Changing Attitudes to Education in India (Hardbound - 2002)

The 20th century has been a period of educational revolution. Momentous changes have taken place. Whereas the education system in advanced countries is knocking at the doors of the 21st century, it stands far removed from life in India, groaning under the weight of accumulated arrears of reforms. The present book is a modest attempt at crystallizing the changing attitudes to education in India.

Divided into ten chapters, the book seeks to pinpoint the necessary changes in our attitude to education from Pre-school Education to Higher Education. It seeks to dilate upon the changing attitudes to children’s education, English teaching in India, instructional methods, role of teachers, function of libraries, aims and objectives of university education, non-formal education and extension education. It also focuses on the right kind of education the country needs today and highlights the far-reaching significance of education for tomorrow.

K. Venkata Reddy (b. 1939) is at present Professor of English and Principal at Sri Krishnadevaraya University, where he has been teaching Post-graduate classes since 1968. Earlier, he taught at the Department of English, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, from 1963. He has published widely in different journals in India and contributed to international journals like World Literature Written in English and Journal of South Asian Literature. His other publications include Major Indian Novelists (1991), Ben Jonson: His Dramatic Art (1994), Critical Studies in Commonwealth Literature (1994), M.V. Rama Sarma: His Mind and Art (1995), and New Directions in Higher Education in India (1996). He has edited Ben Jonson’s The Silent Woman and Bartholomew Fair under Macmillan Annotated Classics.

Professor Reddy has been a U.G.C. Visiting Fellow at several universities and served as a Resource Person for the Academic Staff Colleges at different universities in India. He has travelled widely, visiting countries like Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and USA to participate in International Conferences. His papers presented at the V World Shakespeare Congress in Tokyo (1991) and International Conference on Shakespeare in Washington (1997) were well received.

A recipient of the Best Teacher Award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh (1980), Professor Reddy is not only an active academic, but also a social activist. Besides teaching and research, he is actively engaged in nation-building activities — eradication of social evils, removal of illiteracy and spread of scientific temper. He is a votary of casteless and classless society.