Education begins at birth and encompasses informal and formal learning processes that aid in the development of knowledge, skills, and societal values. It plays vital roles including socialization, personality development, and providing pathways for social mobility while being a continuous process of acquiring knowledge. John Dewey emphasized that education should focus on the needs of students and the community, promoting critical thinking, communication, and appreciation of diversity.

1. Education and Society

2. Education: Meaning
• From the moment a child is born, his or her education begins. At first,
education is an informal process in which an infant watches others and
imitates them. As the infant grows into a young child, the process of education
becomes more formal through play dates and preschool. Once in grade school,
academic lessons become the focus of education as a child moves through the
school system. But even then, education is about much more than the simple
learning of facts.

3. Education: Meaning
• In general, the meaning of education is the learning of knowledge, skills and
human habits that are passed down from one generation to the next through
training, teaching and learning.
• In addition to the understanding as above, there are also those which mean
that education is an effort that is consciously made to create a systematic
teaching and learning atmosphere with the aim that students can develop
their potential.
• A person who has education, he will get glory, intelligence, spiritual strength,
skills that will be useful for himself and others.

4. Education: Meaning
• Education is a gradual process which brings positive changes in human life and
behavior. We can also define education as “a process of acquiring knowledge
through study or imparting the knowledge by way of instructions or some
other practical procedure”.
• John Dewey said, 'Education is the continuous reconstruction of experiences'.
• Education is the process of training man to fulfill his aim by exercising all the
faculties to the fullest extent as a member of society.-Aristotle

5. Education: Meaning
• Education is the main thing that encourages us to distinguish between right
and wrong because in the absence of education, we can’t do what we need or
we can’t achieve our goal.
• Straightforwardly, we can say, “education is the passage to progress”. It is
additionally the way to our fate as achievements can only be accomplished
when individuals have information, aptitudes, and frame of mind. In this way,
education resembles a medium through which we can associate with various
individuals and offer our thoughts.

6. Types of Education
• Education goes beyond what takes places within the four walls of the
classroom. A child gets the education from his experiences outside the school
as well as from those within on the basis of these factors. There are three main
types of education, namely, Formal, Informal and Non-formal. Each of these
types is discussed below.

7. Types of Education
• Formal Education
• Formal education or formal learning usually takes place in the premises of the school, where a
person may learn basic, academic, or trade skills. Small children often attend a nursery or
kindergarten but often formal education begins in elementary school and continues with secondary
school.
• Post-secondary education (or higher education) is usually at a college or university which may grant
an academic degree. It is associated with a specific or stage and is provided under a certain set of
rules and regulations.
• The formal education is given by specially qualified teachers they are supposed to be efficient in the
art of instruction. It also observes strict discipline. The student and the teacher both are aware of the
facts and engage themselves in the process of education.
• Examples of Formal Education
• Learning in a classroom
• School grading/certification, college, and university degrees
• Planned education of different subjects having a proper syllabus acquired by attending the
institution.

8. Types of Education
• Informal Education
• Informal education may be a parent teaching a child how to prepare a meal or ride a bicycle.
• People can also get an informal education by reading many books from a library or educational
websites.
• Informal education is when you are not studying in a school and do not use any particular learning
method. In this type of education, conscious efforts are not involved. It is neither pre-planned nor
deliberate. It may be learned at some marketplace, hotel or at home.
• Unlike formal education, informal education is not imparted by an institution such as school or
college. Informal education is not given according to any fixed timetable. There is no set curriculum
required. Informal education consists of experiences and actually living in the family or community.
• Examples of Informal Education
• Teaching the child some basics such as numeric characters.
• Someone learning his/her mother tongue
• A spontaneous type of learning, “if a person standing in a bank learns about opening and
maintaining the account at the bank from someone.”

9. Types of Education
• Non-formal Education
• Non-formal education includes adult basic education, adult literacy education or school equivalency
preparation.
• In nonformal education, someone (who is not in school) can learn literacy, other basic skills or job skills.
• Home education, individualized instruction (such as programmed learning), distance learning and computer-
assisted instruction are other possibilities.
• Non-formal education is imparted consciously and deliberately and systematically implemented. It should be
organized for a homogeneous group. Non-formal, education should be programmed to serve the needs of the
identified group. This will necessitate flexibility in the design of the curriculum and the scheme of evaluation.
• Examples of Non-formal Education
• Boy Scouts and Girls Guides develop some sports program such as swimming comes under nonformal
education.
• Fitness programs.
• Community-based adult education courses.
• Free courses for adult education developed by some organization.

10. Objectives of Education
• Educational Objectives According to John Dewey
• John Dewey believed that the educational objectives of a school should be determined by the needs of the
students and the community it serves.
• He believed that schools should help students develop their fullest potential as individuals, leaders, and
members of society.
• Additionally, Dewey believed that schools should promote the democratic process and help students develop
their understanding of the natural and human sciences.
• However, there are four fundamental objectives of education according to John Dewey. They are:
• Developing habits and skills of inquiry and observation;
• Communicating effectively;
• Cooperating with others; and
• Living creatively.
• Each one of these objectives is important in its own right, but together they form the foundation upon which
all else in education rests.

11. Overall Objectives of Education
• 1. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze information and make reasoned judgments. It
involves looking at evidence and deciding what conclusion can be drawn from it. Creative
thinking is the ability to come up with new ideas or find new ways of doing things. It
involves looking at problems in a different way and coming up with original solutions.
• 2. Communication involves understanding communication theory so that you can effectively
send and receive messages. It also involves developing active listening skills so that you can
understand what others are saying.
• 3. Personal and social responsibility involves taking ownership of your own learning process
as well as being respectful of others.
• 4. Appreciating diversity means understanding the value of different cultures and
perspectives. This means that we should try to listen to and understand others, regardless
of their cultural background or beliefs. It also means that we should be open to new
experiences and learn about other cultures so that we can better understand and
appreciate them.

12. Functions of Education
• Social Functions of Education:
• Education as social institution, plays a vital role in our society. The function of education is multidimensional
within the school system and outside it. It performs the function of socialising the individual for a variety of
social roles and development of personality. It is also an important part of the control mechanisms of society.
Education is a necessity right from the simple society to modern complex industrial society.
• 1. Socialisation:
• The most important function of education is socialisation. The people have no knowledge about the culture of
their society. They must learn them and they must learn the way which their society is functioning. Hence, the
children as they grow up must be introduced into the culture which they are going to face.
• 2. Development of Personality:
• Education plays an important role in the development of personality. The object of education, as said
Durkheim “is to awaken and develop in the child those physical, intellectual and moral states which are
required of him both by his society as a whole and by the milieu for which he is specially designed”. Education
helps the development of the qualities of an individual, such as physical, mental and emotional make-up as
well as his temperament and character.

13. Functions of Education
• 3. Social Control:
• Education plays a vital role in regulating individual behaviour through transmitting a way of
life and communicating ideas and values to the new generations.
• 4. Social Integration:
• Education, by imparting values, also integrates people into the broader society. The
curriculum of the school, its ‘extra-curricular’ activities and the informal relationship among
students and teachers communicate certain values and social skills such as cooperation or
team-spirit, obedience, fair play.
• 5. Determination of Sfatus:
• Determination of status of an individual is an important function of education. Amount of
education is a good indicator of socio-economic status, from lower working class to upper
class, education leads to economic opportunity. It is through education young people
secure higher status jobs than their parents. With higher incomes they come to associate
with the persons of higher status. Thus, education provides the channel to better socio-
economic status.

14. Functions of Education
• 6. Provides Route for Social Mobility:
• Educational qualifications increasingly form the basis for the allocation of individuals to
social statuses and social mobility. There has been steady move from one status to other
due to educational attainment. An industrial society like United States or Great Britain
places increasing emphasis on the attainment of both of the skills acquired in elementary,
secondary and higher education and of the educational credentials that a person has
acquired the skills for a job.
• Social Development:
• Skills and values learned in education are directly related to the way to which the economy
and the occupational structure operate. Education trains the individuals in skills that are
required by the economy. In modern planned economy the output of skilled people must be
consciously geared to the economic and social priorities of the society. That explains the
vital role of education in social development. Literacy, for example, stimulates economic
and social de development and that is why all developing countries have undertaken large-
scale literacy programmes.

15. EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM
• Social system can be explained as 'an interconnected and organized activities which consist of parts that are
inter-depend to produce common results ' social systems are created by human beings and are strengthened
byman's attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, habits and expectations. In social system two or more people are
constantly interacting and practice similar approaches attitudes and social values.
• EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM
• :The education system is composed of many distinct sub-system or parts ,each with their own goals. Together
these parts makeup a functioning whole .Each part id dependent on the other for smooth functioning .Willard
Waller gives five reasons for education to be regarded as social system:-
• In education different personnel are working, who contributes towards educational goals.
• Education has a social structure as the result of social interaction within the school.
• It has bound by strong social relationship.
• it is bound by a feeling of belonging
• It possesses its own culture, tradition, and way of doing things.
• Education helps in transmitting folkways, more institutional patternsin social organization.

16. EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM
• Thus we can say that a education in school is a social system .It has aclose relationship with the
environment and they complement each other ,Education in school prepare students with living
skills , knowledge andexpertise necessary for the society .The education is provided with
resources,building and personnel (parents ,teachers ,students) in order to functioning.As a social
system education has a formal and informal structure ,the formalstructure refers to the role and
function of the administration.
• The more we try to learn about our own society and fellow beings the more remains to be learned.
Social learning begins at birth and ends only at death. It continues throughout our life. There is no
point or state in our life at which we have learnt everything about one group or society and beyond
that nothing remains to be studied.
• We belong to different groups at different stages of our life. As these groups change we must learn
new rules and new patterns of behaviour. Furthermore we do not always remain within the same
role. We begin as children, pass through adolescence into adulthood, marry, become parents, enter
middle age, retire, grow old and finally die.
• With each role, comes pattern of behaviour that we must learn and, thus, throughout our life, we
are involved in the socialisation process. Even at the door of death we are being socialised.

17. EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM
• Secondly, education, viewed as an agent of cultural transmission, is also continuous. Culture
is & growing whole. There can be no break in the continuity of culture. If at all there is a
break, it only indicates the end of a particular human group. The cultural elements are
passed on from generation to generation.
• The family, school, and various other associations act as the agents of cultural trans­
mission.
Education in its formal or informal pattern has been performing this role since time imme­
morial. Education can be looked upon as process from this point of view also.
• Thirdly, education, implied as an attempt to acquire knowledge, is also continuous.
Knowledge is like an ocean, boundless or limitless. No one has mastered it or exhausted it.
No one can claim to do so.
• There is a limit to the human genius or the human grasp of the things. The moral man can
hardly know anything and everything about nature which is immoral. The universe is a
miraculous entity. The more one tries to know of it, the more it becomes mysterious. Not
only the Natural Universe but also the Social Universe is complex.

18. EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM
• The human experience is limited to have a thor­
ough knowledge of this universe. Hence,
man since time immemorial, has been engaged in this endless endeavour of acquiring more
and more knowledge about the Universe with all its complexity. Education, thus, is a
continuous endeavour, a process.