RURAL EDUCATION

India is a vast country with a large population of about 65 crores. About 90 per cent of the people live in villages. They are engaged in agriculture or small cottage industries, Though there has been rapid expansion of facilities for educa­tion in the urban areas, the rural areas have remained neglec­ted to a great extent. The main reason for such lopsided expansion has been the attitude of our rulers. As in other matters, the urban vocal population has in this matter as well been able to get the lion’s share.
Many Universities, Colleges and institutions of higher learning have been established in big urban centres and cosmopolitan cities. The villages and small towns have had to be contented with primary, middle and high schools, with certain exceptions of Intermediate Colleges and a few degree Colleges. According to official figures literacy went up to 29’45 in 1971 as compared to only 16’6 in 1951, but the question is who are those to whom these figures relate. They are by and large the urban people. The villages have not got their due share in the facilities for education.

Education has been a state subject, i.e., a responsibility of the state governments in their respective jurisdictions. Expansion of education required huge sums of money. The State governments with their limited resources have not been able to allocate as much funds to education as they should hive done. Rich agriculturists could afford to send their wards to cities for education. The rest of the poor and non-vocal Motions of the population suffered. The nature of agriculture il luch that all the members of a farmer’s family have to work In the fields. Thus the children of farmers start helping their parents in agricultural operations. This is a great hindrance to the expansion of education in the rural areas.
If an analysis is attempted, it will show that the illiterates in the rural areas far outnumber their counterparts in the cities. Further break-up would show that not only adults but even children in the age-group 5—15 in the villages do not avail themselves of the facilities for education, available in their neighbourhood.It is not that there are no schools in the villages. Schools are there, but they are not in adequate numbers. Children have to go a long distance to attend schools. These schools are not as well equipped as the schools in urban localities. There are very few school buildings. Classes are generally held either under a shed a tree or in the open. The low-paid teachers of these schools do not pay enough attention to their students. The illiterate parents are not very enthusiastic about the education of their children. Many children in the villages do not go to school at all. The parents of even such children, as are enrolled in the school, pay little atten­tion to their education. They appear to be convinced of the futility of the schooling of their children. They rather engage their children as helpers in the agricultural operations, which they consider better utilisation of their time and energy.
Not only children, but a majority of adult men and women in the rural areas are illiterate. This is one reason of their being negligent towards their children’s education. To them there appears no better future for their children even if they take education. The large scale unemployment is another factor responsible for their indifference to their children’s education.
Lack of enthusiasm in the village people for the education of their children is due to several other reasons. First of all most of them are themselves uneducated. Secondly, the gains of education have not reached the villages. Village people are conservative in outlook. They do not like to send their daughters to schools. So far as their sons are concerned, they do not find any direct correlation between their education and future progress.
Very little attention is being paid to the education of adults in villages. There is no doubt that a little education or even literacy will generate much confidence among the rural adults, who would find it useful in their occupation_as well as in general life. Night schools or literacy centres should be started in villages where adult farmers can be taught the three R’s in their spare time. The lessons of teaching for these adults should be closely related to their environment and occupation. It would make them interested in such literacy classes.Looking to the magnitude of the problem of rural educa­tion and the resources available with the states, it can be easily concluded that dependence on governmental efforts would result in great disappointment. It would be interesting to note that the objective of providing free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14 could not be achieved because of (j) inadequate resources for school build­ings and teachers, (z’i) non-realisation by parents of the beneficial value of education, and (in), poverty. The pool of illiterates and drop-outs grows wider each year, even as governmental efforts are being reinforced. In order to bring those who escape the net of primary schooling back into the fold of at least functional literacy, centres for informal and adult education have been opened. They are likely to be less effective if the courses and methods followed in them are not carefully drawn up. First by surveying the socio-economic needs of the community and then by running the centre as a part of the locally-oriented rural development programme, many drop-outs can be brought back to pick up the thread of literacy. Education in the rural areas should be so designed as to offer opportunities for training boys and girls for adequate employment in rural areas. It is necessary that every development agency in the rural areas should build an educational component in its programme.
The task of rural education is enormous and untiring efforts are required with proper imaginative innovations to achieve the objective of expansion of education to the remotest parts of the country.
The problem of rural education is closely associated with the problems of universalisation of education as also adult education, as these are mainly related to rural areas. With the fulfilment of these two schemes, the objective of rural education will be achieved. In this connection, it may be of interest to note that it has been decided to achieve the goal of universal elementary education for all children up to 14 years of age, according to a time-bound programme. Every effort shall be made during the Sixth Plan period to achieve this goal. It is estimated that 452 lakhs of additional non-enrolled children in the age group 6-14 will be required to be covered for achieving the goal. The target for the next 5 years is to cover an additional 320 lakhs of children and the rest are proposed to be covered during another two years.
Two-thirds of the non-enrolled children consist of girls. A vast majority of non-enrolled children are again from weaker sections of the community, like scheduled castes, schedules tribes and landless agricultural labourers. Such children constitute the hard core of the problem. They do not attend school, and even if they do, they drop out soon after joining school. A large programme covering these children, even the drop-outs would have to be carefully drawn up and implemented.
Adult education is another very important aspect of the problem, which, if implemented with adequate imagination, can go a long way towards achieving the goal. While the adult education programme has rightly emphasised, acquisition of literacy skills, it has also been recognised that learning, working and living are correlated and inseparable. Therefore literacy must be considered necessary and should be related to the needs of the learners for their development and self-reliance. Voluntary organisations and the youth may be expected to play a very important role, and steps to secure their cooperation may be taken.