Changing Enquiry Systems

Education is a life long process. Every process changes from time to time, so has education changed in various ways. The revolution in science and tech-nology has influenced the entire education system. We apply innovations of science and technology in the field of education in achieving the desired goals and objectives. Thus a new field of education called educa-tional technology has emerged. Educational technol-ogy is an effective means of communication which uses a wide range of instructional media like Radio, TV, Closed Circuit TV, Films, Computer etc. Educa-tional technology is not only an audio-visual aid but is also a systematic way of teaching and learning in terms if specific objectives. In educational technology every work is executed in a systematic manner similar to science. So we can also call educational technology a science where we achieve the desired objectives of edu-cation in a scientific manner.

With the increase in population, the instructional process have become a complex activity. Teacher-pu-pil ratio and the amount of educational material viz. curriculum has increased and so has also increased the instructional media. 

- System Approach in Education, Mukesh Kumar, University News, 17/04/1995, [C.ELDOC.N00.17apr95uns1.pdf]

 

The system of education as it exists has been described as a kind of apartheid, separating the literate from the non-literate. The simile is more than superficially apt since it is the under-privileged for reasons of social identity and of gender that are often denied literacy. The existing condition is continuously aggravated by rapid changes in the technology of communicating and acquiring knowledge, and by its becoming increasingly the preserve of the few. With more sophisticated technical requirements of education, the divide will become worse. Not only does the lag between the educated and the non-literate in such circumstances become greater but also even literacy by itself becomes inadequate and insufficient. The new mantra of Information Technology will not in itself solve the problem since the minimum technological infrastructure required is, as of now, absent in many places. When electricity is irregular and the telephone system unreliable, the new technology is not of much help; still less will it be for those who have had no education. The implications of accessing knowledge in this form also require evaluating existing methods of advancing knowledge, some of which might have to be discarded.

 

- Link between Democracy, Education & the Acquiring of Knowledge, Romila Thapar, Vikalp, 01/04/2001,  [J.ELDOC.N00.01apr01VKP.pdf]

 

 

 
The system of education as it exists has been described as a kind of apartheid, separating the literate from the non-literate. The simile is more than superficially apt since it is the under-privileged for reasons of social identity and of gender that are often denied literacy. The existing condition is continuously aggravated by rapid changes in the technology of communicating and acquiring knowledge, and by its becoming increasingly the preserve of the few.

 

With more sophisticated technical requirements of education, the divide will become worse. Not only does the lag between the educated and the non-literate in such circumstances become greater but also even literacy by itself becomes inadequate and insufficient. If we had had a commitment to education fifty years ago this lag could have been reduced. As it stands, even if tomorrow, school education is made compulsory and available, there will still be an enormous distance between the literate and those proficient in the skills of modern education. It requires a far more thoughtful education policy than has been proposed to make these skills more widely available.And education is not merely about making millions literate. It is also about citizens realising their rights and their obligations, both necessary to democratic functioning.

 

The new mantra of Information Technology will not in itself solve the problem since the minimum technological infrastructure required is, as of now, absent in many places. When electricity is irregular and the telephone system unreliable, the new technology is not of much help; still less will it be for those who have had no education. 

Education policies should match technological advancement, writes Tapas Majumdar One question that is seldom raised in India's education poli-cy confabulation is what form of literacy or basic education must Indians have to be able to live in a high technology society.

 

Literacy since the invention of paper had implied two kinds of ability. First, the ability to write by hand. Second, the abi-lity to read the handwritten word. If this idea of literacy had persisted, many graduate students studying in the United States universities would have failed the first test, and some of their teachers the second. That they still thrive in the world of letters is because the typewriter and its sucessor,  the word processor, in due cour-se have ousted writing by hand almost completely in the Ame-rican campuses. Literacy there now implies familiarity only with the printed word. But it is probably once again shying away from the question about the form of education India would need for the kind of society it covets. If the ques-tion remains unasked and unanswered, chances are, all the hard work, organisation and resources notwithstan-ding, the country will end up on the wrong track.

It is difficult to say in which way new literacy is going to be radically different from the old. But the distinctive feature of high technology unfolding despite India's sluggish econo-mic growth might provide a clue.

This is the almost endless capacity of technology to pro-duce simple as well as complica-ted devices that have "informa-tion" embedded in them. These can be gadgets owned only by the relatively affluent to enrich their quality of life and used to provide the modern infrastructure for tran-sport, communication and edu-cation. These can also be brought to the use of Everyman man provided Everyman is taught to read the new symbols.

In Chandrapur, not a single new classroom has been built since 1997. How can things improve if the deficit of physical spaces where children are sup- posed to learn is so enormous?
Even funds provided by the Centre have not been utilised. For instance, Rs. 10.40 crores were sanctioned by the State Gov-ernment in 1993- 94 under a scheme spon-sored by the Centre to buy 8,000 colour television sets for primary schools that are run by Zilla Parishads. But an audit in-spection (December 1996 to October 1997) found that out of a total of 880 TV sets which were to be distributed in seven dis-tricts, 520 sets, costing Rs. 66.24 lakhs, could not be used. Here is what the report states: "The TV sets in 42 schools of Thane district were not used due to absence of electricity, 246 schools of Sindhudurg, Sangli and Ratnagiri were not in the limit of transmission, in 162 schools of Ratnagi-ri, Aurangabad, Raigad, Satara and Thane, the TV sets sent were defective or dam-aged. Further, in 70 cases in Ratnagiri and Aurangabad the sets were not used as the schools were not provided boosters." So much for audio-visual learning tools.

Linguists, educationists and local language computing experts are all up in arms here over anMoU the state recently entered into with Microsoft for IT education at the primary and secondary school level. Dubbing it the "Microsoftisation of education", they have demanded that the agreement be terminated and a more "multilateral" IT education be ensured instead of allowing one MNC to "monopolise" the minds of children. 
...people like eminent Kannada writer K.P. PoornachandraTejasvi, in a letter to the government, has accused MS of merely forwarding its own business interests. "Responsible governments worldwide are moving towards open source software available free. Why should we remain at the mercy of expensive proprietary software?.... Read clause II.2 in the MoU, it clearly says the government will set up three IT academies in ‘a central location’ of Bangalore, Dharwad and Gulbarga and give it to MS for an annual charge of Re 1 to run for five years. This means the government has to shell out crores of taxpayers’ money to help MS carry out its philanthropy."