Freedom as Quality of Education: a Post-modern Perspective

Abstract

This paper is informed by Amertya Sen's idea of 'freedom as development' (Sen, 1999). I am. contending that freedom is the means and the end of education, a type of human development. Any development effort that ignores the human agency as an autonomous being to decide its fate defeats its purpose. Education, therefore, should aim at expanding freedom through freedom. Expansion of freedom is viewed both as the primary end and as a principal means of development, the Indian economist and noble prizewinner, Amertya Sen, has argued (1999:xi): "Development conSIsts of the removal of various types of unfreedoms that leave people with little choice and little opportunity of exercising their reasoned agency", (Sen, 1999:xii), he added. Education in the context of student development, therefore, means extending the freedom of the student in learning. Learning is something that comes from within the student and cannot be imposed