Role of Education in Building Social Cohesion

Abstract

Social Cohesion is the expression of that tradition of tolerance in all religions and cultures that are the basis of peace and progress. It is foreign to know culture and native to all nations. Tolerance and mercy have always and in all cultures being ideals of Government rules and human behavior. Professional educator often comments on the poor quality of education, politician and bureaucrats try to paint it as unproductive and a liability to the society. Social cohesion educational challenges are vital, crucial and powerful. We have to respond to the challenges immediately and continuously, so as to achieve the goals of democratic state.

Full text

International Journal of Secondary Education
2016; 4(2): 23-26
http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijsedu
doi: 10.11648/j.ijsedu.20160402.12
ISSN:2376-7464 (Print); ISSN: 2376-7472 (Online)
Role of Education in Building Social Cohesion
Zebun Nisa Khan
Department of Education, AMU Aligarh, India
Email address:
zebunnisakhan@yahoo.com
To cite this article:
Zebun Nisa Khan. Role of Education in Building Social Cohesion. International Journal of Secondary Education.
Vol. 4, No. 2, 2016, pp. 23-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ijsedu.20160402.12
Received: May 4, 2016; Accepted: May 19, 2016; Published: May 28, 2016
Abstract:
Social Cohesion is the expression of that tradition of tolerance in all religions and cultures that are the basis of
peace and progress. It is foreign to know culture and native to all nations. Tolerance and mercy have always and in all cultures
being ideals of Government rules and human behavior. Professional educator often comments on the poor quality of education,
politician and bureaucrats try to paint it as unproductive and a liability to the society. Social cohesion educational challenges
are vital, crucial and powerful. We have to respond to the challenges immediately and continuously, so as to achieve the goals
of democratic state.
Keywords:
Social Cohesion, Marginalization, Interdependent, Infringements, Interdisciplinary, Adjudication
1. Introduction
The sociologist Emile Durkheim was the first who used
the concept of social cohesion. According to him social
cohesion is an ordering feature of a society. Social cohesion
is the capacity of a society to ensure the well being of all its
members, minimizing disparities and avoiding
marginalization.
1
In other words, we can say that it is the
foundation of human existence and co-existence. Social
cohesion is universal, indivisible, and interdependent and is
principle by which we create the sacred home for human
dignity.
Coordination for the implementation of the Decade’s Plan
of Action
2
has been entrusted to the United Nations High
Commission for social cohesion. For the designing,
implementation and evaluation of projects in the said plan,
UNESCO should play a central role, and should collaborate
with the high commissioners and the United Nation Centers
for Social Cohesion. The memorandum of cooperation signed
between Director General of UNESCO and the United
Nations Commissioner for Social Cohesion in October 1995,
envisaged close collaboration in implementing activities
related to education for social cohesion and democracy.
Social cohesion has also been seen as contributing to
1 Report of High Level Task Force on Social Cohesion in 21
st
Century.
2 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Resolution
49/154 (A/51/506/Add.1.appedix).
cohesion and education is viewed as “the most powerful
generator of social capital” in our society [3]. In view of [7],
education is thought of providing such a bridging capital to
individual. [9] examines the ways education is related to
social cohesion, mainly in sociology of education
approaches. Education is viewed as an important institution
that contributes to cohesion by socializing the new members
of the society, providing them with knowledge and skills in
order to facilitate their social participation.
2. Education for Social Cohesion
The development of a comprehensive system of education
for social cohesion, democracy & peace, embracing all levels
of education and available to all is the long-term objective of
UNESCO. In other words, formal, non-formal and informal
education is covered by the system evolved. By the combined
efforts of educators, families, mass and intergovernmental
and non-intergovernmental organizations a culture of social
cohesion and democracy is to be evolved. [6] suggested the
following in this regard:
 Education should cease to be considered as a one shot
affair meant for children and youth.
 Education and work should be looked upon as
complementary forces, which operate simultaneously
throughout the entire life of an individual.
 All the three channels of education- fulltime, part-time

International Journal of Secondary Education 2016; 4(2): 23-26 24
and own-time should be developed in every state and in
every sector of education and given equal status.
 Education should cease to be looked upon as a school
process: it should be a social process covering all
learning that take place, whether in or outside the
school.
 Education should cease to be delegated responsibility of
a profession and should become the direct social
responsibility in which every individual is involved,
both as a teacher and as a student.
 The right to learn should be assured to every individual,
without any discrimination and with full equality of
opportunity, and he should also receive all the support
and facilities necessary for its effective exercise
throughout his life.
 The non-formal sector, which has been neglected in the
past, should be developed and blended with the formal
sector in an integrated fashion to create a new system of
education, which will have advantages of both the
sectors and also eliminate the weakness, which arises
when these sectors are developed in isolation.
3. Human Right Education
Government of India in 1993 introduced Protection of
Human Right Act, which was brought into being the National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to operate as the nodal
agency for promoting and fostering the culture of human
rights and to oversee the implementation and infringements
of human rights, which also includes social cohesion. In
addition to its statutory transformation, importance to
education, training and environment building for human
rights were the tasks taken by NHRC. The policy initiatives
of the NHRC include the following:
 Dialogue with the Ministry of HRD (Department of
Education) and NCERT as well as State Governments to
pursue the question of human rights instruction at
various levels of schooling.
 Preparation of a source book by NCERT on human right
material for facilitating access by teachers and
academics.
 Preparation of teacher training modules for pre-service
and in-service stages by NCERT.
 Review of textbooks with a view to deleting from them
references before that may be prejudicial to human
rights and replacing them with material aimed at
inculcating genuine sensitivity to and understanding of
such rights.
 Dialogue with the University Grant Commission, Vice-
chancellors and Deans of Law Faculties suggesting that
human rights find a place both in undergraduate and
postgraduate courses.
 Promotion and cooperation with NGOs active in this
sphere.
 Special emphasis on orientation and training of officers
and men of the armed forces, paramilitary forces and
the police to sensitize them to human rights.
4. Contribution of Education
Social cohesion education is interdisciplinary in nature. It
involves the subject areas of Education, Management,
Economics, Political Science, Sociology, History, Commerce,
Geography, and Philosophy etc. The significance of social
cohesion in the socio-economic cultural development of
India has not been fully recognized by the society as well as
by the system. None of the faculties (Science/Social Science)
like to take the responsibility of sharing the task. Each
faculty of study feels that it is outside its scope of study.
Interdisciplinary approach is totally lacking. According to [8]
the meaning of education is not to educate people in the thing
of which they are ignorant. The real meaning of education is
to teach people to conduct themselves in ways in which they
do not behave, while [4] is of the opinion that education may
be both conservative by nature and progressive by design.
According to [8] social cohesion is a term used to denote
that a complex whole such as society has reached a level of
equilibrium and stability. How does education could help to
transform society in order to achieve a better and more just
world? [10] gives the answer of the above and emphasized
that most commonly today education is used to learn craft
and receive expertise in order to secure employment. To my
opinion such an effect to education shall undoubtedly
contribute to retaining social cohesion and peace for longer
period of time.
Education should contribute to social cohesion in the
following ways
3
.
 Schools ought to teach the rules of the game: those that
govern interpersonal and political action. They consist
of the social and legal principles underpinning good
citizenship, obligations of political leaders, behavior
expected of citizens, and consequences for not adhering
to these principles. Schools can also facilitate a student's
appreciation for the complexity of issues related to
historical and global current events and, in so doing,
may increase the likelihood that a student will see a
point of view other than his or her own. By teaching the
rules of the game in this manner, schools foster
tolerance and lay the groundwork for voluntary
behavior consistent with social norms.
 Schools are also expected to provide an experience
roughly consistent with those citizenship principles, in
effect, decreasing the "distance" between individuals of
different origins. The educational experience derives
from a wide variety of activities, whether in the
classroom, the hallway, schoolyard, playing field, or
bus. The degree to which a school may do this well
depends on its ability to design the formal curriculum,
its culture, and the social capital of its surrounding
community. The purpose for providing experiences that
are consistent with the principles of citizenship is clear.
3 Social Cohesion and Education - Background: Social Cohesion and
Development, Social Functions of Education - Schools, Public, School, and
Rights - StateUniversity.com. http://education.stateuniversity.com
/pages/2428/Social-Cohesion-Education.html#ixzz43wP9dCHo

25 Zebun Nisa Khan: Role of Education in Building Social Cohesion
Both formal and informal social contracts require
elements of trust among strangers–to the extent that the
socialization of citizens from different social origins
allows them to acknowledge and respect each other;
that is, decreasing the "distance." If the educational task
is done effectively, this allows political institutions to
adjudicate differences and economic institutions to
operate efficiently.
 School systems are expected to provide an equality of
opportunity for all students. If the public perceives that
the school system is biased and unfair, then the trust that
citizens place in various other public institutions is
compromised. For instance, the willingness of adults to
play by the rules of the game may be compromised if
fairness in the system appears suspect.
 Public schools are expected to incorporate the interests
and objectives of many different groups and at the same
time attempt to provide a common underpinning for
citizenship. Often there are disagreements over the
balance between these objectives. These disagreements
must be adjudicated. Adjudication can be accomplished
through many mechanisms–public school boards,
professional councils, parent-teacher associations. The
success of a school system is based in part on its ability
to garner public support and consensus, and hence its
ability to adjudicate differences over educational
objectives.
5. Role of Higher Education
It is the India’s education system; which can introduce the
social cohesion education in the Universities especially at
higher level. According to [3] the following activities for
higher education institutions in India for the human rights,
which includes social cohesion. Some of the suggestion given
below does come under the purview of the social cohesion:
 Survey of awareness about human rights among college
and university students, college and university teachers,
parents, school teachers, school students, educational
administrators, SC population, ST population, people
remaining below poverty line, child laborers and their
parents, politicians, Panchayati Raj representatives, etc.
 Organizing exhibitions on the different aspects of
constitutional provisions and their violation.
 Carry out evaluation of textbooks in the light of human
right violation.
 Evaluating classroom activities of the teacher in the
light of the right of the child.
 Studying newspaper report on violation of human rights.
 Studying the problems concerning non-enrolment of the
children in school and developing plan of action to
solve the problem.
 Evaluating activities such as one act plays, street plays,
etc portraying various aspects of human rights.
 Organizing public meetings in the locality to develop
awareness of public on human rights.
 Studying different religious practices and activities of
God-men that violate human rights.
 Studying the problems of the girl’s students in
coeducational institutions.
 Studying the problem of women teachers in
coeducational school and colleges.
 Studying the revision for equal opportunity in education.
 Studying the conditions of work at home and other
work sites.
 Studying the superstitions existing in the locality.
 Providing courses on human rights education.
 Studying the NFE program with reference to the rights
of the child to get basic education.
 Studying the extent of punishment given in schools that
dissuade a child from attending school.
6. Conclusion
Today’s education systems were introduced in 18th and 19th
Century in the western world and were adopted by other
nations accordingly. Government of India introduced a bill for
the betterment of the education for all. The Right of Children
to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education
Act (RTE), is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4
August 2009, which describes the modalities of the importance
of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and
14 in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. India
became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental
right of every child when the act came into force on 1 April
2010. In comprehensive system of schooling equality of
education is very much important to promote social cohesion
in comparison to selective educational system. Education and
social cohesion are closely linked to each other. Education
trains the people for preserving society for the upcoming
generation. Education contributes to maintain social order and
affect the social cohesion. Education is one of the important
tools, which is available to many affects the academic
achievement of the pupils and enhances the society as well as
social cohesion. Education system needs an improvement to
meet the needs of the population for the enhancement of their
academic achievement. It will thus give them opportunity to
live together in peace in the country and thus will have an
impact on social cohesion.
Social Cohesion Cycle w r t to Education and Academic Achievement

International Journal of Secondary Education 2016; 4(2): 23-26 26
By adopting the above policy measures the methods of
study constitutes the social cohesion also. Despite the
introduction of the above education policy, the progress in
this regard is not satisfactory. Many factors lay at the root of
this situation.
Different approaches from different angles and point of
views were used to define social cohesion. The concept of
social cohesion points to a level of analysis that commonly
called macro [1].
Keeping in view the suggestions given by [6] and [5], we
suggest the following recommendation for the
implementation of the social cohesion in our country.
To foster such type of education it needs a real revolution
in the whole system of education. It requires teachers who
are genuine, open and secure human beings with essentially
warm and favorable feelings about students. Initiation of
such education does not depend upon his curriculum
planning, nor upon his ability to deliver a good lecture but it
depends on manifestation of certain effective characteristics,
which exist in the interpersonal relationship between the
teacher and the student, like genuineness, trust and
acceptance, empathetic understanding and profound love. It
is in consonance with [1]. Similar characteristics such as, to
be protective of their own belief and more willing to listen to
others; and to be less bureaucratic and more democratic are
also required on the part of the administration and policy
makers to make humanistic education possible. Access to
education and vocational training and investment in
education are needed in this regard.
It is true that, to bring such a revolution is not so easy. It is
quite difficult to crack the diehard tendency among many
teachers, educational administrators and policy makers to
whom all these revolutionary ideas are simply unacceptable.
But a beginning has already been made, what is required is to
give this revolution some momentum with the sole focus on
making education truly liberated and humanized.
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