Extension Education

Extension is a means for dissemination of education and information. The word extension itself gives a clue about its meaning- ex means out and tension means stretching. In layman terms, it means spreading out information. Some of the important objectives of extension education are to help change the human behavior through use of knowledge, skills and attitude; to reach out to rural and marginalized population for promoting social development; to improve Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Skills (i.e. KAPS) and; to ensure involvement and participation of the target audience.

Following are some of the principles of extension which act as guidelines in making the process of extension education effective:

·         Principle of cultural difference: It should be taken care that people differ in terms of their thinking, living & culture and as such changes will have to be made in the extension programs according to the changing situations. The underlying statement behind this principle is that ‘one solution doesn’t fit all.’

·         Principle of cultural change: It should be noted that culture may undergo change due to extension education and as such extension workers should gain the confidence of people and if necessary focus on result demonstration.

·         Principle of grass root organization: It should cater to the needs and interests of people at grass root levels.

·         Principle of interests and needs: Extension program should pay desired attention to the needs and interests of the target audience. It should be duly noted by extension workers that imposed innovation will have no relevance as people accept innovation only when they find it helpful. 

·         Principle of participation: It should be noted that participatory approach develops local leadership and builds confidence.

·         Principle of adaptability in the use of teaching methods: A due care should be taken in using teaching methods as people differ in knowledge & understanding and as such the methods should also vary accordingly.

·         Principle of leadership: Involving the local leaders increases people’s participation and thus increase the speed of work.

·         Principle of trained specialists: Make use of the subject matter experts (SMEs) for execution.

·         Principle of satisfaction: It must be noted that people will participate only when that feel satisfied and thus the extension program should result in satisfaction of people.

·         Principle of whole family approach: Extension work should reach all the family members.

·         Principle of evaluation: Regular monitoring and evaluation helps in improving the quality of work. Thus review of progress at regular intervals is necessary and corrective measures must be taken if the direction is wrong.

·         Principle of applied science and democracy: It must be noted that people have freedom to accept or reject the particular technology.

·         Principle of learning by doing: It should be realistic, humanitarian & flexible and must include the feedback from participants and local authorities.

(Note: The learning and insights are compiled from a course on Communication and Extension Management (COEM) at Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal and I'm thankful to Prof. A. Upadhyay for the same.)