DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION

                   

Although in a number of countries a form of democracy is being practiced, almost continuous surfacing of complex impediments clearly indicate that something is lacking. To highlight what exactly is missing, perhaps the best way is to study the basic preconditions deemed to be absolutely essential for any successful functioning of democratic form of government.

Undoubtedly, one of the major prerequisites for the proper functioning of true democracy is the participation of its general public. The participation will be fruitless unless the general public has real sense for democracy. This can be achieved only through the spread of education.

On the other hand a country's democratic system cannot be truly democratic without an adequate healthy change in the socio-economic condition of its populace. This can be achieved only through massive radical reforms in education with a purpose to build a pragmatic and progressive scientific infrastructure.

While one can think of many factors that regularly contribute towards the efficient functioning of democracy, three seem to be more important than the others. These with a free press, and lack of widespread proper education in Bertrand Russell's sense. Democracy is often defined as peoples government. In one sense it implies the acceptance of collective authority based on general consent of the public. Although roots of modern democracy can be traced back to the distant past, it has only matured during the twentieth century.

Undoubtedly one of the major prerequisite for democracy is the existence of constitution spelling out the procedural details of inter relationship of the three basic organs, the legislator, the executive and the judiciary. The judiciary is not just supposed to act as the guardian of the constitution but is entrusted with the responsibility of supervising the maintenance of law and order. Thus the rule of law becomes the main focus of attention. Unlike the colonial periods in which the judicial functions were also performed by the state executive, the later half of the twentieth century saw the separation of judicial and administrative services. Democracy rests heavily upon the rights of individuals which are provided security by the vigilant judiciary. Often the constitutions provide the requisite guarantees to the individual rights but it is always the judiciary that makes sure that those rights are protected by law. The violations of rights are seriously viewed and adequate procedure is laid out by law to accord the desire and deserving redress.

The second pillar of the successful functioning of democracy revolves around the freedom of expression and the role a free media plays. Since democracy, in many ways, is directly linked with public participation, the importance of public opinion cannot be overlooked. Public opinion not only provides a necessary check upon the executive but may also act as a form of accountability. Public opinion continuously tests the representativeness of the legislator. Change in

Public mood could lost a representative his seat in the legislate. Each election becomes a form of accountability for the sitting members. Freely expressed opinions could also give the necessary directions to the representatives. A representative is supposed to reflect his constituent's opinion in the house.

Perhaps the most important basic requirement for an efficient democracy is the existence of wide spread education. Education implies both formal as well as informal education. No democratic system will function satisfactorily unless the basic components comprehend the system itself. In a democratic system people become the real of core of the system. People could be divided into two groups; passive and active participants. Passive participants can be further categorized into two groups; those who do not understand the system and are not really bothered about its successful functioning and then there are those who understand but refrain from active participation because of many operative constraints. Active participants not only realize the importance of their role in the participatory processes but also make sure that they acquire sufficient knowledge about the events and policies. These are the people which are targeted by the free media. If media is not totally free these people are likely to seek alternative sources of information which may subject them to settle indoctrination. However, in most third world countries, a sizeable majority belongs to passive category. Most of them are deprived of educational faculties. Obviously their vision is limited and many interested groups tend to capitalize on their ignorance employing various tactics to attain their objectives.  Such people are constantly looking for sources of advice and guidance. Lacking in education, they readily submit to guidance, whatever is easily available without even realizing that are being exploited. To understand the difference between exploitation and the guidance they are seeking is beyond their comprehension. To assist such people and to prepare them for active participation in the political, economic and social processes, the government has to properly educate its people so that the country can have adequate benefits of Participatory processes. In addition, an educated individual can help the government enormously in accelerating the developmental processes.

We live in an age of technology and specialization. Without basic education, it is futile to think of specialization. Technological and communication revolution has facilitated the world with many methods to quickly educate the hitherto totally uneducated societies. Steady growth, accelerated development, and continuous strengthening of third world societies is directly linked with education. Education is the real vehicle of change.

Apart from facilitating people to receive education at all levels, the stress should be on qualitative aspects of it. Since almost all third world societies are confronted with the dilemma of resources shortage. Therefore, to generate more resources and to encourage more participation of general public, governments should encourage the development of modern specialized institutions of science and technology. It would not only be able to considerably increase the educated work force but would be able to improve the quality already existing scientific infrastructure.

The emphasis on science is the need of time. The superiority of nations is always attained by their progress in science and technology. Democracy can flourish in a country only if the socio-economic conditions of its populace are good. On the other hand the economic and social prosperity of a state is intimately linked with the advancement of science and technology. The world is going through a period of major political, economic, military and technological changes. These changes present unprecedented challenges to the countries that want to become modern.

Countries are becoming modern on the basis of their scientific infrastructure alone. The world's geopolitical polarity has shifted. New forces are emerging. Overpowering military force is appearing less useful than before. Third world countries are clearly concerned about their poor economic conditions for their long term power and status. Many third world countries are coping with complex fiscal and technical efficiency problems, which are challenging work, market ethics and our competitive abilities.

Today the challenges that third world countries are faced with are daunting. The need today, is to deal with vast quantities of data in an efficient manner. We need to distinguish important objective from the unimportant ones, supporting decision making in time-critical environments, converting complex situations and problems into simplified, understandable ideas and improving communications and informations management. These changes cannot be understood nor these challenges met by relying solely on the theories of the past. Rather, we must have fresh insights, new ideas, and a deeper understanding of the way world works. These are the tasks uniquely suited for the scientifically trained mind.

The world of work is now less manual but more mental; less routine but more verbal; and less static and more varied. Now working smarter is more important than just working harder. We need such work force if we wish our countries to attain a respectable status in the modern and developed world.

Efforts to bring about lasting change must proceed steadily for many years on many levels simultaneously. These countries must move quickly to improve the state of science and technology if they want to be progressive and modern states.

Undoubtedly, one of the major prerequisites for the proper functioning of true democracy is the participation of its general public. The participation will be fruitless unless the general public has real sense for democracy. This can be achieved only through the spread of education.

           On the other hand a country's democratic system cannot be truly democratic without an adequate healthy change in the socio-economic condition of its populace. This can be achieved only through massive radical reforms in education with a purpose to build a pragmatic and progressive scientific infrastructure.