Democracy, Decentralized Planning and Devolution of Power in Education

No educational institution is a stand alone system which can develop independent of the structure of the society on which it is built. Development of any society and that of its education system are closely inter-dependent. We live in a society of extreme inequality, economic as well as social and dominated by a feudal culture. The education system which is expected to be the most important instrument to trigger economic growth and ensure social empowerment is itself afflicted with those diseases. The system, as a result, continues to suffer from severe distortions e.g. lack of democratic environment which encourages the students to think critically, and the teachers to respect dissent, neglect the vernacular as a medium of instruction, reducing education almost to a commodity which can be bought by those who can afford to pay the price, lack of motivation of the students as well as the teachers, etc. As a result, even after massive expansion of our higher education system over the last six decades, our gross enrolment ratio is still very low, creativity and innovations are also almost absent even in so-called elite institutions. If the enrolment figure is examined closely, the great divide which exists even today encompassing urban-rural, gender, caste, class, religion and other relevant parameters is really appalling. The problems ailing our education system have been analyzed by many expert bodies and corrective measures have been suggested. Unfortunately, in most of the cases, the reports are gathering dusts. Without going into the social roots of these diseases and ignoring lessons from the history of the development of modern education system in the western world, most of us tend to believe that the patient can be cured by introducing several reforms within the system itself. IMPORTANT PROGRAMME


Education is considered to be the most important instrument to develop a truly democratic society which ensures equal rights and opportunities to all its citizens irrespective of class, creed and colour so that they can develop fully their potentialities and in turn contribute their best to the society. Any instrument can be used or misused, even unintentionally, depending upon the man behind it. So also the education system can be used just for the opposite purpose i.e. empowerment of the minority section of the people, thus widening further the social disparity. In our society, the entire emphasis in every sphere of our social activities including education is governed primarily by the needs and sensibilities of the elites. So whatever may be our declared objectives i.e. widening access, ensuring social equity and imparting quality education for all and whatever academic and administrative reforms we may suggest like democratic governance, devolution of power, examination reform, autonomy, etc., ultimately it seems that we are moving in a blind ally. Our efforts to build up a robust education system, capable of meeting the challenges of the present day world by ensuring democratic governance, devolution of power and accountability at each stage, are inseparable from wider struggle for establishment of a truly democratic, secular and egalitarian society in our country.