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PART III The Future: How Do We Scale Up This Educational System ? The Proposal The Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research and Training put forward a proposal some time back, to extend this system to 30 schools in as many districts. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi now has a scheme, which can fund such programmes in the States. The proposal is now being considered by the State Government. Meanwhile, preparations are going on to get ready for the programme. It is time for a wider debate on the philosophy and contents of this Rural Technology system. Input from professional scientists and educationists could make valuable contributions. The Need Granting that such a system is to be implemented in a much larger number of schools, where are the teachers to come from? They will have to be trained. Who will train them and how? Which schools will be selected and on what basis? The following is the scheme now under consideration. 1. The schools will be selected on the following criteria: a) The school should be located in a village with a population of less than 10,000. Taluka and district headquarters should be avoided. The school will have less than 200 students preferably, in 9th and 10th standards. The community must come forward to pay for the cost of the equipment, (approx. Rs. 40,000) and where this is done, the government will provide teachers. Rural Development Through Education System 53
