ROLE OF EDUCATION IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC REVOLUTION
“When the whole world sleeps, India awakes to freedom”- so said the late Prime Minister of India, Pandit Nehru, at midnight on August 15, 1947. More than six decades have passed since these unmemorable words were uttered. Although India has won its political freedom fully, and economic independence to a considerable level, there is still a long way to go in order to become an economically independent nation. Free India is making every effort to develop her economy, – to step up agricultural production, to promote industrial output and to improve international trade. India is taking every effort to become economically independent using the country’s own resources. In spite of all these efforts, there exists inequality in the standard of living of the people. What is the cause for this phenomenon? In recent years, the reason is sought in the field of education.
Education is a vital instrument of economic development. John K Norton, one of the leading educationists of America, wrote that “the highly productive economy of the US would be impossible without the contributions of education”. The economic growth of a country is consequent upon the increase in economic resources and economic activities, and also upon modernization of its machinery, for which education is imperative.
The economic resources are land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship. The more the people are educated, the better is their exploitation of the land and natural resources. Production increases with the efficiency of labor, for education plays a major role. The unskilled worker is a dead weight to industries because he retards the rate of production. C.E.S Joad pertinently observes that “an educated worker is a productive unity, an uneducated worker is a liability”.
In a way, capital and entrepreneurship mean human labor, and hence education has a direct bearing on them. Education acts as a stimulant to people for increased investment in institutions of economic development like banks and industries, and it makes entrepreneurship more efficient in the management of resources. Besides education opens out new avenues of knowledge and creates new needs, desires, aspirations and ambitions, – the factors which motivate new economic activities. Thus, ‘education is the prime mover of economic activities’.
Modernized economy accelerates economic growth. For modernization, scientific outlook is imperative. V.K.R.V. Rao rightly regards ‘science and technology’ as one of the significant ‘residual factors’ for economic growth. The role of scientific and technological advancement as the instrument for economic development is obvious in the increased production and better standards of living of the people in western countries. Education diffuses scientific knowledge. Thus, education is ‘both a condition and a stimulant for economic development’.
The economic development of the country is not always proportional to the investment in industries. Conditions in India since independence justify this fact. Distribution of outlay in the public sector between different heads of development under various five year plans indicate that the government has been investing greater percentage of the total outlay in developmental projects. In spite of this, the country maintains high percentage of low-income groups. Moreover, a high level of educated unemployment and under employment still persists in our country.
Abdul Kalam said that, “the future of a nation is only as good as its children, and the children as good as the educational context within which they are nurtured”. This is a statement often expressed by teachers, scientists, scholars, and visionaries. Hence a good education system should instill in students the ability and conviction to realize their full potential and excel anywhere in the world. Education should be a key element of our strategy to increase the productive capacity of our economy. In fact, the opening sentence of the Report of the Education Commission states that “The destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms”.
The UGC’s standing Committee on Promotion of Higher Education Abroad led by its Chairman, submitted report to the HRD ministry. The report highlights the fact that, although several Indian universities are being approached by foreign universities for “twinning” arrangements, involving exchange programmes in education and research, the Indian system still does not have sufficient knowledge and experience to enter into such alliances. The Committee also recommended that, the All India Council for Technical Education and UGC besides their statutory bodies must examine and revise their guidelines for collaboration. UGC has sought ₹1,84,784 crore in the Twelfth Five Year Plan with ambitious plans for improvement of higher education in the country.
Collaboration with national and international education institutions for better results is as much important as the collaborations between industries and educational institutes; and this requires high investments in higher education. Private and public investment in higher education should be stepped up substantially and the resources should be utilized optimally to improve the quality of higher education especially for improved research work. Unfortunately, in our educational system most of the resources are either underutilized or misutilized. Moreover, every institution should asses and refine their systems and processes, at regular intervals. Interdisciplinary approach to teaching, learning, and research should be encouraged, and this would facilitate to create new knowledge.
The projections say by 2025, 70 percent of India’s population will belong to the working age; and for this, the nation has to focus on capacity building of youths to achieve the desired projection. In the last two decades, the number of engineering collages, business schools and enrolments have gone up phenomenally in India due to demand from people and industry. Mere increase in the number of institutions and enrolment rate will not improve the development of the country. Global education integrated with innovative use of technology to develop global citizens through a holistic approach should be the goal of every institution. Holistic development means a strong academic foundation and development of student’s physical, mental, spiritual, emotional personality in its true sense. In order to achieve this, knowledge, attitude, skills, social, and moral values should be the aim of education.
From what has been said above, it is clear that the economic growth of India is dependent on the efficiency of her educational system. Indian education should so function as to increase the economic resources, to accelerate economic activities, and to modernize the entire economy of the country.
The importance of education in democratic India should be recognized for sociological reasons also. Indian society is wedded to the principle of democracy as ‘a way of life’. C.E. Merrian states that “democracy is not a mere form, a mere mechanism, as some seem to think, to be worshipped as an idol”. Radhakrishnan report asserts that “the basis of democracy is the belief in the inherent worth of the individual, in the dignity and value of human life ……. Democracy affirms that each individual is a unique adventure of life”. Perhaps education is the only economic and efficient means to develop qualities required in democracy. It develops in pupils a “scientific attitude of mind”, the ability to think objectively and base one’s conclusions on tested data. It promotes the ability for independent thinking and logical reasoning so as to enable individuals to take correct decision on crucial issues regarding the social, economic and political problems of the nation.
Indian democracy is constituted by a multi-social, multi-lingual, and multi- religious society. Therefore, patriotism in India cannot be a narrow loyalty to a particular caste, community, language or religion; on the contrary, it means mutual toleration and an appreciation of the contribution that a particular section of the society or an individual makes towards Indian renaissance. The Indian constitution advocates secularism. Secularism implies the toleration of faiths of all religions. Education fosters the spirit of tolerance and attitudes for the acceptance of moral values and spiritual ideals of life. It also promotes emotional integration and develops qualities that would establish national integration on firm foundation.
Unfortunately, one of the challenges that confronts India is the disparities in access to education, especially in terms of economic classes, gender, caste and ethnic and religious belongings. In 2008, as against an all-India-enrolment rate of 17%, the break up for these categories was 7% for Scheduled Tribes (ST) 11% for Scheduled Caste (SC) 28% for Other Backward Caste (OBC) and 47% for higher castes. In addition, it was 9% for Muslims, 18% for Hindus and 30% for Christians. While considering the disparities between the rich and the poor in terms of income level, it was 6% for the bottom 20% of society as against 37% for the top 20%. The expansion of the private, self-financing education sector with their commercial intention is another reason for the disparity between the rich and the poor. In India, unequal opportunities have resulted in unequal human capabilities and converted education into an instrument to further economic inequalities. Hence, this disparity must be dwindled or if possible eliminated at any cost to bring about equality in educational opportunity.
Education is thus a most important lever for social, political and economic transformation. Therefore, enabling education that is relevant to the economy and society is another challenge. The development of human resources for the economy has been translated into action through vocational and professional education. The previous government took initiative by setting up a National Skill Development Corporation that brought the government and corporate sector together to frame a demand based curriculum, which the present government has developed into Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. However, similar efforts are lacking in social education. The National Policy on Education required that, “In our culturally plural society, education should foster universal and eternal values, oriented towards the unity and integration of our people. Such value education should eliminate obscurantism, religious fanaticism, violence, superstition, and fatalism.” American educationist, Professor, James A. Banks, said, “the role of education in the twenty first century is to prepare students to know, to care, and to act in ways that will develop and foster knowledge and skill needed to participate in effective action”.
It is gratifying to note that since independence, there has been great expansion of education; but it is distressing that this has happened at the expense of quality of education. Thus in recent years there has been a widespread concern over the quality of education. Many people have begun to voice their opinion that mere expansion of education is not adequate to meet the needs of a developing economy and to man various developmental programmes of the government. Hence, in recent years the Government has been making great efforts towards ‘consolidation and improvement in quality of education’. Various development projects and launching of programmes for educational research and dissemination of the finding of research are some of the developmental projects undertaken by the government.
Education today is facing challenges due to several changes in social, economic and political conditions, but the quality should not be compromised. A well-educated population equipped with the relevant knowledge, attitudes and skills is essential for economic and social development in the twenty-first century. Education is the most potent tool for socio economic mobility and a key instrument for building an equitable and just society. Education provides skills, competencies for economic well-being. Education strengthens democracy by imparting to citizens the tools needed to fully participate in the governance process. Recognizing the importance of education in national development, the Twelfth plan places an unprecedented focus on the expansion of education on significantly improving the quality of education imparted and on ensuring that educational opportunities are available to all segments of the society. Thus, socio-economic revolution has been taking place in the length and breadth of the country since independence.
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