AEX. 217.DIMENSIONS OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION (1+1)
Dr.J.MEENAMBIGAI
Assistant Professor
Department of Agricultural Extension
Faculty of Agriculture
Annamalai University
UNIT – I – INTRODUCTION
Extension Education – Meaning, Concept and Definitions Extension:
The word “extension” is derived from the Latin roots “ex” meaning “out” and “tensio” meaning “stretching”.
Extension is that type of education which is stretched out to people in the rural areas far and near, beyond the limits of the educational institutions to which the formal type of education is usually confined.
Education is an integral part of extension. Because of this, and because of the fact that extension is pursued in agriculture and many other disciplines to educate, motivate and change the behaviour of the people, this particular branch of science is also known as extension education.
The Concept of Extension
Pioneers in the field of extension, after accumulating practical experiences in working with the rural people and sifting and synthesizing them, have developed certain thoughts, ideas, themes which shall help in understanding what is extension.
The actual use of the term “extension” originated in England in 1866 with a system of university extension which was taken up first by Cambridge and oxford universities and later by other educational institutions in England and other countries. The term ‘extension education’ was first used in 1873 by Cambridge university to describe this particular educational innovation. The objective of university extension was to take the educational advantages of universities to ordinary people (swanson and claar, 1984).
According to Ensminger (1957) extension is education and that its purpose is to change attitudes and practices of the people with whom the work is done.
Leagans (1961) conceptualized extension education as an applied science consisting of content derived from research accumulated field experiences and relevant principles drawn from the behavioural sciences synthesized with useful technology into a body of philosophy, principles, content and methods focussed on the problems of out-of-school education for adults and youth.
The National commission on Agriculture (1976) refers to extension as an out-of-school education and services for the members of the farm family and others directly or indirectly engaged in farm production, to enable them to adopt improved practices in production, management, conservation and marketing.
According to watts (1984) extension is basically an educational function. Its job may vary considerably from country to country, but without exception it will be expected to inform, advise and educate people in a practical manner.
Bhatnagar and Desai (1987) gave a simple definition of extension. According to them extension is to bring the desirable changes in the behaviour – knowledge, skills, attitude, understanding, goals and confidence of the people through mutual learning.
According to van den Ban and Hawkins (1988) extension involves the conscious use of communication of information to help people form sound opinions and make good decisions.
Extension may be defined as the science of making people innovative for sustainable improvement in their quality of life.
Objectives of Extension
Objectives are expression of the ends towards which our efforts are directed. The fundamental objective of extension is to develop the rural people economically, socially and culturally by means of education. More specifically, the general objectives of extension are as follows:
1. To assist people to discover and analyze their problems and identify the felt needs.
2. To develop leadership among people and help them in organizing groups to solve their problems.
3. To disseminate research information of economic and practical importance in a way people would be able to understand and use.
4. To assist people in mobilizing and utilizing the resources which they have and which they need from outside.
5. To collect and transmit feedback information for solving management problems.
6. To promote better social, natural, recreational, intellectual and spiritual life.
7. To open up new opportunities for rural people.
8. To build rural citizens.
Kelsey and Hearne (1967) suggested several criteria for judging the usefulness of extension objectives. These are,
1. Are they dynamic? Are they likely to promote action?
2. Are they socially desirable? Will they lead towards the general aims of extension?
3. Are they achievable by the level of maturity of the group and permitted by available resources?
4. Are they developmental? will they lead to constantly higher levels of achievement?
5. Can they be defined in terms of behaviour or changes in people?
6. Can they be evaluated? Are they measurable? Can evidence of actual progress of individuals be secured?
7. Are they specific, consistent and worded clearly?
Scope of Importance of Extension
Extension appears to have unlimited scope in situations where there is need for creating awareness amongst the people and changing their behaviour by informing and educating them. Kelsey and Hearne (1967) identified nine areas of programme emphasis, which indicate the scope of agricultural extension.
1. Efficiency in agricultural production.
2. Efficiency in marketing, distribution and utilization.
3. Conservation, development, and use of natural resources.
4. Management on the farm and in the home.
5. Family living.
6. Youth development.
7. Leadership development.
8. Community development and rural area development.
9. Public affairs.
Extension is an integral part of agriculture and rural development programmes in India. In fact, taking other things constant, the progress in production which has been achieved in agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, veterinary, fishery, social forestry, sericulture etc. may be thought of as proportional to the strength of extension service in the particular discipline.
Extension education is an integral part of teaching in agriculture, veterinary and animal science, dairy, fishery, forestry, sericulture, home science, rural development, social work etc. There is scope for introducing extension in other disciplines as a subject of teaching, particularly which involve educating and motivating people and assisting them in their profession.
The principles and methods in extension which originated with the need for agriculture and rural development are gradually being applied in other disciplines with success. The methods adopted in popularizing Family Planning, disseminating education through Open University system are examples in this case. It appears that there is considerable scope for systematically applying the principles and methods of extension, wherever there is need for creating awareness amongst the people and developing the human resource.
Institutions and organizations doing significant research work may have an extension wing, department or division, where suitably trained personnel can collect research information of practical and economic importance, and pass on the same to the relevant user departments and organizations, and individuals. In this context, practical means the research information which are applicable in real life situations of the people and economic importance means, the research information which are gainful; shall help people in increasing production and productivity of their enterprises; give more income; save time, labour and money; and help in loss prevention etc. Even the user departments can perform their job more efficiently by having an extension unit. For example, to make the people conscious about environment, use of alternative sources of energy etc., it is necessary to apply extension methods.
Application of the extension principles and methods need not be confined to the rural people and rural areas only. It may very well be applied with the urban people and in urban situations also. Practical and economically profitable technologies say, in engineering, computer science etc. may open a new vista of employment and income generation for the educated youth in the urban and sub-urban areas. This shall, however, need research in extension in urban situation and identification of suitable technologies. Extension has, therefore, universal application.
The Extension Educational Process
Extension education is participatory process and involves five essential and interrelated steps. The sequence of steps is discussed on the basis of concept developed by Leagans (1967).
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Fig. 1: The Extension Educational Process
First Step. The first step consists of collection of facts and analysis of the situation. Facts about the people and their enterprises; the economic, social, cultural, physical and technological environment in which they live and work. These may be obtained by appropriate survey and establishing rapport with the people.
The responses obtained are to be analyzed with the local people to identify the problems and resources available in the community. For example, after a survey in a community and analysis of the data, the problem was identified as low income of the farm family from their crop production enterprise.
Second Step. the next step is deciding on realistic objectives which may be accomplished by the community. A limited number of objectives should be selected by involving the local people. The objectives should be specific and clearly stated, and on completion should bring satisfaction to the community. Objectives should state the behavioural changes in people as well as economic and social outcomes desired.
In the example, the problem was identified as low income from crop production enterprise. A deeper probe into the data revealed that low income was due to low yield of crops, which was attributed to the use of local seeds with low yield potential, application of little fertilizer and lack of protection measures. By taking into consideration the capacity and competency of the people in the community and the availabiity of resources, the objective was set up to increase the crop yield by 20 percept within a certain period of time. It was estimated that the increased yield shall bring increased income, which shall enhance the family welfare.
Third Step. The third step is teaching, which involves choosing what should be taught (the content) and how the people should be taught (the methods and aids to be used). It requires selecting research findings of economic and practical importance relevant to the community, and selection and combination of appropriate teaching methods and aids.
Based on the problems identified in the particular example, technologies like use of HYV seeds, application of fertilizer and plant protection measures were selected as teaching content. Result demonstration, method demonstration, farmers training and farm publications were chosen as teaching methods, and tape recorder and slides were selected as teaching aids.
Fourth Step. The fourth step is evaluating the teaching, i.e. determining the extent to which the objectives have been reached. To evaluate the results of an educational programme objectively, it is desirable to conduct a re-survey. The evidence of changed behaviour should be collected, which shall not only provide a measure of success, but shall also indicate the deficiencies, if any.
In the example, the re-survey after the fixed period of time, indicated that the crop yield had increased by 10 percent. It, therefore, indicated that there was a gap of 10 percent in crop yield in comparison to the target (objective) of 20 percent fixed earlier. The re-survey also indicated that there had been two important deficiencies in carrying out the extension educational programme, such as, there was lack of proper water management and the farmers could not apply the fertilizer and plant protection measures as per recommendation due to lack of funds.
Fifth Step. The fifth step is re-consideration of the entire extension educational programme on the light of the results of evaluation. The problems identified in the process of evaluation may become the starting point for the next phase of the extension educational programme, unless new problems have developed or new situations have arisen.
After re-consideration of the results of evaluation with the people, the following teaching objectives were again set up. For example, these were, training the farmers on proper water management practices and putting up demonstrations on water management. The people were also advised to contact the banks for obtaining production credit in time to purchase the critical inputs.
Thus, the continuous process of extension education shall go on, resulting in progress of the people from a less desirable to a more desirable situation.
Philosophy of Extension
Philosophy is a body of general principles or laws of a field of knowledge. An individual, after considering pros and cons, decides on certain principles to guide his life. These principles play a vital role in deciding what is good or bad in the life of an individual. Goals and means are decided on the basis of these principles of life or the philosophy of life of an individual. For instance, the goal of two students studying in the same class may be to obtain good grades in the examination. However, they may adopt different approaches (means) for obtaining the grades in the examination based on their philosophies of life. One may work hard for obtaining the grades while another student may use unfair means for getting the grades. Two prisoners having different philosophies of life react differently to the same situation. Both of them look through the prison bars, one sees the mud and feels that the life is gloomy and becomes disappointed. Another prisoner looks at the sky and sees the stars and enjoys the atmosphere. It will be seen from these examples that the philosophy of life has relevance with the actions of the people. It provides a guideline for performing the activities in life in a particular way.
The farmer is no exception to this principle. During the course of time he formulates a philosophy of life for himself. When an extension worker approahces him he tests the messages against his philosophy of life and if that message fits in his philosophy then he acts on it. If the extension worker approaches the farmers for the introduction of artificial insemination for their cows, a traditional minded farmer and a progressive farmer will react differently to his proposal the progressive former may accept the proposal while the traditional minded farmer may reject the proposal.
Extension educational philosophy is based on the hypothesis that rural people are intelligent, are interested in obtaining new information and at the same time have a keen desire to utilize this information for their individual and social welfare. The krishi pandits and many progressive farmers are very intelligent. They obtain new information about scientific practices in farming and use it for increasing their yields. Certain organisations like gram panchayats, cooperatives, youth clubs, mahila mandals, etc., are created in the villages. These organizations undertake social welfare programmes for the community. The representatives of the people having different philosophies of life play a vital role in these welfare programmes.
The extension workers should utilize the latent goodwill of the people in extension programmes. A first step in this direction is to communicate new ideas and details of the welfare programmes to the people. An atmosphere of mutual trust and friendship between the extension workers and people should be developed. The extension worker should gain full understanding of the problems and difficulties of the people. This will help in solving the problems of the people. There are two ways of solving problems. One is by compelling people to act in a particular way by using coercive methods. Another way is by using a democratic approach, in which people are reached by educational methods to solve their problems.
In one hypothetical example Mosher explains the development due to compulsion and education.
Fig. 2. Trend of Development Resulting from Programmes using Compulsion and Those Using Educational Approaches.
In figure - 2, AB is agricultural development before starting any public programme. BC is development by compelling the people to adopt certain improved farm practices, while BD is development due to education. It is seen that in the beginning the rate of agricultural development was more due to compulsion but it has fallen after point E. This means that in the beginning though the farmers accepted the practices under force, this change was not long lasting and they reverted back to their traditional practices in the long run. On the other hand, the rate of agricultural development due to education was slow in the beginning, but there was a rising trend after the intersection E. The farmers seem to have accepted the change by understanding its pros and cons. The change among them due to education was long lasting. Therefore, in the long run the educational programmes proved to be more effective than the compulsion programmes. It is therefore necessary that extension workers should have faith in the democratic values and should try to educate the people.
Extension work is developed on the principle of helping the rural people to stand on their feet. Economic development is given priority in the programmes of rural development. This would create strength in the people. By this strength they will develop their farms, homes, educational and recreational facilities which are necessary for their self-development and for national development. The rural people are to be helped in understanding their natural resources and the ways of utilizing these resources for development. By utilising these natural resources they can lead a satisfactory life. Due to this reason the extension worker has to start from the level of the people and help them in utilising their resources for the betterment of individuals and the community.
The basic philosophy of extension is directed towards changing the outlook of man by educating him. As stated in the foregoing example, compulsion does not persuade the people to act in a particular way. The only way to secure the intelligent and wholehearted cooperation of a person is to educate him. Education is not a mere transfer of information. It is more than that. It’s primary aim is to transform the people by bringing about desired changes in their knowledge, attitude and skills. If this has not happened then the activities chosen for extension are not educational and its effects cannot be long lasting.
Principles of Extension
In the history of extension work, there are certain general principles of extension education which have been applied and tested. Some of these principles have more or less general application and therefore will be of use to the extension workers. With this view in mind they are presented in the following pages.
1. Principle of Cultural Difference
The educational methods should be in line with the culture of the people in order to make extension education effective. In a vast country like India different extension methods need to be used for different states, as people in these states differ in their thinking, living and culture.
There is a lot of difference in the culture and thinking of the people of U.P., Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Instead of using the same extension methods in all the states, it will be wise to study the history, culture, values, organizations and leadership of these areas and then make appropriate changes in the educational methods. Of course it is more difficult to recognize the attitudes, values, beliefs and traditions than to see the cultivation methods, use of improved implements, and farm size, etc. The extension worker has to recognize this difference between different cultures and use it in increasing the effectiveness of his work. The blueprint of the extension programme developed for one area may not be applicable as such in another area but it can serve as a guide in similar cultural areas. When the situation changes the old idea will have to be rejected and necessary alterations will have to be made in the programmes based on new ideas.
2. Principle of Cultural Change
The culture of people undergoes change while doing extension work. There will be change without extension work also, as change is necessary for the growth and development of the society. To change the behaviour of the people through extension education, the extension worker should gain the confidence of the rural people. They should believe that what the extension worker says has relevance to their daily life. To start with, the extension worker should demonstrate the beneficial results of the useful ideas on the fields of some farmers so that they will have faith in him. Those who see the demonstration would tell others and all of them would realize that the extension worker has really something useful to contribute. They would discuss about their difficulties with the extension worker. The level of education of the people would rise from such simple events. First the extension worker has to help the farmer in increasing his yields, then he can concentrate on proper marketing of these increased yields. Taking the changes in the needs of the rural people into account the extension worker has to change his area of work. The situation prevailing twenty years ago when the extension service started and today is quite different and, therefore, with growth and development the extension work has to be changed to meet the cultural changes among the people.
3. Principle of Grass-root Organization
Different groups work in rural communities. The extension worker should pay attention to the needs and interests of these groups while planning extension programmes. In some places the extension programmes are thrust on the people and the imposed innovations, many times have no relevance to the interests of these small groups. Unless the farmers feel that the ideas coming to them are useful they will not come ahead to adopt them. As the building based on sound foundation lasts long. Similarly the programmes based on the needs and interests of these small groups would give better results in extension work.
4. Principle of Cooperation
The idea behind the extension work is the coming together of the rural people and the extension workers for social upliftment. The extension programmes should be the peoples’ programme with government aid. All should cooperate and help each other for this task of social upliftment.
5. Principle of Interests and Needs
The rural people should voluntarily participate in the extension work. To be effective it should start from the interests and needs of the rural family. The extension education should fulfil these needs of the people and create interest among them for extension programmes. Many times the needs of the people and extension programmes are quite different. Sometimes the extension workers clearly see the important needs of the community but the people hold some other needs to be more important. In such cases the extension worker should give priority to the felt needs of the people. While doing this he should create an atmosphere of confidence, which would help in converting the unfelt needs of the people into the felt needs in future. The extension worker is also learning while giving the learning experience to the people. He starts from the experience and traditions of the people and leads them towards their development.
6. Principle of Participation
Many things are learned while doing a particular work. Good extension work helps the rural people in identifying their problems and then helping them in solving these problems. People will not feel attached to the work if they are given ready-made things. While constructing a school building or an approach road, if the people participate in kind or labour they develop a sense of belonging towards that project. This also develops leadership in the village and increases the confidence of the people. The extension worker can obtain the participation of the people by requesting the social leader to preside at a meeting. The extension worker in such instances can accept the role of an audience or secretary and help in fulfilling the objectives of the meeting. The leadership qualities are developed in rural people, if they participate in extension programmes. Confidently they come forward to undertake future programmes.
7. Principle of Adaptability in the Use of Teaching Methods
There are different people and groups in the village. These people differ in their level of understanding and knowledge and therefore, only one extension method will not be of use in providing information to all. Written material will be of use for those who can read it, radio programmes will be of use for those who listen to the radio, meetings will be of use for those who attend them and demonstrations will be of use to those who see them. Research shows that the use of more than one extension method carries the message effectively to the people. Due to the non-availability of communication facilities and at times due to carelessness, extension workers sometimes use only one extension method. It reduces the effectiveness of the message. At times, new methods must be devised to meet new situations and changing conditions.
8. Principle of Leadership
It is said that there is one leader in ten persons. Instead of working alone the extension worker should utilize this leadership for increasing the speed of extension work. After identifying these leaders they should be trained and encouraged to do extension work. Many people never know they had any ability in this direction until extension workers gave them the opportunity. Extension workers and specialists should train and orient these voluntary leaders for good extension work.
9. Principle of Trained Specialists
Like other sciences, agriculture, animal husbandry and the home sciences are moving forward rapidly. Therefore, maintaining competency in any one of these fields is a continuous job. In the constant effort of extension workers to keep abreast of changes, research and teaching personnel must help in many ways. If there are no trained specialists behind the extension work then extension cannot thrive. These specialists are the link between research and application of the research on farmers’ fields. They have the responsibility of solving the problems of the extension workers in their subject. The subject matter specialist should have a broad outlook and he should know other subject matter fields related to family problems thereby concentrating on the welfare of the whole family and making his special contribution.
10. Principle of Satisfaction
The development programmes should lead to the satisfaction of the participants. The success of the extension work lies in the satisfaction of the people. If the people are not satisfied by participating in the programme, they will not participate in the future. Recognition and appreciation for work well done encourages voluntary leadership.
11. Principle of the Whole Family Approach
Extension work is for the whole family and it should reach all the members of the family. There should be place for the farmer, his wife and children in the programmes. Such programme will be useful and popular. While introducing innovations, if the extension worker neglects one member of the family there is a possibility of the rejection of the innovation. In U.P. a farmer sowed hybrid maize and increased his yields. But his wife did not like the chapatti prepared out of this maize as it had yellow colour. Yellow chapatti was considered as a sign of bad cooking in that community and, therefore, though the hybrid maize variety gave higher yields the family did not sow it in the following year. Had the extension worker approached the housewife and come to know her views perhaps he could have avoided the rejection of the innovation.
12. Principle of Evaluation
It is necessary to determine the teaching results in an unbiased way. For this it is necessary to review the development made so far and see whether the extension work is proceeding in the right direction. If it is not, then it is necessary to take corrective measures. Extension work is educational in nature and therefore, its effectiveness should be measured by measuring the changes in people resulting from the teaching process. It is no longer enough to have only plans and methods but it is necessary to determine the teaching results by scientific ways. The results of such evaluations would help the extension workers in improving the quality of the programmes in the future.
13. Principle of Applied Science and Democracy
In democracy, freedom of thought and the unbiased and objective approach of the scientists, establish facts used in the solution of problems. Scientists, based on research, portray facts before the people but the people have the freedom to decide the adoption or rejection of the innovation. Extension has to carry the findings of the research to the rural people and show them its relation in fulfilling their needs. The results of research give a factual basis for the correction of common superstitions and unfounded beliefs that arose in the past from inaccurate observations. They are passed along from generation to generation in the folkways of the people. Applied agricultural science is not a one-way process. As it carries the findings of the research to the farmers it also takes back the problems of the people to the scientists for experimentation and for finding out necessary solutions.
Apart from the foregoing there are four principles on which the extension service rests. These principles are: (a) the citizen is the sovereign in the democracy, (b) the home is the fundamental unit of civilization, (c) the family is the first training group of the human race, and (d) the average farm is endowed with great resources and facilities.
These are the principles of extension work. They are not universally applied in all the parts of the world due to differences in the types of farming, background and culture of people in different parts. However, they can be applied under new circumstances. In the first instance they may be tried experimentally and tested to see how ell they work and how they can be properly changed to fit the conditions of the people.
Agricultural Extension
It is defined as a special branch of extension which deals with the transfer of agricultural technologies from lab to land.
PHILOSOPHY OF EXTENSION EDUCATION
Philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom, a body of general principles or laws of a field of knowledge. Essentially philosophy is view of life and its various components. The practical implication is that the philosophy of a particular would furnish the principles or guidelines with which to shape of mold the programmes or activities relating to that discipline.
According to Kelsey and Hearne (1967) the basic philosophy of extension education is to teach people how to think, not what to think.
The philosophy of extension education has been described and interpreted in different ways by different authors and a clear picture cannot be drawn due to the very complexity of its nature. All one can do is try to gain a comprehensive idea by examining the view points of various authors.
According to Ensminger (1962), the philosophy of extension can be expressed in the following lines:
1. It is an educational process. Extension is changing the attitudes, knowledge and skills of the people.
2. Extension is working with men and women, young people, boys and girls to answer their needs and their wants Extension is teaching people what to want and ways to satisfy their wants.
3. Extension is “helping people to help themselves”.
4. Extension is “learning by doing” and “seeing is believing”.
5. Extension is development of individuals, their leaders, the society and their world as a whole.
6. Extension is working together to expand the welfare and happiness of people.
7. Extension is working in harmony with the culture of the people.
8. Extension is living relationship, respect and trust for each other.
9. Extension is a two-way channel and
10. Extension is a continuous, educational process.
Dahama (1965) gives the following points as the “Philosophy of Extension”
a. Self-help
b. People are the greatest resources
c. It is a cooperative effort
d. It has its foundation in democracy
e. It involves a two-way channel of knowledge and experience
f. It is based on creating interest by seeing and doing
g. Voluntary, cooperative participation in programmes
h. Persuasion and education of the people
i. The programme is based on the attitudes and values of the people and
j. It is a never – ending process.
Mildred Horton (1952) has described four principles, which make the philosophy of extension education. They are.
1. The individual is supreme in a democracy
2. The home is the fundamental unit in a civilization
3. The family is the first training group of the human race
4. The foundation of any permanent civilization must rest on the partnership of man and land
PRINCIPLES OF EXTENSION EDUCATION
Principles are generalized guidelines, which form the basis for decision and action in a consistent way. The universal truth in extension which have been observed and found to hold good under varying conditions and circumstances are enumerated below.
1. Principle of cultural difference: Culture simply means social heritage. There is cultural difference between the extension workers and the farmers. Difference between the extension workers and the farmers. Differences exist between groups of farmers also. The differences may be in their habits, customs, values, attitudes and way of life. Extension work, to be successful, must be carried out in harmony with the cultural pattern of the people.
2. Grass-roots principle: Extension programmes should start with local groups, local situation and local problems. It must fit to the local conditions. Extension work should start with where people are and what they have. Change should start from the existing situation.
3. Principles of interests and needs : People’s interests and people’s needs are the starting points of extension work. To identify the real needs and interests of the people are challenging tasks. The extension worker should not pass on his own needs and interests as those of the people. Extension work shall be successful only when it is based on the interests and needs of the people as they see them.
4. Principle of learning by doing: Learning remains far from perfect, unless people get involved in actually doing the work. Learning by doing is most effective in changing people’s behaviour. This develops confidence as it involves maximum number of sensory organs. People should learn what to do, why to do, how to do and with what result.
5. Principle of participation: Most people of the village community should willingly cooperate and participate in identifying the problems, planning of projects for solving the problems and implementing the projects in getting the desired results. It has been the experience of many countries that people become dynamic if they take decisions concerning their own affairs, exercise responsibility for and are helped to carry out projects in their own areas.
The participation of the people is of fundamental importance for the success of an extension programme. People must share in developing the programme and feel that it is their own programme.
6. Family principle: Family is the primary unit of society. The target for extension work should, therefore, be the family. That is, developing the family as a whole, economically and socially. Not only the farmers, the farm women and farm youth are also to be involved in extension programmes.
7. Principle of leadership: Identifying different types of leaders and working through them is essential in extension. Local leaders are the custodians of local thought and action. The involvement of local leaders and legitimization by them are essential for the success of programme.
Leadership traits are to be developed in people so that they of their own shall seek change from less desirable to more desirable situation. The leaders may be trained and developed to act as carriers of change in the villages.
8. Principle of adaptability : Extension work and extension teaching methods must be flexible and adapted to suit the local conditions. This is necessary because the people, their situation, their resources and constraints vary from place to place and time to time.
9. Principle of satisfaction : The end product of extension work should produce satisfying results for the people. Satisfying results reinforce learning and motivate people to seek further improvement.
10. Principle of evaluation : Evaluation prevents stagnation. There should be a continuous built-in method of finding out the extent to which the results obtained are in agreement with the objectives fixed earlier. Evaluation should indicate the gaps and steps to be taken for further improvement.
PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL EXTENSION WORK
The following Do’s and Dont’s may be taken to be more or less comprehensive outline of the guiding principles for successful extension work.
1. Do be through and upto-date in your professional knowledge and skills.
2. Do study local conditions and practices including social background of people.
3. Do keep village appointments.
4. Do introduce yourself during initial contacts and indicate the purpose of your visit.
5. Do try to remember every villager as a person (Develop good memory for races and names).
6. Do great every villager you know (and do it every where)
7. Do make sure that you are villagers and you are sincerely interested in their welfare.
8. Do identify yourself with the villagers as much as possible.
9. Do be informal and polite but neither to effusive nor too reserved.
10. Don’t begin by giving undue promises of benefits.
11. Do look and listen (Develop the art of listening)
12. Do use simple, natural, local languages which is meaningful to the villagers.
13. Don’t criticise or condemn the villagers.
14. Do avoid arguments.
15. Do give credit to villagers for their good ideas or suggestions (Don’t let it seem hat all the new ideas are yours)
16. Do admit ignorance.
17. Don’t correct a colleague or guide a subordinate in the presence of villagers.
18. Do talk in terms of the villagers interests.
19. Do begin with simple and common needs which can be easily fulfilled (Don’t in too high at first).
20. Don’t try to solve villagers problems for them. (Only help the people to help themselves).
21. Do insist that villagers or their representatives take part in preparing, executing and evaluating plans at the family village and Block levels.
22. Do use local leaders and co-operate with all persons and organizations developed to village improvement.
23. Do be the man behind the scenes.
24. Don’t leave things half done. (Whatever you do, do it thoroughly, so as to inspire the confidence of villagers).
25. Don’t use any kind of compulsion (Emphasis the education nature of extension work and avoid regulatory type of activities. Convince people through proper selection and combination of extension methods).
26. Do avoid giving anything free except your services.
27. Do guide the villagers in securing the needed supplies and services.
28. Do keep out of factions and politics.
29. Do try to extend the benefits of extension to all groups and individuals. (Don’t tie yourself only to a few villages or to a few good friends. Do show your concern for woman and youth as well as to weaker sections.
30. Do record all your visits to your assigned villages (while the visit is still fresh in your mind).
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