Dr. V.K. Maheshwari, Ph.D

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A(Socio, Phil) B.Se. M. Ed, Ph.D

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V.(P.G) College, Roorkee, India

The “Law of Three Stages” is an idea developed by Auguste Comte. It constitutes one of the main contributions of Comte to the field of sociological thought.

Comte’s famed “law of the three stages” is an example of his search for invariant laws governing the social world. Comte argued that the human mind, individual human beings, all knowledge, and world history develop through three successive stages

According to Comte, each branch of our knowledge passes successively through the different theoretical conditions. This is known as law of three stages. The main aim of this principle is to provide the basis of sociological thinking.

According to Comte, the evolution of the human mind has paralleled the evolution of the individual mind. Just as an individual tends to be a staunch believer in childhood, a critical metaphysician in adolescence and a natural philosopher in manhood, so mankind in its growth has followed three major stages. Comte believed that each field of knowledge passes through three periods of growth pattern.

Comte felt that one of the most basic laws of human organization is the “law of the three stages,” a notion clearly influenced by the philosophical concepts of Turgot, Condorcet, and Saint-Simon. He termed these stages the theological–military , metaphysical–judicial , and scientific–industrial or “positivistic.” Each stage is typified by a particular “spirit”—a notion that first appeared with Montesquieu and was expanded by Condorcet—and by temporal or structural conditions. Thus, the theological–military stage is dominated by ideas that refer to the supernatural while being structured around slavery and the military. The metaphysical–judicial stage, which follows from the theological and represents a transition to the Scientific is typified by ideas that refer to the fundamental essences of phenomena and by elaborate political and legal forms. The scientific–industrial stage is dominated by the “positive philosophy of science” and industrial patterns of social organization.

In this context, Comte formulated the details of his law of the three stages, in which idea systems, and their corresponding social structural arrangements, pass through three phases:

The Theological/ Fictitious Stage

In this stage human beings rely on supernatural agencies to explain what they can’t explain otherwise.

The Theological, which is the original and spontaneous form of thought, regards the facts of the universe as governed not by invariable laws of sequence, but by single and direct volitions of beings, real or imaginary, possessed of life and intelligence. In the infantile state of reason and experience, individual objects are looked upon as animated. The next step is the conception of invisible beings, each of whom superintends and governs an entire class of objects or events. The last merges this multitude of divinities in a single God, who made the whole universe in the beginning, and guides and carries on its phenomena by his continued action, or, as others think, only modifies them from time to time by special interferences. [Mill's summary]

The theological stage is dominated by a search for the essential nature of things, and people come to believe that all phenomena are created and influenced by gods and supernatural forces. Monotheism is the ultimate belief of the theological stage.

According to Comte in this stage, “all theoretical conceptions, whether general or special bear a supernatural impress”. Unable to discover the natural causes of the various happenings, the primitive men attributed them to imaginary or divine forces.

This stage is also divided into three sub-stages as (a) Fetishism (b) Polytheism (c) Monotheism..

(a) Fetishism -The primitive persons everywhere tend to think in supernatural terms. They believe that all phenomena are “produced by the immediate action of supernatural beings.” They believe in all kinds of fetishes in which spirits or supernatural beings live. Hence, “New ideas and structural arrangements are added to, and build on, the old” as a form of religion started and it admitted of no priesthood, because its gods are individuals, each residing in fixed objects. During this sub-stage, man accepts the existence of the spirit or the soul. It did not admit priesthood

(b) Polytheism- When the mind of primitive man became better organized, fetishism became cumbersome. Too many fetishes created confusion. Hence, they started believing in several gods. Thus arose polytheism. They created the class of priests to get the goodwill and the blessings of these gods. The presence of too many gods also created for them mental contradictions.

During this sub-stage, man begins to believe in magic and allied activities. He then transplants or imposes special god in every object. Thus they believed in several gods and created the class of priests to get the goodwill and the blessings of these gods

(c) Monotheism-   Finally, they developed the idea of one god, or of monotheism. They started believing in the superhuman power of only one god. Slowly feelings and imaginations started giving place to thinking and rationality During this sub-stage of the theological stage man believes that there is only one center of power which guides and controls all the activities of the world. Thus man believed in the superhuman power of only one god

The Metaphysical/Abstract Stage

Comte said that this stage started around the middle Ages in Europe, or somewhere around the 1300s. In the metaphysical stage of society, people viewed the world and events as natural reflections of human tendencies. People in this stage still believed in divine powers or gods, but they believed that these beings are more abstract and less directly involved in what happens on a daily basis. Instead, problems in the world are due to defects in humanity.

The metaphysical thinking is almost an extension of the theological thinking. Rationalism started growing instead of imagination. Rationalism states that God does not stand directly behind every phenomenon. Pure reasoning insists that God is an Abstract Being. Reasoning helped man to find out some order in the natural world. This stage being an improvement upon the earlier stage, it was believed that the abstract power or force guides and determines the events in the world. Metaphysical thinking discards belief in concrete god  . The metaphysical stage is a transitional stage in which mysterious, abstract forces (e.g., nature) replace supernatural forces as the powers that explain the workings of the world.

The continuity, regularity and infallibility found in the natural order were attributed to some “Principles” or “Power”. Thus, principles and theories gained ascendency over feelings and speculations. Even these metaphysical explanations were unsatisfactory to the mind. Still this kind of thinking corresponded with the legal type of society

The Positive/Scientific Stage

The positivist stage is the last and highest stage in Comte’s work. In this stage, people search for invariant laws that govern all of the phenomena of the world. Comte’s final stage for society is called the. positive stage Just like the name implies, here people view the world and events as explained by scientific principles. In modern society, most people agree that the planets are physical objects made up of gas or rock. People believe that sickness is caused by germs and that medicine is the appropriate cure. If an earthquake happens, most people believe that’s because of movement in the tectonic plates, not because a god is upset.

While it’s easy for us, people who live in the modern scientific stage, to look back on people in the first two stages and think some of their beliefs are silly, keep two things in mind. First, lots of modern people still believe that one or more gods are active in what happens to our lives, and many people in modern society still believe in astrology. Second, keep in mind that in five hundred or one thousand years from now, people in the future might look back at us and think that our beliefs are silly.

The positive stage represents the scientific way of thinking. As Comte stated, “In the final, the positive stage, the mind has given over the vain search after Absolute notions, the origin and destination of the universe, and the causes phenomena, and applies itself to the study of their laws – that is, their invariable relations of succession and resemblance.”

The observation and classification of facts are the beginning of the scientific stage, where there is no place for any belief or superstition. Everything concludes rationally

.Comte developed his concept of positivism, which is a purely intellectual way of looking at the world. He stressed the need for observation and classification of phenomena. He even said that it is futile to try to determine causes. “We can observe uniformities, or laws, but it is mere specula­tion to assign cause to these uniformities” he stated. Positivism actually glorified observation and classification of data. The positive thinking suits the needs of the industrial society.

In short these stages represent different and opposed types of human conception. The most primitive type is theological thinking, which rests on the “empathetic fallacy” of reading subjective experience into the operations of nature. The theological perspective develops dialectically through fetishism, polytheism, and monotheism as events are understood as animated by their own will, that of several deities, or the decree of one supreme being. Politically the theological state provides stability under kings imbued with divine rights and supported by military power. As civilization progresses, the metaphysical stage begins as a criticism of these conceptions in the name of a new order. Supernatural entities are gradually transformed into abstract forces just as political rights are codified into systems of law. In the final stage of positive science the search for absolute knowledge is abandoned in favor of a modest but precise inquiry into the relative laws of nature. The absolutist and feudal social orders are replaced gradually by increasing social progress achieved through the application of scientific knowledge.

In presenting this analysis, Comte felt that he had uncovered several laws of social statics because he believed that differentiation, centralization of power, and development of a common morality were fundamentally related to the maintenance of the social order. Although he did not carry his analysis far, he presented both Herbert Spencer and Durkheim with one of the basic theoretical questions in sociology and the broad contours of the answer.

The basic cultural and structural features of these stages can be summarized in a tabular form as shown below:

COMTE’S LAW OF THREE STAGES

The above referred Table ignores many details that have little relevance to theory, but the table communicates, in a rough fashion, Comte’s view of the laws of succession. Several points should be noted:

First, each stage sets the conditions for the next. For example, without efforts to explain references to the supernatural, subsequent efforts at more refined explanations would not have been possible; or without kinship systems, subsequent political, legal, and military development would not have occurred, and the modern division of labor would not have been possible.

Second, the course of Integration through, mutual interdependence, centralization of authority, and  common culture.

The Social differentiation Increased potential for social pathology problems of integration, coordination, and control

Comte saw all idea systems as passing through the theological and metaphysical stages and then moving into the final, positivistic, stage. Ideas about all phenomena must pass through these phases, with each stage setting the conditions for the next and with considerable intellectual turmoil occurring during the transition from one stage to the next. Ideas about various phenomena, however, do not pass through these stages at the same rate, and, in fact, a positivistic stage in thought about one realm of the universe must often be reached before ideas about other realms can progress to the positivistic stage. The opening pages of Positive Philosophy emphasize, we must bear in mind that the different kinds of our knowledge have passed through the three stages of progress at different rates, and have not therefore arrived at the same time. The rate of advance depends upon the nature of knowledge in question, so distinctly that, as we shall see hereafter, this consideration constitutes an accessory to the fundamental law of progress. Any kind of knowledge reaches the positive stage in proportion to its generality, simplicity, and independence of other departments.

Thus, thought about the physical universe reaches the positive stage before conceptions of the organic world do because the inorganic world is simpler and organic phenomena are built from inorganic phenomena.

Comte’s “Law of the Three Stages evolution is additive.

They are first supplemented with new ideas and structural arrangements  which are added to, and build on, the old, and

Secondly  dominated, by new social and cultural arrangements.

Third, during the transition from one stage to the next, elements of the preceding stage conflict with elements of the emerging stage, creating a period of anarchy and turmoil.

Fourth, the metaphysical stage is a transitional stage, operating as a bridge between theological speculation and positivistic philosophy.

Fifth, the nature of cultural ideas determines the nature of social structural (temporal) arrangements  and circumscribe what social arrangements are possible.

And sixth, with the advent of the positivistic stage, true understanding of how society operates is possible, allowing the manipulation of society in accordance with the laws of statics and dynamics.

Although societies must eventually pass through these three stages, they do so at different rates. Probably the most important of the variable empirical conditions influencing the rate of societal succession is population size and density, an idea taken from Montesquieu and later refined by Durkheim. Thus, Comte felt that he had discovered the basic law of social dynamics in his analysis of the three stages, and coupled with the laws of statics, a positivistic science of society—that is, social physics or sociology—would allow for the reorganization of the tumultuous, transitional, and conflict dominated world of the early nineteenth century philosophy.

Several points in this law were given greater emphasis in Comte’s later work. It states that society as a whole, and each particular science, develops through these mentally conceived stages. in which idea systems, and their corresponding social structural arrangements, pass through these phases:

First, the social world reveals both cultural and structural dimensions, with the nature of culture or idea systems being dominant— an idea probably taken from Condorcet

Second, idea systems, and the corresponding structural arrangements that they produce, must reach their full development before the next stage of human evolution can occur. Thus, one stage of development creates the necessary conditions for the next.

Third, there is always a period of crisis and conflict as systems move from one stage to the next because elements of the previous stage conflict with the emerging elements of the next stage.

Fourth, movement is always a kind of oscillation, for society “does not, properly speaking, advance in a straight line.”

These aspects of the law of three stages convinced Comte that cultural

ideas about the world were subject to the dictates of this law. All ideas about the nature of the universe must move from a theological to a scientific, or positivistic, stage. Yet some ideas about different aspects of the universe move more rapidly through the three stages than others do. Indeed, only when all the other sciences—first astronomy, then physics, later chemistry, and finally physiology—

have successively reached the positive stage will the conditions necessary for social physics have been met. With the development of this last great science, it will become possible to reorganize society by scientific principles rather than by theological or metaphysical speculations.

According to Prof. N.S. Timasheff, “Comte’s law of the three stages in the meaning ascribed to it by its inventor is clearly invalid. “As he opines, “neither of the later approaches wholly supersedes the religious approach; rather, there has been accumulation and often admixture of the three.” He further writes, “Comte’s law of the three stages could not stand the test of facts known today.”

E.S. Bogardus comments, “Comte failed to postulate a fourth mode of thinking, namely, socialized thinking, or a system of thought which would emphasize. The purpose of building the constructive, just, and harmonious societies…” He adds, “Comte, however, should be credited with opening the way for rise of socialized thinking.”

It is evident that Comte’s Law of Three Stages has a strongly materialistic or idealistic bias. Comte has made it abundantly clear that the intellectual evolution is the most important aspect in human progress. Still, he was aware of the importance of factors such as increase in population, division of labor, etc. in determining the rate of social progress.

Dr. V.K. Maheshwari, Former Principal

K.L.D.A.V (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

So much confusion surrounds the term creativity that it is most difficult to discuss and use it. Ausubel believes that we should use it to refer to “rare and unique talent in a particular field of endeavor. Creative achievement—- reflects a rare capacity for developing insights, sensitivities, and appreciations in a circumscribed content area of intellectual or artistic activity. “Thus, the creative individual who embodies this capacity is, by definition, an uncommon individual who embodies this capacity is, by definition, an u n common individual, much rarer than the intelligent person.

Creativity is currently a very popular subject in educational and psychological circles

In instructional technology the nature of creativity is generally focused on three aspects;

1-Creative abilities

2-The learning and acquisition of these abilities

3-Their use in problem solving.

Creative abilities-

These abilities can be defined as the means the individual has for  expressing whatever creativity he possesses. These abilities are somewhat general and can be applied to a variety of tasks. They are not associated with particular subject matter or disciplines, these abilities together constitute creative thinking. The distinctive aspect of creative thinking is divergent thinking which is characterized, by, among other things, flexibility, originality, and fluency.

The learning and acquisition of these abilities-

The major educational concerns the possibility of developing whatever creative abilities the student may have. Before engaging in programs designed to produce the result, it is necessary to know whether instruction or training can increase creativity.

Creativity and problem solving-

Many authors discuss creativity as creative thinking or problem solving., they define creative thinking as the process of ‘sensing gaps or disturbing or missing elements; forming ideas or hypothesizes concerning them; testing these hypothesizes; and communicating the results. Possibly modifying and retesting the hypotheses’. Gagne also considers creativity to be a form of problem solving which involves intuitive leaps, or a combining of ideas from widely separated fields of knowledge.

Amazingly, sometimes, individuals emphasizes the emotional aspects of the experience_ sudden illumination, the heightened excitement, the esthetic appeal of an idea which  has suddenly taken shape and the accident of the experience_ the drinking of black coffee, and the bathing in a bath tub, as in the case of Archimedes or musing under the apple tree as in the case of Newton. What is not emphasized often enough are two factors: These insights which suddenly bridge seemingly unrelated bodies of knowledge can only occur in individuals who have acquired the prerequisite knowledge, and they are often the result of concentrated effort over long period of time. Creativity, at this level, is advanced problem solving. It is very doubtful that any teacher could deliberately foster such creativity.
Creativity and intelligence
Although certain degree of intelligent for creative thinking yet both are independent
abilities. Cognitive process involved in intelligence and creativity may be
somewhat different. The differences between intelligence and creativity are
summarized below: Convergent thinking is the basic of intelligencew
ereas divergent thinking is the basis of creativity. Hihly creative persons usually
possess intelligence to a high degree, but it is not always essential for an
intelligent person to be creative, because one may possess high intelligence
capacity without having creative abilities.The speed and accuracy of the
cognitive behavior are emphasized in intelligence testing, while in testing
creativity emphasis is given on flexibility, originality and innovation.

Creativity and Gender difference

No simple  conclusions can be drawn from the empirical evidence on gender differences in
creativity test scores; there are studies that report that girls and women score
higher than boys and men, and there are studies that report the opposite. The
former (that is, studies in which girls and women score higher) are more numerous, so
it would be hard to make a case for an overall male advantage. The case for a
female advantage is also less than conclusive, however, both because there are
many studies pointing in opposite directions and there are many that report no significant gender difference. Vernon  argued that although social-environmental
influences are certainly major causes of differences in the numbers of highly creative men and women in various fields, these factors are not sufficient explanation for the patterns of
achievement that have been observed. “It is entirely implausible that human society
should approve of females becoming highly talented performers of music, dance,
and drama, and even allowing them to become creative writers, while, at the
same time, disapproving of their becoming musical composers or painters. To me,
this is the crux of the argument for attributing sex differences in creativity at
least, in part, to genetic factors” .
Several theorists have tried to explain why there are so many more creatively accomplished men than women. Helson  argued that cultural values, social roles, and
sexist thinking are now recognized as key reasons for the comparative. lack of creative
accomplishment by women. In comparison to the situation just 30 years
ago, we now “realize that social roles have not been structured so that many
women would ever become high achievers. It is hard to feel a sense of mystery about
why there are more eminent men than women” . According to Helson , “differences between men and women in biology and early socialization experience are ‘exaggerated’ by culture” . Among the differences in early socialization experiences that culture exaggerates are differences in the ways parents perceive and interact with their daughters and sons.“Right from childhood, women are less likely to be picked as special by their parents” . These early differences are then intensified by cultural rules, roles, and
assumptions. Lack of differences between girls and boys, and between men and women, is the most common outcomefor the many studies.

Instruction for Creativity

Fostering creativity refers only to the development of the creative abilities. That is, the teacher can provide certain conditions which will increase the flexibility, fluency, and originality of the student’s solutions to various problems. This term does not refer to ways of for developing genuinely new knowledge and new discoveries.

Classify the kind of problems you present to your students;

Getzes distinguishes between presented problems and discovered problems. Presented problems are those which are given to the students. Discovered problems are those which exist and must be discovered by the student. Getzels also distinguishes between known and unknown methods of problem solving. Using this classification scheme, he believes that creative thinking begins with situations in which the problem is presented but the method of solution is unknown to the student. From here move to the situation in which both the problem and the method of solution are unknown to the student and all of humanity.. The less that is known in the problem situation the more the student creates.

Provide for the development and use of problem-solving skills;

The most popular technique is brain-storming which had its first flowering in the business world but has now made its way into the classroom-especially the college classroom. As used in the classroom, after the problem has been presented, the teacher requires the students to list as many solutions as they can think of. Any evaluation of these ideas is deferred until all the solutions are listed. The technique is a form of free association, except that it is often used with groups and it is the ideas rather than words that are freely associated. The usefulness of brain storming for problem solving can briefly be summarized as:

A-     Training in brainstorming increases creative problem solving.

B-     Brainstorming produces more problem solutions than  do methods which penalize bad ideas in some way

C-     C-More good ideas are produced with brainstorming than with conventional techniques.

D-     D- Extended effort to produce ideas (the latter part of the brainstorming sessions) leads to an increased number of ideas and proportions of good ideas;

E-      Students in creative problem-solving courses (which include brainstorming) obtain higher scores in Guilford’s tests of creative abilities than do students who have not had these courses.

Contrary evidence disputes some of these findings. Donald Taylor and his associates found that individuals who worked in groups using the brainstorming technique actually produced ideas which were consider inferior in quantity and quality to the ideas produced by individuals who worked alone.

Teaching certain basic research skills may be a second technique for fostering creativity. This technique is consistent with Torrance’s definition of creative thinking as forming and testing hypotheses.

Creative reading is another useful problem-solving skill. Torrance and Judson Harmon have provided some evidence that students can be taught to read creatively with the proper directions and the encouragement to use these directions.

Reward creative achievement

According to Edward de Bono “One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.

The teacher may not reinforce creative achievement because he fails to recognize it, despises the behavior which accompanies creativity in his students, or is overawed by any classroom manifestation of creativity. Torrance lists five ways in which the teacher can encourage and reward creative achievement. You, as the teacher, should

(1) Treat unusual questions which the children ask with respect;

(2) Treat unusual ideas and solutions with respect;

(3) Show children that their ideas have value;

4) Provide opportunities and give credit for and discover, without threat of immediate evaluation.

Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possiblility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting. Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing

“Educationists should build the capacities of the spirit of inquiry, creativity, entrepreneurial and moral leadership among students and become their role model.”
Abdul Kalam

Former President of India

“Good data are always separable, with respect to their scientific importance, from the purposes for which they were obtained.”

Murray Sidman (1960) .Tactics of Scientific Research

It has became widely  accepted that the  best way to resolve  issues  on which there  are  a large number of studies is to carry out a meta-analysis. The  1980s and  1990s witnessed a rapid  upsurge  of this  statistical  approach  (Anastasi  and  Urbina,  1997).

Although commonly viewed as a relatively modern  advancement, the basic elements of meta-analysis can  be traced back to R. A. Fisher, who developed an early  quantitative procedure for combining the probabilities  from multiple hypothesis tests.

A common problem in many laboratories is that multiple studies are conducted on the same hypothesis and some way of “combining” the studies is sought. Often each study provides weak evidence but there may appear to be some consistency in findings across studies. A way of capturing that consistency is desired.

An equally common problem is that hundreds of studies accumulate in a research area. Here too there are likely to be many weak studies and considerable inconsistency  in study outcomes. A precise method for combining the studies would be desirable. An additional problem is that the studies may be different in a variety of ways.

Modern methods of meta-analysis were developed to solve this second kind of problem. The meta-analytic “revolution” began in the late 1970s. The psychotherapy outcome analysis published by Smith and Glass (1977) brought the method to the attention of many psychologists, highlighting its potential advantages. Smith and Glass (1977) examined over 300 therapy outcome studies and concluded that, overall, therapy was quite effective, placing the average treated person better off than 80% of untreated people.

Meta-analysis is a quantitative statistical analysis of several separate but similar experiments or studies in order to test the pooled data for statistical significance

Meta-analysis attempts to apply to a collection of studies the same methodological rigor and statistical precision ordinarily found in primary research.

In a meta-analysis, the collection of studies test the same conceptual hypothesis, but may do so using a wide variety of methods, measures, sample, and settings.

The challenge that meta-analysis answers is to provide a way to combine the seemingly disparate studies to provide a convincing overall test of the hypothesis and to explore its moderators.

Meta-analysis should be viewed as an observational study of the evidence. The steps involved are similar to any other research undertaking:

v Formulation of the problem to be addressed,

v Collection and analysis of the data,

v Reporting of the results.

Researchers should write in advance a detailed research protocol that clearly states the objectives, the hypotheses to be tested, the subgroups of interest, and the proposed methods and criteria for identifying and selecting relevant studies and extracting and analysing information.

Meta-analysis summarizes  the  results  of many  quantitative  studies  that  have  investigated  the  same problem.  It  provides  a  numerical  way  of expressing  the  average  result  of a  group  of studies.  It delineates specific procedures for finding,  describing,  classifying,  and  coding research studies to be included in a meta-analysis review, and for measuring and analysis of findings.

A central characteristic that distinguishes meta-analysis from more traditional approaches  is  the  emphasis  placed  on making  the  review  as  inclusive  as  possible.  This technique was first proposed by Glass (1976) and by the  end of the  1980s  it had become accepted as a useful method for synthesizing the results of many different studies.

Glass  distinguished  between Other Forms of Analysis the  primary,  secondary,  and  meta-analysis  of research.

Primary analysis is the original analysis of data in a research study.  The analysis of data from a single study to test the hypotheses originally formulated.

Secondary analysis is re-analysis  of data  for  the  purposes  of answering  the  original  research  question  with better  statistical  techniques,  or  answering  new  questions  with  all  data.  The re-analysis of data from a single study to test new hypotheses or to apply more appropriate statistical procedures to test the original hypotheses.

Meta-analysis refers to the analysis  of analyses; the statistical  analysis  of a large  collection of analysis results from individual studies for the purposes of integrating the findings. The application of statistical procedures to examine tests of a common hypothesis from more than one study.  It connotes  a rigorous  alternative  to  the  casual,  narrative  discussion  of research studies  which typify our attempts to make sense of the rapidly expanding research literature.It  contributes  in the  creation  of new knowledge synthesized from  existing studies.  The literature  explosion  has  resulted  in  a  massive  amount  of  information  that  must  be analyzed  and summarized  in  order to  be  useful.  Quantitative  methods  of integration  of research results  have  been  used  for  many  years  and  have  received  a  great  amount  of attention (Abraham et al.,  1991).

Meta-analysis  usually  involves  three  major  phases;  the  three  “Ps”:  preparation, performance,  and  presentation.  This  sequence  is  the  same  as  for  any  other  type  of research.  The project must be planned in  advance,  then systematically  carried  out,  then followed by reporting of results (Abraham et al.,  1991).

Any statistical procedure or analytic approach can be misused  or  abused.  As Green and Hall (1984) aptly stated “Data analysis is an aid to thought, not a substitute”. Most of the criticisms  of quantitative  approaches  to  reviewing  the  literature  are  objections  to  the misuse or abuse, real or potential, of meta-analysis.

Meta-analysis  is a statistical  approach to  the  aggregation summarization of results from independent studies. It is systematic, thorough, objective, and quantitative. The essentials of this  technique  are  to  collect  all  the  studies  on  the  issue,  convert  the  results  to  a common metric and average them to give an overall result. Procedures employed in meta- analysis  permit  quantitative  reviews  and  syntheses  of research  literature  that  address these issues (Wolf,  1986).  An epidemiologist has described meta-analysis  as  “a boon for policy makers who find themselves faced with a mountain of conflicting studies” (Mann, 1990).

Any  meta-analyst  has  to  address  three  problems  that  have  been  identified  by  Sharpe (1997)  as  the  “Apples  and  Oranges”,  “File  Drawer”  and  “Garbage  in  -  Garbage  out” problems.

The  “Apples  and  Oranges”  problem  refers  to  the  idea  that  different  phenomena  are sometimes aggregated and averaged, where disaggregation may show different effects for different  phenomena.  The  best  way  of dealing  with  this  problem  is  to  carry  out meta- analyses,  in the first instance,  on narrowly  defined phenomena and populations  and then attempt  to  integrate  these  into  broader  categories.

The  “File Drawer”  problem means that studies  producing significant  effects tend to  be published,  while  those  producing  non-significant  effects  tend  not  to  be  published  and remain unknown in the file drawer.

The  “Garbage  in – Garbage  out” problem  concerns  poor  quality studies.  Meta-analyses that  include  many  poor  quality  studies  have  been  criticized  by  Feinstein  (1995)  as “statistical alchemy” which attempt to turn a lot of poor quality studies into  good quality gold.  Poor quality studies are liable to obscure relationships that exist and can be detected by good quality studies. Meta-analysts differ in the  extent to which they judge studies to be  of such  poor  quality  that  they  should  be  excluded  from  the  analysis.  Some  meta- analysts  are  “inclusionist” while  others  are  “exclusionist”,  in the terminology suggested by Kraemer, Gardner, Brooks and Yesavage (1998).  This meta-analysis is “inclusionist” in the sense that it included all the studies on the Progressive Matrices among school and university students that have been located if the strict inclusion criteria apply to them.

The  next  problem  in  the  meta-analysis  was  to  obtain  all  the  studies  of the  issue  in concern.  This is a difficult problem and one that it is rarely and probably never possible to  solve  completely.

Although, there is no set pattern of the procedure of meta- analysis, still the widely used pattern is given below-

Steps to Perform a Meta-Analysis

• Define the meta-analytic research question
• Locate the relevant literature
• Calculate effect sizes and code moderating variables
• Analyze the meta-analytic database
• Report and interpret the results

Step One -Define the Meta-Analytic Research Question

The purpose of this step is to determine what hypotheses your meta-analysis will test and to estimate the strength of an effect. At this stage we also determine moderators of an effect and determine what types of studies one will include in his analysis

The goals for this step are:

–       Hypotheses should have theoretical value

–       Should have specific inclusion criteria to make locating studies easier

–       Included studies should be appropriate for the hypotheses being tested

Step Two- Locate the relevant literature

The purpose of this step this step is to obtain the population of studies related to your research hypotheses and to modify the hypotheses and inclusion criteria of your analysis to better fit the literature .

• Goals for this step

–       Should find every study that has investigated the effect of interest

–       Make your hypotheses better address the questions that researchers have investigated in primary research

Step Three- Calculate effect sizes and code moderating variables

The purpose of this step is to determine what effects you will examine in each study, Compute a specific estimate of the size of each effect and to determine the value of your moderating variables for each effect

• Goals for this step

–       Accurately determine effect size estimates and moderator codes

–       Should try to have estimates for every effect

–       Typically have two different people calculate effect sizes and code moderators so you can estimate reliability

Step Four- Analyze the meta-analytic database

The purpose of this step is to perform descriptive analyses to determine the overall strength and consistency of the effect and perform moderator analyses to determine if study characteristics influence the effect size.

• Goal for this step

–       Analyses should be valid

–       Analyses should directly answer the research questions

Step Five- Report and interpret the results

The purpose of this step is to summarize the results of your analyses, relate your analyses to the research questions and draw conclusions based on your analyses

• Goals for this step

–       Verbally describe the implications of your analyses

–       Report any limitations you see regarding your analysis

• Violation of assumptions
• Power
• Representativeness

Suggest areas of future research

Merits of Meta-analysis:

• It increases power and leads to stronger conclusions because more studies can be analyzed with  statistical  methods  than the  impressionistic  literary  review.  Often this can bring effects into sharper focus, particularly when the results of all studies are not consistent (Higgins and Green, 2006).
• Meta-analysis does not prejudge or exclude some studies as unworthy because of their particular  research  designs,  however  weak.  By  empirically  examining  the 241 effects  of research  quality  on study  findings,  meta-analysis  is  likely to  be more objective than traditional literary reviews (Wolf,  1986).
• It  can answer questions not posed by the individual  studies (Higgins  and  Green, 2006).
• It can settle controversies arising from apparently conflicting studies (Higgins and Green, 2006).

Limitations of Meta-analysis

•  It  oversimplifies  the  results  of a  research  domain  by  focusing  on  the  overall effects  and downplaying mediating or interaction effects. The  better examples of meta-analyses  built  potential  mediating  factors  into  their  designs  rather  than ignoring them. They do this by coding the characteristics of studies to empirically examine whether such interactions  exist.  In practice, many meta-analyses  do  not provide sufficient attention to possible interaction effects (Wolf,  1986).

•  Meta-analysis  of poor quality studies may  be  seriously misleading (Higgins  and Green, 2006).

•  Decisions  regarding  inclusion  and  exclusion  criteria  of studies  are  inevitably subjective.  In some  cases  consensus  may  be  hard  to  reach (Higgins  and  Green, 2006).

•  Meta-analysis  in  the  presence  of serious  publication  and/or reporting  bias  may produce an inappropriate summary (Higgins and Green, 2006).

Meta Analysis refers to a research strategy where instead of conducting new research with participants, the researchers examine the results of several previous studies. This is done with the purpose of gaining greater confidence in the results because of the larger pool of participants, as long as steps are taken to avoid errors that may have existed in the original studies.

1. Item analysis is a process of rejection or exclusion of test items. New items are not included in place of rejected items.
2. The items included in the first format of the test should be in accordance to the norms previously determined in terms of difficulty level and discriminating power. If the suitable types of items have not been included in the test before starting the item analysis process, then it would be foolish to think about the presence or inclusion of those items in the test.
3. The number of items in the first format should be about one and a half times othe number specified for the final format.
4. While making of multiple type , an extra alternative should be included in the alternatives; that is, if four alternatives have been specified, then the first format should be comprised of five alternatives. With the help of item analysis , the most unsuitable alternative in the item can be rejected.
5. Adequate time should be given when the first format of a test is administered, so that students are able to solve all items, otherwise exhaustive data will not be available for the process of item analysis.

• By the judgment of competent people who rank the items in order of difficulty.
• By how quickly the items can be solved.
• By the number of examinees in the group who get the item right

Dr. V.K. Maheshwari Varsha Maheshwari
M.A, M.Ed, Ph.D             B. Tech
Roorkee, India                 Noida, India

There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing.”

- Swami Vivekananda

The evolution of Indian women’s education has been spread over centuries. Its history is as old as the history of India.

HISTORICAL RETROSPECT-

Women in ancient India before 200BC were very fortunate because they were treated on a par with men. The Vedic initiation and wearing of the sacred thread was for both girls and boys. Women were eligible to learn and recite the Vedas and other religious texts, just like the men perform sacrifices and yagnas, choose to remain unwed if they wished to pursue studies (in fact the Atharva Veda said that a maiden was not to marry until she had completed her students life) and above all they could choose their partners in life. Many women had attained knowledge in the Brahman, the Supreme Being and were called Brahmavadini. Similarly there were the Mantranids who specialized in the Mantras and Vedas (such as Kausalya, mother of Rama and many others like Atreyi) and the Panditas who were scholars (such as Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharata). Theology, religion, philosophy and teaching were some of the favourite subjects of study for women. Some Vedic hymns are supposed to have been written by women. According to Panini, the famous Sanskrit grammarian of later times, there were boarding houses in the Vedic times, for women students. There were poetesses too in that period showing how conducive the ambience for learning and being creative was, for women. All this was in the period prior to 200 BC.

. The great images of Brahmavadinis like Maitreyi andGargi of the Upanishad age, and women missionaries like Sanghamitra carryingBuddha’s message to Syria and Macedonia, all were laying buried deep due tomillennium of foreign domination. The mid-nineteenth century India sawwomen, the great mother – power shackled and degenerated to mere “childproducing machines” as Vivekananda saw it.In the period of degradation, when the priests made the other castes incompetent tostudy the Vedas, they deprived the women also of all their rights. You will find inthe Vedic and Upanishadic age Maitreyi, Gargi and other ladies of revered memoryhave taken the place of Rishis.In an assembly of a thousand Brahmanas who wereall erudite in the Vedas, Gargi boldly challenged Yajnavalkya in a discussion aboutBrahman

Between 200BC and 1200AD the damage in women’s position and therefore to their chances for getting educated, was becoming more and more evident, because the thinking relating to a women’s role was first changing, in ways which were adverse to women and their progress. They gradually began to lose the privileges for religious participations and for the education, and were treated like the sudras, of interior caste. A few girls in rich and aristocratic families did indeed study Sanskrit and Prakrit and household art, song of dance- it is said that there were poetesses in Prakrit and specialist in Vedanta and Sanskrit literature. Some women even started learning medicine. But these were the exceptions. For Manu’s code engulfed the thinking of the times, by which by a young girl, by a young women, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in own house. Already, early marriages become customary. Manu further said: Let the husband employ his wife in the collection and expenditure of his wealth, In keeping everything clean, in the fulfillment of religious duties in the preparation of food and in looking after the household utensils. Perhaps the luckiest girls, as far as opportunities for education went, were temple dancers and the prostitutes, who could “stoop” to learn anything with no objections from any quarter!

In the era of Buddhism and Jainism (Roughly 300 BC to 800 AD) which emerged largely as reaction to the dominance of Brahminic thinking and rituals of the Vedic times, there seemed to be a free air for women. They could become Bhikkunis or Monks, even though they were considered subordinate in status to the male monks or Bhikkus. During this period, marriage for girls was not a rigid must and the birth of a girl baby was as welcome as a boy’s. Widowhood was not frowned upon. These factors had a great influence on women taking to education. Women were highly regarded in Jain society and many of them took to religious education and become monks.

WOMEN EDUCATION DURING THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD –

The invasion of India by Mahmud of Ghazni from about AD 1000 to 1026 and the beginning of Muslim rule in India spelt disaster for the position of women. Even through prophet Mohammed had emphasized the importance of the education for men and women; there was a sharp decline in women’s education during this period. There were no separate schools for girls. A few Bengali Zamindari and Rajput women were however well educated by studying within the home. In this period which is referred to as the medieval period, AD (1200 to 1800) the kind of education imparted was quite different from what was earlier that is through master to the discipline, mostly oral, in the gurukula tradition of the Hindus. Muslim boys were taught through Madrasas and Maktabs attached to the Mosques. The purdah system operated of Muslim girls. A view seemed to be gaining ground amongst the Hindu that if girls were given education they would become widows. It is said that the decline of education among females in general was so sharp during the medieval period that by the beginning of the nineteenth century, only one of the hundred women could read and write. Amongst the Nayar community in the south of India, the literacy rate was much higher, but that was the case only in small pockets. There were also a few expectations of girls studying along with boys and of some outstanding scholars like Chandravati who crated a Bangals version of the Ramayana. Among the Muslim aristocratic families, such names as Sultana Razziya, in the thirteenth century, have become famous for their learning and erudition as well as for their attaining competence in horse riding and the use of arms in war. There were many others, reputedly well- read, who could manage affairs of the State. Among the royalty and the families of nobles, education of girls was held in high esteem such that they take part in matters of the States, outsides their private domain as wives and mothers. Some of the rules had established schools for the girls, such as enlighten Akber and the lesser known Sultans such as Jalaluddin and Gyasud-din- Khilji, Who opened a madrasa for women where arts and crafts were taught. One Hindu woman, whose statesmanship and courage come to light at this time, was Durgavati, who acted as Regent for her son and ruled Garha, with authority. But ultimately, as she realized that she was going to be beaten in war in 1564 she killed herself so as to die with honors. Girls in ruling families received military and administrative education and training.

However, education for girls from ordinary families did not have the environment in which to develop and flourish during the medieval period. The decline was so marked that in 1826 “hardly one woman in a hundred could read in Madras and Malwa, and in Madras Province, there were 1023 girls attending schools against 1,57,664 boys, and the number of girls receiving education was 0.5 per cent of the population of the presidency.

Women Education during British Period and Post Independence Period

In Wood’s Despatch,( 1833) much emphasis was given upon women education. The Despatch recommended that the education ladder would be incomplete without women education. It appreciated the work of enlightened Indians engaged in this sacred job The Despatch recommended that the government should always support education for women. The wood’s Despatch stated, “The importance of female education in India cannot be over rated; and we have observed with pleasure the evidence which is now afforded of an increased desire on the part of many of the natives of India to give a good education to their daughters. By this means a far greater proportional impulse is imparted to the educational and moral tone of the people than by the education of men”. The Despatch also encouraged the private enterprises to promote women education.The schools for girls were to be included among those to which grants-in-aid would be given.

Hunter Commission(1982) was pained at the pitiable condition of the women education of  the time. It gave out the following recommendations for overall development and expansion of the women education:

1. Arrangements of Public Funds.
2. Appointment of lady teachers.
3. Appointment of lady inspectresses.
4. Free education for women.
5. Different curriculum for girls.
6. Decent arrangement of hostels for girls.
7. Liberal Grant-in-aid for girl education.
8. Special arrangement for education of ‘Pardah’ observing ladies.
9. Arrangements for Secondary Education.

The Hartog committee(1929) observed that vast discrepancy exists between the education of boys and that of the girls. The condition of women education was deplorable. The committee recommended that—

i) The education of girls should be given as much importance as the education of boys and equal amount of money should be spent on both.

ii) In every province, experienced and educated ladies should be appointed to draw up plan for the expansion of women education.

iii) Representation should be given to ladies in all local and educational bodies.

iv) More primary school for girls should be established in rural areas and wherever possible girls should be made to study in boy‘s schools.

v) Arrangements for higher education for girls should be made in village and towns.

vi) Secondary school curriculum for girls should be different form that of boys Home science, Hygiene, Music etc. for girls should be included in curriculum.

vii) Girls should be encouraged to take higher vocational and technical courses.

viii) Women teachers should be encouraged and they should be given course Teacher training.

ix) Lady inspecting staff should be appointed in greater number to inspect girl‘s school particularly.

x) Education for girls at the primary level should be made compulsory

Regarding the women education, RADHAKRISHNAN COMMISSION 1948 suggested for providing the same facilities to the women colleges and universities as provided to men’s colleges and universities. The curriculum should also be prepared for them, considering them as both women and citizens.

On the importance of women education the commission observed, there cannot be an educated people without education of women. If general education had to be limited  to man or women then opportunity should be given to women, from them it would more surely be passed to the next generation, the commission further observed, it is time to realize that the finest family relations result from the association of a man and woman who have had much relations result from the association of a man and woman who have had much of their education in common but each of the whom has developed according to his or her own nature and not in imitation.  A woman should be a made familiar with the problems of home management and the skills developed in meeting these. They should be provided laboratory experience in a baby home and nursery school etc.  Special courses of study for women:  These are home economics, nursing teaching fine arts. Women students in general should be helped to see their normal place in a normal society both as citizens and as women and to prepare for it. College programmes should be so designed that it will be possible for them to do so. Standards for courtesy and social responsibility should be emphasized on the part of men in college.

NATIONAL POLICY OF EDUCATION 1986 recommended that

“4.2 Education will be used as an agent of basic change in the status of woman. In order to neutralize the accumulated distortions of the past, there will be a well-conceived edge in favour of women. The National Education System will play a positive, interventionist role in the empowerment of women. It will foster the development of new values through redesigned curricula, textbooks, the training and orientation of teachers, decision-makers and administrators, and the active involvement of educational institutions. This will be an act of faith and social engineering. Womens studies will be promoted as a part of various courses and educational institutions encouraged to take up active programmes to further womens development.

4.3 The removal of womens illiteracy and obstacles inhibiting their access to, and retention in, elementary education will receive overriding priority, through provision of special support services, setting of time targets, and effective monitoring. Major emphasis will be laid on women#s participation in vocational, technical and professional education at different levels. The policy of non-discrimination will be pursued vigorously to eliminate sex stereo-typing in vocational and professional courses and to promote women’s participation in non-traditional occupations, as well as in existing and emergent technologies.”

THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA AND WOMEN EDUCATION –

The constitution of India, adopted in 1950, with its many measures for social reforms, contained several provisions by which there was guarantee of equality before the law as well as clauses for equality of opportunity to all in many spheres such as the matters relating to employment. Above all there is an affirmative action clause in the constitution, which states that nothing shall prevent the state from making any special provision for women and children [article15(3)]. Many laws have been passed to improved women’s position in pursuance of the constitution ideals. While the de jure position is enviable the de facto position of women is at variance with it in the educational, social, economic and political field where they are under- represented or invisible .the constitution also included the achievement of free and compulsory universal primary  education as  directive  principal within ten years.

Women Education during British Period and Post Independence Period

In Wood’s Despatch,( 1833) much emphasis was given upon women education. The Despatch recommended that the education ladder would be incomplete without women education. It appreciated the work of enlightened Indians engaged in this sacred job The Despatch recommended that the government should always support education for women. The wood’s Despatch stated, “The importance of female education in India cannot be over rated; and we have observed with pleasure the evidence which is now afforded of an increased desire on the part of many of the natives of India to give a good education to their daughters. By this means a far greater proportional impulse is imparted to the educational and moral tone of the people than by the education of men”. The Despatch also encouraged the private enterprises to promote women education.The schools for girls were to be included among those to which grants-in-aid would be given.

Hunter Commission(1982) was pained at the pitiable condition of the women education of  the time. It gave out the following recommendations for overall development and expansion of the women education:

1. Arrangements of Public Funds.
2. Appointment of lady teachers.
3. Appointment of lady inspectresses.
4. Free education for women.
5. Different curriculum for girls.
6. Decent arrangement of hostels for girls.
7. Liberal Grant-in-aid for girl education.
8. Special arrangement for education of ‘Pardah’ observing ladies.
9. Arrangements for Secondary Education.

The Hartog committee(1929) observed that vast discrepancy exists between the education of boys and that of the girls. The condition of women education was deplorable. The committee recommended that—

i) The education of girls should be given as much importance as the education of boys and equal amount of money should be spent on both.

ii) In every province, experienced and educated ladies should be appointed to draw up plan for the expansion of women education.

iii) Representation should be given to ladies in all local and educational bodies.

iv) More primary school for girls should be established in rural areas and wherever possible girls should be made to study in boy‘s schools.

v) Arrangements for higher education for girls should be made in village and towns.

vi) Secondary school curriculum for girls should be different form that of boys Home science, Hygiene, Music etc. for girls should be included in curriculum.

vii) Girls should be encouraged to take higher vocational and technical courses.

viii) Women teachers should be encouraged and they should be given course Teacher training.

ix) Lady inspecting staff should be appointed in greater number to inspect girl‘s school particularly.

x) Education for girls at the primary level should be made compulsory

Regarding the women education, RADHAKRISHNAN COMMISSION 1948 suggested for providing the same facilities to the women colleges and universities as provided to men’s colleges and universities. The curriculum should also be prepared for them, considering them as both women and citizens.

On the importance of women education the commission observed, there cannot be an educated people without education of women. If general education had to be limited  to man or women then opportunity should be given to women, from them it would more surely be passed to the next generation, the commission further observed, it is time to realize that the finest family relations result from the association of a man and woman who have had much relations result from the association of a man and woman who have had much of their education in common but each of the whom has developed according to his or her own nature and not in imitation.  A woman should be a made familiar with the problems of home management and the skills developed in meeting these. They should be provided laboratory experience in a baby home and nursery school etc.  Special courses of study for women:  These are home economics, nursing teaching fine arts. Women students in general should be helped to see their normal place in a normal society both as citizens and as women and to prepare for it. College programmes should be so designed that it will be possible for them to do so. Standards for courtesy and social responsibility should be emphasized on the part of men in college.

NATIONAL POLICY OF EDUCATION 1986 recommended that

“4.2 Education will be used as an agent of basic change in the status of woman. In order to neutralize the accumulated distortions of the past, there will be a well-conceived edge in favour of women. The National Education System will play a positive, interventionist role in the empowerment of women. It will foster the development of new values through redesigned curricula, textbooks, the training and orientation of teachers, decision-makers and administrators, and the active involvement of educational institutions. This will be an act of faith and social engineering. Womens studies will be promoted as a part of various courses and educational institutions encouraged to take up active programmes to further womens development.

4.3 The removal of womens illiteracy and obstacles inhibiting their access to, and retention in, elementary education will receive overriding priority, through provision of special support services, setting of time targets, and effective monitoring. Major emphasis will be laid on women#s participation in vocational, technical and professional education at different levels. The policy of non-discrimination will be pursued vigorously to eliminate sex stereo-typing in vocational and professional courses and to promote women’s participation in non-traditional occupations, as well as in existing and emergent technologies.”

Present Scenario

Indian women has a glorified  past for their great achievements as leaders in various walks of life.  Swami Vivekananda  proudly states that “Women in statesmanship, managing territories, governing countries, even making war, have proved themselves equal to men, if not superior. In India I have no doubt of that. Whenever they have had the opportunity, they have proved that they have as much ability as men, with this advantage – that they seldom degenerate. They keep to the moral standard, which is innate in their nature. And thus as governors and rulers of their state, they prove-at least in India far superior to men.

It is unfortunate that  throughout, we find that women’s education cannot be viewed is an isolated way for intricately intertwined with the perception of their role, by women and by men separately and by society, that is, men and women put together.

.It is very difficult to understand why in this country so much difference is made between men and women, whereas the Vedanta declares that one and the same conscious self is present in all beings. One always criticize the women, but what have been done for their enlistment  What is the cause of such degradation of Indian women “The principal reason why our race has so degenerated is that we had no respect for these living images of Shakti. Manu says,” Where women are respected, there the Gods delight, and where they are not, there all work and efforts come to naught.’’ There is no hope of rise for that family or country where they live in

India’s downfall was largely due to her negligence of women So when we talk of women’s education, invariably we have to allude to their position in society and how conducive the atmosphere is and has been, for them to take to formal education. The policies relating to women’s education have necessarily to take into account social, economic and other aspects, which question does not assume importance when we think of education for males.

The benefits of education to women are manifold as it Increase in self-esteem and self-image by recognizing the difference they make in their contribution to the economy, society and polity, ensuring equal participation with men in development processes and enhancing access to legal literacy and information relating to their rights and entitlements in society. In addition, the close connection between women’s literacy awareness and education and women’s health and reproductive role and behavior (and its effect on the rate of population growth) has been observed in studies all over the world.

Among the many factors women’s access to education and causing the gender gap, the most pervasive one may be is extreme poverty, . While this is so for males also, it is much more so for girls who have to mind the home and younger children. Added to this, may be  the cultural and social barriers such as seclusion of women, parental indifference to educating their girls and perceiving education (as taught in institutions), to be of no relevance to the situation of girls Family and community influences have been vital in keeping girls away from or sending them to schoolAge at marriage is a significant factor influencing the decision to go in for education. . These attitudes create a restrictive environment for girl’s schooling and promote a poor self-image among girls, particularly the adolescent ones. Among the girls that lag behind, rural, Scheduled Cast (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) girls are worse off. Then there are the physical barriers of having to walk some distance to school, the logistics of combining schooling with having to find time to fetch water and fuel for the family, lack of suitable school timings and flexible hours, a common feeling that it is insecure and unsafe for girls to reach school and get back (particularly adolescent girls) lack of women teachers or schools exclusively for girls; and a lack of privacy and enough number of toilets especially in co-educational schools.

Education has been unanimously endorsed as a fundamental right and is essential for men and women for education plays a crucial role in society’s progress, through promotion of individual development and well being. It would be a national waste if able-bodied adults are not put to full use for the advancement of the country-for that purpose, they have to have the opportunity to educate and train themselves appropriately for the jobs that have to be handled. Yet, women have been outside the mainstream of education for long time because education is and has been perceived as not needed for them, for they are not expected to contribute to the house hold finances or the countries economic development- and of course, they are not expected to take decisions in any domain and, therefore, the question of social and political development for them does not even arise. The view in the past and even in the minds of some guardians (especially among mothers who have not had formal education) has been that no formal education is needed for running a home harmoniously. Commonsense and the qualities of nurturance and conformity would do. Perhaps it is because of these reasons that many people feel that female deprivation is both its own cause and consequence.

,But the real truth is that women should be put in positions of power to solve their own problems in their own way. The welfare of the world is dependent on the improvement of the condition of the women. ­­The idea of perfect womanhood is perfect independence.

A test consisting of factual questions requiring extremely short answers that can be quickly

and unambiguously scored by anyone with an answer key, thus minimizing subjective judgments by both theperson taking the test

and the person scoring it.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

The objective test otherwise regarded as the new type of test derives its name from the fact that the marking is done with a standard key. This key concept is that the students are provided with a problem to which a limited numbers of choices are presented for them to select the wanted answer.

Objective tests are those test items that are set in such a way that one and only one correct answer is available to a given item.  In this case every scorer would arrive at the same score for each item for each examination even on repeated scoring occasions. It is so much structured that even where the student is to supply the answers, he is strictly limited to give specific and short answers. But students are given the opportunity to react to a large sample of questions which may cover the entire content area.

This type of items sometimes calls on examinees to recall and write down or to supply a word or phrase as an answer (free – response type).  It could also require the  examinees  to  recognize  and select from  a given set of  possible answers or options the one that is correct or most correct (fixed-response type). This implies that the objective test consist sof items measuring specific  skills  with  specific  correct  response  to  each  of  the  items irrespective of the scorer’s personal opinion, bias, mood or health at the time of scoring.

When to use objective test

• It is used when highly structured task are needed to limit the type of response the examinees can make and to obtain correct answers from learners by demonstrating the specific knowledge or skill called for in the item.

• It is used to appraise more effectively the achievement of any of the educational objectives of simple learning outcomes as well as the complex outcomes in the knowledge, understanding, and application and even in higher levels covering large content areas if skilfully constructed.  It is possible to set as many as 120 objective tests spread  over  many  lesson  units  and  several  cognitive  levels  of educational objective for one hour or two hours.

• It is used when objective, quick, easy and accurate scoring is desired especially when the number of examinees is large.

• It is used  to  measure  understanding,  thinking  skills  and  other complex learning outcomes of the learners.

• It can also be used for diagnosis of learning deficiency and the result used for remediation process.

Suggestions for Constructing the Objective Test Items

The writing a good test item is  an art that requires  some  skill,  time,  perseverance,  and creativity.  The  following  are  some  general  guidelines  for  the  construction of any type of objective test item.

• The wording of the item should be clear and as explicit as possible.

• Avoid setting interrelated items

• Items should be designed to test important and not trivial facts or knowledge.

• Write an item  to  elicit  discriminately  the  extent  of  examinees possession of only the desired behaviour as stipulated in the course instructional objectives answers.

• Ensure that there is one and only one correct or best answer to each item.

• Avoid unintentionally giving away the  answer through  providing irrelevant clues.

• Use language appropriate to the level of the examinees.

• Items in an achievement test should be constructed to elicit specific course content and not measure general intelligence.

• Have an independent reviewer to vet your test items.

Types of Objective test

The Objective test type items are of two types-

(A)          Supply Test Items

(B)          Selection Test Items

Supply Test Items can be further divided into two forms-

1.            Short Answer

2. Completion Answers

Selection Test Items can also be further divided into-

1.            Arrangement

2.            True- False

3.            Matching

4.            Multiple Choice

Supply Test Items

This is the type of test item, which requires the student to give very brief answers to the questions. These answers may be a word, a phrase, a number, a symbol or symbols etc. in order to write effective supply test items, you should make use of these tips; construct the questions so as to be as brief as possible. The questions should be carefully worded so as to require an exact answer. Make sure that the questions have only one answer each.

Supply test items can be in the form of The free response  type namely short-answer item and the completion item

The student is given a statement that requires him to fill in the blank(s), either in the statement itself, or at the end of it. As short answer implies, the expected response is usually a word o r phrase. This format is common in curriculum-based tests

The free response type of objective test tends to represent a compromise between the essay and the objective items.  The  free  response  type namely short-answer item and the completion item both are supply-type test items consisting of direct questions which require a short answer (short-answer type) or an incomplete statement or question to which a response must be supplied by an examinees (completion type).  The answers to such questions could be a word, phrase, number or symbol. It is easy to develop and if well developed, the answers are definite and specific and can be scored quickly and accurately.

Selection Test Items

This is the type where possible alternatives are provided for the student to choose the most appropriate or the correct option.

Relative Merits of Selection-Type Items and Supply-Type Items

An example of Supply type  question in the class is:

a. short-answer  test items:  which  requires  that  the  student should provide a short answer to the question asked.

Example

* What  is  the  technical  drawing instrument  used  for  measuring angles?

*   Who was the first President of free India ?

b. Completion test items:

Which require the examinee to provide  or complete one or more missing words in a sentence. Examples

* A  triangle  with  all  sides  and  all  angles  equal  is  called ……………..

*The name of the first President of free India was————-

Uses of the free – response type –

• It  is  suitable  for  measuring  a  wide  variety  of  relatively  simple learning  outcomes  such  as  recall  of  memorized  information  and problem solving outcomes measured in mathematics and sciences.

• It can be used to measure the ability to interprete diagrams, charts, graphs and pictorial data.

• It is used when it is most effective for measuring a specific learning outcome such as computational learning outcomes in mathematics and sciences.

Advantages

. The  free  – response type is  very adaptable  for item construction in mathematics,  physical  sciences  and  other  areas  where  questions  are computational problems requiring examinees to supply the solutions.

• It  measures  simple  learning  outcomes,  which  makes  it  easier  to construct.

• It  minimizes  guessing  because  the  examinees  must  supply  the answer by either think and recall the information requested or make the  necessary  computations  to solve  the  problem presented.  It is unlike the selection item where partial knowledge might enable the examinee to choose the correct answer.

Disadvantages

• It is not suitable for measuring complex learning outcomes.  It tends to measure only factual knowledge and not the ability to apply such knowledge and it encourages memorization if excessively used.

• It cannot be scored by a machine because the test item can, if not properly worded, elicit more than one correct answer.  Hence the scorer  must  make  decision  about  the  corrections  of  various responses. For example, a question such as “Where was M.K.Gandhi  born   Could be answered by name of the town, state, country or even continent.  Apart from the multiple correct answers to this question, there is also the possibility of spelling mistakes associated with free-response questions that the scorer has to contend with.

Types of items in Selection Test

This is the type where possible alternatives are provided for the student to choose the most appropriate or the correct option.

The Alternative response test item

This venerable format presents a statement, and the student must mark whether it is correct or not. It may take the form of true/false, yes/no, agree/disagree, or others, there are only two options.

The alternative response test item commonly called the true-false test item because the true-false option is commonly used consists of item with declarative statement to which the examinee is asked to give either of two options concerning the item.  The two options could be true or false, right or wrong, correct or incorrect, yes or no, fact or opinion, agree or disagree and so on.

Most times the alternative response item includes opinion statement and the examinee is also required to response to them as merely true or false. The opinion item is not desirable from the standpoint of testing, teaching and learning.  If opinion statement is to be used, it has to be attributed to some source thereby making it possible to assign the option of true or false to the statement based on knowledge concerning the belief held by an individual or the values supported by an organization or institution.

An example of alternative response item is as follows:

Read the following statement if the statement is true circle the T if it is false circle the F.

Solar Energy is the energy radiated from the sun.— T.    F

The correct answer to the example above is true and is always true.

Uses of alternative response test item

• It is commonly used to measure the ability to identify the correctness of statements of fact, definitions of terms, statements of principles and other relatively simple learning outcomes to which a declarative statement  might  be  used  with  any  of  the  several  methods  of responding.

• It is also used to measure examinee ability to distinguish fact from opinion; superstition from scientific belief.

• It is used to measure the ability to recognize cause – and – effect relationships.

• It is best used in situations in which there are only two possible alternatives such as right or wrong, more or less, and so on.

Advantages

• It is easy to construct alternative response item but the validity and reliability of such item depend on the skill of the item constructor.To  construct  unambiguous  alternative  response  item,  which measures significant learning outcomes, requires much skill.

• A large number of alternative response items covering a wide area of sampled  course  material  can be  obtained  and  the  examinees  can respond to them in a short period of time.

Disadvantages

             It requires course material that can be phrased so that the statement is true  or  false  without  qualification  or  exception  as  in  the  Social Sciences.

             It is limited to learning outcomes in the knowledge area except for distinguishing between facts and opinion or identifying cause – and – effect relationships.

             It is susceptible to guessing with a fifty-fifty chance of the examinee selecting the correct answer on chance alone. The chance selection of correct answer has the following effects.

             It reduces the reliability of each item thereby making it necessary  to  include  many  items in  order  to  obtain  a reliable measure of achievement.

             The  diagnostic  value  of  answers  to  guess  test items  is practically nil because analysis based on such response is meaningless.

             The validity of examinees response is also questionable because of response set.

             Response set is a consistent tendency to follow a  certain pattern in responding to test items.  For instance some examinees will consistently mark “true” those items they do not know while others will consistently mark them “false. Any given test will therefore favour one response set over another thereby introducing an element into the test score that is irrelevant to the purpose of the test.

The Multiple Choice Items

The multiple choice (MC) format is the most commonly used format in formal testing. It typically consists of a stem and three or more distractors, but can vary widely. The matching format can be thought of as an MC format, where several items share the same group of options. Multiple choice is popular for several reasons:

1.            No subjective evaluation is required in scoring (the answer is either right or wrong, best or not best, not half-right or partly wrong).

2.            It lends itself to detailed analysis of responses, in which even incorrect answers can provide information on the student’s skills.

3.            It lends itself well to computer scoring.

The multiple choices item consists of two parts – a problem and a list of suggested solutions. The problem generally referred to as the stem may be  stated as a direct question  or an incomplete  statement while  the suggested solutions generally referred to as the alternatives, choices or options  may  include  words,  numbers,  symbols  or  phrases.   In  its standard form, one of the options of the multiple choice item is the correct or best answer and the others are intended to mislead, foil, or distract  examinees  from  the  correct  option  and  are  therefore  called distracters, foils  or decoys. These incorrect alternatives receive the name from their intended function – to distract the examinees that are in doubt about the correct answer.  An example of multiple-choice item is given below.

The art of growing short plants is known as;

(a)Ikebana

(b)Topiary

(c)Bonsai

(d)Pruning

The best-answer form of Multiple Choice Item is usually more difficult than the correct answer form.  This is because such items are used to measure more complex learning outcomes.  It is especially useful for measuring learning outcomes that require the understanding, application or interpretation of factual information.

Suggestions for construction of a Good Multiple Choice Item

There are some specific guidelines to follow when writing or evaluating MC items. Some relate to the stem, some to the options.

1.            The stem should clearly state the problem. A good stem is often clear enough that a competent student can answer the item correctly without seeing any of the options.

2.            The stem should contain as much as the item as possible, but no more. There is no point in redundantly repeating something in each option that can be stated in the stem. On the other hand, the stem should not wordy nor contain irrelevant information, known as window dressing. One exception would be a problem presented that requires the student to determine which facts presented are necessary to solve the problem.

3.            The stem should, in most cases, be worded positively and in the active voice. When negatives do need to be used, they must be accentuated in boldface or ALLCAPS.

4.            Use “story problems” – literally or figuratively – to present scenarios that require comprehension and analysis, not merely recall of the concept.

5.            Always keep in mind that the primary goal in writing the response options in MC is to make it difficult for an uninformed person who is skilled at testing to figure out the correct answer. Knowledge of the construct being evaluated ideally plays the only factor in correctly answering an MC or any other item format.

6.            Three or four options are best. It is difficult to write more than two or three plausible distracters.

7.            All options should be parallel in structure and similar in length. The item is more readable, and there will be no obvious clues as to which options may be correct or are obviously incorrect.

8.            Options must be grammatically consistent with the stem in order to prevent elimination of distracters.

9.            All options must be plausible. If someone skilled, or at least comfortable, in a testing environment, were to take a test on a subject of which he knew nothing, he should not be able to dismiss options that seem to be implausible.

10.         Distracters should reflect typical student errors, which makes them more plausible and more valuable in analyzing student performance.

11.         The option, “All of the above”, is confusing and should generally be avoided. The option, “None of the above”, should only be used when there is one absolutely correct answer, as in spelling or math.

12.         Options should avoid clang associations, in which the correct answer contains a word or phrase from the stem that the distracters lack.

13.         Options should be placed in a logical order, such as numerical, alphabetical, or response length. On the other hand, placement of the correct response should be random. Any discernable pattern of correct answers can invalidate a test.

14.         Options should not overlap each other; one option should not be a partial version of another.

Uses of the multiple-choice item

• The multiple-choice item is the most widely used of the types of test available.  It can be used to measure a variety of learning outcomes from simple to complex.

• It  is adaptable  to  any  subject  matter  content  and  educational objective at the knowledge and understanding levels.

• It  can  be  used  to  measure  knowledge  outcomes  concerned  with vocabulary, facts, principles, method and procedures and also aspects of  understanding  relating  to  the  application  and  interpretation  of facts, principles and methods.

• Most commercially developed  and  standardized  achievement  and aptitude tests make use of multiple-choice items.

Advantages

• The main advantage of multiple-choice test is its wide applicability in the measurement of various phases of achievement.

• It is the desirable of all the test formats being free of many of the disadvantages of other forms of objective items.  For instance, it present a more well-defined problem than the short-answer item, avoids the need for homogenous material necessary for the matching item, reduces the clues and susceptibility to guessing characteristics of the true-false item and is relatively free from response sets.

• It is useful in diagnosis and it enables fine discrimination among the examinees on the basis of the amount of what is being measured possessed by them.

• It can be scored with a machine.

Disadvantages

• It measures problem-solving behaviour at the verbal level only.

• It is inappropriate for measuring learning outcomes requiring the ability  to  recall,  organize  or  present  ideas  because  it  requires selection of correct answer.

• It is very difficult and time consuming to construct.

• It requires more response time than any other type of objective item and may favour the test-wise examinees if not adequately and skilful  constructed.

Arrangement Type test items

In this case a number of concepts are presented for the testee to arrange them in a particular order.

Example: Arrange the following numbers in ascending order ofsize.

58, 75, 14, 69, 50, 35,  64 , 48 and 41.

* Arrange these in order of construction in building a house

Roof, foundation, floors, walls, floor finishes, painting, wiring.

The Matching Test Items

The matching test items usually consist of two parallel columns.  One column  contain  a  list  of  word,  number,  symbol  or  other  stimuli (premises) to be matched to a word, sentence, phrase or other possible answer  from  the  other  column  (responses)  lists.   The  examinee  is directed to match the responses to the appropriate premises.  Usually, the  two lists  have  some  sort of relationship. Although the basis  for matching  responses  to  premises  is  sometimes  self-evident  but  more often it must be explained in the directions.

The examinees task then is to identify the pairs of items that are to be associated  on  the  basis  indicated.   Sometimes  the  premises  and responses list is an imperfect match with more list in either of the two columns and the direction indicating what to be done.  For instance, the examinee may be required to use an item more than once or not at all, or once.   This  deliberate procedure is  used to prevent examinees  from matching the final pair of items on the basis of elimination.  An example of matching item is given below.

In this case two parallel columns or lists are involved. One list contains the questions or the premises, while the other list contains the responses. The responses which are usually more than  the  premises  are  to  be  matched  according  to  a  given instruction or directions. These two lists constitute the matching set. Examples: Given two lists A and B. match each from A to the correct  from B.

Match the items in Set A with those in Set B

Set A                                                        Set B

March- 8                                                World animal welfare day

December- 1                                         World Ozone day

August – 6                                             World disabled day

March – 15                                            Hiroshima day

October – 4                                          International women’s day

September -16                                      World  AIDS  day

Uses of  matching type items

• It  is  used  whenever  learning  outcomes  emphasize  the  ability  to identify the relationship between things and a sufficient number of homogenous premises and responses can be obtained.

• Essentially used to relate two things that have some logical basis for association.

• It  is  adequate  for  measuring  factual  knowledge  like  testing  the knowledge of terms, definitions, dates, events, references to maps and diagrams.

Recommendations for construction of the Matching type item

1.            There should be more options than items. This will reduce the effectiveness of elimination and guessing.

2.            Even better, the group of items should be designed to use some options more than once and some options not at all. This will nullify the process of elimination completely. If this is done, it must be explicitly stated in the directions. For example: “Answers may be used once, more than once, or not at all.”

3.            If options may be used more than once, the pool of options can be much smaller and less confusing. Some very effective item groups of ten or more may have only three options for the entire group. An example would be listing various geographic and political characteristics of North American countries and having Canada, the United States, and Mexico as the three options.

4.            Options must be homogenous. Do not mix crops with rivers or Roman numerals with geometric shapes. Note that item do not necessarily need to be homogenous, as long as the list of possible answers is. The idea is to prevent elimination based on test-taking skill.

5.            Items and options should be ordered alphabetically or in some other logical arrangement. As in multiple choice, correct answers should form no discernable pattern.

Advantages

• The major advantage of matching exercise is that one matching item consists of many problems. This compact form makes it possible to measure a large amount of related factual material in a relatively short time.

• It enables the sampling of larger content, which results in relatively higher content validity.

• The  guess  factor can be  controlled by  skillfully  constructing  the items such that the correct response for each premise must also serve as a plausible response for the other premises.

• The scoring is simple and objective and can be done by machine.

•             Cued answers. A competent test-taker can usually get one or more items correct “for free”, by using the process of elimination. A group of ten items with ten options often means that a student needs to know, at most, the answers to nine of the items.

•             Non-homogenous options. Many, many groups of matching items are practically worthless because they mix totally unrelated things together as options. In such cases, a skilled student can use the process of elimination to dramatically increase his score, and very little valid testing has taken place.

•             Excessively large groups of items or options. Since each item has the entire set of options as answer possibilities, a student may become overwhelmed with the amount of choices from which to select the correct answer.

Disadvantages

• It is restricted to the measurement of factual information based on rote  learning  because  the  material  tested  lend  themselves  to  the listing of a number of important and related concepts.

• Many  topics  are  unique  and  cannot  be  conveniently  grouped  in homogenous matching clusters and it is some times difficult to get homogenous materials clusters of premises and responses that can sufficiently match even for contents that are adaptable for clustering.

• It  requires  extreme  care  during  construction  in  order  to  avoid encouraging serial memorization rather than association and to avoid irrelevant clues to the correct answer.

•             It is easy to construct. Since options are used for more than one item, not nearly as much effort needs to be put into constructing each individual item.

•             It is compact in size. An individual item usually takes only a fraction of the space occupied by one     conventional MC item.

•             It is usually time efficient for the test taker. He only needs to analyze one set of options for multiple items, provided the matching group is competently designed.

•             It is very useful for working with groups of homogenous items, for example, matching states with their capitals.

Advantages of Objective Test

• Objective test enhances the assessment of learner’s response to test items because the scoring is not influenced by the scorer’s bias or  disposition  at  the  time  of  scoring  but  by  the  correctness  of  the answer.  By  overcoming  the  subjectivity  of  the  essay  test,  the reliability of the test as measuring instrument is enhanced.

• Scoring of objective test is easy and takes little time.  It is also scored by a machine and facilitates high efficiency in testing a large number of examinees.

• The result of objective test especially the multiple choice items can be used for diagnostic purposes since they provide clues for factual errors and misunderstanding that need remediation.

• It is adequate  for  sampling  the  subject  matter  and  instructional objectives of the course because the relatively large number of items set enhances effective coverage of the content areas on which the test is based.  The result provides a more valid and reliable ability of the examinees performance.

• It is efficient for measuring knowledge  of facts.   It can also be designed  to  measure  understanding,  thinking  skills  and  other complex outcomes.

• Objective test items can be pre-test, refined through item analysis, standardized and reused a number of times if properly handled.

• It is fair to all examinees since it does not call on other skills outside the skill it is intended to measure.  That is, its validity is not affected by good handwriting, bluffing or the verbiage.

Disadvantages of Objective Test

• It does not encourage the development of examinees originality in desirable skills such as the ability to select, organize or synthesize ideas and to present them correctly in a logical and coherent form. The complete structuring of task is not suitable for assessing learning abilities in this form.

• It tends to measure only factual knowledge. This disadvantage can be overcome  by  developing  items  for  the  objective  items  rigorously following the steps involved in item development process.

• Development of good objective test items requires training of test developers in the skills necessary for constructing effective, valid and reliable items.

• It needs time, commitment and adequate planning.

• Objective test items lend themselves to guessing especially when the test  items  are  not  skillfully  developed.   An  examinee  can  guess correctly on few items and earn some undeserved points even in a well-constructed  objective  test.   It  is  also  easier  to  cheat  in  an objective test than in essay test if the test is poorly administered.

Differences  between Essay type test and Objective type test

A-An essay test item requires the examinee to plan his own answer and to express it in his own words, while an objective test question requires him to choose distinguished alternatives.

B-An essay test consists of relatively few, more general questions which call for rather answers, while an objective test ordinarily consists of many rather specific questions requiring only brief answer.

C-Examinees spend of their time in thinking and writing when taking an essay test , while in objective test they spend most of their time in reading and thinking

.D- The quality of an essay test is determined largely by the skill of the reader of examinees answer , while the quality of an objective test is determined by the skill of the test constructor.

E- An essay test is relatively easy to prepare but relatively tedious to respond, while a good  objective test is relatively tedious and difficult to prepare but relatively easy to respond. F-An essay test affords much freedom for the examinee to express his individuality in the answer he gives and much freedom for the examiner to be guided by his individual preferences in scoring the answer, while an objective test affords much freedom for the test constructor to express his knowledge and value but gives the examinee only the freedom to show, by the proportion of correct answer he gives, how much or how little he knows and can do.

F-Essay type tests encourages bluffing, while an objective test occasionally encourages guessing.

G- The distribution of numerical scores obtained from an essay tst can be controlled to a considerable degree by the examiner, while an objective test is almost determined entirely by the test.

H- Essay type test are less reliable and covers less content, while an objective type test is highly reliable and covers comparatively more content.

Scoring Objective Test

Answers to true–false, multiple-choice, and other objective-item types can be marked directly on the test copy. But scoring is facilitated if the answers are indicated by position marking a separate answer sheet. For example, the examinee may be directed to indicate his choice of the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth alternative to a multiple-choice test item by blackening the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth position following the item number on his answer sheet.

Answers so marked can be scored by clerks with the aid of a stencil key on which the correct answer positions have been punched. To get the number of correct answers, the clerk simply counts the number of marks appearing through the holes on the stencil key. Or the answers can be scored, usually much more quickly and accurately, by electrical scoring machines. Some of these machines, which “count” correct answers by cumulating the current flowing through correctly placed pencil marks, require the examinee to use special graphite pencils; others, which use photoelectric cells to scan the answer sheet, require only marks black enough to contrast sharply with the lightly printed guide lines. High-speed photoelectric test scoring machines usually incorporate, or are connected to, electronic data processing and print-out equipment.

Objective test can be scored by various methods. Various techniques are used to speed up the scoring:

i. Manual Scoring

In this method of scoring the answer to test items are scored by direct comparison of the examinees answer with the marking key. If the answers are recorded on the test paper for instance, a scoring key can be made by marking the correct answers on a blank copy of the test . Scoring is then done by simply comparing the columns of answers on the master copy with the columns of answers on each examinee’s test paper. Alternatively, the correct answers are recorded on scripts of paper and this script key on which the column of answers are recorded are used as master for scoring the examinees test papers.

ii. Stencil Scoring

Here separate sheet of answer sheets are used by examinees for recording their answers, it’s most convenient to prepare and use a scoring stencil. A scoring stencil is prepared by pending holes on a blank answer sheet where the correct answers are supposed to appear. Scoring is then done by laying the stencil over each answer sheet and the number of answer checks appearing through the holes is counted. At the end of this scoring procedure, each test paper is scanned to eliminate possible errors due to examinees supplying more than one answer or an item having more than one correct answer.

iii. Machine Scoring

If the number of examinees is  large , a specially prepared answer sheets are used to answer the questions. The answers are normally shaded at the appropriate places assigned to the various items. These special answer sheets are then machine scored with computers and other possible scoring devices using certified answer key prepared for the test items.In scoring objective test, it is usually preferable to count each correct answer as one point. An examinee’s score is simply the number of items answered correctly.

Correction for guessing

One question that often arises is whether or not objective test scores should be corrected for guessing. Differences of opinion on this question are much greater and more easily observable than differences in the accuracy of the scores produced by the two methods of scoring. If well-motivated examinees take a test that is appropriate to their abilities, little blind guessing is likely to occur. There may be many considered guesses, if every answer given with less than complete certainty is called a guess. But the examinee’s success in guessing right after thoughtful consideration is usually a good measure of his achievement.

Since the meaning of most achievement test scores is relative, not absolute—the scores serve only to indicate how the achievement of a particular examinee compares with that of other examinees—the argument that scores uncorrected for guessing will be too high carries little weight. Indeed, one method of correcting for guessing results in scores higher than the uncorrected scores.

The logical objective of most guessing correction procedures is to eliminate the expected advantage of the examinee who guesses blindly in preference to omitting an item. This can be done by subtracting a fraction of the number of wrong answers from the number of right answers, using the formula S = R – W/(k – 1) where S is the score corrected for guessing, R is the number of right answers, W is the number of wrong answers, and k is the number of choices available to the examinee in each item. An alternative formula is S = R + O/kwhere O is the number of items omitted, and the other symbols have the same meaning as before. Both formulas rank any set of examinee answer sheets in exactly the same relative positions, although the second formula yields a higher score for the same answers than does the first.

Logical arguments for and against correction for guessing on objective tests are complex and elaborate. But both these arguments and the experimental data point to one general conclusion. In most circumstances a correction for guessing is not likely to yield scores that are appreciably more or less accurate than the uncorrected scores.

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say, ‘the children are now working as if I did not exist. “ ~Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori (1870 – 1952). Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to qualify as a physician. She developed an interest in the diseases of children and in the needs of those said to be ‘uneducable’ In the case of the latter she argued for the development of training for teachers along Froebelian lines (she also drew on Rousseau and Pestalozzi) and developed the principle that was also to inform her general educational programme: first the education of the senses, then the education of the intellect. Maria Montessori developed a teaching programme that enabled ‘defective’ children to read and write. She sought to teach skills not by having children repeatedly try it, but by developing exercises that prepare them. These exercises would then be repeated: Looking becomes reading; touching becomes writing.

Brief Biography

Born:  August 31, 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy.
Died:  May 6, 1952 in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

Early Adulthood:

An extraordinarily gifted person with the scholarly bent of a Madame Curie and the compassionate soul of a Mother Teresa, Maria Montessori was always ahead of her time.
She became Italy’s first female doctor when she graduated in 1896. Initially she took care of children’s bodies and their physical ailments and diseases. Then her natural intellectual curiosity led to an exploration of children’s minds and how they learn. She believed that environment was a major factor in child development.

Professional Life:

Appointed Professor of Anthropology at the University of Rome in 1904, Montessori represented Italy at two international women’s conferences: Berlin in 1896 and London in 1900. She amazed the world of education with her glass house classroom at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco in 1915. In 1922 she was appointed Inspector of Schools in Italy. She lost that position when she refused to have her young charges take the fascist oath as the dictator Mussolini required.

Travels to America:

Dr. Montessori visited the U.S. in 1913 and impressed Alexander Graham Bell who founded the Montessori Education Association in his Washington, D.C. home. Her American friends included Helen Keller and Thomas Edison. In 1915 she mounted an exhibit at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco. It featured a glass class room which allowed people to observe her teaching methods. She also conducted training sessions and addressed the NEA and the International Kindergarten Union.

Training Her Followers:

Dr. Montessori was a teacher of teachers. She wrote and lectured unceasingly. She opened a research institute in Spain in 1917 and conducted training courses in London in 1919. She founded training centres in the Netherlands in 1938 and taught her methodology in India in 1939. She established centres in The Netherlands (1938) and England (1947). An ardent pacifist, Dr. Montessori escaped harm during the turbulent ’20′s and ’30′s by advancing her educational mission in the face of hostilities.

Honours:

Dr. Montessori’s work garnered her Nobel Peace Prize nominations in 1949, 1950 and 1951.

Educational Philosophy:

Maria Montessori was profoundly influenced by Fredrich Froebel, the inventor of kindergarten, and by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who believed that children learned through activity. She also drew inspiration from, Seguin and Rousseau.

According to Montessori, the goal of education is “to be able to find activities that are so intrinsically meaningful that we want to throw ourselves into them” confirmed this assertion by noting that “when children find tasks that enable them to develop their naturally emerging capacities, they become interested in them and concentrate deeply on them.  They possess a serenity that seems to come from the knowledge that they have been able to develop something vital from within.”

Dr. Maria Montessori initially devised her teaching philosophy in 1896 while working with special needs children in the Psychiatric Department at the University of Rome.  Although her patients were diagnosed as mentally deficient and unable to learn, within two years of Montessori’s instruction, the children were able to successfully complete Italy’s standardized public school exams.

The Montessori Method was a radical philosophy at the time which contradicted and challenged many of the existing beliefs about ‘whole-class learning’ the acquisition of knowledge and the development of early human cognition.  Montessori believed that children were not a blank slate and that the traditional learning methods such as recitation, memorization and conditioning failed to develop necessary life skills and individual abilities.  She described traditional students as, “butterflies mounted on pins, each fastened to their place spreading the useless wings of barren and meaningless knowledge which they have acquired”.

Through her research and study in the field, Montessori observed that effective teaching styles required the establishment of a “sensory rich” environment that offered interactive yet independent learning opportunities.  In this “educational playground” children could choose from a variety of developmental activities that promoted learning by doing.  Montessori believed that it was necessary to train the senses before training the mind.

By using this “self-directed” individual learning approach, Montessori’s students were able to teach themselves through critical interaction in a ‘prepared environment’ containing interconnected tasks which gradually required higher levels of cognitive thought.  This method was designed to create a task-oriented student who is “intrinsically motivated to master challenging tasks”.

According to Montessori, from ages 2-6 children experience a “sensitive period” in which vital skills such as language acquisition, socialization and, kinesiology need to be identified and strategically applied and advanced.  Any deficiency in intellect, ethics or socialization later in life can be attributed to a lack of cognitive development during the “sensitive period”.

Terms & Concepts in Montessori Method

Theoretical Rationale of Montessori’s Theory of Development

While Montessori noted distinguishing characteristics associated with the child’s interests and abilities at each plane, In order to meets these needs, Montessori concentrated on certain concepts in her theory which would lead to development in that child. Some of the concepts are auto-education with didactic material, individualized education, the Montessori environment, independence and the prepared environment, non-graded grouping, education of the senses.

The first and most important concept of the theory is Individualized Education. Montessori believed that because it is the child’s potential for auto-education, we should be more concerned with the child than the method of teaching. In Montessori’s method of teaching the natural drive of the child to learn is freed. Every child is unique in terms of his learning capacity, rate, and interest. Child-centred education encourages children to express their individuality in learning. This learning system aims at providing each child with an opportunity to develop at its own pace in a spirit of cooperation and respect for themselves and others. The Montessori philosophy is based on the idea that children are markedly different from adults. Ms. Montessori advocated children’s rights and believed that if children were treated with more respect and understood more fully, the world that they helped create as adults would be an increasingly better place.

The concept of Montessori’s theory is Auto- Education with Didactic Material. According to Montessori, the child builds itself through experiences on the environment. On this notion, she developed a set of didactic materials which leads to sensory education, muscular coordination, and language development. These didactic materials have built-in “control of error” which gives the child concrete proof of whether its work is right or wrong, this also frees the teacher from being the person of reinforcement. Control of Error, is another concept of the Montessori theory. By being placed in direct contact with the materials of learning, the child is not being held to the pace or interests of the teacher (Montessori, 1964). The materials give the child to a chance to learn what it has an inner drive to learn and learn it at his own speed. They are also designed to allow a child, after the teacher prepares the learning environment, to work independently until, at his or her own pace, he or she acquires skills of ever-increasing complexity. Children should have much more say in what they learn. In fact, they are capable of self-directed learning.

The Montessori environment is another major concept of this theory. She believed within the classroom there she be movement and activity at many levels. The furniture is moveable, and the didactic materials are designed for manipulation. Children are free to move about the prepared environment. In this environment, the teachers are there to aid the child in becoming well coordinated through specific exercises and motor training within the classroom and outdoors. The teacher is also there to reduce the obstacles to the child’s orderly movement and not involve herself unnecessarily. The child needs freedom to collaborate with his environment and perfect his motor behaviour. In this environment the child is free to choose which exercise he wants to do first. The Montessori environment should be set up to prepare a child’s natural desire to learn. This is done by allowing each child to experience the excitement of learning by his or her own choice rather than by being forced into activity, and second, by helping him or her develop his natural tools for learning, with emphasis on freedom, learning how to learn, and development of self- confidence.

Another important concept of the Montessori theory is Independence and the Prepared Environment. The prepared environment makes freedom in the school practical, with emphasis on moving individuals working at their own task during uninterrupted blocks of time. The child furthers his or her independence with a sense of freedom. The child is free to choose his activity, work at his or her own pace, and talk with companions as long as he or she does not interfere with their work. Montessori noted that the child learns to work by him or herself in the prepared classroom environment, enjoying the presence of other children but not necessarily working directly with them.

Non-graded Grouping is another concept of the Montessori theory. Montessori believed classes should by group by age brackets rather than by grade. For example, the first group would consist of children ages 3-5 years. Within each group, a child advances at his own pace rather than that of his companion. This provides an environment where no child feels the penalty of being “slow” neither is any child forced to mark time if the he is able to advance. Non-graded grouping allows a child to work with older children in one subject, younger children in another, and still have social interaction with children his own age. Another benefit of non-graded grouping is the fact that learning is enhanced for the older children when they help someone younger and the younger children are stimulated by exposure to the work of the older children. The Montessori philosophy downplays the notions of performance evaluation with numbers or letters.

Another important concept considers the teacher as observer facilitates better ways for the child to direct his or her own learning by providing more material they are interested in. The development of the teacher-student dynamic in Montessori might be described as moving from “help me to help myself” to “help me to do it myself” and eventually “help me to think for myself.”
Children are susceptible to “sensitive periods” or what might be called “intellectual growth spurts.” Properly understood and used, these periods can provide great benefit to children if these bursts are not left ignored or lost in adherence to rigid curricula. (Some hold that lack of proper stimulation during these periods of heightened attention can contribute to Children ought to be masters of their environments; with as much control as (or more than) we assume adults have.

The concept of child

Montessori presented the idea that the human infant is born an incomplete person whose unique goal is to finish its own formation .This formation takes place from the period of birth until young adulthood, with young adulthood ending at age twenty-four. Montessori realized education must help children to construct their own brains, instead of being focused on showering knowledge into the child’s “ready-made” brain because the brain was not ready made. By visiting children in the city asylums, Montessori began to analyze how human beings develop their intelligence by learning through their five senses, the child’s goal of development as an individual is a “sensorial exploration” and particularly through the relationship between the hand and the brain. Montessori stated that nothing should be given to the brain that is not first given to the hand because the infant touches, tastes, smells, hears, and sees the concrete world.

Montessori noted that the child seems to have a capacity for taking in the whole of his environment just by existing within it. This capacity for consuming from the environment like a sponge soaking up moisture from its surroundings, leads to the first sub-division of the Period of Transformation, the Unconscious Absorbent Mind, which is age 0-3 years. During this period the mind is steadily taking in and accumulating impressions from the environment without knowing that it is doing so, which he will later use build up his conscious life . The second sub-division of this plane is the Conscious Absorbent Mind, which is age 3-6 years. In this stage, the child uses the impressions from his unconscious absorbent mind in order to classify and categorize things. The Sensitive Periods and the Absorbent Mind, come together to form the child’s personality. The period of being “sensorial explorers” is now over, and the need for focus on the individual is finished, Montessori called these beginning years the child’s first plane of development.

The Montessori Method assumes that children are born intelligent, they simply learn in different ways and progress at their own pace. Multiple intelligences are recognized and encouraged. Students move ahead as quickly as they are ready.

The school

Montessori created a paradigm in which the school fit the needs of the student rather than the student having to fit the needs of the school. Montessori schools are supportive schools where children don’t get lost in the crowd. Montessori schools promote respect for children as unique individuals. The child’s social and emotional development along with academic development is of great concern

Montessori schools set high expectations and challenges all students not just those considered “gifted”.  The students develop self-discipline and an integral sense of purpose and motivation.

Montessori schools normally promote diversity in their student body, creating an atmosphere of mutual respect and global perspective.  Students develop a love of the natural world-outdoor education is a very important part of the Montessori curriculum.

The classrooms are multi-age classes which span three grade levels-children develop close and long-term relationships with teachers and classmates.  The multi-grade classroom encourages a strong sense of community and teachers come to know each child’s learning style.

Classrooms are not teacher centred but child centred. This allows students to develop their leader-ship skills and independence. Students learn to care and contribute to others through their community service.

Students learn that mistakes are natural steps in the learning process. Families are important in these caring environments.

Maria Montessori’s notion of the Children’s House

The success of her method then caused her to ask questions of ‘normal’ education and the ways in which failed children. Maria Montessori had the chance to test her programme and ideas with the establishment of the first Casa die Bambini (Children’s house or household) in Rome in 1907. (This house had been built as part of a slum redevelopment). This house and those that followed were designed to provide a good environment for children to live and learn. An emphasis was placed on self-determination and self-realization. This entailed developing a concern for others and discipline and to do this children engaged in exercices de la vie pratique (exercise in daily living). These and other exercises were to function like a ladder – allowing the child to pick up the challenge and to judge their progress. ‘The essential thing is for the task to arouse such an interest that it engages the child’s whole personality’.

This connected with a further element in the Montessori programme – decentring the teacher. The teacher was the ‘keeper’ of the environment. While children got on with their activities the task was to observe and to intervene from the periphery. It is Maria Montessori’s notion of the Children’s House as a stimulating environment in which participants can learn to take responsibility that has a particular resonance.

Dr. V.K. Maheshwari, Rakhi Maheshwari

M.A, M.Ed, Ph.D                                               M.A, B.Ed

Roorkee, India                                                 Noida, India

“If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody’s personal concern!”

-Mahatma Gandhi

In politics today, both Indian and International, perhaps few other words of frequent use are as confusing, abused and misunderstood as Secularism. The West is believed to be the cradle of this concept. But, as we shall see soon, in the Western dictionaries secularism is described as something opposed to religion, as something which has nothing to do with God or with anything super-natural or transcendental.

Its origin can be traced to the western world view. It is, therefore, important to understand its philosophical base to fully appreciate its connotation, its importance and its limitations. The word secular is derived from the Latin word’ sacularis’ which meant, among other things, ‘that which belongs to this world, non-spiritual, temporal as opposed to spiritual or ecclesiastical thing’. It is a form applied in general to the separation of state politics or administration from religious matters, and ‘secular education.’ is a system of training from which religious teaching is definitely excluded.. Philosophically, the term reveals the influence of positivism and utilitarianism. ‘Positivism supplied a conception of knowledge affording a basis upon which it was held that religious considerations could be ruled out and utilitarianism lent itself to a non-religious explanation of the motives and ends of conduct’.

English dictionaries define “secularism” as the quality of “having no concern with religion or spiritual matters”. But they also describe it as “ a system which seeks to interpret and order life or principles taken solely from this world.” Therefore, secularism in the political sphere refers to the freedom of the state to deal with the affairs of the world without interference from any religious authorities. In other words, secularism is mainly interpreted in present day studies as “the neutrality of the state in regard to religion.” What is implied by this definition is that man’s political life has no relevance to his religious life. Therefore, religion is considered as being incapable of guiding human beings in their social relationships. The key idea in this context is that humans can live in the world or “pertain to the world” (secularis) by having total control over it. As such, secularism is a code of conduct and an attitude of mind which relates to this world in its material form.

The term secularism was coined in 1850 by G.J. Molyoake (an Owenite Socialist, an atheist and the last person to be imprisoned for blasphemy in Britain), who saw it a movement , which provided an alternative to theism.

Theoretical Rationale

By secularism, we generally mean the principle in which people belonging to one religion do not oppress people belonging to other religions. This concept has had different interpretations in the East and the West.

First we shall clarify the Western concept of secularism in terms of its original meaning

Concepts Related to ‘Western Secularism’

Since the concept ‘Secularism’ is a very confusing one, both in the West and in India, and it is used indiscriminately, Secular comes from the Latin word ‘saeculum’ which means age, era, century, this age, etc and indirectly means the world of change, samsar. According to the Random House Dictionary ‘secular’ is that which pertains “to worldly things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual or sacred”. The Encyclopedia Britannica gives a similar definition.

Another word derived from ‘secularism’ is ‘secularisation’ which means historical processes and movements which imply a change from religious and supernatural to natural and this-worldly purposes. The well-known historian, Professor K. N. Panikkar points out two aspects of secularization: “First, a struggle to develop a system of belief and social practice regulated by reason through a rationalist critique of religion and social mores. Second, an attempt to de-emphasize otherworldliness and to focus attention on the reality of material existence”

Dr. Upendra Baxi enumerates five varieties of secularism pointed out by Larry Shiner in 1967:

v Decline of religion (‘The previously accepted symbols, doctrines and institutions lose their prestige and influence’ the culmination of the process being the creation of a ‘religionless society’).

v Conformity with this-world (turning away from the supernatural).

v Disengagement of society from religion (where society, and state strive to constitute themselves as an ‘autonomous reality’ or ‘separation of religion and politics’ – in short, ‘differentiation’).

v Transposition of religious beliefs and institutions (knowledge, patterns of behaviour and institutional arrangement… once understood ‘as grounded in divine power are transformed into phenomena of purely human creation and responsibility’).

v Desacralisation of the world (culminating in the banishment of ‘sacred’ or ‘mysterious’ – culminating in perfectly rationally manipulable society)”.

In the light of these considerations one might say that ‘secular’ in the West meant in its origin, non-religious if not anti-religious realities this worldly rather than other-worldly, temporal rather than eternal.

In the West, secularism has always had a narrow connotation. It mainly meant that the state does not follow any religion. In other words, the separation of church and state has been the main emphasis by Western secularism: we can call this negative secularism.

Secularism in India

The Eastern concept was of a broad principle consisting of tolerance, love, peaceful coexistence, and harmony among people belonging to different religions and ideologies: it can be called positive secularism.

The situations and the circumstances from which ‘secularism’ took its origin in India are quite different from those of the West. Pluralism especially when there arose conflicts between religions. True, Religious Pluralism was a fact of life in India from time immemorial. In fact, some sort of minor religious conflicts arose in the context of Buddhism and Jainism. But emperors like Ashoka nipped it in the bud through various administrative measures. Even the Muslim rulers like Akbar and Hydar-ali saw to it that their rule would not lead to serious inter-religious conflicts.

If Rigveda teaches ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti (Truth is one but scholars speaks of it diversely) it may not have originated in the context of religious pluralism as we understand today. Thechatushkoti of Vedant (fourfold opposing affirmation of a thing) and theSaptabhanginaya of Jainism (the sevenfold opposing affirmations of a thing) based onanekantvada (many-sidedness of reality) seem to depend more on peculiar mind-sets of the people rather than religious pluralism as we understand today. It is this mind-set, which produced the well-known parable of the four congenitally blind people describing the nature of an elephant by touching its different limbs.

After independence Indian democracy willy-nilly followed the Gandhian and the Nehruvian concepts of secularism.

“Nehruvian dharma-nirapeksata and Gandhian sarva-dharma-samabhavre present the two most significant models of secular ideologies that were subsumed into the national consensus, where ‘they are frequently mistaken for or conflated with each other’ . There were others too, like Tagore with his deep humanism and Lohia with his committed socialism that by and large supported rather than undermined this consensus. Eventually the various tensions and contradictions between these diverse ‘secularism’ were also fused or rather confused”.

“I do not expect India of my dreams to develop one religion, i.e., to be wholly Hindu or wholly Christian or wholly Mussalman, but I want it to be wholly tolerant, with its religions working side by side with one another.” So said Mahatma Gandhi.

During the freedom struggle, secularism was emerging as the most dominant principle. The leaders of the Indian National Congress; Gandhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Nehru and others were deeply committed to the ideal of secularism, though each expressed it in very different manners. Secularism became the mantra of the Indian nation, a nation exhausted by partition and sectarian riots and above all the assassination of Gandhiji, did not want any more divisive talk. The founding fathers represented the aspirations of the different sections of society and it is due to the struggles of these different people that secular principles got enshrined into the Indian constitution.

Under Jawaharlal Nehru, the concept of a secular nation-state was officially adopted as India’s path to political modernity and national integration. Unlike in the West, where secularism came mainly out of the conflict between the Church and the State, secularism in India was conceived as a system that sustained religious and cultural pluralism.

In the post Independent scenario the social dynamics was very complex. The process of secularisation/industrialisation was going on at a slow pace. Even at this stage, though constitution was secular, the state apparatus: the bureaucracy, the judiciary, the army and the police were infiltrated by communal elements. The Congress government, though predominantly secular, had many leaders in important positions who were influenced by a Hindu communal ideology. This resulted in a social development that was mixed; on the one hand secularism thrived and on the other though communalism remained dormant, was never dead. With the social changes of the late 70′s and the early 80′s, communalism got a strong boost and it started attacking secularism in a big way.

Secularism introduces science, technology and rationalism in the society and forms the basis of a modern secular state. In the process, it has to oppose and struggle against the clergy and vested forces in the society. And as such, the fundamentalist communal onslaughts are the ‘other’ of secularism and secularization. The oppressed sections join the secular movement to wrest the accompanying liberal space that can be the base for launching the struggles for their rights. Fundamentalism is the regressive reaction of feudal elements and sections of middle classes in league with the clergy, to crush the aspirations of oppressed class, whose movements for their rights is a big source of tension for them. The secularization process and the accompanying movements of the oppressed increase the insecurity of fundamentalist forces. They try to lure these classes into their fold through religion and liberal use of money and muscle power.

It is not so much a question of defending or preserving the existing secular character of the Indian polity, but rather a need to create and build a secular polity in the nation. Only the ideal of building a secular democratic nation can stem the tide of communal fascism in the country. Sarva Dharma Sambhav has to operate at the personal as well as the social level, while Dharma Nirpekshata or Secularism per se continues to be the state policy. Religious clergy, bigotry, dogmas and rituals cannot be allowed to guide the state.

Mahatma Gandhi has rightly said: “I swear by my religion, I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The State has nothing to do with it. The State would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody’s personal concern!”

This strength of the Hindu religion is now viewed as a weakness. Secularism in the Indian context should imply respect for pluralism and a non-coercive and a voluntary recourse to change. Respect for diversity not only embodies the democratic spirit, it is the real guarantee of unity. We should value democratic, not fascistic, unity. No democratic society can downgrade diversity and pluralism in the name of unity. Secular ethics can be strengthened only when the acts of vandalism are sternly dealt with and the guilty are made to pay for it. With secularism that insists on the inalienable rights of the citizens and a due process of law, it will be easier to mount public pressure against sectarian killers and those who promote hatred. The battle of secularism and democracy has also to be fought at the grass root levels where a set ideals generating strong idealism is required to mobilize and prepare the masses for struggle.

In the end, secularism begins in the heart of every individual. There should be no feeling of “otherness” as we all have is a shared history. India being a traditional society that contains, not one, but many traditions, owing their origin in part to the different religions that exist here, has so far managed to retain the secular character of its polity. Ours is a society where Sufis and Bhakti saints have brought in a cultural acceptance for each other. Are we going to let it all go to waste and listen to people who have concern for their careers as politicians or leaders rather than our welfare at heart? Let us instead concentrate our efforts at making India a powerful and progressive nation.

Constitutional position of Secularism in India

By opting for secularism, the framers of the Indian Constitution opted not only for democracy but also for a harmony among different faiths and for a dialogue among different cultural traditions. For them the scenario was clear: it takes several religious groups to come together and to decide to be secular. As such, it was enough to interpret Hinduism as inherently secular. So in the same manner, to press religion into the service of politics, Gandhi declared that his Hinduism was “all-inclusive” and it stood for tolerance. To be truly secular the Indian state had to promote all religions and cultural identities and to build them with the secular interests of the nation. In other words, religious pluralism and religious tolerance became the bedrock of the Indian concept of secularism. The Indian model of secularism was presented as a “symmetry” model, where the acceptance of the legitimacy of pluralism and diversity became central. However, for this pluralism to function and to be successful in defining the Indian common good, all  religious communities had to on a minimal consensus regarding shared values and  shared rules for conflict management between different religious groups.  This minimal consensus on shared values acted as a unifying force amidst diversity. As such, mutual respect and tolerance became the most important values to keep religious pluralism in place in India.  As a result, Indian secularism became a bridge between religions in a multi-religious society. It became a way for extending the principle of pluralism to religiosity. As Lala Rajpat Rai wrote , “ The Indian notion, such as we intend to build, neither is, nor will be, exclusively Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian. It will be each and all.” In that sense, Indian secularism advocates a form of neutrality and non-preferentialism in regard to different religions. In this context, religious minorities can best be protected by a democratic state that ensures religious tolerance.

Nehru insisted that free India should be non communal, secular state. “The government of a country like India,” Nehru declared “with many religions that have secured great acceptance and deep followings for generations, can never function satisfactorily in the modern age accept on a secular basis.” He boasts of the fact that “our Constitution is based on secular conception and gives freedom to all religions.

India is a secular country as per the declaration in the Preamble to the Indian Constitution. It prohibits discrimination against members of a particular religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth .India, therefore does not have an official state religion. Every person has the right to preach, practice and propagate any religion they choose. The government must not favour or discriminate against any religion. It must treat all religions with equal respect. All citizens, irrespective of their religious beliefs are equal in front of law.

In the beginning of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution the word secular was inserted in the 42nd amendment: “We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign ‘Socialist’ Secular Democratic Re-public and to secure to all its citizens…”

The basic outlines of the Secularism are enshrined in the following Articles of the Constitution:

1. Preamble: It is true that the word ‘secular’ did not first occur either in Article 25 or 26 or in any other Article or Preamble of the Constitution.By the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, the Preamble was amended and for the words ‘Sovereign Democratic Republic’ the words ‘Sovereign, socialist, secular, Democratic Republic’ were substituted.

2. No State Religion: There shall be no ‘state religion’ in India. The state will neither establish a religion of its own nor confer any special patronage upon any particular religion.

It follows from that:

1. The state will not compel any citizen to pay any tax for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious institution (Article 27).

2. No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly run by state funds.

3. Even though religious instruction be imparted in educational institutions recognised by state or receiving aid from the state, no person at lending such institution shall be compelled to receive that religious instruction without the consent of himself or of his guardian. In short, while religious instruction is totally banned in state-owned educational institutions, in other denominational institutions it is not totally prohibited but it must not be imposed upon people of other religions without their consent (Article 28).

3. Freedom of Conscience: Avery person is guaranteed the freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess, practise and propagate his own religion, subject only:

1. to restrictions imposed by the state on the interest of public order, morality and health (so that the freedom of religion may not be abused to commit crimes or antisocial acts, e.g., to commit the practice of infanticide, and the like);

2. to regulations or restrictions made by state relating, to any economic, financial, political or outer secular activity which may be associated with religious practice, bill do not really related to the freedom of conscience;

3. to measures of social reform and for throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus. Subject to above limitations, a person in India shall have the right not only to entertain any religious belief but also to practise the obligations dictated by such belief, and to preach his see%., to ethers (Article 2Fi)

4. Freedom to Manage Religious Affairs: individual to pro fess, practise and propagate his religion, them is also the right guaranteed to every religious groups or denominations:

         To establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes.

         To manage its own affairs in matters of religion;

         To own and acquire movable and immovable property; and

         To administer such property in accordance with law

5. Cultural and Educational Rights: Under Article 29 and 30 certain cultural and educational rights are guaranteed. Article 29 guarantees the right cf any section of the citizens residing in any part of the country having a distinct language, script or culture of its own and to conserve the same Article 30 provides that all minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice”.

The sub-committee on the Minorities placed the recognised minority communities in three groups:

1. Communities with a population of less than 0.5% in the Indian Dominion omitting the princely states.

1. Anglo Indian

2. Parsecs

3. Plains Tribesmen in Assam 13. Population not exceeding 1.5% C. Indian Christians I). Population exceeding 1,54.6

4. Sikhs

5. Muslims

6. Scheduled Castes

Legal  position of Secularism in India

Although the term secularism was not in the original text of the Constitution, secularism was a subject of animated discussion when the Constituent Assembly look up for consideration the provisions dealing with the freedom of religion.

Explaining the secular character of the Indian Constitution the Supreme Court observed: “There is no mysticism in the secular character of the state. Secularism is neither anti-God nor pro-God, it treats alike the devout, the agnostic and the atheist. It eliminates God from the matter of the state and ensures no one shall be discriminated against on the ground of religion.

Theory and Practice of Secularism in India

When Jawaharlal Nehru framed the objective Resolution of the Constitutor secularism figured as an important aspect of C Known to be a secularist by ‘instinct’, Nehru associated secularism with modernity and considered sentiments based on caste and religion as backward and a belief from the past. He felt that religious tolerance, an essential aspect of secularism was a characteristic of Indian culture. But this was not all. According to Nehru, narrow religious groupings, binding or loyalties must exclude many sections of the population and only create Hindu nationalism, Muslim nationalism and Christian nationalism and not Indian nationalism. In a country with different religious groups, it is important to build real nationalism on the basis of the secularity. What is a secular state? Nehru was not happy with the word ‘secular’ but used it for want of a better word:

“It does not obviously mean a state where religion as such is discouraged. It means freedom of religion and conscience, including freedom for those who have no religion. It means free play for all religions, subject only to their not interfering with each other or with the basic concept of our state”.

A secular suite, therefore, is not an anti-religious state but a state without a religion. It involves the concept of religious freedom for all faiths living within the state. Secularism is not only a characteristic of the state but involves the concept of religious co-existence and the concept of equal citizenship rights It also characterizes an attitude of mind which must be shared by the minority and majority religious communities living within the state.

K.N. Panikkar argues that there are three characteristics of the kind of secular state that India claims to be:

Firstly, the secular slate postulates that political institutions must be based on the economic and social interests of the entire community, without reference to religion, race or seat; that all must enjoy equal rights and no privileges, prescriptive rights or special claims should be allowed for any group on the basis of religion.

Secondly, it eliminates from the body politic ideas of division between individuals and groups on the basis of their faith and racial origin.

Thirdly, it is obvious that a composite secular state must accept as the basis of its policy what Aristotle termed as ‘distributive justice’, the idea that all communities must have power, as they must share the duties and responsibilities of being citizens.

Secularism has to play a decisive role at present stage of Indian democracy. It is so because today when the Indian democracy seems to face the challenge of narrow divisive trends and tendencies. A rational and scientific approach which is the basis of secularism has become a matter of utmost importance. Communal disturbances which have distinguished the public life in the recent past, as well the birth and growth of narrow and divisive trends and obscurantist theories are mainly the result of ignorance can be fought not by legislation alone, nor by a negative fiat alone, but by education only.

“All these problems do occur because of different interpretations of the principles of secularism.” ~ Bulent Arinc

.

Dr. V.K. Maheshwari, Former Principal

K.L.D.A.V (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

“Play is the purest most spiritual activity of man at this stage and at the same time, typical of human life as a whole of the inner hidden natural life in man all things. It gives, therefore joy, contentment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world. It holds the source of all that is good. – Froebel”

Throughout educational history, world philosophers have wrestled with understanding the myriad of questions and problems surrounding the education of society’s children. Historically, many early childhood educators supported the idea that children should be trained as soon as possible to become productive members of the larger society so that the cultural heritage of the society could be preserved from generation to generation; this cultural imposition theory has been prevalent throughout the educational history of the world. Several educational reformers opposed the cultural imposition theory through their beliefs that childhood is an important period of human growth and development, and that adults should not impose their views and ways upon young children; instead, these reformers defined educational appropriateness as what is necessary to each child’s level of development and readiness, not what is expected by society . The German educator, Friedrich Froebel, was one of these pioneers of early childhood educational reform. As an idealist, he believed that every child possessed, at birth, his full educational potential, and that an appropriate educational environment was necessary to encourage the child to grow and develop in an optimal manner. Froebel’s vision was to stimulate an appreciation and love for children and to provide a new but small world–a world that became known as the Kindergarten–where children could play with others of their own age group and experience their first gentle taste of independence.
Froebel’s Kindergarten Philosophy
Friedrich Froebel is significant for developing an Idealist philosophy of early childhood education and establishing the kindergarten, a school for four-and five-year-old children that is found worldwide.
Froebel began to focus on the needs of children just prior to entering school. He envisioned a place attended by 4-6 year olds where children would be nurtured and protected from outside influences—like plants in a garden. Froebel decided to call his school kindergarten,
which in German means “child garden.” Froebel began a training institute for the teachers of his schools. He believed that teachers should be highly respected people with values that the children should imitate. The teacher should also be a sensitive, open, and easily approachable person.

The purpose of education is to encourage and guide man as a conscious, thinking and perceiving being in such a way that he becomes a pure and perfect representation of that divine inner law through his own personal choice; education must show him the ways and meanings of attaining that goal.
Froebel accept the basic principles of Pestalozzi’s theory: permissive school atmosphere ,emphasis on nature, and the object lesson. Froebel, however, was a strong idealist whose view of education was closely related to religion. He believed that everything in this world was developed according to the plan of God. He felt that something was missing in Pestalozzi’s theory: the “spiritual mechanism” that, according to Froebel, was the foundation of early learning. “Pestalozzi takes man existing only in appearance on
earth,” he said, “but I take man in his eternal being, in his eternal existence.” Froebel’s philosophy of education rested on four basic ideas: free self expression, creativity, social
participation, and motor expression.
In theEducation of Man , Froebel articulated the following idealist themes:
(1) all existence originates in and with God;
(2) humans possess an inherent spiritual essence that is the vitalizing life force that causes development;
(3) all beings and ideas are interconnected parts of a grand, ordered, and systematic universe.
Froebel based his work on these principles, asserting that each child at birth has an internal spiritual essence–a life force–that seeks to be externalized through self-activity. Further, child development follows the doctrine of preformation, the unfolding of that which was present latently in the individual. The kindergarten is a special educational environment in which this self-active development occurs. The kindergarten’s gifts, occupations, and social and cultural activities, especially play, promote this self-actualization.
Friedrich Froebel believed that humans are essentially productive and creative – and fulfilment comes through developing these in harmony with God and the world. As a result, Froebel sought to encourage the creation of educational environments that involved practical work and the direct use of materials. Through engaging with the world, understanding unfolds. Hence the significance of play – it is both a creative activity and through it children become aware of their place in the world. He went on to develop special materials (such as shaped wooden bricks and balls – gifts), a series of recommended activities (occupations) and movement activities, and an linking set of theories. His original concern was the teaching of young children through educational games in the family. In the later years of his life this became linked with a demand for the provision of special centres for the care and development of children outside the home.
Froebel was convinced that the kindergarten’s primary focus should be on play–the process by which he believed children expressed their innermost thoughts, needs, and desires. Froebel’s emphasis on play contrasted with the traditional view prevalent during the nineteenth century that play, a form of idleness and disorder, was an unworthy element of human life.
All age groups prefer games as per their age level and especially the child group likes to play very much. A man during his childhood spends more time in games. Therefore, play is the natural instinct of children. Surely, it is the natural expression of their needs. It develops physical, cognitive, social and emotional growth of a child and strengthens them in a bigger way.
For Froebel, play facilitated children’s process of cultural recapitulation, imitation of adult vocational activities, and socialization. He believed the human race, in its collective history, had gone through major epochs of cultural development that added to and refined its culture. According to Froebel’s theory of cultural recapitulation, each individual human being repeated the general cultural epoch in his or her own development.
By playing, children socialize and imitate adult social and economic activities as they are gradually led into the larger world of group life. The kindergarten provided a milieu that encouraged children to interact with other children under the guidance of a loving teacher.
As an educator, Froebel believed that stimulating voluntary self-activity in the young child was the necessary form of pre-school education .Self-activity is defined as the development of qualities and skills that make it possible to take an invisible idea and make it a reality; self-activity involves formulating a purpose, planning out that purpose, and then acting on that plan until the purpose is realized .One of Froebel’s significant contributions to early childhood education was his theory of introducing play as a means of engaging children in self-activity for the purpose of externalizing their inner natures. As described by Dewey ,Froebel’s interpretation of play is characterized by free play which enlists all of the child’s imaginative powers, thoughts, and physical movements by embodying in a satisfying form his own images and educational interests. Dewey continued his description by indicating that play designates a child’s mental attitude and should not be identified with anything performed externally; therefore, the child should be given complete emancipation from the necessity of following any given or prescribed system of activities while he is engaged in playful self-activity. In summarizing Froebel’s beliefs regarding play, Dewey concluded that through stimulating play that produces self-activity, the supreme goal of the child is the fullness of growth which brings about the realization of his budding powers and continually carries him from one plane of educational growth to another.
To assist children in their development of moving from one plane of educational growth to another, Froebel provided the children with many stimulating activities to enhance their creative powers and abilities. Froebel designed a series of instructional materials that he called “gifts and occupations”, which demonstrated certain relationships and led children in comparison, testing, and creative exploration activities .A gift was an object provided for a child to play with–such as a sphere, cube, or cylinder–which helped the child to understand and internalize the concepts of shape, dimension, size, and their relationships .The occupations were items such as paints and clay which the children could use to make what they wished; through the occupations, children externalized the concepts existing within their creative minds (Staff, 1998). Therefore, through the child’s own self-activity and creative imaginative play, the child would begin to understand both the inner and outer properties of things as he moves through the developmental stages of the educational process.
A third component of Froebel’s educational plan involved working closely with the family unit. Froebel believed that parents provided the first as well as the most consistent educational influence in a child’s life. Since a child’s first educational experiences occur within the family unit, he is already familiar with the home environment as well as with the occupations carried on within this setting. Naturally, through creative self-activity, a child will imitate those things that are in a direct and real relationship to him-things learned through observations of daily family life .Froebel believed that providing a family setting within the school environment would provide children with opportunities for interacting socially within familiar territory in a non-threatening manner. Focusing on the home environment occupations as the foundation for beginning subject-matter content allowed the child to develop social interaction skills that would prepare him for higher level subject-matter contnt in later educational developmental stages .
Over one hundred and fifty years ago, Froebel (1907) urged educators to respect the sanctity of child development through this statement:
We grant space and time to young plants and animals because we know that, in accordance with the laws that live in them, they will develop properly and grow well. Young animals and plants are given rest, and arbitrary interference with their growth is avoided,/because it is known that the opposite practice would disturb their pure unfolding and sound development; but, the young human being is looked upon as a piece of wax or a lump of clay which man can mold into what he pleases (p. 8).
Motor expression, which refers to learning by doing as opposed to following rote instructions, is a very important aspect of Froebel’s educational principles. Froebel did not believe that the child should be placed into society’s mould, but should be allowed to shape his own mould and grow at his own pace through the developmental stages of the educational process. Corbett upholds Froebel’s tenets that a child should never be rushed or hurried in his development; he needs to be involved in all of the experiences each stage requires and helped to see the relationships of things and ideas to each other and to himself so that he can make sense out of both his subjective and objective world. Corbett further agrees that development is continuous, with one stage building upon another, so that nothing should be missed through haste or for any other reason as the child moves through the educational process. Responsible educators should strive to recognize each child’s individual level of development so that essential materials and activities to stimulate appropriate educational growth can be provided. Froebel believed that imitation and suggestion would inevitably occur, but should only be utilized by the teacher as instruments for assisting students in formulating their own instructional concepts .

Difference between work and play:
Work and Play are the two different entities. What is ‘work’ for one person may be a ‘play’ for another. Maintaining a garden is the work of a gardener for his livelihood; whereas the same work becomes a hobby for a house wife to relieve her mental stress. Basically, both the activities remain the same. The work is the same for the gardener and the housewife.
Characteristics of Work
 It is considered difficult.
 It is being thrust by others.
 Physical work brings tiredness.
 More concentration on work makes tired.
 It is controlled.
Characteristics of Play
 It gives pleasure.
 Voluntary acceptance with involvement
 Physical work turns into an enjoyable experience
 More concentration but no tiredness
 There is more freedom
 A stimulant which consists of pleasure and satisfaction is the basic play.

Principles of Play Way Method.
• Play way method is based on Activity Based learning; it stimulates creative skill and self expression.
• This system is life oriented; it serves school as a second home for the children.
• The needs of the children can be fulfilled and increased.
• It narrows down the gap between the children and the teachers.
• It creates apt learning environment.
• It helps to prolong the memory skill.
• It provides opportunities to all children to participate.
• Therefore, the teacher has to plan in the initial stage itself to fulfill the needs of every child and act accordingly in the classroom.

The Role of Teachers in Play way Method:-
 In the early twenty-first century, kindergarten teachers continue to emphasize Froebel’s ideas of developing the social side of a child’s nature and a sense of readiness for learning. The important outcome for the kindergarten child is readiness for the intellectual learning that will come later in his educational career.-
 The creative skill of the teacher helps to develop new learning activities and feasible classroom climate.
 The learning environment must make the children feel that learning is a joyful experience.
 Relevant teaching learning materials are to be prepared after designing the learning activities.
 The learning activities are to be arranged from simple concept to complex.
 During the learning process, the teacher must be a guide, supervisor and a leader for the learners.
 Evaluation of the students must be achieved through playway activities. Evaluation should not be ignored.
 ‘Playing’ is the predominant factor in this method. It rejuvenates the children in their leaning. It enhances their learning abilities. So, it is the duty of a talented teacher to make use of the best aspects of this play way method in the higher level of teaching and learning too.

Procedural Details in Play way Method
Children love to play and it is their natural instinct. The play-way method was conceived by Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel, who is also the father of the Kindergarten method. ‘Play’ according to Froebel is the work of the children. It is ‘the purest, the most spiritual, and product of man at this stage.’

There is a theory, which states that a child understands his needs and goals while playing. So it is very important to teach children with the play way method. It has been proved that maximum amount of learning results while playing games. While playing games the environment is very relaxed, this makes learning interesting and fun. This is the most desirable method of learning for kids. The informal and free atmosphere gives the kids a chance to learn concepts, ideas, math and even language. Toys can sometimes be the root of mathematical concepts. Thus, in the play way methodology toys and apparatus like checkers, magic squares, Puzzles and building blocks are used to make teaching and learning a memorable experience for the learners.

Inventing Kindergarten uses extraordinary visual materials to reconstruct this successful system, to teach young children about art, design, mathematics, and nature.
Freidrich Froebel’s ideas provided the major direction for kindergarten curriculum during the last half of the nineteenth century.
Many of his ideas can still be observed in kindergarten today: learning through play, group games, goal oriented activities, and outdoor time. His theories on “Spiritual Mechanism,” as well as others have beenforgotten or discredited, but his role as the developer of kindergarten is remembered.
Froebel developed a series of gifts and occupations for use in kindergartens. Representing what Froebel identified as fundamental forms, the gifts had both their actual physical appearance and also a hidden symbolic meaning. They were to stimulate the child to bring the fundamental concept that they represented to mental consciousness. Froebel’s gifts were the following items.
• Six soft, colored balls
• A wooden sphere, cube, and cylinder
• A large cube divided into eight smaller cubes
• A large cube divided into eight oblong blocks
• A large cube divided into twenty-one whole, six half, and twelve quarter cubes
• A large cube divided into eighteen whole oblongs: three divided lengthwise; three divided breadthwise
• Quadrangular and triangular tablets used for arranging figures
• Sticks for outlining figures• Whole and half wire rings for outlining figures
• Various materials for drawing, perforating, embroidering, paper cutting, weaving or braiding, paper folding, modeling, and interlacing
As a series, the gifts began with the simple undifferentiated sphere or circle and moved to more complex objects. Following the idealist principle of synthesis of opposites, Froebel’s cylinders represented the integration of the sphere and the cube. The various cubes and their subdivisions were building blocks that children could use to create geometrical and architectural designs. Using the sticks and rings to trace designs on paper, children exercised the hand’s small muscles, coordinated hand and eye movements, and took the first steps toward drawing and later writing.
The occupations were items such as paper, pencils, wood, sand, clay, straw, and sticks for use in constructive activities. Kindergarten activities included games, songs, and stories designed to assist in sensory and physical development and socialization. Froebel published Mutter-und-Kose-lieder, (Mother’s songs, games, and stories), a collection of kindergarten songs, in 1843.
Play-way in Teaching – Some Practical Ways -
In Play, a person experiences the pleasure of performing a task for its own sake. Thus, when enjoyment is introduced in an activity, it is said to be done in the “play way” spirit. The play way makes difficult and boring task, delightful and pleasurable to the doer, but it does not mean shirking from real work; it is introducing element of happiness and satisfaction into otherwise dull and irksome tasks.
The activities in the play way method are according to the person’s ability and physical fitness in which the spirit of play may be utilized in the work of the teaching of mother-tongue.
I. Dramatics.
The drama or the piece of drama which is to be selected should be according to the mental level of the students, and that must have learning significance also. The story of the play is to be given to one child and the child is free to express himself accordingly. Here the teacher can only show the guidelines, not interfere in their ways of expression, in pronunciation or in anything else connected with the use of the mother-tongue. The children should be encouraged to have their own plays. Besides dramatic activities, mock trials or mock interviews etc. can be taken up.
II. Magazines
To write articles for the display magazine in the class or for the school magazine will definitely add greatly to the interest taken in writing in the mother-tongue. Everyone in the class is expected to make some contribution. But the topics must be properly selected. If there is financial problem, it can be written by the students who have good hand-writing and discussed in the class so that the participants will be encouraged.
It is suggested that as magazine is a good creative device in using the play way method, both the class and school magazines should be published only to develop the creative talents of the children.
III. Games
The nature of games differs according to the level of intelligence. Here, it is important to highlight the various devices used I for different classes.
Play-way in Teaching Primary Classes
Games are most important for developing intelligence among the students. During the childhood period, the students are not in a position to receive direct instructions. However, they are interested in learning through different types of games and activities. Some such games and activities are suggested below:
1. Pictures.
A picture with a large number of objects is shown to the children. They are required to write down all the names accordingly or they may be asked to detect one particular object among all the objects. This is the very principle that is applied to the Kindergarten school now-a-days.
2. Matching Board.
It is prepared with letters or words in horizontal lines. Below each letter or word, a space is left empty. The children have sets of letters or words. They are required to select their sets corresponding to the first one on the board, and put in the space on the board under the first letter or word.
3. Flashing the Card.
It is a card which is shown by a child to a group or the child of another group for two seconds and then he is asked what is written on it. If the child says the word correctly, the child who asked the question comes to the other group and vice versa. The group which has more members wins in this competition.
4. Passing an order.
The class is seated in a large circle. The teacher whispers a sentence or an order to the first child. Then that child whispers exactly what he heard to the next child and so on right round the circle. Then at the end, the last child will say what he hears.
5. Word building.
Saying the word by one child using the letters given by another
6. Spelling games.
The child may be asked to spell the word as quickly as possible when it is said to him/her.
7. Making sentences.
Framing the sentences using the words given by the teacher is a good language game. In the sentence making game, it is for the teacher to put up on the board a number of words. The pupils are then asked to make as many sentences as possible using only those words but using them as often as they like.
8. Finding the stranger.
A list of words is given in which one word is not linked to the other words. It will be detected by the child as stranger in the line.
9. Description game.
The teacher describes some object without mentioning its name. The class has to guess what the object is.
Play-way in Teaching Middle Classes
1. The story game.
In terms of a story, the teacher can present the facts before the students. The students are welcome to appreciate the story and also say the similar events.
2. Description game.
In this game the class is divided into two groups. Two different things decided by these two groups but one member of each group must remain outside. So, they will be stranger to the decision of the group. The game starts which one child speaks a sentence on the decision so that the stranger can know about the decision taken. If he fails another student speaks another statement. If one child fails, to understand the decision, then he will be out from the game. In this way, this game continues.
3. Question game.
Questions are asked between two groups and marks are given to the group that gives the correct responses.
Here the child is given two related terms, i.e., one word is related to the other. But in case of blank, giving only one| word, the child has to fill up the blank taking cue from the given pair.
Lastly, it is more accepted as it stresses on the use of the three H’s-Hand, Heart and Head. It makes the teaching- learning process active one which is the basic idea of educational setting.
Merits of Play way Method:-
 Playing is a natural process for children. So, a child actively involves in it. It gets pleasure and satisfaction.
 Similarly, learning takes place naturally through playway method.
 Opportunity is given to a child for full participation in this method.
 It not only develops the knowledge skill of children, but also brings satisfaction in their cognitive level.
 It paves way for self-discipline.
 It gives more opportunities for children’s learning with perception and mind.
Demerits of Play way Method:-
 This method is more suitable to the pre-primary and primary level students only.
 The contents and concepts of all subjects cannot be introduced in this method.
 Few children may give more importance to playing games than learning through play way method.
At present, realising the importance of the play way method and its use for different levels of teaching, it is introduced from the Pre-school stage onwards. Good planning and efforts of the teacher make the application of this method a successful one.

All the child is ever to be and ever to become, lies however slightly indicated, in the child and can be attained only through development from within outward. -Froebel”