ROLE OF EDUCATION IN CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

Education system in India

Education in India is provided by the public sector as well as the private sector, with control and
funding coming from three levels: central, state, and local. Under various articles of the Indian
Constitution, free and compulsory education is provided as a fundamental right to children
between the ages of 6 and 14. The ratio of public schools to private schools in India is 7:5.
India has made progress in terms of increasing the primary education attendance rate and
expanding literacy to approximately three-quarters of the population in the 7-10 age group, by
2011. India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to
its economic development. Much of the progress, especially in higher education and scientific
research, has been credited to various public institutions. While enrolment in higher education has
increased steadily over the past decade, reaching a Gross Enrolment Ratio of 24% in 2013, there
still remains a significant distance to catch up with education enrolment levels of developed
nations, a challenge that will be necessary to overcome in order to continue to reap a demographic
dividend from India's comparatively young population.
At the primary and secondary level, India has a large private school system complementing the
government run schools, with 29% of students receiving private education in the 6 to 14 age
group. Certain post-secondary technical schools are also private. The private education market in
India had revenue of US$450 million in 2008, but is projected to be a US$40 billion market.
As per the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2012, 96.5% of all rural children between
the ages of 6-14 were enrolled in school. This is the fourth annual survey to report enrolment above
96%. Another report from 2013 stated that there were 22.9 crore students enrolled in
different accredited urban and rural schools of India, from Class I to XII, representing an increase
of 23 lakh students over 2002 total enrolment, and a 19;% increase in girl's enrolment. While
quantitatively India is inching closer to universal education, the quality of its education has been
questioned particularly in its government run school system. Some of the reasons for the poor
quality include absence of around 25% of teachers every day. States of India have introduced tests
and education assessment system to identify and improve such schools.
It is important to clarify that while there are private schools in India, they are highly regulated in
terms of what they can teach, in what form they can operate (must be a non-profit to run any
accredited educational institution) and all other aspects of operation. Hence, the differentiation of
government schools and private schools can be misguiding.
In India's education system, a significant number of seats are reserved under affirmative
action policies for the historically disadvantaged Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes and Other Backward Classes. In universities, colleges, and similar institutions affiliated to
the federal government, there is a maximum 50% of reservations applicable to these
disadvantaged groups, at the state level it can vary. Maharashtra had 73% reservation in 2014,
which is the highest percentage of reservations in India.
The central and most state boards uniformly follow the "10+2+3" pattern of education. In this
pattern, study of 12 years is done in schools or in colleges,and then 3 years of graduation for a
bachelor's degree. The first 10 years is further subdivided into 5 years of primary education, 3
years of upper primary, followed by 2 years of high school.This pattern originated from the
recommendation of the Education Commission of 1964–66.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is the apex body for
curriculum related matters for school education in India. The NCERT provides support and
technical assistance to a number of schools in India and oversees many aspects of enforcement of
education policies and in other hand the other curriculum bodies governing the school education
system are:
 The state government boards: Most of the state governments have one "State board of
secondary education". However, some states like Andhra Pradesh have more than one. Also
the union territories do not have a board, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Chandigarh,
Lakshadweep; Daman & Diu share the services with a larger state. autonomous, or affiliated with
Darul Uloom Deoband.
 Autonomous schools like Woodstock School, The Sri Aurobindo International Centre of
Education Puducherry, Auroville, Patha Bhavan and Ananda Marga Gurukula.
 International schools, which offer 10th and 12th standard examinations under the
International Baccalaureate, or the Cambridge Senior Secondary Examination systems.
In addition, NUEPA (National University of Educational Planning and Administration) and
NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) are responsible for the management of the
education system and teacher accreditation.

Role of education in preserving traditional cultures:

Independent of international assistance, the socioeconomic development and improvement of
national health have been insignificant in several poor countries during the last 10-20 years. The
main problems of these countries are multidisciplinary matters, both regarding causative factors
and solutions. In the field of health, high priority medical problems are not found in the curative
sector of medicine but rather within prevention, with environmental sanitation, water supply,
family planning and nutrition. These are the most profitable fields for internal support as well as
international assistance, offering lasting development effects and acceptable cost-benefit relations.
Primary school education is of major importance in that it provides local tribal youngsters to be
selected for training as auxiliary health workers for staffing of the chain of rural dispensaries,
which seems to be the key to national health development, and to the WHO goal "health for all by
the year 2000." In several developing countries, locally recruited youth with 5-7 years of primary
education already constitute indispensable links between professional health services and delicate
issues such as birth control and - usually illiterate - rural population.
Preservation, Transmission and Promotion of Culture
The school and the teacher can play an active role in the preservation, transmission and
development of culture.
Preservation of Culture: The most important function of education is to preserve the culture of
society. It is the school that has to consolidate the spiritual strength of a society or nation and
maintains its historical continuity and secure its past achievements. Preservation of culture
through education keeps the society alive.
Transmission of Culture: The process of preservation of culture is undertakes with a view to
transmitting it from one generation to another. Prof. Ottaway has remarked thus, “The function of
education or school is to transmit the social values and ideals to the young and capable members
of society”. The traditions of the society cannot be preserved in the absence of culture
transmission. Hence, both preservation and transmission of culture should go hand-in-hand for
the benefit of society. Preservation of culture is meaningless unless it is transmitted to the
ensuing generation. Education is the only tool through which such a function can be carried on
effectively.
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Promotion of Culture: The function of education is to bring about the needed as well as
desirable changes in the cultural pattern, ideals and values for the progress and continuous
development of society. Social progress will stratify and come to naught if there is no promotion
of culture in the society. In other words, education civilizes individuals, modifies cultural
progress by research and deeper investigation into all areas of human requirements. D.J.O.
Cannon remarks, “If each generation had to learn for itself what has been learned by its
predecessors no sort of intellectual or social development would be possible.

ROLE OF EDUCATION IN THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL CHANGE

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Education is an important instrument to bring social revolution among all the instruments
education is considered as the most powerful. Education for all, at all levels, and at all ages of
children is the only remedy to bring about the desired social change in Indian society.
The relationship between education and social change takes a dual form-education as an
instrument and education as a product.
This implies that education as an instrument is used as a means for bringing about desired
changes in the society and in the later case changes in the educational structure follows as a
consequence of changes which have already taken place in the society.
There are three types of relationship between education and social change which are as follows:
3.5.1. Education as a Necessary Condition of Social Change.
Historical experience of advanced countries has shown that for any social revolution education is
the pre-condition. Illiterates remain satisfied with their existing conditions and feel that they are
destined to be what they are.
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They never bother to exert to bring change in their present social and economic conditions. They
are guided by orthodoxy, traditions and fate rather than by rationality in their actions. Education
helps people to make them rational in their thinking and approach.
3.5.2. Education as an Outcome of Social Change
There is inter-dependent relationship between education and social change. On the one hand it
brings change in social conditions. On the other hand it is influenced by social change, which
means social change helps spreading education.
Education follows social change. It has its place before and after social change First come social
changes and then teaching process is changed according to those social changes. Education
system changes according to the needs of society.
3.5.3. Education as an Instrument of Social Change
Education as an instrument of social change means how education helps people to bring social
change. Education changes the outlook and the tradition approach towards social and economic
problems. It sharpens the skills and knowledge of the children.
Technical education helps in the process of industrialization which results in vast changes in
society. Education not only preserves the cultural traditions i.e., customs, traditions and values
etc. of the society but also transmits them to the next generation.
It also motivates the children to adopt new pattern in order to remain dynamic and forward
looking. Education fulfils the needs of the society and propagates such ideas which promote
social changes in all fields of life.
ILLITERACY, Illiteracy is one of the biggest problems that India is facing in the
contemporary world. Illiteracy is the mother of various other issues like
poverty, population explosion, unemployment, child labour and female
foeticide. When the masses are illiterate, they are unaware about these social
issues and consequently they end up being a part of it. Illiteracy is a major
stumbling block in the growth and development of the country. The majority of
the population in India is still illiterate which is hampering the progress.

In India, illiteracy is basically categorized as wide gaps between rural and

urban populations. The majority of the people are illiterate especially in rural
areas, where people are unaware about the ill effects of being illiterate and
moreover facilities are also not ample. The enrollment level of students in
primary and secondary grades is very low in rural areas. In spite of various
schemes and initiatives by the Government to promote literacy, the results are
not satisfactory. Even there is a wide variation in the literacy ratio of males
and females. India is a male dominated society and thus the right of education
seems to be owned by them only.

Literacy is a strong weapon which can root out the social issues like casteism,
dowry, corruption and child labour. Literate population can contribute
manifolds in the economic and social development of a nation. If India wants
to be a developed and powerful nation, then literacy is the key. The
government should introduce new schemes and policies & should allocate
special funds to promote literacy. Although child labour is banned but still it is
being practiced which is again a factor responsible for illiteracy among young
children. Government alone cannot do anything; the citizen should also be
aware about the benefits of literacy and thus contribute & make efforts to kill
the demon of illiteracy.

POVERTY, 22% of the total population in India (around 270 crores) live in
poverty. “What exactly is poverty?”, you may ask. Poverty means living
in conditions of where a person doesn’t have basic needs like proper
food, water or shelter.

Measurement of Poverty

This is tricky, as different places have different understandings of

poverty at different times. For example, a poor person in the USA could
be one who doesn’t own a car. But in India, having a car is a luxury
only some can dream of. Thus, measuring several aspects of one’s
nutrition and income determines poverty in India.

Therefore, in India, an urban dweller should have at least 2100 calories

and a rural dweller, at least 2400 calories per day. There is a difference,
as the physical work done in rural areas is more energy consuming than
in urban areas.

Additionally, earning a minimum of 32 rupees in urban areas and 26

rupees in rural areas, per day, determines the “Below Poverty Line”
criteria. The minimum income is higher in urban areas, as it is more
costly to live in towns than villages.

There is also an international standard by The World Bank, where

people are living in poverty if they earn less than $1.90 (almost 140
rupees) per day! This is a much higher standard than that of India’s way
of measurement.

Causes of Poverty in India

There are multiple things that cause poverty. However, in India, the first
major factor was the exploitative British colonial rule. Throughout the
process of colonising India, the British plundered the wealth of India, by
taking away raw materials for cheap and selling it back to India at very
high prices. This led to the shut down of indigenous factories and mills
in India and India became heavily economically dependent.

Even after they left, India was plagued with illiterate masses and a huge
population. In rural areas, there was a huge problem of lack of land
resources, per person as the population was in excess. These led to
almost no economic growth till the 1980s. Even today, there are many
schemes for anti-poverty but poverty is still a problem due to the lack of
implementation of these schemes.

Multidimensional Consequences of Poverty

Poverty also has other several dimensions. When you get sick, your
mother can take you to the hospital and buy medicines. But what do
you think people who earn 50 rupees per day do for their family? You
can dream of becoming a doctor or designer, but what about children
who wake up worrying about if they will eat that day? Thus, poverty is
also a condition where the very poor don’t have access to health care,
education, employment, safety and other facilities.

The government has come up with various schemes to reduce poverty.

Two of the important ones are-

1. National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) was launched in 2011 by the Ministry of Rural

Development and aided by the World Bank. NRLM aims to create an efficient and effective system
for the rural poor to access financial services. To that end, the objective is to create sustainable
opportunities by empowering and enabling the poor to increase their household income. In addition
to income-generated assets to the poor — they would also be facilitated to achieve increased
access to rights, entitlements and public services, diversified risk and better social indicators of
empowerment. The mission aims at harnessing the innate capabilities of the poor and complements
them with providing them the capacity to participate in the growing economy of the country. In 2015,
the program was renamed to Deendayal Antayodaya Yojana (DAY-NRLM).
2. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MNREGA). To ensure
the security and livelihood of people in rural areas, this act guarantees a minimum of 100 days of
wage employment. These measures apply to households whose adult members volunteer to do
unskilled, manual work. All districts in India have coverage under MNREGA. Under this scheme,
every person has the right to a job. If the state is unable to provide a job within 15 days of
application, then the worker receives an entitlement to a daily unemployment allowance. To ensure
social inclusion, women gain priority — such that some 33% of the beneficiaries under this scheme
are women. Moreover, the robust institutions for grievance redressal and social auditing guarantee
accountability and transparency.
3. Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). Due to the gaps in the earlier scheme for rural
housing, titled Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) — it was restructured in 2016 to PMAY-G. Through this
scheme, the government commits to realizing housing for all, by 2022. The aim is to provide solid
and permanent housing with all the basic amenities including toilet, LPG connection, electricity
connection and drinking water.
4. Public Distribution System (PDS) aims to manage food scarcity and distributing essential food
commodities at affordable prices. The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) launched in June
1997, to allocate food resources to the poor. The primary goal is to distribute essential food
commodities like rice, wheat and kerosene at highly subsidized rates to the people living below the
 poverty line. This poverty alleviation scheme helps in addressing the issue of food insecurity in rural
areas of India.

At the closing of this article, we have learnt about what exactly poverty
in India means. Understanding the causes and consequences of it can
better equip us to fight this and lead India towards a path of
development.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION, Men and women both play a very prime role in the formation, progress
and growth of a society. But even after that, the grapple for equality has been an extensive concern for
women in India. The birth of a boy child is being celebrated and enjoyed, while on the other hand till
today in many parts of India the birth of a girl child is not welcomed. It is to be considered as a disgrace.
Boys are taught, to be strong and affable but girls are taught to be housebound and reserved. All these
disparities are gender disparities, which are created by the society. India is one of those countries where
male dominance still persist and where the women is often seen as subservient and lower to men.
Although, India is getting out of the male – controlled culture, inequality is still prevalent in many rural
and urban areas. However the Constitution of the independent India pledges equality for men and
women, yet the gender inequalities persists.
CAUSES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN INDIA 

Accomplishing equality between the sexes is not at all an easy job in India. From ages, a girl child is
considered to be a liability and a burden on the family. Prejudice against women starts even before her
birth. The atrocious acts of female abortion and feticide prove how bloodthirsty society could be to
women.

Even though the Constitution of India protects and provides equal rights to men and women and provides
equal measures to enhance the position of women in society, yet there are many women who are not able
to enjoy the rights which are pledged to them. The major causes of gender discrimination are:

1. ILLITERACY
There are roughly 960 million uneducated adults; out of which 2/3 are women. Lack of education of the
girls has been a major cause of gender discrimination. The female literacy rate differs from 35% in Bihar to
88% in Kerala. States like Rajasthan, Assam, Bihar, the female literacy rate is below than 50%. Growth
towards the education by the girls is very sedate. The participation of girls in education is below 50%. It
contributes to poor health conditions, lower living status, increase in number of crimes.

2. POVERTY
Poverty is the principal- cause of gender inequality in the male dominated Indian society. In most of the
families, males are the sole bread earners of the family, which increases the financial dependency on the
male counterpart of the family; which down the line is the cause of gender inequality.

3. SOCIETAL NORMS, RULES AND CUSTOMS

Women are trapped in the societal norms, its rules and customs. The orthodox traditional patriarchal
family system has always constricted the role of women mostly to the domestic world. Men are given the
responsibility to provide and safeguard the family while women are recognized to take care of the family
and its need. In Indian society, from ages men have dominated women who lead to their lower status in
the family and in the society.
Liking for a boy child and the disliking for a girl child can been seen in many parts of India. Sons are
considered to be profit- making, economic and ceremonial asset whereas daughters are contemplated to
be a burden, a kind of liability on the family. This conservative thinking of the society is still prevalent in
this modern era, leading to ‘testing the gender of the fetuses’ and termination of pregnancy in an illegal
way. Mindset like, teaching the kitchen work to the girl child is more important as compared to sending
her to the school is horrible; but unfortunately it still persist in our society. Many families feel that
sending a girl child to the school is a redundant economic burden as later on in life she will be married
and will be given to another family. This pessimistic thinking of parents and society is the cause of gender
disparity in India.

4. LACK OF AWARENESS
Lack of awareness among the genders, especially women; for their rights and opportunities is still there in
India. Because of their unawareness women accept to tolerate the violence and trauma of the family.

SCHEMES LAUNCHED BY THE GOVERNMENT

Schemes such as: 

· “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” 
· “Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya” 
· “Mother and Child Tracking System” 
· “The Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana” 
Were launched to reduce gender inequality in India. Many associations and organizations are working to
reduce this menace. These associations include: “All India Democratic Women’s Association”, “National
Commission for Women”, “Ministry of Women and Child Development”.

CONCLUSION

Unfortunately the problem of gender discrimination is still prevailing in many areas of India. Despite all
the efforts and provisions taken by the government, the gender equality and parity is something which we
are still not able to achieve. Each and every person should get proper education so that they can get aware
of their rights. Education is the only key through which people will get to know about the discrimination
that is still persistent in our society.

Image Credits

CHILD LABOUR,

CASTEISM,

Child Marriage
POPULATION EXPLOSION

DEFINITION AND ROLE OF EDUCATION