CLEARING HOUSE FUNCTIONS
In the field of Education, one of the important functions of the Central Government is to act as a clearing house of information. It is accordingly one of its responsibilities to collect, compile and publish educational statistics covering the entire country. In addition, it brings out journals and other published material on education and culture both in English and Hindi and a large part of this material relates to some selected programmes and schemes of the Ministry. A Students' Information Service operates in the Ministry and attends to enquiries about facilities for Higher Education in India and abroad.
In this chapter is given an account of the various activities in this area as well as of important conferences and meetings at the Central level.
Conference of Education Secretaries and Directors of Education/
Higher Education/School Education of States and Union Territory
Administrations The Conference of Education Secretaries and Directors of Education/Higher Education/School Education of States and Union Territory Administrations was held on November 1-3, 1974 to recommend to the Central Advisory Board of Education the strategy to be adopted for the development of education in the context of constraint on resources.
37th Meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education This Meeting was held, on 4th and 5th November 1974 in New Delhi and was attended, among others, by all the members of the Board, State Education Ministers, Member (Education), Planning Commission and Shri Om Mehta, Minister of State for Home Affairs. The Union Education Minister inaugurated the Meeting. The importance of the event, in the context of the present scarcity of resources, was underlined by the presence of the Prime Minister on the occasion. Details of the Meeting are given in the Introductory narrative preceding the chapters of' this Report.
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Standing Advisory, Committee on Educational and Cultural Statistics
The First meeting of the Advisory Committee on Educational and Cultural Statistics was held on 30th April and 1st May, 1974 at New Delhi, with the object of looking into the deficiencies of the current statistical system of Educational and Cultural Statistics. The meeting suggested many modifications to improve the collection of educational data. The tentative recommendations are to be placed before a conference of State Statistical Officers scheduled to be held in the near future.
Training Courses The Ministry assisted the Government of Madhya Pradesh in conducting the Inservice Training Courses at Ujjain for the officials dealing with the work of collection of educational statistics at District and Division levels by deputing its officials for the purpose.
Crash Programme Under the Crash Programme of clearing the arrears of collection of educational statistics, the officials of the Ministry went round the States of Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and West Bengal and the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh for the expeditious collection and finalisation of educational statistics on-the-spot. Officials of the Ministry were also sent to the Universities of Bangalore, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, Madurai Mysore, North Bengal and Sri Venkateswara for on the spot collection and reconciliation of educational data. Besides, the States of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and the Union Territory of A & N Islands, and Delhi deputed their officials to the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare for reconciliation and finalisation of the data on the spot.
Publications The Statistical Division of the Ministry brought out in printed and mimeographed form 12 documents on educational information and statistics. The Publication Unit brought out 23 publications during the year under report. These included the journals of the Ministry, the Education Quarterly, Shiksha Vivechan and Sanskriti.
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Students Information Unit The Students Information Services Unit continued rendering educational guidance services to the students and Student Advisory Bureaux in the country. It attended to about 7,350 enquiries regarding facilities for higher education in India and abroad. Nearly 2,000 persons visited the Reference Library attached to the Unit to consult the prospectuses and calendars of various Universities/Institutions in India and abroad. The work of collection and revision of informative material on facilities for higher studies in India and abroad was continued. 80 compilations on different topics/subjects of higher education in India and abroad were brought out/revised during the period under report. 672 additions were made to the Reference Library of the Unit by way of latest calendars, prospectuses and other reference literature about India and abroad. Some of the Students Advisory Bureaux attached to various Universities were also supplied with informative material to help them deal with the enquiries that they receive from students.
Paper situation In view of the shortage of paper required for Educational purposes, this Ministry has been assisting the State Governments/ Union Territories in procuring paper from Indian Mills through the Ministry of Industry & Supply, so that Textbooks and Exercise Books are made available to the students at reasonable price. The Ministry of Industry and Supply has agreed to allot paper from the Mills for educational purposes at concessional rates.
During the period ending 31st December, 1974, the Ministry has allotted 68669 tonnes of piper to State Governments/ Union Territories and Universities for various purposes such as School Textbooks, Exercise Books, School Examinations, Private Publishers, Granth Akademies, Universities Examinations and Correspondence Courses conducted by the Universities.