Obstacles to village education

Despite a growing tendency to relate education to life in a flexible way in order to train people to meet changing needs, educational structures unrelated to current employment and actual social needs leave human resources largely untapped in many communities. Curricula in village schools may be too inflexible to train children for urban life. Time, space and staff are limited, often requiring several age groups to be taught simultaneously in the same classroom, and teachers feel there is too little time to teach effectively. Securing volunteer teachers for new programmes is a major hurdle. Individual preparation in school is not possible under the current setup. Village adults are excluded from the whole process by their preliteracy, and parents who have not themselves benefited from schooling are unable to supplement their children's schooling at home.