The School is a special agency for educating the young members of the society. Long ago, all education in the society was made available only through informal agencies like family, friends circle, church, temples and professional group.
However, in course if time, the society became complex and the human culture found its expressions through various arts, science, humanities, dance drama and music. It was therefore, felt essential to set up specialized organizations to hand over the social heritage from generation to generation and to recreate the cultural patterns for enabling the individuals to cope up with the changing conditions and to fulfil their diversified needs.
A group of persons equipped with knowledge and skills for discharging these responsibilities in such formal organizations were known as teachers.
The school occupies an important place as an agency of education due to increasing growth of knowledge in every sphere of human life.
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As a formal agency of education it provides the minimum knowledge, skills and values which are essential for living a successful life. For example, the traditional subjects in schools were 3Rs— reading, writing and arithmetic.
Subsequently, other language — history, geography and then science, social studies and S.U.P.W. were introduced in the school curriculum to make it more useful and meaningful. Citizenship training, vocational training, population awareness and such other educational functions also have assumed importance.
The school has to work for improvement of the society and the society must work for welfare of the school. The school is not merely a miniature society where we will find the reflection of all kinds of social weal and woe, hopes and aspirations.
According to some educationists like Dewey, the school is the society itself. Students should live there in harmony with others; imbibe the qualities of cooperation, tolerance, love, friendship and sympathy.
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In the school, socialization takes place for the first time. That is the child starts learning to live with others, share with others in the sorrows and sufferings, dangers and difficulties, humour and happiness. He identifies himself with the school and develops a sense of belongingness, spirit of mutual sharing and fellow- feeling.
This gradually leads to his love for the region, for his state, for the country and ultimately for the world. Thus patriotism or nationalism and internationalism or love for the mankind develops in the children.
The school imparts general as well as vocational education. The individual prepares himself for the world of life and world or work. He develops in himself an understanding of the environment around him and tries to realize him through various activities, hobbies and interests. His personality is developed through the various programmes and practices of the school.
The schools are also regarded as the social laboratories where different experiments and projects are undertaken. The social ideals and national programmes are all implemented in schools. Schools as the centres of the community give new directions and guidelines for the people to take up different vocations and professions.
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The national goals like secularism, socialism, democracy and national emotional integration are tried to be realized through different functions of the school.
In the modern world a new trend has been visible in reducing the monopoly of the school. It is a revolution called “deschooling society”, i.e., the society without school. The advocates of this revolution demand that all the schools should be abolished in order to spread socialism, democracy and equality in the society. Because, they say schools are conservative and centres of all degradation, discretion and inequalities.
There are various sources of knowledge and schools are one of them. So they should not be having as the conscience-keepers and knowledge-givers for all time to come. In spite of some truth in these complaints, it is to be agreed that schools are to play a specific role in educating the society. Hence schools should be reconstructed and their programmes are reoriented, so that they can play their specific roles most effectively and successfully.