What is Extension Education?
Where the word came from, the definitions the examiner wants attached to the right name, and how the subject differs from classroom education.
The word and the idea
The word extension comes from the Latin ex, meaning out, and tensio, meaning stretching. It entered educational use in England through the university extension movement: James Stuart lectured to audiences outside the university from 1867, Cambridge adopted the system formally in 1873 and Oxford followed later in that decade. The agricultural sense developed in the United States, where the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 created the Cooperative Extension Service.
In India the term arrived with the Community Development Programme launched on 2 October 1952, though the idea predates it in experiments such as Sriniketan, Marthandam, the Gurgaon Experiment, Firka Development and the Etawah Pilot Project.
Definitions worth knowing by name
- J. P. Leagans. Extension education is an applied science consisting of content derived from research, accumulated field experiences and relevant principles drawn from the behavioural sciences, synthesised with useful technology into a body of philosophy, principles, content and methods focused on the problems of out-of-school education for adults and youth.
- A. W. Van den Ban and H. S. Hawkins. Extension involves the conscious use of communication of information to help people form sound opinions and make good decisions.
- Kelsey and Hearne. Extension education is an out-of-school system of education in which adults and young people learn by doing.
- Ensminger. Extension is education, and its purpose is to change the attitudes and practices of the people with whom the work is done.
The examiner is usually testing whether you can attach the right name to the right definition, so learn them as pairs rather than as prose.
The Indian experiments the idea grew out of
Extension work in India did not begin with the Community Development Programme. A series of pilot projects ran before Independence, and ASRB asks about them by name, founder and place more often than it asks about the CDP itself.
- Sriniketan (1921), West Bengal. Rabindranath Tagore, at Surul near Santiniketan. The first to bring youth organisations into rural reconstruction, and built on self-help rather than relief.
- Marthandam (1921), Travancore. Spencer Hatch, under the YMCA. Remembered for the five-fold development idea — spiritual, mental, physical, social and economic — and for the egg-laying and bee-keeping demonstrations.
- Gurgaon Experiment (1920), Punjab. F. L. Brayne, as Deputy Commissioner. A campaign approach driven from above, which is exactly why it is quoted as the example of what happens without people's participation.
- Firka Development Scheme (1946), Madras. A state government scheme built on Gandhian lines, aiming at village self-sufficiency.
- Etawah Pilot Project (1948), Uttar Pradesh. Albert Mayer. The direct model for the Community Development Programme, and the one that showed the village-level worker could carry several departments' messages at once.
- Nilokheri Experiment (1948), Haryana. S. K. Dey, set up to rehabilitate Partition refugees. Known as Mazdoor Manzil, and built around 'work and pay'.
The Community Development Programme followed on 2 October 1952, and the National Extension Service exactly a year later, on 2 October 1953. Learn those two dates together — a question that gives one and asks for the other is common.
How Extension Education differs from formal education
| Formal education | Extension education |
|---|---|
| The teacher starts and the learner follows | The learner's need starts it |
| Fixed curriculum, fixed for years | Flexible, changes with the situation |
| Learners are homogeneous in age and level | Learners differ in age, literacy and holding |
| Attendance is compulsory | Participation is voluntary |
| Vertical relationship, teacher above learner | Horizontal, worker and farmer as partners |
| Classroom | Field, home and village |
| Success measured by examination | Success measured by change in practice |
Objectives, principles and scope
These three are dealt with in full on the main Agricultural Extension Education page rather than repeated here: the three levels of change, the eleven principles the subject rests on, and how the classical scope has widened to take in ICT-enabled advisory, market-led extension, farmer producer organisations and gender mainstreaming.
Points to carry into the exam
The lines from this topic that recur in the paper.
- Extension is derived from the Latin ex and tensio, meaning stretching out.
- Smith-Lever Act, 1914, United States, created the Cooperative Extension Service.
- Leagans, Van den Ban and Hawkins, Kelsey and Hearne, and Ensminger are the definitions most often asked.
- Sriniketan 1921 Tagore; Marthandam 1921 Spencer Hatch; Gurgaon 1920 Brayne; Etawah 1948 Albert Mayer; Nilokheri 1948 S. K. Dey.
- Community Development Programme launched 2 October 1952; National Extension Service 2 October 1953.
- Formal education starts with the teacher; extension starts with the learner's felt need.