Agricultural education in India: a sociological perspective

The paper traces the evolution of agricultural education in India in terms of its organization, its perceived role in rural development, and the changing social backgrounds of students enrolling in agricultural education. It focuses on issues such as inequalities, changing attitudes among graduates, technology transfer, job segmentation and gender in agricultural education. The paper identifies shortcomings in the present education system with regard to meeting societal needs. The authors propose the institutionalization and expansion of lower-level agricultural education and an aggressive programme of positive discrimination in favour of rural sections of the community, both in education and employment, so as to make agricultural education and those it trains relevant to the Indian context.