Page:SELECTED ESSAYS of Dr. S. S. KALBAG.pdf/18

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Being a true technologist and a person who has thought about education as delivery or distribution system, Dr. Kalbag has also used language as a tool to transmit his thoughts in these articles. His language is as cost effective as his other inventions. It is simple, robust and to the point. His spirit of exploration can be seen in the new meanings given by him to well known terms such as knowledge, learning, etc. which need not strictly adhere to the standard meanings attached to these terms. A man of the calibre of Dr. Kalbag lived in a drought prone village for a long period spanning over 20 years. He engaged in to a continuous dialogue with the rural people. He understood the finer elements of the rural needs and the rural situation. He tried to utilise the insights gained from this dialogue while developing his "invention" of "new education system". The general idea about his mission was very much clear to him from the beginning. He wanted to equip rural people with capacities, which will help them in exploiting the gains from the new technological developments. He had said that "India lagged behind when industrial revolution came; we are still to catch up with it. We cannot afford to miss the information technology revolution. On the contrary we should use it to catch up on the industrial revolution as well”. (Ref: Chapter 19, "Development opportunities") Dr Kalbag was not a formally trained educationist. He developed the ideas springing from his own experience as a student and a practising scientist. During this process he found that his ideas based on his own experiences are supported by the theories developed by Piaget on cognition and learning. In one article named "Rural development through education system” (Ref: Chapter 2) he has explained Piaget's theory in his own language. Reference to Piaget theory also occurs in few of the other articles on education. Rural Development Through Education System 13