________________
to do this. Yet agriculture is the mainstay of the nation and increasingly even the industrial class thinks of getting into agriculture as an industry. Vocational courses should not consider their job as only teaching the technology. They have to show how to generate income. Agriculture can be made profitable and has immense opportunities but the vocational courses are not able to demonstrate this to their students. If this is done, not only will it start a rush for agriculture-related courses but also, most of them will opt for self-employment. Vocational courses should not consider their job as only teaching the technology. They have to show how to generate income through whatever they are teaching. This will involve a whole package of skills, including technical, management and entrepreneurial skills. And often, it is these areas that are lacking, not the technical knowledge. The Industrial Culture Unless agriculture becomes an "industry", it will not be profitable. What I mean is that, the industrial culture must come into agricultural practice. This industrial culture consists of having clear specifications for the inputs, the process and the outputs. There must also be financial discipline and cost consciousness, planning and rational decision-making and finally an awareness of performance indices. One must compare one's performance with industry standards and strive to better them. This industrial culture has to be absorbed by practice, not just through the classroom. Pre-requisites In teaching this culture the first obstacle is the aversion for arithmetic and generally a tendency to avoid quantitative aspects. This aversion comes from a dislike for all mathematics that is bred in Rural Development Through Education System 235
