Co-education means education of boys and girls in the same educational institution and at the same time. In the Primary stage, co-education has been the rule in all countries. In the University also, it is nowadays the rule almost everywhere. It is also felt that university students who have attained age and developed intelligence and a proper sense of their duties and responsibilities should be treated as mature and responsible citizens.

The problems of co-education in the secondary stage was in the past a debatable subject. At this stage students are in their adolescence; free mixing between the sexes in this period of life, it is held, may disturb the normal development of their mind. This is more so, as at this stage the students are apt to be emotional and excitable.

In a big and poor country like India, at least for economic reasons, co-education is advisable. We may arrange for separate benches for boys and girls in the classes, and spate playgrounds outside. There should also be men and women teachers, which would make the task of enforcing discipline and general supervision easier.

The objection to co-education, chiefly in northern India, was largely due to the conservative social prejudices of the people, fostered by the purdah. But the tempo of modern life is fast breaking these barriers down.

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Co-education is now a widely accepted practice, more a rule that an exception. So the number of co-educational colleges is now on the increase. Economic factor has been helpful in ensuring this social development. Late marriages compel parents to educate their daughters, while the economic needs of the family increase the desirability of wives and daughters supplementing the family income, in order to maintain a higher standard of living. Hence is the number of separate girls college is very few and co-education has become unavoidable.

Opponents of co-education base their arguments chiefly on the view that girls should have a different type of education from that imparted to boys. They argue that the sphere of a girl’s activities will, in the long run, be the home, and therefore their education should seek to turn out good mothers and housewives. This argument is now considered reactionary.

Women have, in most progressive and democratic countries, been given equal rights and opportunities and they have given good account of themselves in winning laurels in fair competition with boys. Our Constitution, in this respect, is as progressive as any, and our women have filled and are filing highly responsible posts with dignity and success.

Thus the problem of co-education must be viewed from the stand point of practical needs rather than that of theoretical arguments. After, all the problem, is not so acute today as it was half a century back when free mixing of boys and girls was a taboo. Remember that trust begets trust and Rabindranath started it.