ANNUAL REPORT 1963-64

 INTRODUCTORY

During the year 1963-64, the Ministry of Education not only maintained the tempo of its normal work but also recorded a number of notable developments in its Organisation and activities. The most important development was its expansion through amalgamation with the Ministry of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs. In accordance with the Presidential Order dated 21st November, 1963, the Ministry of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs which had been bifurcated from the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research in 1958 was combined with the Ministry of Education to form a composite Ministry with two Departments-the Department of Education and the Department of Science. This report outlines the activities of the Department of Education during the year 1963-64, and indicates the programmes proposed for the next financial year.

2. Scope and Functions.-In the field of education, the scope and functions of the Union Government are limited in view of the fact that, under the Constitution, education is the direct responsibility of the State Governments. However, there are subjects included in the Union List of the Constitution for which the Union Government have the sole executive responsibility. These are-maintenance of the Central Universities and institutions of national importance declared as such by Parliament by law, Union agencies and institutions for professional, vocational or technical training or for promotion of special studies or research, and the co-ordination and determination of standards in institutions of higher education or research.

2.2. Though education is essentially a state responsibility, one of the directives of the Constitution enjoins that the `State' shall endeavour to provide for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. According to the spirit of this directive, the Union Government share the responsibility of the State Governments in the matter of spreading elementary education. According to another directive of the Constitution the `State' is required to promote educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people which also increases the responsibility of the Union Government for the educational development of the country as a whole. Emphasis is also laid, in the Constitution, on the need for economic and social planning, as mentioned in the Concurrent List, one of the essential aspects of which is educational planning.

2.3 One of the special directives of the Constitution enjoins upon the Union Government the duty of developing, enriching and spreading the Hindi language. In the implementation of this directive, the Ministry of Education has an important role to play. As a federal agency the Ministry is also responsible for collection and dissemination of educational information for the country as a whole and for all programmes of international collaboration in the fields of education, science and culture.

2.4. These obligations of the Union Government are discharged by the Ministry of Education through the various programmes of activities, pilot projects and research conducted on the one hand by its Department of Education and on the other through the agency of different bodies like the University Grants Commission, the National Council of Educational Research and Training, the Central Hindi Directorate and some other similar organisations financed and/or administered by the Union Government. The responsibilities of the Union Government in the state sector of education. are discharged through a broad-based system of grants-in-aid to the respective State Governments for developing their educational programmes. The efforts of the Union Government, since independence and particularly since the commencement of the Constitution, have accordingly been mainly directed towards ensuring the development of such a national policy and programme of education as can help, to the fullest possible extent, in the early, realisation of the educational objectives that the nation has set for itself.

2.5. In the field of cultural activities, the efforts of the Union Government, through the years after independence, have been directed not only towards conserving, unearthing and rediscovering the ancient cultural heritage of this country, but also towards assuming some direct responsibility for promoting art and culture. The cultural programmes implemented by the Ministry emphasise such activities as express and promote the basic unity of ,.Indian culture, contribute towards the promotion of emotional integration among people in various parts of the country and bring the rural and urban people closer to one another. Besides maintaining and developing the few cultural institutions of national importance which Were in existence before independence, the Union Government have since set up new institutions to provide guidance in the various fields of art and culture at an all-India level, and have carried on an extensive programme of strengthening voluntary organisations in different fields of culture.

2.6. The Union Government have also been pursuing extensive.prog- rammes of cultural relations with other countries of the world. Through exchange of cultural delegations and participation in the activities of mutual interest these programmes are aimed at projecting India's cultural heritage abroad and at promoting mutual goodwill and understanding between,India and other countries of the world in all artistic, literary, and cultural matters. These programmes are planned in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs.

3. Organisation.-The Department of Education of the Ministry of Education consists of all the divisions previously under the Ministry of Education with the addition of the Cultural and External Relations Divisions transferred from the erstwhile Ministry of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs. For purposes of Organisation, the Department of Education functions through the following divisions : (1) Administration, (2) Elementary and.Basic Education, (3) Secondary Education, (4) University Education, (5) Social Education and Social Welfare, (6) Languages, (7) Physical Education and Recreation, (8) Scholarships, (9) Cultural Activites and (10)External Relations. In addition, three units, namely, Central Schools, Plan Coordination and Statistical, and the Secretariat of the Indian National Commission for Unesco also function in the Department.

3.2. Besides the divisions mentioned above, the, Department of Education functions through several attached and subordinate offices; and the pace of its various programmes and activities is supplemented by the efforts made at non-official level by a few autonomous organisations, financed wholly by the Ministry of Education. A list of all such offices and organisations is given at Annexure I.

3.3. The Works Study, involving simplification of methods and procedures, work measurement and Organisation analysis in the Ministry had been completed last year. During 1963, the decisions based on the results of the study were implemented. Work study cells were also set up in the National Archives of India and the National Discipline Scheme Directorate.

3.4. In accordance with one of the recommendations of the Estimates Committee, a periodical review of the `Standing Charges' of the Ministry was conducted during the period with the assistance of the Internal Economy Committee. As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the Special Reorganisation Unit's staffing proposals, examined in detail by the Work Study Team, have been implemented in the Organisation of the Ministry.

4. The Advisory Bodies.-The Department of Education is guided in its policy and programme in the various fields of education and culture by advisory bodies set up for the purpose of aligning expert and public opinion with its activities, wherever possible. In the field of education, the main advisory body is the Central Advisory Board of Education which was established in 1935. The Board has 5 standing committees for elementary education, secondary education, university education, social education, and for general purposes. The Board consists of representatives of the Union and State Governments (generally the State Education Ministers or Directors), representatives of the universities and Parliament, and distinguished educationsists of the country, with the Union Education Minister as the ex-officio chairman, and the Educational Adviser to the Union Government as ex-officio member. The Board thus provides at the highest level a common platform where the representatives of the Union and the State Governments can meet and take joint decisions on educational policies and programmes.

4.2. Apart from the Central Advisory Board of Education, the Ministry has had to set up over the course of years several other committees, in the fields of education and culture for dealing with specific problems in greater detail. A list of all such advisory bodies which functioned during the whole or part of the year 1963-64 is given at Annexure II. The work of such advisory bodies is reported in their proper context in the various relevant chapters of this report.

4.3. During the year, however, a review of all the advisory committees functioning in connection with the work of the Department of Education was made. It was felt that the setting up of a large number of advisory committees in the various fields of education did not produce the desired results and rather contribution towards the dulition of the responsibility and the importance of the Central Advisory Board of Education. As a result, it has been decided to wind up those committees whose work was found to be overlapping with the functions and the activities of the Ministry and its other agencies, mainly with a view to making better and greater utilisation of the oldest advisory body of the Ministry, which is the Central

Advisory Board of Education. Similarly, in the field of cultural activities, some of the advisory committees were considered superfluous. All such committees in the fields of education and culture have been marked with asterik in Annexure II.

5. Mid-Plan Appraisal for Schemes of General Education.-The year under review has been marked by extensive educational planning as a sound basis for formulating short-term and long-term policies and programmes. A Mid-Plan Appraisal of the Third Five-Year Plan of schemes of General Education was the first major step in this planning taken with the object of examining those aspects of the implementation of the Plan which require special attention at this stage so that more rapid progress is possible during the next two years. The appraisal has shown that in every sector a steady rate of expansion has been maintained during the first half of the Third Plan.

5.2. Elementary Education : Efforts to expand educational facilities for children in the age-group 6-11 have resulted in larger enrolment in primary schools than anticipated at the beginning and there is every likelihood that the target of bringing 76.4 per cent of children in this age-group to school may be exceeded by the end of the Plan. The Plan now envisages an additional enrolment of 163.84 lakh children at primary level against the original target of 152.95 lakh. For middle schools (age-group 11-14), the Plan envisages an additional enrolment of 35 lakh children of which 47.0 per cent was achieved by the end of the first two years.

5.3. In the field of girls' education at the primary stage, the revised target envisages an additional enrolment of 93.86 lakh girls in the total enrolment target of 163.84 lakh children. The estimated achievement by the end of the Plan is likely to fall 10 per cent below the revised targets, although the original Plan targets would still be fulfilled. At the middle school stage, against the total estimated target of 42.2 lakh children, the additional enrolment in respect of girls is expected to be 13.8 lakh. Estimated achievement in enrolment varies, however, from State to State, the main lag in girls' education figuring in the educationally "backward" States.

5.4. Secondary Education : In the first two years, the enrolment achieved in secondary schools was 55 per cent. The total additional enrolment estimated for the first three years of the Plan will be 84 per cent of the original target for the whole Plan period. Indications are that the additional enrolment by the end of the third Plan would be 23.07 lakh as against the 16.48 lakh children originally estimated and 22.22 lakh as subsequently revised by the States. In regard to girls' education for this age-group (14-17), the revised target envisages an enrolment of 5.24 lakh additional girls against the total target of 22.22 lakh children. The estimated achievement by the end of the third Plan is 108 per cent of the revised targets which exceed the original targets by 12 per cent.

5.5. Higher Education : In the higher education sector, as in other sectors there has been an impressive expansion during the present span of the third Plan. For instance, against an enrolment of 8.84 lakh in 1960-61 at the university stage (in colleges other than, professional and technical), the enrolment increased roughly to 10.50 lakh by 1962-63 registering an approximate increase of about 20 per cent. The increase in the enrolment at the college level during the Plan period is estimated to

be of the order of nearly 60 per cent. Thus, the progress in the enrolment during the first two years of the third Plan conforms to the estimated. increase during the whole Plan period. The number of colleges (exclusive of intermediate colleges) is 1,908 and the number of universities is 55 in 1963-64 as against 1,544 colleges, and 45 universities at the end of the second Five-Year Plan.

5.6. Amongst significant developments in the neither of expansion of higher education, special mention may be Made of increased enrolment in science subjects in the universities and colleges in relation to the total university enrolment. For instance, the average annual increase in the enrolment in science subjects during second Plan was 20,000. As against this, the annual average increase in similar enrolment during the first two years of the current Plan has been 43,000.

5.7. Thus, on the whole, considering the limited financial resources available for education, there has been an unprecedented expansion at all levels of education during the first three years of the third Five-Year Plan. But, though avenues of access to education at every stage have broadened much more rapidly in the current Plan than previously, the extent of regional disparities or the gap between boys' and girls' education have not been narrowed to the same extent.

6. Qualitative Improvement.-In the effort to cope with the expanding enrolment at all levels of education, the need for essential qualitative improvement has not been lost sight of; in fact, concerted measures have been adopted by the Union Government and the State Governments to raise the quality of education from the elementary level to the university stage. Some of these measures may be mentioned here. State Institutes. of Education for the training of elementary and secondary teachers leave been set up by the State Governments with the full assistance of the Union Government. Regional Colleges of Education for the training of teachers for multipurpose schools have been started by the National Council of Educational Research and Training in cooperation with the State Governments concerned. A number of Centres for Advanced Study have been established in different universities with the assistance of the University Grants Commission for the purpose of raising standards of higher learning and research. Efforts have also been made to increase the pay scales of teachers at all levels, more successfully in the field of higher education. A number of measures have been adopted to improve the quality of textbooks for various levels of education. And, schemes have been sponsored, some of them in cooperation with foreign governments, for promoting low-priced republication of standard books in various subjects particularly in science and technology from some of the advanced countries. With a view to democratising educational opportunities amongst wider sections of the public, the scope of scholarship and loan schemes has been extended.

6.2. Though efforts have been made to improve the standards of education at all levels, as briefly indicated above, much more needs to be done in. this direction. Overcrowding in classes, unfavourable teacher-pupil ratio and shortage in qualified teaching personnel, particularly in subjects like science., mathematics and foreign languages-these are only some of the problems which have assumed urgency in the context of the increasing need for improving the quality and standards of education at all levels all over the country.

7. The Fourth and Perspective Plans.-The first steps for the formulation of the fourth Five-Year Plan have also been taken. For this purpose, a Central Working Group on General Education was set up whose preliminary report has been received and is under examination, in the Ministry of Education and the Planning Commission. The State Governments Also have initiated some action and Working Groups on Education at the State level have been set up. Their reports are expected to be receivd very shortly.

7.2 It has also been decided to formulate a long-term perspective plan of educational development to cover the next three Plans (1966-81) and a Central Planning Group has been set up for the purpose. The State Governments have been requested to prepare perspective plans of educational development spread over the next fifteen years and the fundamental issues involved in them as well as the fourth Five-Year Plan are proposed to be discussed in a Conference of Education Ministers in April 1964

8. Budget. As against the total sanctioned grant of Rs. 57.59 crore including the provisions made for the Department of Education in the Demands operated by the Ministries of Home Affairs and Finance) for 1963-64, the revised estimates were fixed at Rs. 62.91 crore and the budget estimates for 1964-65 have been proposed at Rs. 77.08 crore.