Extension education

EXTENSION EDUCATION

Education is the production of desirable changes in human behavior changes in the social and cultural aspects of human life. The term social means anything related to human beings. Extension education tries to develop the social behavior of the people, their different social groups and the intra and inter relationship of these social groups.

The term culture means the socially standardized ways of feeling, thinking and acting which an individual acquires as a member of the society. The behavior of an individual is influenced, controlled and directed by culture. Extension education helps in bringing about cultural development. The main function of extension education is to disseminate information to people who need this.

Formal education is highly institutionalized, chronologically graded and hierarchically structured education system starting from primary school and reaching to university education. General or basic education is imparted in formal education methods in a formal atmosphere.

Non - formal education on the other hand is any organized, systematic, educational activity carried outside the framework of the formal system, to provide selected types of learning to particular subgroups in the population who cannot avail the benefits of the formal education. This will include school dropouts; young and old. For this informal methods of teaching and informal environment is used.

This non-formal system of education is referred to as adult education or extension education. It tries to bring out the following

types of changes in human behavior.

Changes in knowledge and skills

Changes in attitude

Changes in practice

The specific objectives of the out of school system of education

are

The fundamental objective is the development of the people.

To provide knowledge and help to enable the people work more effectively and efficiently.

To help people know the world and provide better opportunities for interaction.

To open up new opportunities for people to develop skills and talents and improve their standard of living.

To make people self-reliant and productive citizens of the society.

To promote better social, cultural, recreational, intellectual and spiritual aspects of the people.

1. Home Science Extension

When the concept of extension is extended to home science it is called Home Science Extension Education. Home scienceextension is an applied science which aims at bringing about changes in the behaviour of the less privileged through dissemination of science and technological information in the areas of home science.

The philosophy of Home Science Extension - this is based on the development of the individual, who is the most important component of the community and nation development. Every individual has the ability to solve his/her profile and in the process of solving these problems he/she learns, improves and develops. Home science extension aims at developing the human skills and abilities, disseminating suitable and important information or knowledge pertaining to the needs and problems of people and help them to bring about a change in their practices and preconceived ideas so as to enable them to climb up the ladder towards individual and community and national development.

2. The broad objectives of Home Science Extension are

To promote all round development of all individuals in the home.

To assist individuals in the effective use of the available resources in solving their day-to-day problem.

To strengthen the work of the government and non governmental agencies in providing all round development of individuals through

Imparting knowledge on health, nutrition, home management, child development, their rights and responsibilities, modern technologies and other relevant information, which will lead to nutrition and social standards.

Developing functional and vocational skills like tailoring, food preservation, educational skills etc, which will help them in improving their economic status and empowerment of women especially.

Bringing about change in their attitude and practices aiming at increasing the literary levels, standard of living and ultimately community and national development.

3. Characteristics of Home Science Extension:

It is a multidisciplinary approach - It derives its body of knowledge from all sciences like physics, chemistry, physiology, nutrition and health, child development, textiles and clothing and also includes management, sociology, psychology, communication etc.,

It is action oriented - Home science extension refers to a series of activities, which impart knowledge on selected topics and help the target group to develop necessary skills for its application. Home Science extension education aims at action and results.

It empowers women and youth - In order to improve the economic status this is essential. This technical advances are shared and they are made to work independently with better status in the community.

Its results are intangible - Change in attitude and knowledge is a slow process and results cannot be seen immediately. Sometimes it is difficult to perceive concrete results and should not be taken as a measurement for the effectiveness of a program.

It is a two way process - Home Science extension establishes a two-way communication channel by bridging the gap between centers of higher education and research and the beneficiaries. Now technology is transferred to the field through various communication media or methods and target groups are helped to realize importance of using it for improving their standard of living. Similarly the needs and problem of the people are communicated to specialists who in turn find solution to these and that is passed on through field workers.

It is a need-based program - Any home science extension program will exist or function only on needs of the people. It can be long-term or a short term need but without this no program for development can be planned.

It is family oriented - The very word home means the family and so home science extension aims at the overall development of every individual in the family young or old, men or women.

It is voluntary - There is no compulsion on the people to participate in home science extension programs. They are made to realize the need for developmental progress but accepting and participating in developmental programs is totally left to the people