EDUCATION

Education and Development by Jandhyala B G Tilak ; Published by Academic Foundation ; Pages  360 ; Price Rs 1495/-

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Jandhyala B.G. Tilak is an eminent  educationist, Professor and former Vice Chancellor, National University of Educational Planning of Administration. He is currently Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development, New Delhi. He is a recipient of Swami Pranavananda Saraswati National Award of the UGC for his outstanding scholarly research in education He bagged the  Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for distinguished research contributions to development studies, Inspirational Teacher of the Year Global Education Award, and Devang Mehta national education award for outstanding contribution to education. Prof Tilak has also served as the President of the Comparative Education Society of India, and Editor of the Journal of Educational Planning and Administration. He was on research staff of the World Bank.

Jandhyala B.G. Tilak was educated in the Andhra University, Waltair, Delhi School of Economics and Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. He has established himself as a scholar of the first order in the economics of education. That he chose to direct his prodigious energies to a relatively neglected sphere of inquiry affirms his intellectual belief that investment in education can make a significant contribution to improvement in social welfare. Commencing with his doctoral work and continuing up to the present, we find in him a scholar constantly engaging with inequality with the avowed objective of mitigating its deleterious effects. 

The book under review  appears at  a time when concerns about the state of education in India are finding an important place in discussion.Issues discussed run the gamut from content,pedagogy, architecture of institutions and purposes and goals of education. The core concepts the book expounds are of holding the individuals responsible and accountable for their actions and well-being.

 All of us know that the nexus between Education and Development is strong and has firm roots. Education helps in tackling problems related to economic growth, poverty, inequality and social development. The education edifice has to be strong, well spread, equitable, efficient, built on strong resource base and talented human resources. The book  aims at stimulating thought on these critical issues. The book has appeared originally in academic journals and it includes a special memorial lecture. Education is affected by structural adjustment and globalisation policies and the accompanying policies on financing, and private education. With respect to all these, many countries have valuable experiences and hence they can learn from each other. The book  includes one dozen articles prepared by the author over the last 2-3 decades and provides a critical discussion on these and other related themes.

 The articles present an analytical and critical review of the relationship between education and development and critically examines some of the recent trends and approaches adopted for development of education.

Ever since 1985 when the World Bank set Poverty Reduction as an important agenda and highlighted the role of primary education. policy makers and development thinkers have turned significantly towards primary education for poverty reduction. Likewise secondary and higher education also contributed to economic growth, poverty reduction, improved health conditions. All these are the subject matter of the first three chapters of the book.

With the adoption of structural adjustment policies need to reform aid mechanisms increased. Knowledge development and Knowledge management have acquired great significance and these have to be based on sound knowledge of the divergent dynamic socio- economic conditions and national policies. It is suggested that knowledge development should be the responsibility of governments in developing countries while knowledge management could be the task primarily of international organisations.

The third section of the book identifies major issues and arrives at lessons learnt from international experience by comparing experience of developing countries with those in advanced societies.

The 21^st Century is considered as the Asian Century. What will happen in these countries is of great significance. It offers a wide range of positive and negative lessons for policy makers and educational planners in developing countries in general and  the Asian countries themselves as well in particular.

The last chapter highlights the need for reforming education for better and more balanced development of the societies. It is necessary to see that education is thoroughly reformed to suit local, regional and country—specific development and at the same time ensure equitable, not necessarily uniform development of the entire society.

According to Tilak, the irony is that even when there is wide acceptance of the significant role of education in development, many countries, including India, have chosen to neglect education, particularly higher education and gradually public spending has dwindled.The book is an outstanding contribution to tackling the crucial link between education and human advancement. It will be of immense use to educationists. Planners, policy makers and the teaching class.

P.P.Ramachandran.

16/12/2018.