Ratna Ghosh and Mathew Zachariah (eds) Education and the Processof Change. New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd. 1987.301 pp.Price Rs 190.00 (Hardbound Edition).

Is formal education in India a sort of indoctrination by economic and political elites to perpetuate their dominance over the common people? Does the Indian system of education at all levels really promote economic growth? What social classes benefit from public education? What role does education play in cultural revitalization, social mobility, and social progress? Does education help in reducing the fertility rates to control population growth? What is the role of education in eliminating child labor and in liberating the oppressed female and rural populations from ignorance, misery, and poverty? These are some of the major questions which comprise the subject-matter of the fourteen articles of this important book. These papers were presented by eminent Indian scholars at a conference on “Education and Social Change in India: Reinterpretations and New Directions”, held at McGill University, Montreal (Canada) in June 1985, and published later in Delhi.