Report of The Socio-Economic Survey of College Students of Aligarh

Abstract

The educational system introduced by the British rulers for recruiting clerks to their offices and thus producing a loyal educated middle-class never found favour with the Indian intelligentia and so, immediately after the British left us, the whole system came under fire and far-reaching changes were suggested and introduced, in the name of Indianising and improving it, thinking that every change was for the good. However, inspite of all the criticisms and suggestions by expert committees and commissions, educationists and politicians, and with the reforms introduced thereafter, no apparent change for the better is visible. Rather, sense of discipline among the students is deteriorating and academic standards are falling fast. This makes one feel that most of the changes introduced were probably based on wrong understanding of the students’ mental make up of the prevailing educational system and of the socio-politicoeconomic changes taking place in society. Hence, the curiosity to know a few facts about students and the present educational system prompted me to under-take a survey of the College Students of the city of Aligarh in the session 1955-56, a report on which is presented in the following pages.