Role of Education in Social change...

Role of Education in Social Change :

Introduction:

Education can be used as a tool to empower the individual. Through child cantered learning, students are able to see their own role in transformation. Societal change comes from the collective transformation of the individuals within that society. It has become secular today. It is an independent institution now. Education has been chiefly instrumental in preparing the way for the development of science and technology. Education has brought about phenomenal changes in every aspect of men’s life.

Francis J. Brown remarks that Education is a process which brings about changes in the behaviour of society. It is a process which enables every individual to effectively participate in the activities of society and to make positive contribution to the progress of society.

Education, Social Change andModernisation:

Education has been accepted as one major agency of socialization, and teachers and educational institutions as socializing agents. In describing education as an instrument of social change, three things are important: the agents of change, the content of change, and the social background of those who are sought to be changed, i.e. students. Educational institutions under the control of different cultural groups reflect the values of those groups which support and control education. According to this situation the teachers Impart specific values, aspirations and to the children.

The educated Social reformers emphasized values like removal of caste restrictions, equality of women, doing away with social evil social customs and practices, voice in the governance of the country, establishing democratic institutions and so on. They, thus, wanted to teach liberal philosophy through education for changing society. In other words they regarded education as a flame or light of knowledge which dispelled the darkness of ignorance.

In a static society, the main function of the educational system is to transmit the cultural heritage to the new generations. But in a changing society, these keep on changing from generation to generation and the educational system in such a society must not only transmit the cultural heritage, but also aid in preparing the young for adjustment to any changes in them that may have occurred or are likely to occur in future. In contemporary societies, “The proportion of change that is either planned or issues from the secondary consequences of deliberate innovations is much higher than in former times.” This is more so in societies that has newly become independent and are in a developing stage. Consequently, in such modern complex societies, education is called upon to perform an additional function of becoming

Thus, the relationship between educational system and society is mutual; sometimes the society influences changes in educational system and at other times the educational system influences changes in the society.

Education of Women:

The National Policy on Education, 1986 also laid emphasis on education for attaining women’s equality which will foster the development of new values. The strategies proposed are: encouraging educational institutions to take up active programmes to further women’s development removal of women’s illiteracy, removing obstacles inhibiting their access to elementary education, and pursuing policy of non-discrimination to eliminate sex stereotyping in vocational, technical and professional courses.

Education of SCs, STs, and OBCs:

Education is directly related to the development of an individual and the community. It is the most important single factor for economic development as well as social emancipation. For the weaker sections of society, education has aspecial significance because for a number of centuries, their illiteracy and social backwardness have been used for their harassment, humiliation and economic exploitation.

Nature of Social Change and Its Impact on Education Change in Wider Social Environment:

The change may be in the total social environment surrounding the society. It may be due to some internal forces or external forces arising in other societies. Social phenomena occurring in neighbouring or distant societies have very widespread impact now. English, for example, is now became a world language for dissemination of knowledge and consequently India feels the necessity to emphasise the need for retaining and strengthening the knowledge of English in order to continue to be benefited by new knowledge developing all over the world.

Change in Social Goals, Objectives and Values:

The social change may be in social goals, objectives and values. The changes may be in social values that directly affect the content of social roles and social interaction. For example, the adoption of equality as a value may ultimately lead to compulsory and free primary education, to expansion of primary educational facilities to all children up to the age of fourteen and to providing financial and other aid to backward classes for enabling them to avail of the expanded educational facilities.

Institutional Social Changes:

The social change may be „institutional which includes change in more definite structures such as form of organization, roles and role content. The adoption of democracy and adult franchise in India has made training in responsible and responsive citizenship absolutely necessary for the electorate. This may ultimately affect the content and the method of teaching in educational institutions as well as the teacher-taught relationships.

Changes in Knowledge and Technology:

The changes may be in the existing knowledge and technology. Space exploration, industrialization, agricultural and domestic technology, development of transportation, and mass media of communication, new understanding of the human organism, individual and social behaviour are some of the scientific and technological areas in which knowledge has expanded a great deal and will still continue to expand. Thus, the development of knowledge and technology may bring changes in syllabus, teaching and evaluating methods and role of teacher.

Change in Size and Composition of Population:

The change may be in the size and composition of population. The explosion of population with differential rates of increase in different regions, communities, socio-economic groups and age groups may necessitate many changes in the educational system. Students with different levels of intelligence and educational aspirations, belonging to different socio-economic classes, different castes and religious groups have begun to come in the same type of educational institution and are huddled in same classroom. All these changes also necessitate change in the educational system. Thus, different types of social changes occurring in society make the existing educational system dysfunctional to a certain extent and in course of time pressurize to bring changes in it.