Educational Transition in Rural South India

To account for a rise in the demand for family planning in a village in rural south India the authors posited a triangle: falling demand for family labor among both farmers and agricultural laborers because of declining farm size; increasing demand for education in a situation where schools were more available and a growing labor market offered the possibility of diversifying sources of income; and the high cost of keeping many children in school. A survey of parents attitudes toward education and of the educational strategies they followed with their children as well as information from less structured discussions bore out the hypotheses on reasons for school attendance and on the related costs. Of additional interest was the large proportion of children withdrawn from school often abruptly frequently because the investment in education was perceived to have failed. 20 years ago the Indian Education Commission began its influential report by stating The destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms.... It is education that determines the level of prosperity welfare and security of the people. Education is a route to jobs. Unless the rural labor structure changes radically however 1 might find that schooling destroys the ability of an agricultural laborer. 1 of the keys to the growing demand for schooling is fundamental change in the rural economy. As population has grown average farm size has fallen to a point where many farming families do not need the labor of young children. An increasing number of children are allowed to go to school up to around 10 years of age because they are not really needed because their literacy will be an asset and because of the potential returns. The desire to educate children in India may have a more immediate impact on the demand for fertility control than would be the case in sub-Saharan Africa since education in India is largely borne by the household whereas in Africa it can be spread among a wider circle of relatives. (summaries in ENG SPA FRE)