Page:SELECTED ESSAYS of Dr. S. S. KALBAG.pdf/142

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necessarily show their relevance. Relevance is brought about, by referring to real life situations. At present, it is tacitly assumed that, the real life situations are common to all students. In fact, they are widely varying and therefore, even when relevance is indicated by reference to real life situations, many students do not understand the relevance because they have never experienced the real life situation referred to. Let us take some examples: City bred boys do not need to burn wood as a fuel; they rarely watch the stars in the sky and could hardly recognize the varieties of trees or birds around them. The village bred boy who would feel at home with trees and birds, could perhaps build a fire for cooking, but would not know about electric trains or television or cold, pasteurized milk sold in bottles. Would it not be a good idea to teach skills in doing things in the garden, in the home, handling tools, using materials - skills that everyone will find useful in everyday life? In doing these things as part of education for all, we build a common base of experience. And to illustrate new concepts or ideas we can refer to this base of experience. This common base will not only make things relevant to all students, but will also help to integrate all students irrespective of social background. 4. Relevance of Education will be judged by the self-reliance and confidence of the so-called educated The primary role of education is to prepare an individual to face the challenges of life. In the under-developed countries, the main challenges of life relate to earning a decent livelihood. In developed Rural Development Through Education System 129