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Family is a powerful and active informal agency of education. The infant begins its life under the fostering affection and care of his parents. and other near and dear ones who are associated with his family. As the child grows it receives the first lessons of life from the family and tries to imbibe the habit, ideals and patterns of behaviour of the family members. In this way the family continues to influence the child through out its life. The child gets three important kinds of help from the family: They are affection, protection and socialization. For the upbringing of the child, there is no better institution than the family. Each members of the family has an important role to influence the personality of the child. The foundation of child's future life is laid in the family and in later life, it

123 becomes very difficult, if not impossible, for the child to demolish or reconstruct these foundations. In the words of Swamy Dayanand 'Blessed is the family, fortunate is the child whose parent be godly and learned. 19 Jagadish Chandra Bose got an insight into his scientific ingenuity from his mother's conversation during the childhood. So Rousseau the famous naturalist states that 'Education begins at birth and 20 the proper nurse is the mother'. According to Frobel - Mothers are the ideal teachers and informal education given by home is most effective and natural. The family looks after the child's physical development, lays the foundation of character, gives religious education acquaints with the relatives of life and provides the right kind of environment for the development of interest, tendencies, motivations, intelligence and other processes. 21 The family is the oldest basic and fundamental unit of human society. It consists of the husband, wife and children together with all the young and old dependents. A family consists of inter related persons who interact with one another in different ways. Each family has its own distinct habits of clothing, eating, thinking, talking and living. These are the items of that family's culture. This culture has to be preserved and transmitted by each family from generation to generation. According to Aileen Ross family is A group of people usually related as some particular type of

124 kindred, who may live in one household and whose unity resides in patterning of rights and duties, sentiments and authority. 22 Scholars have talked about different forms of Indian family. K.P.Chatopadhyay has given three types of family: simple, compound and composite. 23 According to Irawati Karve, the traditional ancient Indian family (vedic and epic periods) was joint in terms of residence, property and 24 functions. She has given five characteristics of joint family: common residence, common kitchen, common property, common family worship. and common kinship relationship. On this basis she defines joint family as a group of people who generally live under one roof, eat food cooked at one hearth, hold property in common, participate in common family worship, and are related to each other as some particular type of 25 kindred. Joint family system was the chief characteristic of Indian family. With the active co-operation, love and sympathy of father, mother, uncle, aunt, grandfather and grandmother together with other close relations, the children imitated the habits and thoughts of his elders in a natural way. In olden days the head of the family had power and control over the family members. But today family discipline and control are gradually decreasing on account of democratic process and economic progress, urge for freedom and initiative by the young ones. In the past family

125 traditions and social customs held heir sway over the lives of all the members of the family. Each member was conscious and sensitive about the hierarchy of relationships and values prevalent in his family. In the joint family individual's interests are subordinated to the interests of the family as a whole and the status of members is determined by their age and relationship. The authority in the family was determined on the principle of seniority. The status of family had been high in the Indian Society from the Vedic times onwards. The advice and guidance of the elder members were considered valuable for leading a flawless family life. Among the four asramas brahmacarya, garhastya, vanaprastha and sanyasa, the grhasthasrama or the period of household life was considered as central for the well being of the whole society. At that time family was the basic source of the conduct, career and education of a child. One of the important characteristics of the ancient family was that several families lived together as a single group. This system had its own advantages and disadvantages. The family owned common property and worked together for the whole family. Since the members were related by blood they had a high level of unity and integrity. The children of the joint family lived together and their chances of working learning and playing collectively were abundant.

126 But today the picture of the child in a nuclear family is just the reverse. A small modern family cannot satisfy the diverse needs of the child within the limited family circle. The child's physical, mental, emotional and vocational development go beyond the powers and capacities of the small individual or nuclear family. In order to provide for the diverse developmental needs of the children, new institutions like childcare centers Kindergartens etc. are being established either by the community or by the state. In spite of all this development the importance of the family as a powerful informal agency of education has not become less because each member of the family plays a role of his/her own to influence the growing personality of the child. During the initial period of language acquisition the family activities and necessities of inter communications make the child fit to equip himself with a working vocabulary. The child receives the first lesson of speech in the family and learns the mother tongue in a natural way. Gradually this learning and use of language increases as the child grows and gets more and more education in the mother tongue the education of which is perfectly informal in all aspects. A child learns the tongue of its parents very fast. In a joint family since the family circle is very wide the chances for using language in various contexts and emotional states are many. Hence the range and

127 scope of the language efficiency of the child from the joint family is much better when compared to the child of the nuclear family. If the parents or family members use more than one language the child learns those languages also. For example if the mother or father is a Sanskrit scholar child is given opportunity to listen and imitate the words and verses uttered by them. Similarly the presence of uncles and other close relatives. who are Sanskrit scholars also creates a family atmosphere conducive to the learning of Sanskrit. Often children of the joint family were given their early education by the family members like grand fathers, uncles and elder brothers. This is reflected in many traditional stories. If the parents were short of time to take care of the education of the children, this responsibility was taken over by the relatives. The child gets the first lesson of vocation in the family informally from those who are engaged in the family vocation. The child becomes a sort of apprentice under them until he learns the profession. Like this, children learn the first lessons of living together, working together and helping each other.