 INDIAN NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR
 COOPERATION WITH UNESCO

During the period under, report, all the programmes and activities flowing from India's relations with Unesco were continued in full measure. To streamline the functioning of the Indian National Commission for Cooperation with Unesco, several changes were introduced. India was well-represented it the 17th General: Conference of Unesco held at Paris during the latter part of 1972. This chapter sets out in detail all the significant events and programmes carried out in cooperation with Unesco during the year.

Government's Relations with UNESCO

The most important event during the year was the 17th General Conference of Unesco held at Paris from 17th October to 21st November, 1972. The Indian delegation was composed of the following:

        
                      (i) Prof.  S. Nurul  Hasan, Minister of
                      Education & Social Welfare and
                      Culture                                      Leader
                       
                      (ii) Shri I. K. Gujral, Minister for
                      Information & Broadcasting.             Alternate Leader

Delegates

1. Shri I. D. N. Sahi, Secretary, Ministry of Education & Social Welfare, New Delhi.

2. Shri G. Parthasarathi, Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

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3. Shri Prem Kirpal, Chairman, Executive Board of Unesco.

4. Shri Ramesh Thapar, Director, India International Centre, New Delhi.

Alternate Delegates

1 Prof, Rais Ahmed, Head, Department of Physics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.

2. Shri Satish Chandra, Dean, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

3. Shri A. Rahman, Scientist, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi.

4. Shri T. R. Jayaraman, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education & Social Welfare, New Delhi.

5. Shri P. C. Chatterji, Deputy Director-General, All India Radio.

Advisers

1. Dr. (Mrs.) Kapila Vatsyayan, Deputy Educational Adviser, Department of Culture, New Delhi.

2. Shri C.S. Nayar, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Education & Social Welfare, New Delhi.

3. Shri M. Krishnamurti, First Secretary (UNESCO), Embassy of India in Paris, France.

4. Shri Desh Raj Singh, Special Assistant to the Minister of Education & Social Welfare, New Delhi.

5. Shri K. N. Johry, Principal Scientific Officer, Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi.

6. Shri K. L. Gandhi, Special Assistant to the Minister of Information & Broadcasiting, New Delhi.

7. Shri Krishan Lal Sondhi, Director, Indian Space Research Organisation, Department of Space, Bangalore.

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Prof. S. Nurul Hasan, Leader of the Indian Delegation Was elected as one of the 15 Vice-Presidents of the General Conference. Shri G. Parthasarathi, Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, one of the Indian Delegates, was elected as member of the Executive Board of Unesco, for a 4-year term. Shri Parthasarathi was also elected by the Executive Board as a member of the Board's Special Committee.

India was elected to the following Committees and Councils constituted by the General Conference:

(i) Legal Committee

(ii) Steering Committee of the UNISIST.

(iii) Co-ordinating Council of the Programme on Man and the Biosphere.

(iv) Co-ordinating Council on the International Hydrological Decade.

The Indian Delegation moved a resolution in the General Conference for the admission of Bangla Desh to Unesco. This was adopted by an overwhelming majority and Bangla Desh was admitted to the membership of UNESCO.

Dr. Prem Kirpal, Indian Member of the Executive Board and its Chairman attended the following sessions of the Executive, Board held at Paris:-

(i) 89th Session held at Madrid and Paris from 29th May to 7th July, 1972.

(ii) 90th Session held at Paris from 25th September to 18th November, 1972.

Participation in the Conference/Meetings sad Seminars

Shri M. Krishnamurti, First Secretary, Embassy of India, Paris, attended the 7th and the 8th Sessions of the Council of International Bureau of Education at Geneva held from July 17-22, 1972 and from January 16-19, 1973 respectively.

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Asian Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi.

Administered by the Government of India in collaboration with UNESCO, the Asian Institute of Educational Planning and Administration offers high-level courses In educational planning and Administration for educational administrators from the Asian region. It thus constitutes an important part of India's contribution to the educational development of the Asian region.

A brief account of the main activities undertaken by the Institute during the period (January-December 1972) is given below:

Training Courses for Educational Planners and Administrators

The main training course organised annually by the Institute, is of 5-6 months' duration and is specially designed to meet the needs of and to improves the equipment, of Asian educational planners and administrators, -by acquainting. them with concepts fundamental to educational planning and administration and by giving them a grounding in the basic skills and techniques essential to educational planning and administration.

The XII Training Course

The XII Training Course which commenced on September 1, 1971 concluded on January 29, 1972. This course attracted the largest ever number of Participants (30) from 12 countries viz.; Afghanistan (1), Republic of China, India (3), Indonesia (7-including 5 under INS-28), Iran (2), Khmer Republic (2), Republic of Korea (1), Malaysia (3), Nepal (2), Philippines (2), Sri Lanka (3-including 3 under UNDP Programme) and Thailand (3).

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The XIII Training Course

In view of the fact, that, the present agreement between Gov- ernment of India and UNESCO concerning the Institute was to come to an end on 31-12-1972, the dates for the XIII Training Course for Educational Planners and Administrators were advanced to July 20- December 19, 1972. Twenty-eight participants from 13 Asian countries viz.; Afghanistan (1), Bangldesh (1), Indonesia (2), India (3), Iran (3) Khmer Republic (2) Republic of Korea (1), Laos (1), Malaysia (3), Nepal (3), Singapore (1), Sri Lanka, (3), and Thailand (3) attended, the course. One participant from Iran and another from Khmer Republic left on medical. grounds without completing the course.

Advanced Training Seminar on Educational Planning and Administration

One of, the special programmes organised by the Institute during the year under review was an, Advanced Training Seminar on Educational Planning and Management from October, 30 December 2, 1972. Seventeen Participants and experts participated in, the Seminar. The countries represented, included Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India.

The Training Seminar, commenced on October 30, 1972 and concluded on the December 2, 1972. The first three weeks of the Seminar provided a sort of refresher course for eight selected alumni of the Institute from Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The fourth week was devoted to the presentation and discussion of papers on educational planning and administration based on first-hand practical experience of some of the alumni and other distinguished educational planners including Unesco Experts. The fifth and the concluding week was devoted to identification of specific programme and projects to be taken up by the Institute in the post-1972 phase.

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The Seminar made a number of recommendations to the Unesco, Unesco Regional Office of Education, Bangkok and the Member States regarding regional activities particularly in the field of educational planning and management in the Asian region.

Research and Studies

As part of the preparations for this Seminar, the Institute orga- nised two surveys. The first one was designed to survey the present position of educational planning and plan implementation in different Asian countries. 'The report was prepared on the basis of replies to a questionnaire received from 11 countries in the region; Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Korea, Laos,Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and VietNam.

The other Survey was more limited in scope and was designed essentially to ascertain the training needs in educational planning and administration in the Asian region as these are seen by some of the country representatives themselves. The country representatives were the alumni of the Institute-Participating in the Advanced Training Seminar. The six countries which responded to the questionnaire are: Afghanistan, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The survey revealed the highest preference in favour of workshops, seminars and meetings of about 2 weeks duration. The second priority went in favour of tailor-made programmes of three to six weeks duration.

Participation in the National Programmes of Member-States

(a) Indonesia:

At the request of the Indonesian authorities, the Institute collaborated in conducting a special training programme for selected educational administrators from that country in order to equip them for the re-construction of Indonesian education. The

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programme was undertaken as a part of UNDP/UNESCO Project INS-37 of Indonesia which aimed at training by 1974 about 200 administrators in the management of educational reform in Indonesia. The Institute organised a special training course in Educational Management and Administration of Educational Reform for 19 selected Indonesian educational administrators from March 2-April 30, 1972. The course marked the second phase of this four-phased training project.

The main emphasis in the course was on the preparation of teaching materials in Bahasa Indonesia which the participants could use in the training programmes to be conducted by them upon their return to Indonesia.

In the third phase of the programme, the participants in the special Indonesia course, accompanied by Dr. A.W.P. Guruge, Unesco Expert at the Institute, went on third-country visits to Thailand and Malaysia for two weeks to study selected educational programmes and projects in these two countries. In the fourth and the final phase of the programme, a Consolidation Seminar was held at Djakarta from May 10-15, 1972, in which Mr. Veda Prakasha, Executive Director and Dr. Guruge participated.

(b) India

The Institute collaborated with the National Staff College for Educational Planners and Administrators in organising a oneweek Training Seminar (June 26-July 1, 1972) for Direct Recruits to Maharashtra Educational Service (Class I and Class II).

(c) Sri Lanka

At the request of the Government,of Shri Lanka, the Institute collaborated in organising a Seminar on Educational Administration. The Seminar which was principally for the benefit of the Directors of Education of that country, was held at Colombo

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from October 16-21, 1972. Thirty-eight persons, including 14 Directors of Education and 15 Chief Education' Officers, participated in the Seminar.

Senior Fellowship Programme

Mr. Kresno, Special Assistant to the Chairman, Office of Educational Development, Ministry of Education & Culture, Djakarta (Indonesia) was at the Institute as a Senior Fellow from March 2-April 30, 1972. He rendered considerable Assistance towards the conduct of the Special Training Course for, selected Indonesian educational planners and administrators, described above. The present Agreement with UNESCO, under which the Institute has been functioning, came to an end on December 31, 1972. The Regional programmes of the Asian Institute will be continued in future by the Asian Programmes Division of the National Staff College for Educational Planners and Administrators, with suitable assistance from UNESCO, UNDP and other international authorities.

National Staff College for Educational Planners and Administrators

The National Staff College for Educational Planners and Administrators was set up at New Delhi as a registered society under the Registration of Societies Act XXI of 1860. The College was registered on 31-12-1970 but came into existence on March 1, 1971.

The main functions of the Staff College are to organise pre- service and in-service training, conferences, workshops, seminars, etc., for senior educational officers of the Central Government, State Governments and Union Territories, University and College administrators and teacher-educators; to undertake, aid, promote and co-ordinate research in various aspects of educational planning and administration; to offer consultancy service to State Governments and other educational institution; to act as a clearing house of ideas and information or research, training and extension; to collaborate with other agencies and offer fellowships in furtherance of the objectives of the Staff College; and to

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Provide, on request, facilities for training and research in educa- tional planning and administration to other countries, especially of the Asian Region, and collaborate with them in such programmes. At the expiry of the present agreement with Unesco under which the Asian 'Institute of 'Educational Planning and Administration was functioning, the National Staff College through its Asian Programmes Division will continue to provide services to educational planners and administrators from the Asian region with assistance from UNESCO, UNDP and other international agencies.

The new training programmes of the Staff College will commence from 1974-75. The interim period is being utilised for tooling up the College and for completing the administrative and other arrangements necessary for launching the new programmes and for organising some initial training programmes, seminars and studies. Also, the training programmes developed earlier by the Asian Institute will be continued.

With the establishment of the Staff College, the work being done under the Indian Programme of the Asian Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, which was initiated in 1969 as a precursor to the National Staff College, was transferred to the Staff College, with effect from 1-1-1971.

The work done by the Staff College during the period under review (January-December, 1972) is briefly described below:

Study Group on the Training District Education Officers

In pursuance of the recommendations of the National Seminar on the Role, Function, Recruitment and Training of District Education Officers organised by the Asian Institute in 1970, the Government of India set up a Study Group to identify the training needs of District Education Officers and to specify the objectives, types, duration and, contact of the courses to be organised for them, to suggest methods of training and to recommend institutional arrangements for this purpose at the Central and State levels. The report of the Study Group has since been submitted to the Government of India.

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Training Seminar for Direct Recruits to Maharashtra Educational Service

The National Staff College collaborated with the Asian Institute in organising a training seminar for direct recruits to Maharashtra Educational Service. The one week training seminar was held at New Delhi from June 26-July 1, 1972. Fourteen direct recruits to Maharashtra Educational Service (class I and class II) along with the Deputy Director, State Institute of Maharashtra participated in the training programme.

Study of Middle School Education in India

This study was initiated under the Indian Programme of the Asian Institute of Educational Planning and Administration. Two pilot studies have been undertaken in U.P. and Rajasthan. A draft report for U.P. has since been received. As regards Rajasthan State, the data is being processed at the State Institute of Education Udaipur, Rajasthan.