INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Of

ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
on
IMPROVING RURAL EDUCATION
on
10-12 OCTOBER 2005
at
ANGEL MATRICULATION HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL,
THIRUNINRAVUR, NEAR CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU

ABSTRACTS OF THE PAPERS

 

A Comparative Study of Teacher Efficiency and Job Satisfaction with Concern to Gender and Work Experience in Rural Area Teacher

 

Rakesh Patel, Lecturer, NLITE, & Pritesh Tailor, Lecturer, BMKIETE, Navsari, Gujarat

 

Impact of Teacher Competencies on Student’s Academic Achievement at Primary School of Rural India

 

Rama Chandra Mohanty, Lecturer, Dept of Education, Salipur College, Salipur, Dt.Cuttack, Orissa.

 

This study attempts to trace the effects of teacher competencies on student’s academic achievement in relation to sex, qualification, teaching experience and age at primary school level.  Teacher competencies test is developed on the basis of ten interrelated competencies which are identified by the NCTE(1998).  School examination marks are used as indicators of learning achievement.  Results indicated that teacher competencies have significant differential effects on students’ academic achievement is not affected due to difference in teachers’ sex, area of working, qualifications, teaching experience and age.  Further the study revels that except the interaction effect between teacher competencies and qualification other interactions are found not significant.  Thus, teacher competencies should be developed among teachers for the cause of quality education at primary level, which ultimately develop students’ academic achievement.  The study also suggests different strategies to be adopted for the development of teacher competence, particularly for rural primary schools.

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Reforming the Co-Curricular and Extra Curricular Experiences to Improve Rural Education

 

Ramachandran, R Lecturer in Education, Annamalai University

 

In the changing scenario of educational efforts to build confidence and quality in the rural students, which could be achieved through a systematic revitalization of the existing curricular implementation by the triggers of allied and extra curricular frontiers of experience.  In this process, it is felt by the author to find ways and means of extension in the new dimensions of knowledge and skills, information and enthusiasm related to the known to unknown disastrous situations to human beings.  Especially the rural students are to be made aware of certain new dimensions of co-curricular and extra curricular activities. Use of first aid practices, student supportive information (SSI) regarding the utilization of computer and allied communications at times of unexpected disasters lie fire, flood, famine, diseases caused by environmental hazards.  In three dimensional aspects namely personality education, health education and safety education the author is interested in reforming the co-curricular extra-curricular experiences specially for improving rural education.

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ICT to Reach the Unreached

Ramakrishnan,V, Reader & J. Augustus Richard and A. Naveen, M.Ed., Students, SRKV College of Education, Coimbatore-20

Mahatma Gandhi had always emphasized that India lived its villages and that the development of villages will automatically lead to the development of the entire nation.  It is said that even after five decades of his demise, his dreams is still unfulfilled.  India is to found not in its few cities but in its 7,00,000 villages.  Ten years ago it was said that the major purpose of education for rural children and youth is not mere imparting of literacy and a regimen of certain information and skills, but rather to achieve and sustain a desirable level of culture, ethical and economic living.  The ancient concept of rural education was that it consisted only of the operations and problems of one-teacher school, or at least of small schools in the open country.  It is now conceived to be the environment.  The location of the school has little to do with whether the school, its teacher and administrations have an obligation in the field of rural education.

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Improving Rural Education - To Control Sleep Deprivation and Reduce the Rate of Retention among Adolescents in High School Level

 

Ramasamy,K.R, Research. Scholar & Rita Goretti Lourdes, Reader, VOC College of Education, Tuticorin

 

Studies have shown that sleep deprivation negatively affects the performance short – term memory, as well as physical and emotional health.  Teachers and parents must be made aware of the effects of long – term sleep deprivation on students in elementary, middle and high schools.  Several programs can inform teachers and administrators of ways to address the problem of sleep deprivation through changes in school schedules, teaching strategies and student involvement.  An experiment conducted on high school level across the country will examine the link between sleep deprivation, motivation and short – term memory performance.  Hypothetically, motivation may offset the effects of sleep deprivation and thus be seen as a moderating factor in school achievement. 

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Initial Training for Teachers for Rural Schools in Gujarat: An Exploration

 

Raysing B. Chaudhari, Reader, Education Department, VN S G University, Surat-395 007

 

India is a country of villages and a major proportion of its population lives rural area. Therefore, rural development becomes prime concern. Efforts for integrated rural development are needed because the rural economy and social structure is characterized by widespread poverty, poor health conditions, literacy particularly among women and, lack of rural infrastructure. The main objective of the resource support system is to bring about qualitative improvement in teacher training. This task is undertaken by various resource support agencies like GCERT, DIETs, BRCs, CRCs, IASEs, CTEs, DPEP etc. DIET has a major role to play in capacity building of teachers. Pe-service / In-service training and research are the activities of  DIETs. BRCs and CRCs are the supporting institutes at lower levels for empowering the teachers.  BRCs  are  intermediate  between  the district  and village  schools  and can facilitate schools and teachers development. Various in-service training programmes for teachers are organized for promotion of teachers’ capacity in teaching learning process, training for subjects., methodology, school planning and management, preparation of teaching-learning aids etc. under BRCs and CRCs  in rural areas. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) seeks to introduce reforms in primary education through a kind of holistic approach and decentralized planning. Cluster Resource Centers (CRCs) serve as decentralized unites for teachers training. Teachers should be aware of rural conditions, and their work should conform to it. In rural schools, it is best if the teacher belongs to the same region. The state government should provide some proportional aid for the construction of well planned school buildings. A concrete programme for the professional training of teacher is essential for bringing about qualitative progress. Teaching aids as sensory objects facilitate, initiate, stimulate and reinforce learning. There should be training for the rural teachers regarding audio-teaching aids, visual-teaching aids and audiovisual teaching aids.

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Hazards to Literacy: A Study of Ghaziabad Slum

Rekha Agrawal, Reader, P. G. Department of Education & Research,  VML P. G. College for Women, Ghaziabad  e-mail: [email protected]

 

Education is a social sub-system. It is supposed to be an instrument of social change. Education of the masses, since education is essential for all, will be able to play its acculturating role. The objective of the study was to study the educational and related problems of children residing in slum area and to suggest some remedial measures. 50 families of Rajapur and Nasirpur village were surveyed. Children were facing economic and health problems. Part time education, mobile school, compensatory education, inclusive education  are  some ways to help them.

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A Study of Teacher Education to Create Localized Curriculum

 

Ranganath,A, Lecturer, ICFAI College of Education Hyderabad

 

The present paper deals with a study based on the teacher educators in Andhra Pradesh, who are the major partners of curriculum construction in the state. The survey on colleges of education indicates that 70% of them are working with rural area background. Urban-rural discrepancies are well known to the educational researchers. Nearly seventy percentages of the survey studies contain this variable in the research study. All these studies indicate that the education in the rural area is lacking in quality, quantity and accessibility. Empowering rural education should be prioritised in the field of education to meet the objectives of Vision 2020. Developed India will be a distant dream if we step in the shoes of the Universalisation of Elementary Education policy. Migration in large scale from rural to urban area is going on unabated for various reasons and the paper will analyse the role of education in it. Either due to lack of proper education or in order to avail good education, people keep on migrating to urban areas.   The education one gets in the process always portrays a very rosy picture of comfortable life in one’s mind, far from the real rural ambience.  The curriculum constructors in the teacher education should make significant efforts to localize the curriculum to encourage the learners to crave for the reality. Mere writing of records, as now in practice in the teacher preparation, would hardly bring in any constructive change to the locality. It should rather persuade them to write and publish articles based on their own research in the journals. Instead of giving priority to maintain records, focus should be on the usage of available information to better the actual situation in the schools. Teachers and teacher educators should be in a position to construct and implement the localized curriculum in the schools too. Only diagnosis of the disease will not cure it unless preventive measures are evolved.

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Training the Teachers in Rural Schools in Enhancing Desired Education

 

Ravichandran,S, Res. Scholar & Dr. (Ms.) Rita Goretti Lourdes, Reader,VOC College of Education, Tuticorin

 

Teacher-education is said to be very significant investment for bringing qualitative improvement in education. Now-a-days, it is a wide feeling that our traditional practice-teaching in teacher-education is not fulfilling its objective. It’s because there is a lack of training the teacher to be perfect, effective, updated with latest trends of education. Training is “systematic, development of attitude, knowledge, skill, behaviour patterns required by an individual in order to perform adequately a given job or task”. Teaching is not confined to tell or to impart knowledge of subject matter to others but in wider perspective teaching aims at all round development of personality of child. Skills or attitudes can only be developed through systematic training. Hence a systematized knowledge is required in order to achieve these skills and attitudes.  Systematic programme of teachers’ training will enable them make them confident and real master of students.  All the teachers should be trained.  The teacher of rural schools should have a thorough knowledge of students’ hurdles, shortcomings and the means to filling the gap of existing emptiness in education.  So the teachers in rural schools have to shoulder the responsibility of updating themselves to be good and effective teachers. 

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Rural Elementary Education in Tamil Nadu

 

Rita Goretti Lourdes,G, Reader, VOC College of Education, Tuticorin-8

 

The primary education system developed through concerted efforts of the Central, State Governments, Local bodies and community involvement is still lagging far behind in term of the quality of primary education.  The primary education system is characterized by low learning achievement wide gap in education outcomes across states and among groups, higher dropout rates, low retention rates etc.  One of the crucial issues in the context of achieving universalisation of primary education is to improve the retention rate, specifically in rural and remote areas of the country.  The dropout rate at this stage of education is alarmingly high.  Moreover, the dropout rate at primary education level, it is important not only to provide facilities for education but also to evolve strategies to effectively deal with the problem of retention of students at this stage of education.  Of course the said strategies could be evolved only in terms of status of elementary education in the states.  In this paper an attempt is made to understand the elementary education pattern existing in Tamilnadu with its achievements.

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Education and the Tribal World

 

Rita Majee, Lecturer  N.K.T. National College of Education, Chennai

 

Indigenous communities of India are commonly referred to as Tribal or Adivasi communities and are recognized as Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution of India.  They have primitive traits, follow distinctive culture, and are geographically isolated and shy of contact with the community at large and backward.  Tribal children, like several marginalised group of children in India, are trapped in an intergenerational vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy and deprivation.  This paper presents some information about the non-formal mode of education imparted for centuries and the formal mode during the pre-independent and post independent period.  The literacy rate of the Scheduled Tribe is abysmally low at around 29.60, as against the national average of 52.21.  The dropout rate is also quite high among the tribals.  It is argued that there are heavy dropouts, as they cannot be spared from their domestic and agricultural work.  It is not wholly true.  It is also due to apathy to education. . With the beginning of the 6^th plan there has been a change in the emphasis, and education has been considered as ‘pivotal in the social and economic development of the country through the development of human resources.  The National Policy of Education (1986) envisages universalisation of primary education and adult literacy by 1990.   The main causes for leading to educational deprivation are social factors, economic factors, lack of interest in formal education, lack of suitable teacher, lack of facilities, absenteeism and inadequate infrastructure.  A few suggestions are given to enhance the condition of tribal education. Thus of all the items in the development programme for the tribes, education is the most important as it is both the means and the end of real progress.  Let us reiterate our faith rightly on Gandhiji’s educational plan was for the poor, let us follow it and help the tribals to have equal access to educational opportunity and equal opportunity to gainful employment and meaningful life.  Relevance should be our watchword, and Gandhiji’s educational philosophy our sheet anchor.  We can reinterpret and update it to meet the challenges of the new society, which we are trying to build in free India.  The world of work and the world of word should be brought together.

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ICT for Education in Rural Development?????

 

Rupa Sen, Lecturer in Pol.Sc., AC College, Jalpaigudi, WB