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Transcript

Hello friends. In our last class we discussed about the philosophy and functions of extension. And in today’s class we will be taking up the discussion on the principles and objectives of extension education. When we say that the concept of principle. Principle means the fundamental truth or proposition that has to be pursued. So it is because it is a fundamental truth we need to keep in mind that the principle of extension. And we need to adapt and follow it. And a principle also means the law that should be followed. The moment we try to adopt that particular principle in our profession, the profession is going to when added value to that and that is why every profession has certain principles. Similarly extension also has a range of principles, that we’ll be discussing them one by one.

To begin with, the principle of interest and need. The clientele of extension, largely it is the farmers. In addition to the farmers we have the clients like the extension professionals, the institutions, the research organizations, the development organizations, extension service providers, state departments of extension, non-governmental organizations, financial institutions, input supply agencies and the input manufacturing agencies and so on. All these clients of extension have specific needs to be met out. And extension takes care of them and keeps their needs in view, and their interest in view and the programs are developed accordingly. That is what is being explained by the principle of interest and need. The second principle is the principle of cultural difference. In our last class also I was emphasizing on the difficulty in delineating between or having the demarcation line between the nature, culture and Indian agriculture. It is having so interwoven relationship with each other.

So in that context any operation to be done in case of agriculture, especially from the point of view of transfer of technologiesor influencing the behavior of the farmers. We need to take into the aspects related to the culture. Because there is change in culture at regular intervals. Means, at particular within a State we find the different culture. It varies from district to district. There are certain minor modifications. Then take country as a whole. The culture of the northern, southern, eastern, western, central part of the country are totally different. But they are all having some common bindings in the form of cultivation of crops. And there are regional variations. And even in the crop there are variations like, the quality of rice what we get in Southern India is bit different from the quality of rice what we get in Northern India. The same rice when it is grown in Western India. Its taste is going to be changed, the same rice when it is grown in the far eastern part of the country. Its quality, its taste, its flavor is going to be changed.

So, and it is these technological aspects are having the influence of the cultural aspects also, that becomes the practices over a period of time. That becomes the part of their culture and extension takes into account of the culture which is prevailing in that region before designing, implementing, evaluating the extension program. The third principle that we are going to discuss about is the principle of participation. Without the participation of the stakeholders, as I said there is a range of clientele, and there is a range of institutions which are providing the services. Without the participation of these two major target groups involving the entire community. So we cannot achieve the success in extension programs. The participation is very very essential at planning stage, at its implementation stage and at its evaluation stage. Participation by all the stakeholders. May it be the end user, may it be the implementer, may it be the researcher, may it be the individual who is involved in thein the transfer of technology. Or may it be any of the service providing agencies like the input supply agencies, the financial institutions, the researchers, so on and so forth. The participation of all these is being coordinated by the institution known as the extension. The profession known as extension. And that is how that is another principle of extension education.

Then the principle of adaptability. As we said there is a diverse nature of Indian agriculture. The person who is acting as an extension professional needs to adapt himself to the existing situation. It is not that at all the points of time he is going to get the same comforts or the same situation or the same culture or the same nature. It is totally different. So keeping those things in the mind, the extension professional has to adapt himself to the existing local conditions and that is what is the prime responsibility. And that is how it is the principle of extension also. The next principle is the grassroots principle of organization. In the philosophy also we said that the roots of the extension activities are emphasizing on the democratic approach. And here we are talking of the grassroots organizational approach. It means when we say that we are that we are transferring technology to a particular community. There are good number of organizations that are in operation. The extension professionals, the extension institution takes care of the existing institutions and the organizations in that particular locality, community, the social setting. So that is what is the first priority. And that is why we said that the principle of grassroots level organization.

May it be the traditional panchayat system . May it be the organization of the youth. May it be organization of the women. May it be any of the self help group. Different range of organizations that are existing in the village setup, that are existing in our area of operation. That has to be taken into account for planning, implementation and evaluation. That is what is being emphasized through the principle of grassroots level organization. Then coming to the principle of leadership. An individual who influences the behavior of others is identified as a leader. Farmer is acting as a leader because he has the capacity to influence. How he has developed that capacity? By developing the skills of his own in cultivation of the crops, in management of the resources. So keeping these things in the mind, identification of appropriate leaders, among the community, that is one aspect. Identification of the leaders who are dominant in a particular subject domain, that is another aspect. Bringing these leaders together for convincing the majority of the population in a particular rural setting or an urban setting, so that is the responsibility of an extension professional. And that is how the principle of extension should be taken care of by the extension professional.

Then the next principle that we are going to discuss about is the whole family principle. Extension has the program for each and every member of the family, this we have been emphasizing on in our previous discussion also. I would like to draw your attention. So there is a discipline of extension which is known as the home science extension. There is a discipline of extension known as the sericulture extension, forestry extension, fisheries extension, animal husbandry extension. All these concepts of extension the disciplines of extension, the specializations of extension are embracing the all aspects of our family. So that all the needs of the community are being met, and programs developed for each and every member of the family. The principle of cooperation. So without cooperation of different stakeholders, none of the extension programs can be planned, implemented and evaluated successfully. And that is how we need the participation as well as cooperation from each and every member of the community. Then the principle of satisfaction. The end product of the process of technology transfer should be satisfaction of our client. If the client is not satisfied, something is wrong somewhere. So identifying that and taking care of that, so that to ensure the satisfaction. Maybe as per the objectives that what we have set, by increasing his agricultural production. By increasing his income levels. Then by increasing his participation in the programs and ultimately leading towards change or enhanced quality of standard of living. So all these things are some of the factors which end with the satisfaction of the client system. And extension takes care of that because that is what is the end product, the individual desires. And that is how the principle of satisfaction is well principle of extension.

Then the evaluation principle. The programs that are being taken up have 3 stages of evaluation. The first stage of evaluation begins with the ex anti evaluation, which we generally take up before implementation of the program. Analysis of the existing situation. Understanding the problems. Finding solutions for those problems. And planning the program to unearth the unidentified problems. So that is one part. Then second type of evaluation is the concurrent evaluation. Based on the analyzed problems and the identified problems we are going to develop the programs. And accordingly the programs are being planned and implemented. During the implementation of the program, we are going to have the evaluation at regular intervals. So that’s what is the concurrent evaluation. And at the end of the program. After completion of the implementation of the program, the evaluation that we take up to look into the what is the impact that it is going to generate. And what are the outcomes of the implemented program. All these things are part of ex post facto evaluation.

It means before beginning of an extension program, during the implementation of the extension program. After implementation of; successful implementation of an extension program. At all these levels we have the inbuilt mechanism of evaluation, which we try to identify it as the principle of evaluation. So these are the various principles of extension, that an extension professional has to keep in mind. With this brief background on the discussion on the principles of extension. Now let us move on to the objectives of extension. The first and foremost objective of extension is to assist people to discover and analyze their problems and identify the felt needs. This is one of the important problem our client system is facing with. What is that? So for one or the other reasons we are not able to discover or understand the problems what they are facing and how to address those things. And that is why there are deliberate interventions from the institution of extension, from the discipline of extension to identify their felt needs as well as the problems, so that appropriate solution can be found for that.

The second objective is to develop leadership amongst the people and help them in organizing groups to solve their problems. The management experts, the extension professionals say that. If we are going to manage a particular aspect in its desired manner. It is going to act as a panacea for all the problems, that what the community is facing with. In that context so to develop an individual as a manager, he has to develop himself as a leader. The role of a leader is to identify the problems in case of the existing situation and developing appropriate solutions for that in collaboration and in association with various institutions that are in operation. The moment we take up that particular activity, so the second objective of extension is being satisfied. Then the third objective of extension is to disseminate research information of economic and practical importance, in a way people would be able to understand and use. This is what is the core purpose of extension. Since beginning we have been discussing about this. The connotation of the term extension in Indian context is having the same meaning that the transfer of technology.

We said that the dissemination of the research information which is of economic and practical importance. It means the extension system is going to decide in association with its client which is beneficial for them and which is essential for them so that they can make appropriate changes in their farming systems, in their cropping systems leading towards their satisfaction, their economic advantages and their change in standards of living. And when we take up that activity and when we disseminate that particular information, that is how we are satisfying the objectives of extension. Then the next objective is to assist the people in mobilizing and utilizing the resources which they have and which they need from outside. To satisfy this particular objective and to practice this particular objective, the first and foremost requirement is to understand what are the resources that you have at your disposal. Are you aware of the resources that you already have. Then when we prepare an inventory of the existing resources, automatically we are going to identify the gaps so that we can arrange them from the outside. For example we try to identify land as a resource, labor as a resource, capital as a resource. Land is already available there, at our doorstep. Then labor is also available. Then the capital is one of the important input, where there are good number of issues to be addressed.

So the traditional system we have the availability of the capital. But there is a lot of exploitation by the local moneylenders for which we need some support from the external sources. So that is how the financial institution comes into the picture. And financial inclusion programs, government, the State as well as the Central Government are going to play the dominant role. Now we are trying to identify it. Water as a resource you have at your disposal. Whether you are able to manage that particular resource. In the form of conserving the available water. Number one, that is the most important thing. Then getting the resource from different sources. Maybe by adopting the canal method or taking up the underground water whatever it is. So but all these processes start by identifying that particular resource. Its availability, lacuna, deficiency then the rest of the things comes into the picture. And that is how the extension is helping the people to identify and mobilize these resources.

Then the next objective of extension is to collect and transmit feedback information for solving the management problems. Extension is a 2 way process. We have already said in our previous discussion, just I am reminding you. It is one way it is, transferring the technology. And the second, in return it is collecting the various problems that are being faced at the field level and transferring it to the research system for taking up the systematic research and finding the solution, and again those solutions are rolled back to the communities once again. And that is how it becomes a continuous process.

Now after having discussed about the principles and objectives of extension, coming to the conclusion. Extension helps people to discover their needs. This is what we have discussed so far. And extension develops leadership amongst the people by identifying the resources, by addressing their needs. Then in that process it is trying to develop the leadership among the people. Then extension motivates the people to adopt the latest research outcomes for bringing in the socio-economic changes. The concept of motivation also that we will be discussing in our next class. And with the efficient feedback mechanism, extension believes in solving the problems of the clients. Means, put together the principles and philosophy of extension as well as the objectives of extension are going to play a dominant role. As an extension professional understanding of these things becomes essential. And based on the understanding of these concepts, your extension profession as well as the implementation of the programs, planning of the programs, management of the programs becomes a most feasible process at the field level. With this we are concluding today’s discussion. In our next class we will be discussing about the concept of ‘Intention of Extension’.

Thank You.