LUSAKA APEX MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY SCIENCES

NAME : JARA KADIJA

ID : 2001000469

LECTURER: MR CHISANGA
COURSE : EPS 231

ASSIGN NO: TWO

DUE DATE : 20TH APRIL, 2021.

QUEATION : USING PRACTICE EXAMPLE FROM THE

ZAMBIAN CONTEXT, CRITICALLY DISCUSS THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE.
 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Education is considered as the most significant agency of learning social values. Therefore,
educational institutions play the role of agent in socialization of the individuals. There are three
aspects namely change agents, subject matter for bringing about social change and the cultural
background of learners while declaring education as a gadget of social change.

What is education? Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge,
skills and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through
teaching, training or research. Education has a great importance especially in the modern,
complex industrialized societies as it is the source from which one gets the knowledge,
information and the skills. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but
may also be autodidactic (Dudeney, 2010). In education, through curriculum, students will be
acquainted with social, moral and cultural values and teachers make them familiar with
constitution, rules and regulations of citizens and so on.

While social change means change in social structure, in the size of the society, in the
composition or balance of its parts or in the types of its organization (Ginsberg, 1958). These
changes occur due to globalization, rapid developments in science and technology, changes in
the work place and changes of the roles of state. It is another thing that that its pace varies from
age to age, culture to culture etc. For a variety of reasons the pace of social change has been
rather slow in earlier cultures, chief reasons being the hold of authoritarianism, religion, illiteracy
etc. With the decline of authoritarianism and religion, with the rise of science, technology and
industry, with the attendant fast means of communication and travel, the process of social change
has been accelerated (Ginsberg, 1958). Karl Marx gave the theory of social change on the basis
of his conflict theory. He says that nature is ever changing, because everything is involved in
struggle. As a result of this struggle old things get destroyed and new things are born in their
place.
The relationship between education and social change takes a dual form education as an
instrument and education as a product. This implies that education as an instrument is used as a
means for bringing about desired changes in the society and in the latter case changes in the
educational structure follows as a consequence of changes which have already taken place in the
society. There are three ways in which the relation between education and social change can be
analyzed:

1. Education is an instrument of social change: The relationship of education with social

is not a simple, unilateral one, as perhaps many would like to believe , for education is
not only instrumental in bringing about social change, it is also quite interestingly
instrumental in maintaining the status quo. In other words education plays with a
conservative and radical role, i.e., it helps both in maintaining and changing different
aspects of the social system (Harington, 2005). Education provides necessary training in
skills occupations and thus, produces the needed competent personnel for maintaining
different specialized jobs in modern industrial, business, educational and research
establishments. Not only this, Education is expected to change the values and attitudes of
people. The role of education in bringing about social change or modernization has led
leaders and planners in developing nations to make large scale provisions of educational
facilities for their perspective people (Richard, 1965). In Zambia we have seen the great
efforts of our educational planners during the last five years to expand diverse
educational facilities at all levels which has resulted in social change and reform. For
example the development and improvement of technology has made things easier in
industries, hospitals etc.
2. Education prepares an individual for social change: Through education students learn
and prepare for social changes, it brings a change in the need of the society. Education is
probably the only method of social change that eradicates ignorance, teachers are the
 agents of change, education the stimulus and students are the recipients and preservers of
change. Children at an early age are taught principles that are not only beneficial to them
but also to their society. Kids learn their importance in society through education. They
are the leaders of tomorrow and education equips them with the right tools to take on the
leadership roles (Morish, 1978). When individuals understand the importance of
education then applying the knowledge in society brings about social change. For
example if a person understands the theory which he or she has learned through education
then this individual will be able to apply and put the action into practice, it could be the
operation with devices or how to analyze complex problems.
3. Education initiates the change and gives them direction and purpose. Social change
can vary in its scope and in speed. We can talk of small or large scale changes. Changes
can take a cyclic pattern which initiates social change. It can also be revolutionary.
Revolutionary change can be seen when there is an overflow of government in a
particular nation. Changes can also include short term changes example in migration rates
as well as long term changes in economic structure (Yadav, 2012). Today, most of the
sociologists assume that change is natural, inevitable, ever present part of life in every
society. According to Olive Banks (1968), the precise relationship of the education
system to social and economic change is extremely complex and it is almost impossible
to draw conclusions that are misleading. With the development of education in society
the improvement of social change has had a great impact on the communities and
individuals. People tend to understand the purpose of social change and appreciate it.

The people who acted as social reformers in social structure were educated and emphasized to
change negative practices such as caste restrictions, inequality between male and female. They
also emphasized others to eradicate socially evil practices, customs and traditions. Education
people participate in decision making, scientific technology is adopted in industries, agriculture
and other professions which lead towards modernization. Numerous software have been
developed which are widely used in education. The good example of it is the use of multimedia
for presentations in educational institutions.
 CONCLUSION

In spite of the slow and limited growth of education in Zambia, Education has become one of the
influential instruments of social change. It has led to the mobilization of people’s aspiration for
development and change. Thus in modern complex national societies. The environment and
socialization process to which students are exposed remain as important factors contributing to
academic success and character building.
 REFERENCES

1. Dudeney, G. (2010). The internet and the language classroom. Cambridge:

Cambridge university press.
2. Dover, K, (2005) Theory of transformative learning. [Online]
3. Harington, A. (2005). Modern social theory: An introduction, New York. Oxford
University.
4. Morish, I. (1978). The sociology of education: An introduction. 2nd edition.
Union education books, UK
5. Richard, T. (1965). SOCIAL CHANGE, Tokyo: McGraw Hill.
6. Sociology guide, Education and social change. [Online]. Available:
Http://www.sociologyguide.com/education
7. Yadav, H. Education brings about social change. [Online]. Available: http://www.social
media.ezinmark.com