by Bharat Dogra and Jagmohan Singh
While education has been increasingly seen in terms of its linkages to economic development, it is important to take a wider view to include the advancement of social harmony and reform as well. A narrow economic view tends to see the aims of education more in terms of linking education to the emerging economic changes and opportunities. At individual levels this sees more and more students preparing and competing for government and corporate jobs which are considered desirable and lucrative. However even at relatively high levels of economic growth such openings are limited. So even in narrow economic terms such a system is likely to result in a few winners and many (feeling like) losers. Thus even the narrowly defined objectives in such an educational system are unlikely to be realized for most students. What is more, such a narrowly structured system is generally not a creative system, as the creativity of students is cramped by the narrowness of their pursuits. All this also increases the vulnerability of students and youth to falling prey to widely prevailing trends of substance abuse and related problems.
Hence there should be a much wider view of education which achieves two objectives. Firstly, at economic level, education should make students much more capable of earning their livelihoods in highly creative and socially desirable ways without necessarily having to depend on landing their dream job. Education should be able to equip students with the creative exploration, the specific skills and the confidence for this. To give an example, at present education often tends to alienate youth from the most important prevailing livelihood of farming. Youth are often alienated from this and would like to leave it if they can, but some adopt it more for lack of options, and among those who adopt is many are frustrated by the many problems they face in farming. However there is much that remains to be done to find alternatives that will remove these vexing problems and pave the way for creative and sustainable livelihoods in farming and allied activities. This involves steps in the direction of ecologically protective mixed farming and then village-scale processing of many diverse food crops to produce diverse healthy foods which can be sold at a premium in nearby cities, apart from providing very healthy food for one’s own extended family. Is education preparing students for accepting such challenges? Isn’t this much more creative and exciting than many corporate jobs on offer today as highly desirable ones and won’t this prove much more socially useful and desirable? Why can’t those emerging from our colleges or even high schools help to design implements that are more suitable for small farmers, instead of small farmers being forced to buy more expensive equipment?
In addition students should have a vision of a society, including villages and cities, countries and world, based on justice and equality, environment protection and peace, along with a vision of how we can link up with such a vision in our own life. This opens up an even wider world of creativity and lifelong social commitments before them. They should have a good idea of how our close and affection based social relationships are integral to this vision, and this in turn prepares them for such relationships of caring and commitment. However in the absence of such a wider vision, education lacks a wider purpose and also lacks opportunities of creative and purposeful involvement of students.
While such wider reforms are neglected, education is also becoming a victim of prevailing trends of inequalities. Several studies have expressed concern at the dismal state of rural education and unequal access to education in Punjab. As Sucha Singh Gill observes, “At the top of it the class divide in the school education is a big factor in deteriorating quality of education in the rural areas. The well off sections who dominate the rural power structure including the village panchayats have withdrawn their wards from these schools and got them admitted in private school in the villages, towns and cities. They do not take any interest in improving the infrastructure, ensure presence of teachers in the schools and improve quality of education. The government schools in the villages have turned out to be schools for have-nots… This class divide has created a situation where rural education is very difficult to improve.” (2013)
A widely quoted study which covered all universities in the state brought out a disturbing fact that the percentage of rural students among total students was only 4.07 in 2005-06 at a time when about 65 per cent of the people of Punjab lived in rural areas. Even in the Punjab Agriculture University, the share of rural students was only 4.73 per cent. The share of rural SC students was only 0.6 per cent. ( 2006, Ghuman,R.S. et al)
Another study concerning students studying in technical and professional courses brought out the disturbing fact that the percentage of rural students in these courses was only 3.71 per cent. The share of SC rural boys was only 0.34 per cent while that of SC rural girls was 0.93 per cent. (Ghuman,R.S. et al, 2008)
Thus there is a clear need for reducing inequalities in education and for improving the rural-urban imbalances as well as for linking education more closely with socio-economic change based on justice, peace and environment protection.
Prof. Jagmohan Singh is Chairman, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Centenary Committee.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril and Protecting Earth for Children.
