The relationship between education and social change

While discussing the role of 'Education as an Instrument of change' the Indian Education Commission Report (1964-66) categorically stated that only through education the much desired social change may be brought in Indian social system.  According to the Education Commission Report: "The realization of the country's aspirations involves changes in the knowledge, skills, interests and values of the people as a whole. This is basic to every programme of social and economic betterment of which India stands in need. If this 'change on a grand scale is to be achieved without violent revolution, there is one instrument only, which can be used: Education. It is a sure and tried instrument."

It is not however, a magic wand to wave wishes into existence. It is a difficult instrument whose effective use requires strengths of will, dedicated work and sacrifice. The same is also the view of the International Commission on the Development of Education, formed in 1972, about the role of education in fostering social changes. In its recommendation it was stated that: "Education must recognize itself for what it is; it may be the product of history and society, but it is not their passive play thing. It is an essential factor in shaping the future, particularly at the present moment, since in the last result education has to prepare mankind to adapt the change, the predominant characteristics of our time. It has to prepare for change, show people how to accept them and benefit from them, create a dynamic, non-conformist, non-conservative frame of mind. Concurrently, it has to play the part antidote to the many discussions within man and of a society."

In fact, no two human societies are equal and each of these societies has its own specific concerns, interests as well as problems. Each of them has their own specialty as well and these special qualities are always ventilated through its own educational programme. It is the principal role of education to pave the ground for the emerging social order and foster the necessary changes therein. This has prompted Prof. H. C. Dent to lay greater emphasis on the duel function of education especially in times of social flux. To quote him: "A national system of education has two vital functions to perform-a tradition preserving function and a growth facilitating function." Growth means change of human personality as well as of the society. Naturally social change depends much on education.

In relation to this social change the role of education is confronted with twofold problems, All social changes may not be towards progress and naturally the question arises if education will allow any type of drift in the society. The answer to such a question is always negative. Education is always, and can only be used as an instrument of social progress and not for social regress.

Obviously in this regard of social change education faces twofold problems: the problem of adjustment to the changing situation of the society and the problem for creating a new order that will drift towards progress. Education never allows a society to break or retrograde; instead, it tries not only perpetuate the existing order of the society but also to improve it. Thus, education itself plays dual roles: it is conservative as well as progressive, it is retrospective as well as prospective. It is a transmitter of culture from one generation to another. At the same time it also paves the ground for making that culture better and best through social changes. Hence, "education is a continuous reorganization and integration of activities and experiences." It is a constructive agency for improving our society.

Stressing on these elements of education Prof. Brown wrote: "Education brings changes in behaviour and if its main functions are to remain mere transmission or enrichment of culture, it will fall short of its role in a dynamic society. Education must always provide situation at all age levels but within the maturity and ability of the individual to stimulate a creativeness of mind, which can explore new horizons and bring the vision of the future into a living reality."

Why the conservation of social heritage and culture is so necessary for the progress of human civilisation is always a burning question. Through its different actions and interactions on the environment for ages together the human being has accumulated a rich heritage. This is what we call culture. It consists of that knowledge and experiences with which man moulds his own mode of life and acts accordingly. If this knowledge and experiences accumulated in the shape of culture is lost it will mean, that we are deviating from the path of progress and our entire mode of living will be jeopardized.

Yet as civilisation advances the culture itself becomes more and more complex and hence, its conservation becomes extremely necessary. The present always depends on the past and the present paves the ground for the future to take shape as well. So we cannot forget the past, neither can we neglect the shaping of a better future. Only through education we continuously reorganize and integrate our activities and experiences by dint of which we improve our own society.

Education thus acts both as a preserver and creator. With the advancement of civilisation, however, the culture itself becomes more and more complex and these complexities also call for its preservation or conservation. To shape our present culture properly and make it free from complexities, we must always preserve the products of our past culture cautiously since they give us the necessary instructions for such activities. Of course, only when we "weed out from the accumulated knowledge of the past what is obsolete, wrong and misfit in the present," we will be able to conserve the past properly and worthily.

It should also be remembered that the needs of the society are ever changing. It is quite natural that every successive generation will try, and they always do, to make some improvements in the existing pattern. It is the principal work of the education as a science and a process, to reconstruct and reorganize the experiences of these needs of the society and also to eliminate the unwanted features that may jeopardize the building up of a happier and better world. Education is always a fostering, a venturing and a cultivating process. It always keeps attention to the condition of growth.