Jliti10snpitv in ~buration - Institute for Social and Economic Change

But a high priority was given by the
government to redefine the role of education to produce
more technical personnel to favour the developmental
process conceived throu9h the five year plans. This
meant
that higher education had to be refabricated for
this purpose while the legislation affecting the
system
at the lower level came at a later stage.
The
sequential pattern observed
in
constituting the variOUS commissions for reforming
the
education
system, showed a clear indication
that
university education received top priority followed
by
secondary education. The reluctant implementation and
eventual disintegration of basic education indicate that
the functionaries in
the
education
system
were
determined
to continue
to restrict
the
entry of
a
greater section of
the
population
into
the
formal
educational system.
The economic system wanted to link itself with
the global market which required skilled manpower to
take up modern occupations created by rapid
industrialization. Th is had to be achieved in a
relatively short span of time.
The upper strata of the stratification system
wanted to continue undisturbed. This was managed by
obtaining a head start in the new opportunities created
in the changing
conte~ts.
18