What have we achieved?

The following is the paper presented by K. Venkatasubramaniam, the then Director, State Council of Educational Research and Training, Chennai, at a seminar on `Education in 2001',on March 12,1976.

We are now in the year 1976. This generation is fortunate enough to visualise already the signs of the birth of a new century. In just another 25 years, we will be landing on 2001. We have to plan for this, even from now on, as the demands of the 21st century may not be the same as now.

To quote a visionary scientist ``we live in a world of fantastic scientific achievements. We have conquered time and distance, the sea and the sky. Our atomic submarines can stay an unlimited time and cover unlimited distances under water; our aircrafts travel faster than sound. We have placed satellites and astronauts in orbit and we have schedules ready for regular inter-planetary travel. We have bombs and missiles capable of instantaneous destruction of whole districts. Medical research has made spectacular discoveries in the prevention and cure of almost all diseases.

Patents for new and improved products are being issued at the rate of one every 10 minutes. We operate push button factories, while electronic computers processess data in seconds, that no more than 50 years ago, would have taken a life time of patience and toil for hundreds of men.

We are at the threshold of an age in which mathematics and science will really come into their own, an age in which we will be able to cross the Atlantic in an hour or less, in which radar- guided cars will travel in the super high ways at tremendous speeds, with a high degree of safety; in which weather will be correctly predicted every hour by the satellites revolving in the orbit.

In the human aspects, we are entering an era of the transplanted cornea, the synthetic arteries and perhaps the mechanical heart. Micro films and cards will replace huge libraries. The data retrieval systems will permit scholars and scientists to locate data on any system of classification by the simple press of a button. Children will come to school in automic powered cars in the year 2001. What we are seeing today is only just the beginning, we are told and in 2001 the picture again will be totally different.

To equip people for this, we have to gear up education, if not for enjoying all the benefits, at least to safeguard the world from the onslaughts of science. Science is very essential but humanities should also cement scientific achievements. To prepare ourselves for the dawn of the 21st century, we, the educationists have to give a plan, so that the nation may not be found wanting later.

Change has become the daily diet of our time and society. Tomorrow will not be like today and if we are to avert the future shock we should anticipate changes.

The seminar will help to visualise the Indian society in 2001. There is an urgency in our planning of education for 2001, because decisions have to be taken right this year and that too just now. As is well known, the gestation period for education is fairly long. Hence, let us put our heads together and take a series of tentative decisions for all the pressing problems.

India will have 945 millions of people in 2001, if the present trend of population growth continues as such. India might reach an economic growth rate of seven per cent in 2001. It is likely that the contribution by the manufacturing sectors, infrastructure and services, to the economic growth would very much improve. However, India will dominantly remain rural-agro- economic. It is likely that the labour force will swell from 170 millions now to 364 millions by then. Besides, the back-log of the unemployed and the under-employed will also have to be taken into account, with regard to the employment policy, not to mention the `unemployables'.

The educational problems of 2001 may not be a mere linear expansion of present day problems. It is likely to be qualitatively different and challenging as well. In terms of numbers, nearly 200 millions in India will be of 6-14 age group. The teaching population would well exceed 45 lakhs for the formal system of schooling alone. It will become impossible for the formal system to face the problems single-handed. The non-formal method of education should develop with acceleration right from now. School and college drop-outs (push-outs in the words of Malcolm S. Adiseshiah) will definitely constitute a problem and a source of danger, if the educational system is not redesigned to have multiple entry and multiple exit points, with graded and disaggregated learning units. It is likely that age limits may not be rigidly imposed. Students may come into the courses and get out of the courses, at the call of work, and re-enter the courses and get out of the courses, at their convenience. Education will not be viewed as a preparation for ``a mess of pottage'', but will become an integral part of every day life.

The school and college curriculum will have major work experience components. School education should necessarily be closer to work and capable of orientating the bulk of the population, for entering the labour force (white collar labour included, we hope). The very style of teaching and learning may change. Besides the professional teachers, a host of others (probably a lot of part-time people) will necessarily have to join this noble band of regular teachers. The educational agencies may have to shed their exclusiveness and become institutions with wider purpose. There must be several autonomous institutions. Technology in education in the form of new media and methods will make educational process more lively and dynamic. Methods of learning through discoveries and discussions will gain wider currency. Innovations in evaluation will become a matter of necessity, and self-evaluation techniques will have more extensive adoption. Education then perhaps may not be the anxiety of a single department of education only. Every department of the government will have educational and training functions, as a preparation to train useful and functional citizens.

Let us join hands to march to the glorious 21st century which may after all usher in the golden era in education for all, and specially to the weaker sections of our society who constitute the real strength of the Nation.

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