 Dear students, in this module, we are going to discuss the functionalist perspective on schooling and education. Functionalist perspective is a sociological approach that emphasizes the positive functions that institutions such as schools serve in the society. So, according to this perspective, schools serve several important functions including socialization, cultural transmission and social integration. So, when the functionalist perspective talks about the education system or the schooling system, according to them, the institution performs its functional role in the society and the school also performs its positive role in the society. The major role that performs is socialization. The role of the children's education is very important in today's modern school system. Parents, as the child grows up, they take out the child from their home environment and send it to the external environment. And the second important lesson for the child after the mother's birth is school. So, socialization is an important function that is performed through schools. After that, the important thing is the transmission of the culture. You see that the children learn different behaviors in the school, they learn customs and customs, especially, they learn how to behave in the environment and society they live in. So, the children's environment is very limited in the house and they go out and talk to the external society or the external environment. So, the school plays a very important role in this matter, how they want to become a useful city for the society. For this, they teach them the national values or the national cultural values. And this particular focus is on the different customs and customs of the society and how they learn the customs and customs. Along with this, the most important function is how the child can play an integrative role in the society or can be socially integrated. So, social integration means that the child has to feel that he is a different part from the society, rather, he is part of the society. So, to make him a part of the society, to make him a part of the society, to integrate him in the society, the same process is taught through which the rest of the people are integrated into the society. In Pakistan, for example, schools play an important role in socializing students to dominant cultural norms and values such as the importance of education and role of religion in society. So, schools also facilitate the cultural transmission by teaching students important knowledge and skills such as language and mathematics. So, one important function is to focus on the life ideology of the society to make it useful. So that they can learn what is the purpose of their life and how to spend their life. So, in the Pakistani society, because Islam is a life ideology, that is why the religious values are focused on schools. Along with this, the basic social skills are also taught in schools such as your language skills, you are taught to read, you are taught mathematics, you are taught basic alphabets, so that you can acquire the rest of the knowledge in later life. Schools also provide a structured environment in which students can learn important social norms, values and beliefs. And social integration is another function of school as they bring together students from diverse backgrounds and facilitate the social integration and understanding. So, in school, there is a very structured environment, that is why the child learns what is disciplined. Discipline is a very important aspect of our life and in it, we see that there is a case for a child in a structured form, that he can learn collective behaviour from different backgrounds, from different families and from different social backgrounds. Particularly, when it comes to social integration, it is very important for socialisation so that he does not feel isolated, but rather feel integrated and in this way, he can become a useful citizen of the society. By providing the students with a common experience, schools promote social cohesion and a sense of shared identity. So, functionalist perspective on schooling has been criticised for ignoring the negative consequences of education such as social reproduction of inequalities and reproduction of dominant cultural norms and values. Interestingly, only positive functions are encouraged from a functionalist perspective. So, a major criticism is that the negative consequences of a functionalist perspective ignore the education of schooling. A big negative consequence that comes from the schooling system is that potential inequalities are produced. When children go into competition, they do not have equitable opportunities or resources or equitable skills on the basis of which they are assumed that all of them are equal in their capabilities and they are put into competition on the basis of that. So, that is the basis of social inequality. So, this is a major criticism. Despite its limitations, the functionalist perspective on schooling is still relevant for understanding the positive functions that education serves in the society. And by analysing the ways in which the schools facilitate the socialisation, cultural transmission and social integration, we can gain a deeper understanding of the role of education in shaping individual and its collective behaviour. So, the full thought for you is to visit any school and see what the school is. According to the functionalists, all the functions that are mentioned, the school is performing all the functions, the function of socialisation, the function of social integration, the function of different skill learning, and the purpose of making the children a useful city for the society. Do all these functions fulfil the school or not?