ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the issue of equity. It examines the conflicts which often result from the pursuit of greater equity through the rapid expansion of the educational services, and those which are likely to arise from efforts geared towards maintaining or improving the quality of the existing educational services. The chapter describes the role of education in preserving cultural diversity in multicultural societies and the conflicts which the pursuit of this goal is likely to generate with efforts directed towards achieving a greater degree of social cohesion or national integration. It also examines the ways in which schools might help with the achievement of two goals. The chapter explains the importance of the contribution which other social institutions must make if the efforts by the schools in this direction are to be successful. Such institutions include the religion, the music, the dances and other art forms, the language and other aspects of their cultural systems.
