Important Programmes that should be before by the Rural School are given below:
1. Rural school should plan its programme according to the needs of village community:
The School must serve the community in which it is situated. As John Dewey says, “The great thing to keep in mind regarding the introduction into the school of various forms of active occupation, is, that through them the entire spirit of the school is renewed.
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It has a chance to affiliate itself with life to become the child’s habitat, where he learns through direct living; instead of being only a place to learn lessons, having an abstract and remote reference to some possible living to be done in future.
It gets a chance to be a miniature community, an embryonic society. This is the fundamental fact and from this arise continuous and orderly streams of instructions. Thus, village crafts have been introduced in rural school as the very core of educational programme.
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These crafts are not only related to the basic needs and occupations of the village community, but are also the best means of developing social sense and co-operative attitude. In this way, the new primary and secondary schools, functioning in rural India, are undertaking successfully, the programme referred to above, through their organization, curriculum and methods of teaching.
2. Rural school should serve the entire village community:
Village school acting as a small community within a larger community, must be made a centre of light and learning for all the men and women of the village and not for children alone.
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It is possible when after school hours; the schools staffs are all available for the education of the village adult. But merely reading, writing, and arithmetic are not sufficient for this purpose.
The making of better homes and better farms, the rules of health, the dignity of labour, mutual cooperation and duty of service must also be taught in theory as well as in practice. The students can help the family planning centers in the rural areas in the publicity work and organisation of a regular campaign for creating consciousness among the villagers regarding the need for family planning.
In addition to this, “The students will take an active part in various forms of social service for the good of the village community and the school will not only inculcate the ideals and a desire for social service but also provide opportunities and the necessary material facilities.”
3. Rural school should undertake vocational guidance and cultural programmers:
For carrying on successfully the rural reconstruction programme, as mentioned above, it is essential that our villages should have not only Junior Schools, but also High and Higher Secondary and Multi-purpose Schools.
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These can effectively co-operate with the Block Development and National Extension Service Departments for rural reconstruction work during vacation and other holidays and can also undertake independently, vocational guidance and cultural programmers for the villagers.
They can arrange public performances, economic and art exhibitions, health demonstrations, sports competitions, vocation guidance bureaus, library service, cleanliness service symposia and other recreational activities.
Such activities may be conducted on the model of 4H Clubs of U.S.A. which aim at developing the Head heart, and health of the people. These clubs teach improved methods of agriculture for men and home making for women.
In this way, the programme of developing all- around manhood and womanhood can be successfully undertaken by the rural schools.
4. Rural school should remove the ignorance and superstitions of village people through properly directed education:
Ours is a country in which the greatest of all problems is the problem of ignorance and superstition of the village population. And this problem is the most serious stumbling block in the way of our national progress.
Selfishness, greed, vested interests, party faction, old-fashioned ideas, respect for superstition, group rivalries and fear of social censure are all serious ills of our rural community. These ills must be removed by properly directed education.
The rural community must be lifted socially, physically, intellectually and economically. As soon as the ignorance and superstition of our village people are gone, this land of ours will be transformed into paradise and we shall really be able to establish “Ram Rajya” of Mahatma Gandhi’s dreams.
In this way, the rural school will serve as a model for the society and will influence it greatly in more ways than one. It will really act as a people’s school, based on their needs and problems.