EDUCATION IS A KEY FOR SOCIAL
REFORMATIOMATION: AN APPRAISAL
Mr
Vijayanand Bansode, A. V. College of Arts, Vasai (W). 401202.
Introduction:
Education is the only medium to
bring out substantial changes in different spheres of the society. Since back
to the human evolution, education has been playing vital role to lift the human
civilization in progressive direction. In the 21st century education
is important means of communication. Education is very important among all
of us, the fact which is commonly nothing to deny among any. It’s the
education, which transforms a person to live a better life and more importantly
in a socially well being. It educates us with all the needed attributes in
leading our life in a proper way of lifestyle. Education does make a remarkable
effect on one’s personality.
Education involves gathering of
knowledge in whatever aspects. It helps a person to draw the best out of their
mind and spirit. Education plays a vital role in the personal growth and
the social development among all of us. In reference to India, India
has prosperous history of education system such as Vedic education, Buddhist education,
Muslim education, British education system etc.
Indian society is multi-lingual, multi culture, & multi ethnic, due
to it; it has various tradition, custom, & superstition. Through this paper
it is an attempt to apply comparative approach & to focus on Indian society
in reference to ancient education system, British education system, & post
Independent Indian education system. How can we use education for betterment
& empowerment of every section of society?
In the Post modern era, due to New economic Policy brings out
substantial changes in different parts of the society. Life becomes complicated
& complex one. The nature of social problems has changed. Research Paper tries to light on complexities
of 21st century & how is it to be tackled by applying powerful
usage of education for the long term social reformation…. .
•
Brief survey of history of Indian education
system:
Ancient education:
The
most important contribution of ancient India not only for India but also for
the world is in the field of education. It may also be remembered that
education is not an abstract term. It is manifested in the cultural economic,
individual, philosophical, scientific, social and spiritual advancement. In
other words, education is the means for developing the mind for the betterment
of the individual and society.
Vedic education: The system of education was
well-organized. It was suited to the needs of the society, education was
considered as the greatest gift in ancient India. It was aimed at the
development of personality of an individual to his maximum extent. Education
helped in the realization of spiritual & moral values, besides preparing
for worldly pursuits. But it was the special privilege for the specific section
of the society, it was not available for the common people because of it, we
find disparity period among the people.
Buddhist Education: Buddhist education was a gift for
the modern world; it had given many world famous teaching & learning
methodologies and famous universities like Taxisila Nalanda etc. It was the
first education system which was based on scientific & democratic
principle. It was available for different section of the society. The monasteries were the centers of
education during the Buddhist period. During the Vedic period education was
mostly individualistic effort whereas during Buddhist period for the common
weal & welfare section of the society ,it was institutional based education. Education was for the means for the welfare
of different strata of the society. Almost Social reformation started in Indian
continent during the period of Buddhist education, by enshrining the democratic
principles.
British education system: British Empire introduced education
in India for the purpose of the business & trade. Warren Hastings set up the
Calcutta Madrasa in 1781 to promote Persian & Arabic studies. A Sanskrit
college was established at Banaras to spread education through English in order
to teach western literature & preach Christianity. As per 1813 charter Act,
Company started to pay attention on education. Company started to use it for
the promotion language &
literature. In 1835, under the system of Macualy’s education policy, Persian
was abolished by as the court language and substituted by English. Intention
behind the Theory of Infiltration was that to make the Indian people physically
Indian but mentally & culturally western.
In
1854, Wood’s Despatch is remarkable in sense because it was on an education
system for India which came to be called the Magna Carta education in the country.
According to Wood’s scheme the government needed to spread western education
through English medium for higher education. Most of Wood’s proposal’s were
implemented which led to westernization of the Indian education system.
Sadler
Commission was appointed to study the problems of the Calcutta University
though its recommendations were applicable to other universities as well. The
commission’s suggestions included a 12 years school course, a three year degree
course after the Intermediate stage.
Wardha Scheme: The Congress provincial ministries
of 1937 focused on preparing a national scheme for education. Gandhi proposed
his Wardha Scheme for basic education that aimed at learning through activity.
The details, as prepared by Zakir Hussaain Committee, focused on manual
productive work. As the Congress ministries soon resigned, the scheme could be
taken up only after 1947.
Social Reformation & British Empire:
Many social reformers, Rajaram Mohan Roy,
Mahtma Phule, Mahrshi Dhondo Karve, Shau Maharaj, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar &
many more came forward for the social reformation. They realised education is
the only medium which can root out all the social evils & it can extend the
orientation for them for the living style of life.
After Independence, the Radhakrishnan
Commission was setup in November 1948 to review university education. Its
recommendations proved to be of immense significance in establishing an
educational system for free India. The main recommendations were i) 12 years of
pre-university studies ii) higher educational set up impart genera, liberal
& occupational education, increased focus
on subjects such as agriculture, law and medicine, and improvement of
engineering and technical institutes iii ) subject wise exams at different
stages for acquiring the first degree iv) uniform examination standards in all
universities.
Kothari
Commission appointed in 1964 the resolution laid down 6% of the national income
for education. Children were to be provided free, compulsory education till
they reached 14 years of age.
•
National Educational Policy:
The National Policy on Education (NEP) is a policy formulated by the Government of India to promote education amongst
India's people. The policy covers elementary education for the both rural and
urban India. The first NEP was promulgated in 1968 by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the second by Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. It emphasizes three aspects in relation to elementary
education: universal access and enrolment, universal retention of children up
to 14 years of age, and a substantial improvement in the quality of education
to enable all children to achieve versatile & inclusive growths.
•
Media & Education:
In the
post modern period, liberalization, privatization, & globalization bring
out the various changes in different spheres. Due to the new economic policy,
world becomes global village. The meaning of education has completely changed,
the nature & scope of it has been widening constantly. Media is an important
means of communication as well as for the education. In the Post Modern era,
education is important for analyse good or bad things. In the ancient &
modern era there was a time only book, pamphlets, formal & informal class
room, & traditional teaching methodologies
were popular. But right now electronic media has reached to every door of the
country. Therefore media is useful for the propagation & teaching any
cultural, ethical, & educational Values. Media is the important device of
communication. The role of media in human’s life is integral. Everything become
digital, almost people requires visual effect for getting clear cut
understanding.
All the type of media is important for the
making society aware about the evils if the media has concrete & constructive
approach about the society then it can bring out changes in different spheres.
But vice versa if there is then it has dire consequences on the set up of the
society.
Media Imperialism & Hegemony: The Media Imperialism debate started in the early 1970s when
developing countries began to criticise the control of developed countries over
the media. Hegemony is a soft idiosyncrasy which is used to strengthen the
thinking of dominance class & it imposes the policies or decision on the
economic class of the society
Monopoly & hegemony are the two
sides of Imperialism, if the things are being executed for the purpose of
dominance class or in favour of that, they always attempt to impose decision on
the vulnerable class of the society, is called imperialism. Multi media has
entered in Indian market therefore they have tough competition for business,
making TRP at top level, commercialisation, & getting more benefit. Due to the tough competition in the field of
business media has been losing ethics of their profession for eg. The role of
Journalist Jigna Vora, in the murder of her professional colleague Journalist
JD.
Media should play remarkable role for the
social development, they should strongly work out for the elimination of social
vices eg. Superstition, casteism, fanaticism, linguism, malnutrition, child
labour, drug addiction, naxalism, terrorism etc. In contrary their area of
interest is different. For eg. Cricket has been turned into a religion by our corporatised
media, and most people lap it up like opium. The real problems facing 80 per
cent of the people are socio-economic — poverty, unemployment, malnourishment,
price rise, lack of healthcare, education, housing etc. But the media sidelines
or minimises these real issues, and gives the impression that the real issues
are the lives of film stars, fashion, cricket, etc. When Rahul Dravid retired,
the media depicted it as a great misfortune for the country, and when Sachin
Tendulkar scored his 100th century it was depicted as a great achievement for
India. Day after day, the media kept harping on this, whereas the issues of a
quarter of a million farmers’ suicides and 47 per cent Indian children being
malnourished were sidelined. Finally,
during the recent Anna Hazare agitation in Delhi, the media hyped the event as
a solution to the problem of corruption. Then the question rises on the role of
media’s social responsibility.
Media Literacy:
Media literacy is a set of skills
that anyone can learn. Just as literacy is
the ability to read and write, media
literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create
media messages of all kinds. Media literacy is urgent need for the society
because of the media imperialism & monopoly. Electronic media running for
the cheap publicity and getting more profit by making balance of TRP. Media is
important device of communication for the visual effect media is important, it
can inculcate things on the mind of onlooker effectively. Visual effect has
long running impact on the people therefore it is considered one of the
importance ways of teaching & social reformation. Therefore question comes
forward about the media literacy. As we see most of electronic media going for
profit therefore they do not take care of social responsibility. Right now
let's see every channel has one Baba for
astrology, see the contents of programme of the channels it lead adverse effect
on Indian people. Whether we are living in 21st century or Dark Age,
we do not get satisfactory answer. Right now information is available
everywhere it is available in the large number. Therefore the thing is
important to select proper information for the individualistic & social
advancements. Therefore media literacy is new term for the people of India, for
analyse the relevant or useless things in media.
Conclusion:
Education is only a key medium for the making necessary changes in social
set up & it could bring out changes in the life style of the people of
every society therefore it should not underestimate. As we have seen long back
human civilisation how the education had played remarkable role for the
empowerment of the society. In the 21st century life becomes complicated &
complex due to it informal institute have been losing importance, family a very
important institute disintegrated &
it becomes nuclear , therefore modern society has lost informal values due to
the deterioration of family. To teach informal education is very difficult, for
that formal institute should come forward for the giving informal education to
the society; Media has great
responsibility for the uplift the society in progressive direction for the
betterment of the world. Traditional means & methods have less importance
in the contemporary world , therefore
the time come now to retrospect the role of media for the social
reformation. Media can give informal education. Due to the specialisation in
particular subject general knowledge is being widely neglected. Yashpal committee has recommended to UGC for
the implementation of generalise subject of education in university syllabus.
Multi-disciplinary approach for education is required for post modern period.
Informal education with media will be very effective for the greater
civilisation.....
References:
•
Shukla Ramakant, ‘Philosophy of
Education’
•
Yadav Saryug, ‘Language,
Literature,& Education’
•
Syed M. H. ‘Education And National
Concern’
•
Thripathi Shaligram, ‘A history of
Indian Education system’
•
Spectrum’s book for competitive
exams.
•
Pratiyogita Darpan, Monthly.
•
Chronicles, Monthly
•
Hindu, daily news paper.
•
An article of Katzu, chairman
of the Press Council of India.
