Journal of Education and Research

1-6

Authors: Rebat Kumar Dhakal

N/A

24-38

Authors: Joseph Seyram Agbenyega

Education for rural transformation requires a critical analysis and appraisal of policies and education programmes, and skills development that can lead to the creation of sustainable jobs for rural people. This paper will examine and analyze how inclusion or exclusion manifests for rural people, and will do so with Pierre Bourdieu’s socio-critical theoretical framework that provides a three pronged (Habitus, Capital and Field), but unified approach that can be utilized to theorize education for rural transformation. Bourdieu draws our attention to three interactive ways of conceptualizing and understanding inclusion, exclusion, marginalization, disadvantage and transformation via: 1) the objective, physical, outright rejection in community due to the ways individuals are positioned and named in that community (field); 2) overt or covert denial of social, economic and cultural goods (capital), and 3) the inside subjective world, the space of thought, mind, attitudes, idea and interiority, which Bourdieu referred to as habitus (Bourdieu, 1990, 1996, 1998 & 1999). The paper provides a socio-critical framework for educators of how to work with rural people to enhance their living standards.

54-71

Authors: Harbans Singh Bhola

To engage meaningfully on the subject of “Education for Rural Transformation, ”it is essential first to understand the concept of the “Rural Condition” as well as of “Education” -- which is influenced by social, economic, political, technological and cultural factors. There are two additional complexities in that the “Rural Condition” itself is not something stable and absolute but is indeed in perpetual flux across Time and Place; and that the rural condition is inconceivable without at the same time understanding the “Urban Condition.” Concomitantly, “Education” itself will have to undergo transformation to serve as the lever of rural and urban transformations. Rural and urban transformations today have come to acquire one globally-focused mission, dealing with three objectives: mitigation of global warming, pursuing sustainable development and committing to poverty alleviation, in both rural and urban habitations. For “Planned Action” informed by the general conceptual framework constructed here, the general must be contextualized in each particular setting of time, space and locality – responding to a specific “Political Economy”; to policy processes such as formulation, planning, mobilization, implementation and evaluation; and configurations of agents and adopters of planned actions. Finally, the “Logic of Action” must come from the dialectics between the structural and the instructional.

87-101

Authors: Tanka Nath Sharma

The main purpose of this paper is to document the potential contributions of the community learning centers in the process of rural transformation and explore how formal, non-formal and informal education are blended for capital formation, empowerment and self-sufficiency of the rural communities. Discussions and arguments presented in this paper are based on secondary sources supplemented by a field-based case study. Nepal’s rural communities over the years are facing poverty, deprivation and ignorance. Education and skills for life are particularly important to combat rural poverty and deprivation by developing the capacity of rural people to take advantage of available opportunities for reducing economic and non-economic poverty. Community learning centers (CLCs) as the local educational institutions outside the formal structure, can create various learning options and opportunities, responding to the diverse needs of the rural communities living in a complex situation. Referring to a case study, the paper has advocated that CLCs can be instrumental in rural transformation by offering diverse programs in education and community services such as: early childhood care and development, good quality primary education for all children, second chance basic education for youth, literacy and post-literacy programs, women education program, vocational skill development, income-generating programs and community development services for improving the quality of life of rural people. The paper further suggested that CLC has potential to offer assistance to the students of local schools in improving their academic achievement and to serve as a local institutional base offering technology-based open and distance learning opportunities and engage rural people in lifelong learning and continuing education.

1-5

Authors: Mahesh Nath Parajuli

N/A

24 - 3 8

Authors: Sadruddin Bahadur Qutoshi; Tikaram Poudel

Assuming the effectiveness of the student-centered approach to teaching, this study explores the perceptions of purposefully selected seven students and teachers from a community school in Karachi about this pedagogical approach. Using interviews and observations of classroom practices as methodological tools, we concentrate on finding answers to the questions: How does student-centered approach to teaching used in community schools in Pakistan contribute to achieving quality education? How does this approach affect teaching and learning activities? How does this approach facilitate teachers to overcome the problems of teaching and learning? The findings of this study identify that student-centered approach to teaching encourages students‟ engagement in teaching-learning activities focusing on individual interaction to achieve common objectives. However, inadequate resources, small sized classrooms, and lack of expertise on the part of teachers were the challenges to the teaching-learning activities in the community schools. These findings would be valuable to teaching and learning communities and educational policymakers as well.

58-76

Authors: Ellen Carm

UNESCO (2005) launched the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014, and as we now proceed into the final year of that decade there is a time for asking whose development? That question heavily relies upon what type of education, which again leads to aspects concerning epistemological lenses. I am using my experiences and research from two totally different assignments; an evaluation of a post-literacy and skills program in rural Laos, and the other aimed at developing and implementing a localized approach to HIV/AIDS education in Zambia. The outcomes from the two interventions revealed that in order to initiate and sustain change and development, it was crucial to ensure the inclusion and merger of multiple knowledge systems, science and traditional knowledge. That requires a focus on how. In other words, the processes we put in place to ensure the recognition and merger of different epistemologies are crucial to ensure sustained local development. The paper briefly discusses key concepts related to multiple knowledge systems, education for sustainable development, and different conceptualization of learning and teaching methods, and explores how environmental education can contribute to sustainable development. The last section illustrates how expansive learning can be applied as a method and a tool to analyze the processes at stake, and outcomes of participatory and inclusive interventions. The paper elaborates on the methodology and shows how a multi-voiced approach can bridge the gap between different epistemologies, e.g. Indigenous Knowledge and Western Knowledge, create space for interaction and negotiations among a diverse group of stakeholders and actors to reach to the local innovations and development activities.

93-108

Authors: Manju Narula

In India, the National Minority Commission has identified Muslims as minorities along with Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains on the basis of religion. Out of these religious minorities, Muslims are the largest ones. In spite of being the largest minority, they are lagging behind in education in comparison with other religious minorities. Literacy which is the first step to education is lowest of the Muslim minority and inter-state variation in their literacy rates is also very high. Also, their literacy rate in some of the states is abysmally low. In the light of these contexts, this paper presents a brief discussion of policies and programs implemented for the development of education of the Muslim minority. Thereafter, the paper tries to portray the progress of school education in terms of access, participation, retention of Muslim children in the Muslim concentrated states. The paper suggests that strategies for their educational development should be adopted according to the need of the state/district/area. Finally, the areas of intervention and challenges are discussed and appropriate measures are suggested to improve and promote the education of Muslims in India.