Science and Technology Education in South Asia

The countries of South Asia share much in their cultural, historical and socio-economic backgrounds. The region was once famed for its natural wealth and state of development, although the feudal patriarchal societies were deeply divided by inequalities of gender, caste and social status. Conditions worsened during the several centuries of colonial rule, which left the countries economically debilitated. In more recent times, a complex set of political, socio-cultural and economic circumstances has led to continuing ethnic strife in the region.

Until the eighteenth century, indigeneous systems of education, based on religion, trade and craft, had been fairly widespread. The colonial system which replaced them was restricted in scope and coverage (Dharampal, 1995). Aimed at training clerks and civil servants, this education placed its major emphasis on languages, especially English, and the humanities: science and technology were all but excluded. Further, the use of a foreign language as a medium of instruction reinforced rote memorisation as an accepted method of learning (Basu, 1978). Since the indigenous scientific and mathematical tradition had long died out, the science education that was introduced in the twentieth century was necessarily derivative. Many contemporary scholars (e.g., Goonatilake, 1984) have argued that creative thought in the region has suffered due to this reliance on an alien intellectual and scientific tradition.

The above account is over-simplified, but it captures the central problem in the educational systems of South Asia: - they continue to carry an uneasy burden of alienation. The science that is taught in schools often seems ‘not their own’. In addition to the problems of formal language and terse presentation, there often persists in the school curriculum an urban middle-class bias (see, for example, Government of India, 1993; PROBE Team, 1999, chapter 6). The schools and the education service are run by an élite who are themselves the products of an imperfect system.

Nonetheless, much can be, and is being, done. Critiques of western scientific traditions have encouraged the re-emergence in South Asia of interesting indigenous approaches to science, technology and development (Jamison, 1994). Critical assimilation of these new traditions has provided tools with which to analyse and confront a range of problems. The scepticism of science has often been able to challenge fundamentalism, and it is possible to hope that, in the future, cultural diversity will help to overcome ethnocentricity, providing multiple perspectives while enriching the repertoire of ‘scientific’ methods. Enough still survives of traditional technologies, crafts and arts, to suggest that they might contribute to relating science and technology to everyday practice.

Haq (1997) outlines the South Asian scenario with a series of stark statistics. South Asia, with a population of 1.15 billion, contains 22 per cent of humanity, has 6 per cent of global real income and accommodates 46 per cent of the world's illiterate population. Fifty per cent of all malnourished children live in this region.

The populations of the individual countries range from the Maldives with 0.3 million people to India with 1 billion. These are largely rural populations: about 90 per cent of the people in Nepal and Bhutan and 75 per cent of those in India live in rural areas with agriculture as their main source of livelihood. The rate of economic growth in South Asia is less than 2.5 per cent, but there has been a significant improvement over the years in the poorest: - in the case of Bangladesh, from 0.5 per cent in 1965-73 to 5 per cent in 1973-83. Bhutan saw a 7.4 per cent growth rate in the 1980s. However, inequalities in income distribution remain high (Talik 1994).

There is a clear urban-rural divide in terms of economic and educational opportunities. In urban areas, the fruits of science and technology are seen in terms of job possibilities and an enhanced quality of life, with the result that parental motivation for education is high. Monetary and intellectual resources tend to be concentrated in urban areas leaving the majority out of the fold of most development efforts.

As a result of a sustained effort over the last thirty years, adult literacy has increased substantially, from 32 per cent in 1970 to 55 per cent in 1999, but this is still the lowest literacy rate in the world, lower even than Sub-Saharan Africa (Haq and Haq, 1998; UNDP, 2001). Until the mid-1970s, the literacy rate in South Asia was higher than that of Africa, but by mid-1980s the position had been reversed (Tilak, 1994).

Literacy rates vary widely between, and within, the different countries, from highs of 96.2 per cent in the Maldives and 91.4 per cent in Sri Lanka to lows of 40.8 per cent in Bangladesh and 40.4 per cent in Nepal (UNDP, 2001). Within India, literacy rates range from more than 90 per cent in the State of Kerala to 41 per cent in Rajasthan. Despite an increase in literacy rates expressed in percentage terms, the number of illiterates has increased, while the out-of-school population has remained static (in Bangladesh) or has increased (in India) (Tilak, 1994).

Since the 1940s and 1950s, when the South Asian countries gained independence, their educational systems have expanded several-fold. However, enrolment rates have not increased proportionately and drop-out rates have remained high. According to an Oxfam report Education Now, South Asia has 56 million primary aged children out of school, a figure that accounts for 45 per cent of the global total of out-of-school population of children (Watkins, 2000).

As with the literacy rate, there is a wide variation in enrolment and retention within, and between, countries. Sri Lanka and the Maldives have achieved 100 per cent enrolment in primary schools; India and Bangladesh are approaching 90 per cent but Pakistan, Bhutan and Nepal have fairly low enrolment rates. The primary school completion rates have shown considerable improvement in recent years, but there is still a long way to go for achieving universal education (Table 1.).

The UNESCO report on follow-up action towards ‘Education for All’ puts the blame for high drop-out rates squarely on ineffective school supervision, the rampant absenteeism of teachers, the irrelevance of curricula and the indifference shown by the community (UNESCO, 1992). As for the last of these, the PROBE survey in India, and studies by NGOs in Bangladesh and elsewhere, report that the lack of motivation can often be attributed to the low quality of education on offer. The corollary is that community mobilisation can lead to a marked improvement in the quality of local schooling (PROBE Team, 1999; Haq and Haq, 1998).

Primary school drop-outs have a high probability of lapsing into illiteracy. The region is therefore caught in a vicious cycle of low enrolment, low literacy, low levels of education among the work force, low rates of economic growth and low standards of living.

Low levels of literacy and school enrolment were once thought to be a consequence of poverty. This myth has been destroyed by a number of studies, particularly those undertaken by the World Bank (World Bank, 1991). The experiences of Europe, Japan, and South East Asia suggest that, rather than being a consequence, universal mass education is probably a necessary prerequisite for economic growth (World Bank, 1993; Tilak 1994).

Education in South Asia is largely State-funded (95 per cent in Sri Lanka and 85 per cent in India). Even so, public expenditure on education remains low. The percentage of GNP allocated to education is less than 3 per cent in Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, and just over 3 per cent in India and Sri Lanka. The Maldives is an exception, with 8.4 per cent of its GNP spent on education (SURF-UNDP, 2001). Most of the education budget is spent on teachers' salaries, leaving little to improve the infrastructure or raise the standards of teaching and learning.

The investment priorities in most of the region have worked against universalisation, because expenditure has traditionally been skewed towards secondary education (Tilak, 1994). There has thus been a top-heavy growth in enrolment. In India and Pakistan, higher education has expanded rapidly, probably at the cost of primary education. Another neglected area has been technical and vocational education, where not only have budgetary allocations been low but expenditure has also fallen far short of targets (Haq and Haq, 1998).

Traditionally, the need for technological development has been used to justify more spending on higher education. Good research and development requires focused spending on higher education but this should not be at the cost of primary education, since the social returns from investment in primary education are known to be higher than from those from comparable investment at secondary or tertiary level. The UNDP (2001) report recommended more private spending on higher education while retaining public funding for primary education.

The UNDP Human Development Reports have persistently pointed out that education is not at the top of the policy agenda within South Asian countries. India has appointed a series of committees and commissions on education but their recommendations have largely gone unimplemented (Ghosh, 2000). A similar situation prevails in Pakistan. These two countries spend around twice as much on defence as they do on education. If only a fraction of this money were spent on primary education, universal education might become a reality (Watkins, 2000).

Before considering issues pertaining directly to science and technology education, it is important to acknowledge two problems that plague all educational reform efforts in developing countries in general and in South Asia in particular.

One is the problem of child labour which is endemic in all the countries of South Asia, and especially so in Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Weiner (1991) argues that child labour in India is not simply a result of poor economic conditions. It is bound up with a deeply ingrained value system, shared by educators, administrators, religious leaders and even social activists, a system which leads to an easy acceptance of inequity in society. This value system has further devastating consequences for the education of girls from the lower socio-economic groups within the population.

The second is the problem of governance. Haq (1999) analyses the political, economic, social and civic dimensions of this issue. The widespread prevalence of favouritism, corruption and inefficiency in public life and the low standards of professional accountability are major barriers to the implementation of educational policies and reforms. Again, in the existing value system in society, this is a state of affairs that is too easily tolerated. An education based on critical, quantitative thinking should aim to challenge these value systems.

The major national goal of the South Asian countries is to provide a quality education for every child of school age. Free primary education is promised by all the governments, although the compulsory nature of the provision varies. In Sri Lanka, education is free and compulsory up to secondary school level. In Bhutan, a limited tertiary education is also provided free.

Bhutan, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka emphasise national integration, cohesion and harmony (Gyamtso and Dukpa, 2000; National Council of Educational Research and Training, 2000; Asian Network (IBE), 2000; Presidential Task Force, 1997; Karunasinghe and Ganasundara, 2000). Sri Lanka specifically lists the following among the goals of education: - democratic principles, human rights, gender equity and environmental conservation (Presidential Task Force, 1997). Religious education is compulsory in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Job-oriented technical and vocational education is prominent in the statement of national goals of all the countries.

In all the countries of South Asia, a central agency, within or outside the Ministry of Education, is responsible for interpreting national policy and framing school curricula. In Pakistan, it is the Institute for the Promotion of Science Education and Training (IPSET), in India the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), in Bangladesh the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), in Sri Lanka the National Institute of Education (NIE), in Nepal the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) of the Ministry of Education, in Bhutan the Curriculum And Professional Support Section (CAPSS) of the Ministry of Health and Education, and in the Maldives it is the Educational Development Centre (EDC) of the Ministry of Education.

In all these cases, the writing of curricula is done by teams consisting of subject specialists from within the agency along with experts from outside. In India, the curriculum developed by the NCERT is not legally enforceable in the individual States, but, in practice, the States either adopt, or closely follow, the national curriculum.

Given inadequate and unequal access to education, the high levels of drop-out and the low achievement of literacy and numeracy in schools, it is natural to ask if science and technology education (STE) is a real need for these countries. Are there not more pressing problems to be dealt with?

The statements of national policies of most countries acknowledge the role of science and technology in economic development. However, this recognition does not necessarily translate into a commitment to science and technology education (STE) at school level. Current writing and debate about education in South Asia, together with the policy statements of governments and the priorities of NGOs, give credence to this view by remaining largely silent about the importance of scientific and technological education.

Since the early 1970s, science has been taught as a compulsory subject in schools in South Asia. There is an element of ‘technology’ within these curricula, although it usually amounts to little more than scattered pieces of information on technological applications.

A UNESCO survey of science and technology in school curricula in India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka found that, with the exception of the Maldives, the total hours of schooling were higher than the world average, while the time devoted to science teaching was lower. Exceptionally in the Maldives, where the total hours of schooling were found to be less than the world average, the time given to science at the secondary level was more (UNESCO, 1986). As for demand, only 26 per cent of South Asian students at the tertiary level are enrolled in the natural and applied sciences, compared with an average of 30 per cent for all developing countries (SURF-UNDP, 2001). In recent years, Bangladesh has seen a dramatic decrease in the percentage of students enrolling in the science stream at the secondary school level (Bangladesh Education Statistics, 1995 and BANBAIS, 1996, cited in Mian, 1998).

The reasons for these trends are not clearly understood, but perception of the relevance of scientific and technological education is surely an important factor. Commitment to such education can come about only in a situation in which it is not isolated from the larger problems of education and of society. Within this larger context, science and technology education should be seen by people as providing information, methods and tools for their empowerment. It is entirely possible for STE in South Asia to play a supportive role by acknowledging and addressing the basic problems of equity, gender roles, literacy, numeracy, health and environment.

In the Platonic culture of ancient Greece, liberal education intended for an élite was separated from professional and technical education. In ancient India, this kind of separation was institutionalised through the caste system. Today, such attitudes are reflected in the excessive verbal and academic orientation of science education. Given the context of low literacy levels and lack of resources, the outcome is simply the rote learning of the textbooks.

Orpwood and Werdelin (1987) have explored the partnership between education, science and technology in support of national development. They point out that technology, defined in terms of tools, materials and techniques to meet basic human needs and desires, has traditionally been passed down through generations. In history, technology has preceded science while technology education has been independent of science. The partnership between science and technology which developed over the years was not successfully transferred to the classroom, while the partnership between technology and education that existed in traditional cultures did not survive the take-over of education by formal schooling. In the meanwhile, science, which was always a matter of formal schooling, retained its academic orientation (Orpwood and Werdelin, 1987). A meaningful technology curriculum might be one way to challenge this state of affairs.

Since the time of John Dewey (1916) there has existed a strong educational argument for using technology to give meaning to, and provide an effective pedagogy for, a range of academic disciplines, including science. In India, Mahatma Gandhi saw the need for educating the brain through the hand (Richards, 2001). The facilitative role of technology in learning science continues to be recognised today (e.g. Schauble et al., 1991). Fairly successful models of technology education exist in different parts of the world, as described in the UNESCO series Innovations in Science and Technology Education. Layton (1993) has reviewed some approaches to integrating science and technology in school and offered some examples from the teaching of design and technology in England and Wales.

However, technology has only recently found wide acceptance as a component of the school curriculum, partly, it has to be acknowledged, for economic reasons. Globalisation and the economic restructuring taking place in most developing countries including those of South Asia, have introduced much fluidity into the job market. Changing technologies, the disappearance of familiar occupations and the emergence of new fields of employment, all mean that workers have to undergo frequent retraining. In the industrial sector, jobs are being re-structured in ways that call for multiple skills on the part of the workforce (Lewin, 2000a). What is needed in this changing world is not simply disciplinary knowledge but flexibility of thought, a wide repertoire of skills and a capacity to tackle new problems.

Another consequence of globalisation is the increasing technological imbalance between the developed and developing countries. The enforcement of intellectual property rights restricts the flow of information to the developing world, even while taking away local control of indigeneous technologies. Critical sectors like agriculture and the pharmaceutical industry are likely to be controlled in the future by a small number of multinational corporations. Effective national systems of scientific and technological education, combined with regional exchange programmes, could enable the South Asian countries to retain access to technologies and to resist being marginalised in the globalisation process.

Layton, however, has cautioned against economic instrumentalism as a justification for technology education, arguing that it may lead to inflated, and unrealisable, expectations from technology education. Moreover, an instrumentalist view may distort and diminish the educational potential of technology, not least by ignoring its conative dimensions of technology education and its close involvement with a range of global and environmental concerns (Layton, 1994).

UNESCO has been active in promoting technology education in both developed and developing countries. The UNESCO Report Learning to Be made a convincing case for technology education as a component of basic education (Faure et al., 1972). The report was well distributed in the developing world including South Asia. It was abridged and translated into local languages and succeeded in influencing the thinking of many educators. Regrettably, a global survey conducted more than ten years later (UNESCO, 1986) found that, in South Asia, as in most parts of the world, technology education either did not exist or was confused with vocational subjects or practical arts. However, the situation is slowly improving, in terms of organisational structures as well as curricula.

A few years ago, Pakistan, as part of an organisational restructuring aimed at integrating science and technology education, merged the Institute for the Promotion of Science Education and Training (IPSET) with the National Institute for Technical Education (NITE) to form a new organisation called the National Institute of Science and Technical Education (NISTE) (Asian Development Bank, 1997). Sri Lanka, in recent education reforms, has replaced the science curriculum at the Ordinary Level of the General Certificate of Education (Grades X and XI) with a science and technology course. At the Advanced level (Grades XII and XIII), a technology stream has been introduced with a bias towards agriculture, industry, commerce, services and professional fields (Presidential Task Force, 1997). The national curriculum framework in India has recommended science and technology education (NCERT, 2000) as a new curriculum component to be implemented from 2002.

The introduction of science and technology education in South Asia is facilitated by the generally positive attitudes of students towards science and technology. An international study, which included India, found that students in developing countries considered science to be very important for society, and regarded scientists as heroic, intelligent and caring. In western societies, in contrast, science and technology were often seen in an unfavourable light, responsible for polluting the environment, depleting natural resources, creating unemployment and producing horrific weapons of mass destruction (Sjoberg, 2000; 2001). There are indications, however, that this positive image of science within South Asia might become less pronounced with wider exposure to, for example, English-medium education (Chunawala and Ladage, 1998).

Though technology education is an innovation in the region, a related subject, namely Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) has long been a mainstay of the educational policy of all the countries of South Asia. Using a slight modification of the terminology introduced by de Vries, TVE in South Asia has generally followed either a ‘craft-oriented approach’ or an ‘industrial or agricultural production-oriented approach’ (de Vries, 1994).

Elements of technical and vocational education^² form part of the curriculum in South Asian countries from about grade 6 onwards. In Sri Lanka, the current education reforms require ‘Life Competencies’ to be taught in grades 6-9 (the junior stage) and a technical subject to be introduced in grades 10-11 ( the senior stage/GCE O Level). Up to the Junior Stage, students are able to move laterally from general education into technical and vocational streams (Presidential Task Force, 1997).

Experience of integrating technical and vocational education with general education has rarely been positive. Mahatma Gandhi's scheme of craft-oriented basic education was tried out in India soon after independence but, in a few years, it was abandoned. Nepal, in its early years of democratic rule, experimented with an ambitious technical and vocational programme which was integrated with general education until the secondary school level. The Indian and Nepalese programs were abandoned for much the same reasons: - a lack of resources, inadequate teacher preparation and a general reluctance on the part of students and parents to depart from an academic-oriented education.

In Nepal, the integrated programme was replaced in the early 1980s by one that focused on local needs and was directed at students who dropped out of the general system. Under this new programme, separate technical schools are now provided at three levels: lower secondary, secondary and higher secondary, each of which is a terminal level.

In India, vocationalisation of secondary education is still part of official policy and ‘work experience’ and ‘pre-vocational courses’ form part of the curriculum. In reality, however, such courses, except in a small minority of ‘technical schools’, are either non-existent or else completely meaningless. Even in post-secondary schools, where vocational subjects are offered, the choice is usually limited to one or two subjects. Further, the students who opt for the vocational stream often do so not to secure career-related training but because these subjects are considered to be ‘scoring’, i.e., they enable one to score high marks in the final examinations.

The most positive experience might be in Bangladesh where agriculture is a compulsory subject for grades 6-8, after which it is optional. It is meant to be taught through practical training by field-level experts. Although in Dhaka city this is not practicable, at the village level students do visit fields and use the school back lawn as an area for experiments. In grades 9-10, basic trade training and technological drawing are optional courses. Technical training certificate programmes can be taken up after grade 8 and diploma courses after grade 10.

Separate streams for technical and vocational education exist at various levels in all the South Asian countries. Given the major shortages of skilled labour in these countries, one would expect a high demand for such education. The reality is quite different. South Asian countries are characterised by low levels of enrolment in technical and vocational education programmes: 1.5 per cent of the total enrolment at the secondary level compared with 10.5 per cent in East Asia. The situation is worsened by the high dropout rate from technical and vocational education, around 50 per cent in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Paradoxically, although the number of graduates of institutions providing technical and vocational education is small and falls far short of requirements of the labour market, their unemployment rate remains high (Haq and Haq, 1998).

The problem of vocational education is intimately related to universal mass education, as Masri (1994) has recognised. In the early years of mass education, socio-cultural barriers and economic considerations ensured that the majority of students entered the workforce at a young age. Later, a dual system came to prevail within which a privileged few continued their schooling while the majority opted for apprenticeship, on-the-job training or formal vocational preparation programmes. This stage, which assumes a low level of demand for sophisticated skills, is where most South Asian countries stand today. As the ‘bulge’ of mass education moves up the educational ladder to include higher age groups, vocational educational solutions have to be found at higher levels. The process would have to be planned in coordination with an expansion and diversification of the agricultural and industrial base. Masri recommends that developing countries move towards a system in which vocational preparation is integrated with senior secondary education.

At present, despite the focused nature of the programmes in Sri Lanka and Nepal, the unemployment rates of their graduates remain high. In Bangladesh, the employment rates for informally trained workers are higher than those who have graduated from technical and vocational schools. Employers prefer workers who have acquired skills through on-the-job practice. A lack of coordination between industry and these schools is the most common shortcoming of the curricula that are provided. Another problem identified by a World Bank study (World Bank, 1990) is that the curricula are not designed to promote affective objectives like positive attitudes towards work, discipline and employee-employer relationships. Interestingly, this study claims that the primary reason for the failure of new employees in industry is their lack of affective skills in the workplace.

The reasons for the general failure of technical and vocational education are the low social status of, and attitudes to, manual work, which is seen as meant for economically weaker and academically backward students. In addition, technical secondary education may cost up to ten times more than general education but budgetary allocations are low. However, a survey conducted in Maharashtra, India, by the Ambekar Institute of Labour Studies, suggests that attitudes towards technical and vocational education may already be changing in some regions so that an increasing demand may be expected in the coming years. The technical and vocational education needs of South Asian countries are similar. Dasgupta (1994) has analysed these needs and pointed out the merits of regional co-operation, particularly in research and teacher training.

The growing recognition of the importance of technology has created a favourable climate for integrating technology into school learning. Sri Lanka and India have taken the decision to integrate science with technology and Pakistan is likely to do the same. The rationale for these decisions is not clear but it is relevant to ask whether technology should necessarily be integrated with science in this way. Clearly, technology has close links with science as well as with its pedagogy. But technology has wider implications that extend beyond science to subject areas like vocational education, social studies, art, ethics and value education. The technology education movement should rightly have some influence on all these subjects. However, given the existing organisational and time constraints of the school system, putting the entire burden of integration on science could have negative consequences for meeting specific learning objectives. Previous experience of attempts at integration certainly prompt a need for caution.

In the last thirty years or so, many attempts have been made to integrate science with other curriculum components. In Sri Lanka, the environmental studies curriculum at the primary level was replaced in 1982 by ‘Beginning science’ (Leelaratne, 1991) and in more recent reforms science and social studies were combined into ‘Environment-related activities’ (Karunasinghe and Ganasundara, 2000). The NCERT in India experimented with subject-based teaching at primary and secondary levels but in the 1980s replaced physics, chemistry and biology by integrated science. In the current curriculum, science and social studies at the primary level are combined into environmental studies.

Educationally, it is important for students to make connections between different subject areas and integration seems to offer a way forward. However, in practice, the integrated curriculum is constructed by experts who are specialists in their own disciplines. Typically the separate physics, chemistry and biology chapters in a textbook are written by different subject specialists and, especially at higher levels, the integration is entirely nominal. Teachers, too, are reluctant to teach subjects other than their own specialisms and training courses do not equip them to handle an integrated approach. As a result, two or sometimes three subject teachers end up teaching their subject specialisms within so-called ‘integrated science’. The environmental studies textbooks conveniently come in two parts which are easily recognised as the former science and social studies.

In recent years, there has been a trend towards integrating health and conservation issues within the science curriculum. This is expected to lead to a curriculum that is issues-based rather than being built around the concepts and principles of science (Leelaratne, 1991). The current science textbooks in India contain a substantial components of health, agriculture and environment education. Unfortunately, this has simply led to larger books with additional chapters that contain too many facts. These new components burden an already overloaded curriculum and place increased demands upon the students.

Perhaps in reaction to this overloading, a recent trend has been to place less stress on learning subject knowledge and, instead, move the focus of the curriculum towards the development of ‘competencies’ (Byron, 2000). Here, too, the Indian experience has been disappointing. The ‘Minimum Learning Levels’ approach has led to a fragmentation in teaching and assessment and a tendency to ‘teach the competencies’ which, in the area of environmental studies, has turned out to be yet another list of facts (Gupta et al., 1998).

Subjects are defined by the distinctive ways in which they establish and structure knowledge and by the methods of inquiry that they employ. It needs considerable skill on the part of curriculum developers to bring about meaningful integration of different disciplines without undermining their core concepts.

An essential aspect of technology education is practical work, including planning, design, construction and experimentation. From the perspective of child development, the first spontaneous approach to experimentation is based on what could be called an ‘engineering model’. In simple terms, this says, ‘Let's do it and see if it works’. Practice of this approach in time leads to an appreciation of a hypothetico-deductive method and to an understanding of the role of experiments in science (Schauble et. al., 1991; Ramadas et. al., 1996).

The introduction of technology into schools can be meaningful only if it provides for practical work. However, such work has been the Achilles heel of science and technology education in South Asian schools (Arseculeratne, 1997; Hill and Tanveer, 1990; Bajracharya and Brouwer, 1997). In the current culture of schooling, there is a real danger that technology might be interpreted in a very academic way, as mere information about applications, processes and machines.

The Indian policy documents on science and technology education emphasise the importance of practical work (Shukla, 2001) but action is needed to ensure effective implementation. The Presidential Task Force (1997) in Sri Lanka has recommended the setting up of activity rooms in all junior schools (grades 6-9) and laboratories in all senior schools (grades 10-13). The perennial problem is the lack of equipment. While adequate funding is obviously the first requirement, equally important is a realisation that technology is all about the imaginative use of resources. From the curriculum development teams to textbook writers, teacher-trainers, teachers and students, innovation, improvisation and the building up of ideas and resources are needed at all levels.

It is instructive here to list some of the basic problems in South Asian countries which would benefit from the application of science and technology. At the top of the list are water and food resources, nutrition, sanitation and infectious diseases. The major environmental issues in the region are

At every level in the school curriculum, one could incorporate activities related to analysing and dealing with such problems. In some cases, for example water resource management, simple traditional solutions have been found to be of value; in other cases high technology may be of use. Science and technology education should include information-seeking methods of analysis and the development of skill in using tools. Most of these problems also have social and ethical dimensions and these, too, need to form part of a humane scientific and technological education.

Although curriculum development in South Asian countries is largely done at the national level, implementation inevitably depends on the exigencies of the local situation. As regional resources and expertise grow in strength, the idea is gaining ground that curriculum change ought to be a more decentralised process. A case study of curriculum managers in Pakistan recommended a cooperative model of curriculum development to accommodate a wider range of interested parties (the ‘stakeholders’), most notably the teachers who are ultimately responsible for effecting curriculum change (Aubusson and Watson, 1999).

A start has been made at the administrative level. India and Nepal are experimenting with participatory approaches to curriculum development. India has long had State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs). In more recent years District Institutes of Educational Training (DIETs) were established. In Pakistan, centralised curriculum development has partly given way to a process involving the participation of national as well as regional centres (Hill and Tanveer, 1991). The Maldives has also expressed a wish to involve teachers in future curriculum reform (Byron, 2000). However, the journey from administrative reforms to functional and intellectual autonomy may be a long one.

The inclusion of technology in the curriculum provides yet another justification for local initiatives. While the context of science might be described as universal, technology clearly needs to be developed and applied in a local context. A technology curriculum that involves ‘learning by doing’ will have to take cognizance of factors that range from the availability of human and material resources to ecological features, the epidemiological characteristics of the population and social relations in the locality. Ideally, this requires the collaboration of curriculum developers with local technologists, entrepreneurs and those skilled in craft work, as well as local industries and research laboratories.

Since independence Bangladesh has established a tradition of NGOs working successfully in the field of education. The government has recognised the contribution of these organisations and several fruitful partnerships have developed (Ahmed, 1999; ADBI, 2000). An Indian example of a long-standing partnership between a State government and an NGO is the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Program (HSTP) run by the NGO Eklavya. Over the last 30 years, this partnership has developed and implemented a curriculum for primary and middle schools in rural and tribal areas of the State of Madhya Pradesh.

One common obstacle to effective local initiative throughout South Asia is the centralised examination system found in all the countries in the region. Here again, Sri Lanka is showing the way forward with the recent introduction of assessment systems that are school-based (Jayatilleke, 2000).

The countries of South Asia embrace a wide range of religions, cultures and ways of life, and educational systems need to take account of this diversity. A number of researchers, however, have suggested something of a mismatch between school science and the wider cultural context of schooling (e.g., Aubusson and Watson, 1999). To try to address this issue, Bajrachrya and Brouwer (1997) have experimented in Nepal with a narrative approach to teaching science that locates the subject within a culturally appropriate context. The problem of a mismatch between textbook science and the informal knowledge of students has been studied in India by Chunawala et al. (1996), Natarajan et al. (1996) and Ramadas et al. (1996). As an example of their findings, Natarajan et al. (1996) found that tribal students' ideas about plants were varied, holistic and rich in ecological content. Textbook presentations, on the other hand, tended to be fragmented and focused on detailed structures. Ironically, in the classroom setting, the tribal students were classified as belonging to disadvantaged backgrounds and their considerable botanical knowledge was routinely ignored or belittled. In the case of the Maldives, where curriculum development, teacher preparation and assessment systems are largely directed from outside the country, the problem of cultural mismatch can be severe (Aubusson et al., 1998). Bhutan has recently begun to prepare culturally appropriate curricula (Gyamtso and Dyupka, 2000). Pomeroy (1997) has given useful guidelines on how science and technology education can be adapted to accommodate diverse cultural assumptions, practices and norms.

The South Asian region, with its rich cultural and historical tradition, has witnessed a number of women occupying the highest political positions. Yet, paradoxically, South Asia not only has the lowest literacy rates in the world but also the largest gap between male and female literacy (64.1 and 37.2 per cent in 1997). Gender disparity in net enrolment ratios is also the highest in the world, with twenty per cent more boys than girls enrolled in primary schools (Haq and Haq, 1998). Within South Asia, those regions with low literacy and school enrolment rates also have high gender disparity. Discrimination against South Asian women, which begins early with female abortion and infanticide, is a consequence of poverty and patriarchal values that supports a preference for sons. One indication of the scale of the problem is the highly distorted sex ratio in the region, where there are only 940 females for every 1000 males.

Sri Lanka and the Maldives are exceptions to this generally depressing state of affairs. The Sinhala and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka have traditionally had a comparatively egalitarian set of laws on property ownership (Goonesekere, 1989). The Maldives, within a strict Islamic framework, provides equal educational opportunities to girls and boys at lower levels of education (Waheeda, 1989), although gender discrimination sets in soon after primary school. The overall high literacy rates as well as enrolment ratios in these two countries show minimal gender differences.

Haq and Haq (2000), with support from numerous World Bank studies, see women's education as a necessary prerequisite for the overall development of the region. Female education leads directly to falling birth rates and a rising quality of life. The strategies to promote girls' education suggested by Kazi (1989) and Haq and Haq (1998) include the recruitment of more female teachers, the development of relevant and gender-sensitive curricula, and the provision of culturally appropriate facilities to meet the special needs of girls.

A number of recent governmental and non-governmental initiatives have successfully broken the barriers to girls’ education. Examples of such programmes are the Female Education Scholarship Programme (FESP), the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in Bangladesh, the Mahila Samakhya, the District Primary Education Project (DPEP) and Lok Jumbish in India, the Social Action Programme in Pakistan, the Equal Access for Girls' Education Programme in Nepal and the Community Schools in Bhutan (Haq and Haq, 1998).

The curriculum is one area where action is readily possible. A study of literature textbooks in India in the 1970s found a prevalence of sex-role stereotyping and extreme belittlement of women (Kalia, 1979). In other subject areas, the use of nouns and pronouns excluding women and a biased depiction of sex-roles in textbook illustrations have been common. However, at the national level (but less so at the regional level), there is an emerging sensitivity to the gender roles portrayed in textbooks. The new programmes directed towards improving girls' education have therefore produced their own textual and supporting materials in which, for example, it has become increasingly common to depict girls in active, rather than passive or supporting, roles. Since textbooks in South Asian countries are produced centrally, this is one area where change can have an immediate impact. It would be helpful if the useful set of guidelines prepared by Kalia (1986) could be updated and given wide circulation.

Gender bias within society is particularly strong in the case of technology, which is generally seen as a male preserve. School technology education therefore carries the risk of reinforcing, and perhaps even deepening, the gender divide. However, a number of recent developmental projects in South Asia have had considerable success in overcoming the sex-role stereotyping of women and technology. Rural women in Bangladesh and India have been trained in occupations ranging from primary health care and fish farming to solar energy installations and handpump repair. These local examples could form the basis of a technology education programme. Gender equity within technology education can also be promoted by highlighting the social usefulness and ecological impact of technologies (Hynes, 1994), and by selecting exemplar technologies that are of interest to women and girls (Appleton and Ilkkaracan, 1994; Sandhu and Sandler, 1986).

High drop-out and low enrolment rates reflect the low quality of education offered in the majority of schools in the region. A recent survey in Pakistan revealed that only 34 per cent of children who completed primary school could read with comprehension, and over 80 per cent were unable to write a simple letter. In Bangladesh, only 64 per cent of girls and 57 per cent of boys who complete primary school achieve literacy. Studies in India have found high underachievement even in privileged communities, while in underdeveloped parts of the country the literacy rates of primary school leavers are down to zero. Even in Sri Lanka and Maldives, which are doing better than the other countries in the region, the pass rate at the school leaving examination is only around 50 per cent (Haq and Haq, 1998).

The low quality of verbal and quantitative skills currently achieved in primary schools adversely affects comprehension in all subject areas. Instead of acquiring an understanding of scientific concepts and the processes of scientific inquiry, students memorise facts and procedures that are useful for passing examinations (Government of India, 1993; Hill and Tanveer, 1990). A lack of language proficiency is one reason for the undue emphasis on factual knowledge at all levels of education (Arseculeratne, 1997). The importance of literacy and numeracy for scientific and technological education is well recognised, but this relationship might, with some advantage, be reversed, i.e., science and other subjects could be seen as a means of supporting the development of language and of reinforcing literacy and numeracy. From the earliest years, verbal ability can be developed through learning. Instead of demanding the reproduction of passages of text, exercises in science and technology should require students to describe their own observations and actions orally as well as in writing. Creative writing, critical analysis, the building up of arguments, the use of causal connectives, and the framing of appropriate questions, can all contribute to language development while helping the students to learn science (e.g., Ramadas, 1998; 2001).

In a parallel way, numeracy can be developed through measurement and quantification in the context of a number of subjects, most obviously science and technology. There is a difference here from the abstract ‘word problems’ associated with mathematics education, namely that scientific and technological problems presented to students are real problems and involve real-world data and questions. An example is the Homi Bhabha Curriculum for Primary Science (Ramadas, 1998; 2001). This introduces students to quantification (prediction and estimation, informal comparisons, seriation, picture graphs, Venn diagrams and geometrical ideas in two and three dimensions) via familiar everyday activities. This approach requires co-ordination between the mathematics and science curricula from the earliest years to ensure that the level of mathematical thinking demanded in the science and technology curriculum is compatible with that required by the mathematics curriculum.

Of all the various aspects of scientific and technological education, it is information technology that has received most attention from policy makers in recent years. Pakistan and Bangladesh have introduced compulsory computer education in grades 9 and 10. In the technical and vocational sector, too, training in information technology has met with much success in India and Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan's IT Policy and Action Plan emphasises human resource development and makes comprehensive, wide-ranging and progressive recommendations for education. In addition to graduate and post-graduate programmes, the policy also recommends focused hands-on training in specific areas that are identified by reference to market needs. It recommends the training and employment of women in large numbers in all sectors of the software and telecommunications industry. The provision of IT education to rural and poor segments of society is seen as a strategic priority for social and economic development. The policy also aims to encourage people with special needs to use information technology to allow them to participate more effectively in society (Government of Pakistan, 2000, p.27).

The implementation of courses in information technology is inevitably limited by the availability and maintenance of computers. Here again, there is an unfortunate tendency for such courses to degenerate into copying and reproducing notes on ‘What is a computer?’, without actually getting a chance to use it. Nonetheless, computers and the Internet offer tremendous opportunities to South Asian countries. There have been a number of cases of successful connectivity in isolated rural areas to allow, for example, the sharing of meteorological, health and crop information. Such initiatives could be linked with scientific and technological education in rural schools.

School science and technology education need to be supported by out-of-school resources meant for children as well as adults. The cheapest and most easily accessed is the print medium, the demand for which increases with rising levels of literacy. Access to printed materials is also important for sustaining literacy in neo-literates. However, the space given to science and technology news and information in mass-circulation newspapers and newsmagazines is typically minimal, although there are creditable exceptions, such as the Dawn newspaper in Pakistan and The Hindu in India.

In Sri Lanka the science establishment is particularly active in popularising science. Several programmes and services of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) are directed at school children and the public. In addition to magazines, lectures, quizzes and exhibitions, the activities of the SLAAS include a Media Resource Service (MRS) for science journalists (Jayaratne, 1998). In India, the media resource services for science and technology are run by two Non-Governmental Organisations, Vigyan Prasar and Eklavya. With the spread of the Internet, media resources have become easier to access and such services could be run all over South Asia at a relatively low cost.

In general, however, the availability of scientific and technological literature in the region, especially in the local languages, remains low. Local language publishing suffer from several constraints, ranging from low circulation numbers and a lack of information tools to unfriendly regulations and troublesome bureaucratic hurdles (Ahmed, 1997). In Bangladesh, the NGO sector has successfully made use of new information and printing technologies, including desktop publishing, to produce attractive books for their educational programmes. Ahmed (1997) has suggested a number of ways to strengthen the publishing industry in South Asia, including regional co-operation to publish and market books in common languages like English, Bengali, Urdu and Tamil. He cautions, however, that the countries involved would need to co-operate in de-politicising the content of such books (see Hasanain and Nayyar 1998).

Where literacy levels are low, the print medium has obvious limitations. Equally obvious is the educational potential of the broadcast media, although these tend to be dominated by commercial interests. The Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad and various other ‘Peoples' Science Movements’ in India have experimented with a number of other strategies for promoting scientific and technological education. These include rural forums, women's forums and ‘Sastra Kala Jatha’ (a science and art procession or march) which includes music, dance and drama based on social-political, health and environmental themes (Vilanilam, 1993).

In recent years, India has been participating in the International Olympiads. Such participation can influence scientific and technological education at the regional level, motivating students towards science and also building up capacity in the teaching community.

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1 In this chapter South Asia refers to the member countriesof the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC),namely, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri

Lanka.

2 Data presented in this section are drawn from UNESCO/ACEID National Profiles in Technical and Vocational education.

Country	Net enrolment rate (%)	Primary school completion rate (%)
Bangladesh	85 (?)	38
Bhutan	53	54
India	87	59
Maldives	100	75
Nepal	64	25
Pakistan	31	48
Sri Lanka	100	85