B.A. Programme: Education
Year – I
(Semester I)
Rationale for the paper: The students of BA Programme opting for Education as a discipline course require an introduction to the scope and framework of the papers available in the three years of the programme. An
introductory paper thus needs to take the students from a lay person's experiential understanding of the subject to the reference points of the discipline. A thematic study drawing upon interdisciplinary work would thus be suitable for such a paper.
Course objectives: The paper aims a) to engage students to critically examine education in contemporary
India b) to explore the aim and purpose of education as reflected in different theoretical approaches or in the
works of select thinkers by undertaking a thematic study.
The paper is structured to explore a) the educational concerns and issues as experienced and understood in
contemporary society; b)the values and guiding principles behind education in India; c) the historical origins of the current trends.
The aim and purpose of education is to be examined within contemporary economy and society, as reflected in the constitutional principles and within specific historical situations.
*Each student should attempt atleast one individual assignment and one independent project, apart from group work.
Unit 1: Going to school and college in India
Objective:
To critically examine educational access and participation in India.
To identify and analyze disparities and inequalities in education.
Topics:
Factors affecting access to different levels of education, the need for Right to Education.
Challenges posed by regional disparities.
Overview of gender, religious, class and caste variations in education.
Education and Human Development
Suggested Projects/ Assignments:
Reflective essays/ presentations on students own schooling and educational experiences vis-a vis
issues discussed in the Unit.
Preparing educational status reports based on reading of data tables in the class for specific social
groups
Making tables of educational backgrounds of the students in the class.
Documenting educational testimonies of family members/migrant workers/ children living on the streets/
child workers/homeless people. Or making educational testimonies from biographies/ autobiographies
of people who have struggled to get education.
Film review: ‘I wonder’, by Anupama Srinivasan/ “Padhoge likhoge banoge nawab” by Vani
Subramaniam
Unit 2 Constitution and Education
Objectives:
To trace the impact of the Constitution on education in Indian society.
To examine the influence of the legislature and judiciary on education.
Topics:
Preamble and its influence on educational values
Institutional structures of democracy – the Center and the State. Union/ State / Concurrent lists and the
status of education. Role of the Judiciary, Legislature and Executive in education decision making. 4
Panchayati Raj/Local Bodies
An introduction to Acts and Amendments in the Constitution pertaining to education (elementary
education, religious minority and linguistic minority rights, against discrimination, medium of instruction,
right to equality, Right to Education Act)
Suggested Projects/ Assignments:
Concurrent status of education and the 73rd and 74th amendment Act.
Presentations on how the Constitution has influenced their own educational experience.
Case study of judicial intervention: Unnnikrishnan Judgement 1993.
Unit 3: Colonialism and Education
Objectives:
To explore the influence of Colonialism on education.
To explore the aim, purpose and processes of education with reference to the work of select thinkers.
Topics:
Modern education in India (impact of Colonialism on traditional systems of education, emergence of
Colonial education order: school education and modern universities)
Women and modern education
Aims and purpose of colonial education and alternative visions (with reference to Nayee Taleem,
Gandhi and Tagore)
Suggested Projects/ Assignments:
Review of schooling in any film/book/ comics from pre-Independent India.
Reflective essays on colonial continuities in education
Readings/Resources:
R. Govinda, (2002), Chapter 1, India Education Report , Oxford University Press and NIEPA:New Delhi, pp1-20
Latest Selected Education Statistics, on MHRD website: http://www.education.nic.in
I WONDER... Anu Srinivasan | 71'| PSBT; 2009
Is school the thing that makes a king?/ “Padhoge likhoge banoge nawab” film by Vani Subramaniam
and Surajit Sarkar :English (subtitled), 34 min, 1998.
Baby Halder and Urvashi Butalia (transl.), (2006), A life less ordinary, Zubaan/ Penguin:New Delhi.
Sharmila Rege, (2006),Writing Caste/Writing Gender: Narrating Dalit Women's Testimonies,
Zubaan:New Delhi (refer for post-independence testimonies)
Raina, Vinod, (2006), ‘Where do children go after class VIII?’, Seminar Volume 563 on http://www.indiaseminar.com/
Kumar, K. (2008) ‘Anusuchit Jatiyon aur Janjatiyon ka Shaekshik Anubhav’ in Sureshchandra Shukla
and Krishna Kumar (Eds.) Shiksha ka Samajshastriye Sandarbh. Delhi: Granthshipli (also available in
English Sociological Perspectives in Education: A Reader)
Human Development Reports , see http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/
Constitution of India : Preamble, Provisions of the Constitution of India having a bearing on Education
(see http://www.education.nic.in/constitutional.asp) and http://education.nic.in/ NatPol.asp
India Untouched: K Stalin, (2007), Drishti Media Collective (film).
MK Gandhi, Buniyadi Shiksha, "The selected works of Gandhi", Vol. 6, The Voice of Truth . Also
available at http://www.mkgandhi.org/views_edu/chap02.htm.
Uma Chakravarti, (2007), Pandita Rama Bai : A life and a Time, Critical Quest: New Delhi.
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, (1997), The Mahatma And The Poet - Letters And Debates Between Gandhi
And Tagore 1915 – 1941, National Book Trust :New Delhi.
