic set ofpremises. In this respect he was like histraditionalist forebears, yet it would be amistake to classify Durkheim as atraditionalist social thinker. Politically hewas a liberal—indeed, a defender of therights of individuals against the state.He also was moved to warn againstexcesses of regulation over persons eventhough the major thrusts of his argumentwere against those who, by failing torecognize the requirements of the socialorder, were likely to foster anomic statesof affairs. Anomie, he argued, was asdetrimental to individuals as it was to thesocial order at large.

The final type of suicide is Fatalisticsuicide, “at the high extreme of theregulation continuum”. This typeDurkheim only briefly describes, seeing

it as a rare phenomena in the real world.Examples include those with overregulated, unrewarding lives such asslaves, childless married women, andyoung husbands. Durkheim neverspecifies why this type is generallyunimportant in his study.

Durkheim felt that his empiricalstudy of suicide had discovered thestructural forces that caused anomieand egoism, and these forces werenatural results of the decline ofmechanical solidarity and the slow riseof organic solidarity due to the divisionof labour and industrialism. Also ofimportance was Durkheim’s discoverythat these forces affected all socialclasses.

This is where the true sociologicalvalue of Suicide emerges. Because socialforces that affect human behaviour arethe result of previous human actions, itis the role of sociology to expose andunderstand these actions as thefoundations of societal structure. Thesestructural phenomena are at the root ofhuman society, and through scientific,statistical methods—integrated withinformed theory and educatedconjecture—the function of thesestructures can be comprehended.

Durkheim meant to show that aSpencerian approach to the social realm,an approach in which the socialdimension is ultimately derived from thedesire of individuals to increase the sumof their happiness, did not stand upbefore the court of evidence or the courtof reason. Arguing against Spencer andthe utilitarians, he maintained thatsociety couldn’t be derived from thepropensity of individuals to trade andbarter in order to maximise their own


happiness. This view fails to account forthe fact that people do not trade andbarter at random but follow a patternthat is normative. For men to make acontract and live up to it, they must havea prior commitment to the meaning of acontract in its own right. Such priorcollective commitment, that is, such anon-contractual element of contracts,constitutes the framework of normativecontrol. No trade or barter can take placewithout social regulation and somesystem of positive and negativesanctions.

Durkheim’s main shafts againstindividualistic social theoriesnotwithstanding, he was by no meansoblivious of the dangers of over-regulation to which Spencer’s socialphilosophy had been especially sensitive.Durkheim saw man as Homo duplex—asbody, desire, and appetite and also associalised personality. But man wasspecifically human only in the lattercapacity, and he became fully humanonly in and through society. Hence, truemoral action lies in the sacrifice ofcertain individual desires for the serviceof groups and society. But suchsacrifices return in the last analysis tothe benefit of individuals, as well associety, since unbridled desires lead tofrustration and unhappiness ratherthan to bliss and fulfilment. Modernsociety seems to contain, for Durkheim,the potentialities for individualism withinsocial regulation. In contrast to earliertypes of social organization based onmechanical solidarity that demanded a

high degree of regimentation, moderntypes of organization rest on organicsolidarity obtained through thefunctional interdependence ofautonomous individuals. In modernsocieties, social solidarity is dependentupon, rather than repressive of,individual autonomy of conduct.

Though Durkheim stressed that inmodern societies a measure ofintegration was achieved through theintermeshing and mutual dependence ofdifferentiated roles, he came those thatthese societies nevertheless could not dowithout some common integration by asystem of common beliefs. In earlier socialformations built on mechanicalsolidarity, such common beliefs are notclearly distinct from the norms throughwhich they are implemented incommunal action; in the case of organicsolidarity, the detailed norms havebecome relatively independent fromoverall beliefs, responding as they do tothe exigencies of differentiated rolerequirements, but a general system ofoverall beliefs must still exist. HenceDurkheim turned, in the last period ofhis scholarly life, to the study of religiousphenomena as core elements of systemsof common beliefs.

In nutshell, Suicide is a path-breaking work that proposes asociological basis to the phenomenon ofsuicide. Even though some ofDurkheimian ideas may not today fit intothe modern cultural landscape, theclassic continues to illuminate the pathfor sociologists inquiring into suicide.

Aakanksha AgarwalResearch Associate

Singhania and Partners, Noida, UP

INDIAN EDUCATION - NCERT

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