Education and Local Development.

Overview & Synopsis

Education, in many countries, is in a state of contraction due to declining enrolments and to economic factors which cause a high rate of unemployment even among the educated. To prevent closing or consolidation, the maintenance of many rural schools by the community seems likely in the future to depend on widening their activities beyond the traditions of primary and secondary education. This may be made easier by redesigning them as "Community Education Centres." Such a widening of scope of rural schools must inevitably widen the role, and increase responsibility, social maturity, and professional skills of rurally-based teachers. Community education in rural schools must first become more genuinely open and flexible. Parents, teachers, and other adults must develop a greater understanding of each other's role in local development. Secondly, school buildings and their facilities should be available at times other than during lessons. Thirdly, the widened rural school can have greater involvement at the pre-school level, from post-natal infant health care onwards. Fourthly, the school or "community education centre" should not be confined to its formal physical location; kitchens, farmsheds and garages are all locations where education for local development can and does thrive, without professional help. (AH)