under the scheme, to the Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mysore, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. On account of the emergency, only skeleton staff could be given to each Unit during the current year. In 1964-65 it is proposed to strengthen the Units by providing additional staff.
19. Establishment and Development of Central Schools.-The Central Schools Scheme has been formulated by the Union Government in pursuance of the recommendation of the Second Pay Commission to provide educational facilities to the children of transferable Union Government employees as well as of other floating population. The scheme, as finalised, envisages the establishment, in a phased manner, of about 100 higher secondary schools, with subsidised hostel facilities at various stations, where the Union Government have a larger number of employees. These schools, with Hindi and English as common media of instruction, are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, and will cater, in order of priority, to the needs of the children of defence personnel, Union Government employees, members of the allIndia services, floating population and others. Some of the salient features of Central Schools are : higher teacher-pupil ratio, strengthening science laboratories and libraries, a large range of electives under humanities and science subjects, and physical training under the National Discipline Scheme and Junior N.C.C. As proposed in the previous year, regimental schools at various cantonment areas have been taken over for development as Central Schools. During 1963-64, twenty such schools with an enrolment of 11,500 children have been taken over for the purpose.
19.2. During 1964-65, it is proposed to take over, under the scheme, about 25 more regimental schools and IO schools either from the State Governments or from other agencies. It is also proposed to grant liberal assistance to a few other schools which conform to the standard of the Central Schools and serve the same purpose.
20. Central Board of Secondary Education.-The Central Board of Secondary Education was reconstituted by the Government of India, Ministry of Education with effect from 1st July, 1962, with a view to make the services of the Board available to various educational institutions in the country and abroad, to meet the educational needs of students whose parents have to Move from one State to another, and to set up an all-India standard for the Secondary stage of education. Simultaneously, the Board of Higher Secondary Education, Delhi, was merged into the Central Board and consequently the schools affiliated to the Delhi Board and the examination conducted by it were taken over by the Central Board,. The Board has also instituted an All-India Higher Secondary Examination which provides for a unified syllabus with Hindi and English is media of institution, and examination. These courses have so far been introduced in class IX in 45 schools situated in different parts of India. The total, number of schools recognised by the Board is now 388 including one in Tehran. Out of these, 80 schools including 20 Central Schools, were newly recognised during the period under review. Since its reconstitution, the Board has made some reforms in its examinations. These include the introduction of objective-type tests and the system of internal assessment.
21. Central Institute of English, Hyderabad.-The Central Institute of English was established by the Ministry In November 1958 as an autonomous institution with a view to reformulating the objectives of English teaching in India, modernising the methods of teaching English and promoting in our
14
schools and colleges, a reasonably correct and useful achievement in English as a second language both in its spoken and written forms. The Institute has so far trained 510 teachers at all levels. It has produced text materials for a preparatory course in English for the pre-university year. It has published research articles in two annual issues of its Bulletin and also two monographs. Specimen syllabuses have also been devised and published for almost till levels of English teaching.
21.2. The Board of Governors of the Institute has recently sanctioned schemes for a production unit to look after the production of text materials, an extension unit for taking up extension work with universities and secondary boards in order to canalise the impact of the Institute on these bodies, and also an Institute Grants Committee for aiding similar ventures in the field and for bringing about a uniformity in the methodology of the courses taught at institutes of English in this country. The Ministry has accorded its approval to a scheme for the construction of a permanent home for the Institute. The Board of Governors has accordingly implemented a scheme of approximately 15 lakhs of rupees for the construction work. It is expected that these buildings will be ready for occupation in a few months.
22. Pre-Vocational Training--Youth Vocational Centres (Age-Group 11-14).-The centres are intended to impart pre-vocational training to, children in the age-group 11+ to 14+, who, for reasons of economic necessity or lack of aptitude, have discontinued their studies after their primary education. It is proposed to establish 65 centres in various States/Union Territories (not more than 5 centres in each State) on an experimental basis during the third Five-Year Plan. The centres will be located in rural and semi-urban areas, and attached to selected high/higher secondary/multipurpose schools or other schools where headmasters/principals are persons of high calibre and have the necessary capacity for supervision and management.
22.2. The centres will conduct both part-time and full-time courses; the. latter will be of three years' duration. A composite training course consisting of both general education and vocational training, it will include basic fitting, turning, elementary metal work, carpentry, gas welding, smithy, moulding and agriculture, on the one hand and on the other languages (regional language. and English/Hindi), science, social studies, arithmetic and general knowledge. The instructional programme will also include first-hand experience of improved methods and techniques for increased agricultural production and activities related to the development of rural economy.
22.3. The intake in each centre will be about 45 trainees per year, of which 30 will undergo training in two shifts for full-time courses and 15 for part-time courses. Incentives in the form of stipends, textbooks and other reading accessories will be provided to the trainees who, after completing their courses, may work as apprentices, or be self-employed or go to junior technical schools or undergo further training under any other existing scheme.
22.4. The total expenditure on the scheme during the third Five- Year Plan is estimated at Rs. 67.95 lakh. Out of this, the Union Government, will bear Rs. 37.84 lakh and the balance of Rs. 30.11 lakh is to be contributed by the UNICEF.
22.5. The first phase of orienting 20 craft trainers under this scheme was completed by the end of December 1963. Under the second phase commencing from 1st February, 1964, five Regional Training Centres will be established at Bombay, Secunderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Madras, Narendra-
15
pur (Calcutta) and Ludhiana, for training three batches of 80 craft instructors each over a period of 5 months. Such trained instructors would be in charge of the Youth Vocational Centres. During 1964-65, forty centres are proposed to be established in different States, while the remaining 20 centres will be established in July, 1965.
23. Introduction of Productive Labour in Schools and Colleges. The Central Advisory Board of Education at its 30th meeting held in May 1963 appointed a eight-member committee under the chairmanship of Sardar Pratap Singh Kairon, Chief Minister, Punjab to work out a detailed scheme of a practicable nature for the introduction of productive labour in schools and colleges. The terms of reference of the Committee are :
(i) To devise a national programme for enabling students in educational institutions at all stages to participate in productive activities;
(ii) To examine the extent and the manner in which the facilities already available for this programme in educational institutions and other governmental and non- governmental organizations could be fully utilised and expanded further;
(iii) To work out the financial implications of the proposal under (i) and (ii) above;
(iv) To suggest the manner in which government and non- government organizations could co-operate in implementing the programme; and
(v) To devise the machinery to be set up both at the Centre and in the States and Union Territories for the supervision, guidance and periodical evaluation of the programme.
The Committee has held two meetings so far. The final report of the Committee is expected by the end of February, 1964.
24. Central Advisory Board of Education.-The 30th Session of Central Advisory Board of Education was held at Pachmarhi from 5th to 7th May, 1963, at the invitation of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The main items discussed related to the report of the Emotional Integration Committee, education and national emergency, introduction of productive labour in schools and colleges, and increase in the academic session in secondary schools in India.
25. All India Council for Secondary Education.-The sixth meeting of the Council was held on 28th and 29th October, 1963, at New Delhi. The Council considered proposals for the fourth Plan in the field of secondary education. It suggested that the national pattern of secondary education should ultimately be of 12 years' duration.
26. State Education Ministers' Conference.-A Conference of the State Education Ministers, vice-chancellors of universities and eminent educationists was held at New Delhi on 10 to 12th November, 1963. The Conference resolved that universial and free primary education should be achieved by the end of the fourth Plan and that special efforts should be made to bring all the girls of the relevant age-group to school. It accepted the 12-year course of secondary education as the goal towards which the country must work, the standard to be achieved at the end of the course being equivalent to at least the intermediate examination of the former 4-year college course. The Conference suggested that immediate steps should be taken to raise the
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standard and quality of secondary education by attracting more competent persons to join the teaching profession, improving teacher- training, strengthening science laboratories, libraries and workshops, reorganising the school curriculum, etc. It further resolved that the duration of the first degree course in arts and science should be 3 years throughout the country and recommended that the age of entry into the universities should generally be 17+ and in no case less than 16+.
27. Standing Committee of the Central Advisory Board of Education on Secondary Education.-As already reported earlier, the Standing Committee on Secondary Education was reconstituted in June 1962 to make from time to time recommendations for the improvement of secondary education based on a constant study and critical examination of the problems in the field and assess the progress of various development schemes. To elicit opinion on the problems of secondary education, the Committee issued a detailed questionnaire to different agencies working in the sphere of secondary education. The Committee held 8 meetings in different places in India. It visited selected educational institutions and held discussions with State education authorities, university and school teachers, and others interested in the problems of education. It submitted a report in May, 1963.
28. Assistance to Voluntary Educational Organisations in the Field of Secondary Education.-The scheme, initiated during the first Five-Year Plan, to give grants to voluntary educational organisations doing some educationally significant work to expand or improve their existing services or to start new ones, is being continued during the third Plan. 16 institutions located in different parts of the country have been helped under the scheme during the current year.
29. Assistance to Residential Schools.-The Ministry has been considering a proposal to give grants to selected residential schools, in order to enable them to improve their academic and residential facilities, so that the merit scholars selected by the Government of India and others could use them. The proposed scheme could not be implemented due to the emergency. It has now been proposed to implement the scheme from the next financial year and accordingly a budget provision of Rs. 4 lakh has been suggested during 1964-65.
C.FINANCIAL PROVISIONS 30. The following gives the financial provisions for the schemes described in this chapter :
Provision for 1963-64 Provision
Sl. Scheme for 1964-65
No. Original Revised
1 2 3 4 5
Rs. Rs. Rs.
1 Seminars and Conferences rel-
ating to Compulsory Primary Ed-
ucation 5,000 15,000 15,000
2 Grants-in-aid to State Gove-
rnments Centrally sponsored Sch-
eme of Midday Meals 60,000 70,000 70,000
3 (a) National Prize Competition 65,000 1,01,900 65,000
(b) Sahitya Rachnalayas 10,000 40,000 10,000
(c) Loan to Children's Book
Trust 5,00,000 8,00,000 Nil
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1 2 3 4 5
Rs. Rs. Rs.
4 National Council for Women's Ed-
ucation T.A. and D.A. 10,000 10,000 10,000
T.A. and D.A.
5 Assistance to Voluntary Educat-
tional Organisations in the field
of Girls and Women, Pre-Primary,
and Basic Education 2,00,000 2,00,000 3,00,000
6 Strengthening of Multipurpose Sc-
hools 13,00,000 7,00,000 19,68,000
7 State Bureaux of Educational and
Vocational Guidance 3,00,000 2,15,000 10,50,000
8 Establishment of Education Eva-
luation (Examination Reform)
Units 1,50,000 1,75,000 3,19,000
9 Scheme of Central Schools 20,00,000 20,00,000 75,01,000
10 Central Institute of English
Hyderabad
(a) Construction of Building 4,00,000 4,00,000 10,22,000
(b) Administrative and Deve-
lopment Expenditure 6,52,000 6,52,000 7,22,000
11 Youth Vocational Centres - 1,000 18,82,000
(Token Grant)
12 Central Advisory Board of Educ-
ation 11,000 63,000 43,000
13 All India Council for Secondary
Education 3,000 4,000 4,000
14 Assistance to Voluntary Educat-
ional Organisations 4,00,000 4,00,000 6,00,000
15 Strengthening of Residential
Schools - - 4,00,000
16 Grant to Banasthali Vidyapeeth,
Jaipur 35,000 35,000 35,000