Articles by Krishna Kumar

Education and Society in Karnataka Krishna Kumar Education, Social Inequality, and Social Change in Karnataka by Chitra Sivakumar; Hindustan Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 1982; pp 145, price not mentioned.

Pedagogues and Social Scientists Krishna Kumar EDUCATIONAL study in India suffers from a serious division of interests and abilities between educationists and social scientists. In the category of 'educationists' we can place researchers and teachers associated with teacher training institutions and bureaucrats working in provincial departments of education or at Central government agencies involved in educational policy, Members of this vast category are regarded as the legitimate specialists of education, cither on account of their training and experience or on the basis of the positions they hold, What is the level of interaction between them and specialists from the different social sciences who concern themselves with education? One indicator of interaction can be the extent to which one kind of specialists refer to the work and findings of the other. Such mutual references simply do not exist. The 'educationalists' do not appear to think that social research con have anything useful to offer to education, and the 'social scientists' do not seem to think that the problems of content and processes that pedagogues are concerned with have any value for the study of education in the wider context of social interactions. Further- more, the 'educationists' are seldom aware of the data to which social scientists have access. And, in turn, 'social scientists'


of the Vulnerable sections' in the rest of India I As already mentioned, the book contains a mine of information and if it does not contain enough of highbrow analytical sophistication, it should not bother an average reader. Even a professional economist will be well advised to keep it on his shelf for he too occasionally needs facts and figures and precise sequence of policy-influencing events. On some issues, for example, one pertaining to the onerous task of rotating the buffer stock he may learn a thing or two about which his knowledge is hazy. On the other hand, he may skip a few chapters, particularly those on themes like prices which need at least a minimum of theoretical underpinning. In such situations the author appears to have followed a simple device of quoting someone known to him as an economist. The outcome is not particularly illuminating. But, we need not expect to derive all enlightenment from a single source.