TEACHER AND THE LOCAL BOSS 61 leaders; (iii) efficiency of educational administration under the Panchayati Raj institutions and suggestions for improvement. A random sample was chosen of schools and teachers. An open-ended questionnaire was administered, supplemented by informal discussions. The district under survey has 216 secondary schools of which 104 are zilla parishad schools, or those aided or fully maintained by government. Sixty-four schools out of the 104 were taken at random. (Table I). One teacher from each school was selected for the survey.7 TAB >LE I RANDOM SELE( moN OF SCHOOLS AN! > TEACHERS Number of Schools in District Private Schools Govt, ^ P, or Aided Schools Selected Schools Selected Teachers Number Percentage 216 100 112 51.8 104 48.2 64 29.6 64 A brief questionnaire of five items, allowing plenty of room for the respondents' views and observations., was supplied to all teachers in the sample. The object of the survey was explained to them in detail. They were assured orally as well as in writing that their identity would in no case be revealed to the authorities or anyone of influence. In addition, the questionnaire contained a note that ^this information ' shall not be used for any purpose other than research work." Poor Response Only when it was promised that neither the name of the district nor the name of the school would be disclosed did some teachers agree to extend co-operation. In four cases the teachers flatly refused, saying it would ^unnecessarily put me into trouble.59 In a couple of cases the wives of the teachers advised the author either to abandon the survey or to keep their husbands out of it. The response, to start with, was alarmingly negative. After repeated approaches, requests and reminders, ultimately only 28 (43.75 per cent) duly-filled questionnaires could be collected, certainly not a satisfactory response (Table II), proof in itself that teachers are extremely reluctant to take the risks involved. During visits to the schools, teachers made their points, but off the record. In the scrutiny of the collected questionnaires an interesting phenomenon attracted attention and revealed the delicacy of the entire exercise. As usual at the end of the questionnaire there were blanks against the name, position held, place or village, and district of the respondent. Out of 28 who returned the questionnaire, names were given by only four, two of whom did not reveal their village or place. Four