CHAPTER I SCHOOL EDUCATION
The main programmes in the field of School Education are
(i) Universalisation of free compulsory elementary education;
(ii) Reorganisation of the educational pattern;
(iii) Vocationalisation of higher secondary education;
(iv) Reorganisation and expansion of science teaching at the school level;
(v) Quality improvement programmes in school education;
(vi) Educational technology project; and
(vii) Provision of schooling facilities of transferable Central Government employees.
These programmes aim not only at expanding educational facilities at the base but also raising the standard of school education.
The programmes are carried out, among others, through specialised institutions, set up for the purpose. They are :
(i) The National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi;
(ii) The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, New Delhi; and
(iii) The Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi.
Universal, Free and Compulsory Elementary Education The Government have decided to achieve the goal of universal elementary education for all children up to 14 years of age according to a time-bound programme. The Conference of State Education Ministers held on August 10-11, 1977 recommended that every effort should be made during the Sixth Plan to realise the goal. To prepare a feasible plan, a Working Group on Universalisation of Elementary Education has been set up. The Group considered the matter in depth and submitted
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its Interim Report. It has estimated that, to achieve the goal, 452 lakhs of additional non-enrolled children in the age-group 6-14 will require to be covered. The target during the next 5 years is to cover an additional 320 lakhs of children and to cover the remaining 132 lakhs in another two years, i.e. by 1984-85.
The Working Group has also suggested that to ensure the achievement of the goal, it will be necessary to provide schools universally after preparing block-level plans within the first three years of the next Plan period, i.e., by 1980-81. The State Governments have been requested to complete the preparation of the block-level plans immediately so that the national plan for universalisation can be prepared, on a realistic basis, during 1978- 79.
The progress achieved is substantial as indicated below:-
(In lakhs)
1950-51 1976-77 1978-79
Target
Age group 6-11
Enrolment : Classes I-V 191.55 675.30 771.00
Enrolment as percentage of
age-group population 42.6 80.9 95.7
Age-group 11-14
Enrolment: Classes VI-VIII 31.20 170.08 211.00
Enrolment as percentage of
age-group population 12.7 37.0 46.1
Age-group 6-14
Enrolment : Classes I-VIII 222.75 845.38 982.00
Enrolment as percentage of age-
group population 32.4 68.5 77.7
The Working Group has identified that 8 educationally backward States, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have 74 per cent of the total non-enrolled children. The problem in these States is extremely difficult and the success of the entire programme will depend upon what happens or does not happen in these States. Again two-thirds of the non-enrolled children constitute girls. The vast majority of the non-enrolled
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children are again from weaker sections of the community like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and landless agricultural labourers. Such children constitute the hard core of the problem and do not attend formal schools or even if they do, drop out soon after joining schools. The Working Group has, therefore, suggested the adoption of large programmes of non-formal part-time education for such children as have dropped out from the formal schools or have not attended any school at all. As concrete evidence of the Centre's concern to bring the 8 backward States to the all-India average and to help augment the non-formal part-time education programmes a plan scheme with a provision of Rs. 4 crores has been formulated for imple- mentation during 1978-79.
Education in classes I-V is already free in Government schools and in schools run by local bodies in all parts of the country. It is also free in classes VI-VIII in all States except for boys in Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
All the States except Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Sikkim and Tripura have enacted legislation for compulsory education. As for the Union Teritories, such legislation is available in Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Chandigarh.
School Feeding Programmes (Mid-day-Meals Programme) Mid-day meals programmes have been in operation for children in primary schools. Emphasis in this scheme is not on nutrition or meeting the deficiency in food in the case of children from weaker sections of the community; it is rather on attracting children to school and retaining them there. These programme are being implemented, with food commodities provided by CARE largely in 12 States, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The present benficiaries of CARE-assisted programmes are 76 lakh children. Under the Minimum Needs Programme of the Fifth Plan, funds are provided to the States for School Feeding Programmes with locally available food material. The coverage under non-CARE Food Programme is 2.17 lakh children. For CARE food commodities, the State Governments bear the cost of transportation and administration and for non-CARE programme bear the entire cost.
Introduction of 10+2 Education Structure The Education Ministers' Conference which was convened in August 1977 recommended that the 10+2 structure of Education
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may be implemented all over the country before the end of the Sixth Plan. In principle all States/Union Territories have decided to implement the new structure of education. For reviewing the curriculum of the 10 year School a Committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Dr. Ishwarbhai Patel. The Committee submitted its report in November, 1977. Details of its report are given separately.
Vocationalisation of Higher Secondary Education Vocationalisation of education at the +2 stage under the reorganised pattern of the school system is an important step for enriching education and making it more meaningful and attuned to the realisation of the national goals. A centrally sponsored scheme for vocationalisation was launched from February, 1977. The Centre's role in the operative scheme is mainly to ensure countrywide acceptance of this new concept and to assist State Governments in establishing the relevance and importance of vocationalisation. to our socio-economic needs. Financial assistance has been released by the middle of February, 1978 for the conduct of District Vocational surveys in 50 selected districts of Assam, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh. Nagaland, Orissa, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. Vocational courses under the scheme have also been introduced in three districts of Karnataka and one of Sikkim.
The Ministry in consultation with the Planning Commission have set up a Working Group on Vocationalisation of Education to prepare the approach paper and determine priorities for the Sixth Five Year Plan. The Report of the Working Group is being finalised.
The Education Minister as President of the National Council of Educational Research and Training has appointed the National Review Committee on Higher Secondary Curriculum with Special Reference to Vocationalisation under the Chairmanship of Dr. Malcom S. Adiseshiah, Vice-Chancellor, Madras University. The Report of the Committee is under examination.
Reorganisation of Science Teaching Programme at the School Stage A pilot programme for the Reorganisation and Expansion of Science Teaching at the school stage was started during the Fourth Plan (1969- 70) and has been continued during the Fifth Plan. The programme has been assisted by UNICEF. It comprises
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supply of science kits and training of teachers, in the main. The UNICEF assistance covers, besides the price of the kit, the transport cost UP to a specified point in a state, and reimbursement of the cost of training of teachers at three teachers per two primary kits.
The number of schools covered so far with UNICEF assistance including those in 1977 totals 38,572 primary schools, while the number of `teachers' and `other personnel' trained up to 1977 under this programme respectively totals 48,197 and 21,431. The pilot phase of the scheme has been satisfactorily completed in almost all the States and the catalytic influence of the Project can be said to have been largely realised which is the desired objective; it is evident in the project's progressive development by various States to universa- lise the new curricular materials in all the schools from their own resources. 11 States and 5 Union Territories have universalized the programme covering over 88,000 primary schools. The States have been able to supply their own improvised versions of kits to more than 63,000 primary schools and have trained over 2,30,000 teachers.
Laboratory science equipment have been supplied or are in the process of being supplied to 673 teachers training institutions including 94 institutions selected for supply during the current year.
A pilot scheme on Nutrition, Health Education and Environmental Sanitation has been started and five Regional Centres established at Coimbatore, Baroda, Ludhiana, Calcutta and Jabalpur. These Centres are developing curriculum guides, instructional materials and teaching aids on nutrition, health education and environmental studies for the primary stage; these materials are being tried out in selected schools in the region and will be revised and made an integral part of the Science Education Programme.
Due to financial constraints it is not possible to supply kits to all the 5,00,000 primary schools throughout the country. A new strategy is being attempted to develop the concept of using the environment and of improvisation from local resources for the teaching of primary science. A textbook on "Learning Science Through Environment for class III" and a Teacher's Guide on Environmental Studies for classes I and II have been produced. Through a series of workshops, materials for teachers.
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through the use of local resources and improvisation were organized during the year; a final workshop to develop a handbook for the use of primary teachers was planned.
Training materials for organizing the training of various cate- gories of staff like teachers, method masters, science supervisors, laboratory and workshop staff were also Prepared and made available for use in the States.
Besides, the Mobile Science Van programme was continued in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh through which a large number of teachers were covered in the training programmes.
Quality Improvement Programme The Ministry of Education has also been following two more significant schemes of a pilot nature with UNICEF assistance. They are : Primary Education Curriculum Renewal and Developmental Activities in Community Education and Participation. The objective of the former is to develop innovative curricula and related instructional materials, techniques, etc., which could meet the educational needs of a large number of children who are likely to remain in school for only a few years or who are not reached at all. The curriculum is to be adjusted to the lifestyle of the child and to the socio-economic opportunities. likely to be available. The objective of the latter project is to develop and test new types of educational activities as feasible means of meeting the minimum educational needs of a large group who are currently partially or totally deprived of any form of education.
Fifteen States/Union Territories have been selected for parti- cipation in the two experimental projects : Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Orissa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. To guide the two schemes effectively in the States, a Primary Curriculum Development Cell has been set up in the NCERT.
All the 15 participating States after conducting a survey of the socioeconomic conditions have prepared their curriculum plans and syllabi on the basis of the nationally developed Ten Year School Curriculum. The States are now engaged in developing instructional materials with the close involvement of classroom teachers and the orientation of teachers, teacher-educators
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and supervising staff. Materials have already been introduced in classes I and II from the current academic session (1977-79).
All the States have made a thorough survey of the socio-economic conditions and the needs of the community. Based on the survey, the programme and activities for various target-groups have been prepared. State-level Coordination Committees have been constituted in most of the States for getting the cooperation of various agencies working for the education and welfare of the community. Instructional materials for the education of dropouts of 6-14 age-group and for the general education of the adults are being prepared in most of the participating States. Community centres have started functioning in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, while in the remaining states such centres are expected to start functioning shortly.
The NCERT organized three regional meetings of the participating States between April and July, 1977 to provide an opportunity to the participating States to take stock of the work done to discuss pro- grammes, materials and problems of implementation. A national confer- ence of all participating States was held in September, 1977 to review the work done and to develop the plans for the next 2 years.
A Children's Media Laboratory has been established in the Centre for Educational Technology to develop inexpensive effective, non- formal media of education and of entertainment value for children to improve the information skills and attitudes that would enhance their life opportunities. Preparation of material in different media like toys, graphic materials, slides and films and of material for radio broadcast is in progress.
Educational Technology Programme Faced with the problem of huge expansion and the need for improvement of the quality of education, the Government of India launched an educational technology project in 1972-73. This project broadly envisages the stimulation and promotion of integrated use of mass media and instructional technology at all levels of education. The objective is to bring about qualitative improvement, accelerate the rate of expansion and make instruction more interesting. Imple- mented with the collaboration of UNDP, the programme involves the setting up and administration of a Centre for the development of educational technology under
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the NCERT and educational technology cells in the State Departments of Education and an educational technology unit in the Ministry of Education.
Centre for Educational Technology The Centre was set up in 1972-73 as a separate institution of the NCERT and the following programmes were undertaken by it during the year.
Extension of the Multi Media Package The Centre developed a multi-media package consisting of television programmes, radio programmes, activity guides, enrichment materials and tutorials for the in service training of primary teach- ers in science teaching. The package which was used to train 47,000 teachers during SITE has been suitably modified. A series of work- shops has been organised at Allahabad, Chandigarh and Pune to orient the teacher-educators of the States of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala with the package. Two training programmes each of 15 days duration were also organised in Uttar Pradesh and tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh. The final report on the three studies con- ducted and the evaluation of the multi-media package are being pre- pared.
Impact of the site on School Children Another study to evaluate the impact of SITE on primary school children was carried out in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation. The final report on the study has been sent to the Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad.
Data and Software Bank The first volume of the directory of the personnel in educational technology in the country has been prepared. Under its Audio Tapes Project the Centre has prepared 35 additional programmes from the archival recordings of the AIR bringing the total to 90. An institutional catalogue showing the availability of CCTV, video-tape recorders, films, slides, film-strips and transparency making equipment has been prepared. More details are being collected to up- to-date the catalogue and make it comprehensive.
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Radio for the Schools The case study on primary school broadcasts in Jalgaon (Maharashtra), covered under the District Educational Project, has been completed. The study pointed, towards the needs for an infrastructure and for active teacher's participation for greater acceptance of radio in schools.
Correspondence Cum Contact Programmes A four day conference on correspondence cum contract programmes was organised in Mysore to consider matters relating to the improvement of correspondence lessons, writing of self instructional materials, other media inputs and Organisation of contact programmes. A number of workshops cum training programmes were organised at var- ious places for the lesson writers of the correspondence course self- instructional materials. A package of self-instructional material on topics of science of the primary school syllabus has been developed by the Centre. It has been tried out on primary school teachers in Delhi and fieldtested on primary student teachers at a Teacher's Training School in Udaipur. The data are being analysed and the materials would be suitably revised in the light of the feed back.
Training Programmes As a part of the phased programme of creating a pool of training ETV script-writers in the areas of Where Doordarshan has started or is proposing to start ETV programmes, two work-shops were organised at Calcutta and Madras for the orientation and selection of the promising ETV script-writers. This has been followed up by an intensive training course in ETV script-writing at the Centre. A two-week orientation course in evaluation for the staff of the State ET Cells was organised at the Centre. A training course was organised to train script-writers for the primary school broadcasts at the AIR staff Training Centre, Hyderabad by the Centre.
Other Activities. Substantial equipment for Close Circuit Television (CCTV) has been received from UNESCO for TV and audio studies. The Centre participated, in Inter-Project Country Study visits and Advanced Level Workshop in Japan sponsored by the UNESCO and the National Institute of Educational Research, Japan. A team of 9 officers drawn from the Centre, Department of Teacher Education, Regional Colleges of Education and State ET Cells
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was sent to the University of New England, Australia for training in correspondence education. On behalf of the Council, the Centre sent a team of six educators/communicators to participate in the Educational Technology Seminars as a part of the programme under the INDO-US Sub- Commission for Equation and Culture. The seminar was held at South Carolina University in the U.S.A.
Educational Technology Cells in the States With the setting up of ET Cells in Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, the total number of such cells in the country is now 14. Cells in other States will be set up shortly. These cells are expected to foster and promote the development of the programme at the State Level. The entire expenditure on the setting up and maintenance of the State Cells is being met by the Government of India upto the end of the Fifth Plan or 5 years whichever is earlier.
SITE "A Study in Educational Television-Udayabhanu" was sponsored by the Ministry of Education to investigate the impact of educational television programmes in the schools of Orissa telecast in the context of Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE). The report of the study has been published by the Ministry. Similar studies planned in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan will be published shortly. The studies in the four State's would yield data in respect of about 4 different programmes, involving 800 teachers and over 5,000 children, thus providing a firm and realistic base for the framing of future television policy.
Textbooks Production The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany gifted three presses for printing school textbooks. These presses were set up at Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh and Mysore. The press at Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar started work in 1972 and 1976 respectively, while the Mysore Press was fully commissioned on 17-10-1977.
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) undertook, as usual, many research, development and extension/training activities for the qualitative improvement of
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school education in the country. The highlights of the programmes and activities for the period April- December, 1977 are given below:-
Review Committee on the curriculum for the 10 year school Following public criticism of the syllabus and textbooks prepared by the NCERT and of the introduction of work experience, the Union Minister of Education and Social Welfare in his capacity as the President of the NCERT set up in June, 1977, a Review Committee under the chairmanship of Shri Ishwarbhai J. Patel, Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat University consisting of 30 members representing the Central Board of Secondary Education, State Boards of Secondary Education/,State Governments. Teachers' Associations, parent-teacher associations, educationists, practicing teachers and members of staff of the NCERT. The Committee finalised its recommendations in November, 1977.
The Review Committee made wide ranging recommendations which are summarized below
Realism and flexibility State Governments, Local Authorities and Education/Examination Boards must have freedom in curriculum and syllabus planning so that the work in schools will subserve local and special needs, such as those of minorities, and scheduled castes and tribes, which have been identified and determined in consultation with the local community and the interests concerned, The Committee recommended flexibility in the structural division into classes as well.
Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service
(a) Increased allocation of time
In order to implement the scheme of Socially Useful Productive Work, the time allocation to it should be as under
(i) In Classes I to IV/V-20%.
(ii) In Classes V/VI to VII/VIII-six hours a week out of a total of 32 hours.
(iii) In classes VIII/IX to X-six hour a week out of a total of 32 hours.
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(b) Socially Useful Productive Work : Status of a full-fledged subject.
Socially Useful Productive Work must be given the status of a full-fledged subject for the award of certificates at the end of Class X. By a system of internal assessment (which may be continuous). and external evaluation the work undertaken in the Socially Useful Produc- tive Work programmes must be given credit and should be counted to- wards certificates awarded by Education/Examination Boards. The weightage to be given to internal assessment and external evaluation should be determined. by each examining body.
Place of languages in the scheme In determining the pattern of languages to be taught the recommendations of the Kothari Commission should be given due consideration and that these recommendations should be used as guidelines in formulating or reformulating any policies on the teaching of languages.
Syllabus Frames The Committee has suggested Syllabus Frames in most subjects in place of detailed syllabuses with the idea that States or other educational agencies may fill in the details. This should be done keeping in view two educational commandments : "Do not teach too many subjects" and "What you teach, teach thoroughly".
Freedom to develop textbooks The Committee has recommended that NCERT should concentrate on the production of instructional material and that State Governments, Education/Examination Boards, Schools and other Educational Agencies should be free to adapt and develop this material to suit their particular needs.
Multiple entry Opportunities through formal and non-formal education arrangements must be made so that drop-outs are enabled to re-enter the stream of education without any difficulty at any stage.
Non-formal educational arrangements should be encouraged so that these drop-outs are not handicapped throughout their lives because of difficulties in improving their academic background.
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Staffing Pattern The Committee has suggested two principles : "Appraise the needs of each area separately" and "Where the teaching conditions are most difficult provide extra teachers and provide also the best available teachers".
Experimentation and creative work Schools should be encouraged to frame their own curriculum and courses of study and teachers should be encouraged and helped to attend seminars and inservice courses and to visit other schools. The Committee has also recommended sabbaticals for school teachers, where possible.
Physical conditions in which teachers and children work must be improved by providing suitably designed buildings, classroom space teaching aids, science equipment facilities for Socially Useful Productive Work and recreation.
Review Committee for the plus 2 Stage of Secondary Education To complete the review of the total school stage, another Review Committee has been set up under the chairmanship of Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah, Vice-Chancellor of Madras University to examine various aspects of the plus 2 stage of education in the new pattern of schooling. It also consists of representatives of State Governments, education/examination boards, universities and other organizations dealing with vocational courses. The Committee has the following terms of reference :
(1) To review the NCERT's document "Higher Secondary Education and its Vocationalization" and to suggest modifications therein, if any.
(2) To study the syllabi and courses of the CBSE and a few State Boards with special reference to a few selected vocations and to recommend appropriate syllabi.
(3) To recommend a plan of action for the introduction of vocationalization at the secondary/higher secondary stage.
The Committee has already held a few meetings and has since submitted its report.
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Development programmes In the meantime, the NCERT continued its thrust in the field of educational development in the country. Among many developmental activities, the most important was the development of textbooks for the new pattern of education. 11 titles in Science and Mathematics and 64 titles in Social Sciences and Humanities for classes I-XII were prepared during the period.
Finalizing the Framework of Teacher Education Curriculum A meeting of the expert Committee of the National Council of Teacher Education was held in April, 1977 at Delhi to finalize the approach paper on teacher education curriculum incorporating the suggestions/recommendations of the National Conference on Teacher Education held in February, 1977 and particularly the topic on "Working with the Community in teacher education The Expert Committee finalized the approach paper to be finally approved by the General Body of NCTE.
In September, 1977 a National Seminar on "The Concept of Curriculum for Teacher preparation" was jointly organized by All India Nai Talim Samittee and NCTE at Sevagram under the chairmanship of (late) Dr. Sriman Narayan. The seminar was attended by about fifty distinguished educators of the country. Three aspects of teacher education-the concept of curriculum in teacher education, interweaving community education with teacher education and reorientation of teacher education institutions were discussed. Several important recommendations keeping in view the Gandhian Values in education were made. To incorporate these recommendations and views of another committee set up by the NCERT on non-formal education, the Drafting Committee for "Teacher Education Curriculum-A frame-work" met on 7th November, 1977. The suggestions/recommendations approved by the Drafting Committee have been incorporated in the framework and the final framework was put up to General Body of NCTE in November, 1977.
Programmes of Teacher Training The NCERT has always recognized the importance of pre-service and in-service training of teachers for the successful implementation of any educational programme. In this connection it organizes pre- service training for teachers at the four Regional Colleges of Education and a variety of in-service programmes through RCEs and Departments of the NIE.
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An important means of in-service training of teachers has been the organization of summer science institutes. During the period under review the NCERT organized 108 summer institutes in various school subjects in which 4,538 teachers were oriented. The main focus of these summer institutes was the orientation of practising teachers for class XI under the 10 plus 2 pattern of education. The programme was restricted to schools following the syllabus of Central Board of Secondary Education.
Centres of Continuing Education The NCERT has however, been feeling that the traditional methods of in-service training of teachers like summer institutes and workshops are very expensive as most of the expenses are laid out on non-academic items like travel and food and that they do not provide a vast coverage. In order to overcome this, the Council has started correspondence-cum-contact courses for secondary school teachers and primary teacher educators from January, 1977 in the four Regional Colleges of Education. These are designed to strengthen their competence in the various subjects, methodology of teaching and evaluation. These courses are being organized in collaboration with State Governments.
The above programmes will not, however, be able to cater to more than 15,000 teachers per year which is very small in the present circumstances. The Council has, therefore, initiated a scheme of developing some Centres of Continuing Education in each State. So far, the Council has set up 51 Centres in various States.
Promotion of Research During the period under review the NCERT continued promoting research, both through the activities of the various constituents and by funding research by outside agencies. The Council, through its Educational Research and Innovations Committee, released Rs. 1,37,000 for various research projects by outside agencies, both on-going and new. Eight projects were approved during the period under review.
Universalization of Primary Education The NCERT has given priority to the universalization primary education. Centres of non-formal education have been set up in rural area's in Uttar Pradesh (Bhumiadhar and Bariarpur), Gujarat (Chota Nagpur) and Bihar and urban slums in
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Delhi. During the period under review, the NCERT prepare & instructional materials both for the children and teachers of these Centres. It also gave help to the States where the work on nonformal education is being done and helped them in trying out the ungraded school system. This latter approach is very useful for reducing wastage and stagnation as it allows the child to proceed according to his own pace.
National Science Exhibition The NCERT organized the seventh National Science Exhibition for children at Teen Murti Bhavan, New Delhi from November 6-15, 1977 in collaboration with Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. One notable feature of the exhibition was that a good number of exhibits displayed were selected from various State level and regional level science exhibitions held in various States/Union Territories during the previous year. The exhibits portrayed problems of rural technology, man and environment, energy and fuels, nutrition and health, population and food, space science, communication and transport, man and machine etc. In addition to the participation of schools in the country, the following institutes also took part in the exhibition:-
1. BITM, Calcutta.
2. Nehru Museum, Bombay.
3. Central Health Education, Bureau, New Delhi.
4. DAVP (Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publi- city).
5. ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research).
6. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.
National Integration Project In order to promote national integration, five camps for students were organized at different places in the country. In each camp 75 students and 15 teachers from five different States participated. Each camp was of 15 days duration. These camps were visited by members of the staff of the Department and guidance was provided to the organisers of these camps. Talks and cultural activities were arranged. Social service in the rural areas also organized.
Besides student-teacher camps, orientation camps for teacher on national integration and transformation of education were also held under this project. Three teachers' camps were held
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at Bhimtal (UP), Trivandrum (Kerala) and Delhi. Two camps were organized exclusively for women teachers at NIE, New Delhi during July, 1977 and N.D.M.C., Navyug School, New Delhi during December, 1977. These camps were attended by Elementary School Teachers from all over India. The teachers were in particular oriented to the techniques of universalization of elementary education and relating education to life needs through the introduction of socially useful productive work.
National Talent Search On the basis of the recommendations made by a high powered Review Committee, NCERT has enlarged the scope of the National Science Talent Search Scheme. In addition to basic sciences and social sciences, professional courses of medicine and engineering have also been covered under the scheme. During the current year there were two tests, one for students passing class X under `10 plus 2' system and the other for students passing class XI under the old higher secondary pattern. The first are has been named as the National Talent Search Scheme for which 350 scholarships have been awarded. The second one is the old scheme, i.e. National Science Talent Search Scheme for which 100 scholarships have been awarded. Ten special scholarships under Mathematics Olympiad Scheme are also continued.
Foreign Collaboration The NCERT collaborated with various countries such as the USSR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Romania by sending its officers for observation-cum-study tours in the field of non-formal education, teacher education, science and mathematics education, instructional aids and studying the educational system in these countries under the bilateral Cultural Exchange programmes. In addition the Council also deputed its officers for attending important international conferences, meetings and training programmes in the field of mathematics, population education, teaching aids, correspondence education relating work and learning, teacher effectiveness, educational technology, etc.
Administrative changes During the period under review, Prof. Shib K. Mitra who was Joint Director, NCERT took over as Director in place of Prof. Rais Ahmed, who had resigned. Prof. A.N. Bose appointed as Dean (Coordination) vice Prof. R.G. Misra on the completion of his tenure.
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CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
Curriculum Development
(a) Implementation of the Plus Two Stage The new 10+2 pattern was implemented in its member schools by the Central Board of Secondary Education from 1st May, 1975 beginning class IX. Accordingly the first public examinations under the new scheme i.e. All India and Delhi Secondary Schools Examinations were held last year in March, 1977. Following this, the second phase of the new scheme i.e. the Plus Two Stage came into operation from 1st May, 1977. In order to implement this, advance preparations were made by the Central Board of Secondary Education by way of formulating syllabi and courses and also preparing/prescribing suitable textbooks.
Comprehensive syllabi and courses were prepared which had two broad streams viz. academic and vocational. The major thrust in the scheme of studies had been towards diversified and vocational education. In the academic stream, the stress has been laid on indepth study of different disciplines and opening out to the students a wider horizon of thinking. By introducing vocational education, the Central Board of Secondary Education has made an effort to link education with productivity. The courses have been designed to impart necessary practical skills and knowledge suited to a vocation, with a view to making, the students better employable. There will be two examinations, one each at the end of classes XI and XII. The examination at the end of class XII will be mainly internal in character and accordingly the assessment of the answer scripts will be done by the schools. However, for maintaining a broad uniformity ill educational standards, the CBSE will Supply question papers to all schools. The Senior School Certificate Examination to be held at the end of class XII will be conducted by the Board covering the courses meant for the class.
The scheme of studies as well as the majority of the syllabuses were framed by the National Council of Educational Research & Training with the help of its panels of experts. The council also undertook to prepare/recommend necessary books in these subjects. In the remaining subjects particularly in regional languages, Commerce, Home Science, Engineering, Drawing etc.; the syllabi and courses were prepared by the Committees of Courses of the Board. The syllabuses were supplied before the schools were opened.
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The Plus Two Stage has been made effective in schools affiliated to the Board which include the schools of the Union Territory of Delhi, Kendriya Vidyalayas etc. The agency-wise break up is shown below :-
(i) Govt. & Govt. aided schools of Delhi 422
(ii) Kendriya Vidyalayas 134
(iii) Sainik and Military Schools 22
(iv) Other independent schools & the schools
controlled by public undertakings 119
(v) Schools of Union Territory and A & N Islands 6
(vi) Schools of Goa 1
(vii) Schools run by Govt. of Sikkim 6
The Board while approving the schools for upgrading, examined their suitability from the standpoint of strength of students, geographical proximity, financial potential, existing resources in both men and material.
Vocational courses have been provided in 24 schools to begin with. The respective organisations controlling the schools have provided adequate funds for these courses besides reaching the community resources.
(b) Review of Courses for Secondary Classes The syllabi and courses having been tried out for the last two years at the Secondary stage were reviewed once again by the Committees of Courses. On the basis of feed back received from the schools, the syllabi and courses were further pruned in order to reduce the load on students. The deletions so made were notified to all the schools and were published in the Board's Quarterly Journal eviz. `Cenbosec News & Views' for the general information of the schools.
The syllabi and courses at the secondary stage were also reviewed at the national level by a Review Committee appointed by the NCERT. In pursuance of these recommendations the courses were further reduced for the secondary school Examination 1978. These deletions were also duly notified to the schools.
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Examinations
The examinations conducted by the Board in 1977 and the number of
examinees who appeared in them are shown below:
1. All India Secondary School Examination (Class X)
under the new pattern 19472
2. Delhi Secondary School Examination 47012
3. All-India Higher Secondary Examination 18423
4. Delhi Higher Secondary (three-year course) Examina-
tion (Delhi Scheme) 61381
5. Higher Secondary Technical Examination 215
6. Higher Secondary (One-year course) Examination 3074
7. Matriculation Examination (Chandigarh Scheme) 2349
8. Matriculation Examination (Patrachar Scheme) 5088
9. Higher Secondary Part-I, Examination (Chandigarh
Scheme) (March & September) 1332
10. Higher Secondary (Part II Chandigarh Scheme) March
& September 716
11. Compartmental Examinations and Internal Examinations
under various schemes
Training and Extension
(a) Summer Institutions In 1977, the Central Board of Secondary Education in colla- boration with the NCERT, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Directorate of Education organised orientation programmes for teachers of the Plus Two Stage. In all 29 Summer Institutes were held in different parts of the country in which about 5,000 teachers were oriented. These institutes were held in the following subjects : 1. Physics, 2. Chemistry, 3. Mathematics, 4. Biology, 5. Economics, 6. English, 7. Geography, 8. History, 9. Home Science, 10. Political Science and 11. Commerce.
(b) Winter Institutes The CBSE conducted two Winter Institutes in Physics, Chemistry and Biology in collaboration with the NCERT. This programme was in extension of the Summer Institutes organised last summer under the Orientation Programme for the Plus Two Stage.
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Development Projects
(a) Project Technology Workshop The Central Board of Secondary Education took up a collaborative programme with the British Council for training in Project Technology. As part of the programme, the Central Board of Secondary Education organised a workshop in Project Technology at Mayo College; Ajmer from June. 27 to July 15, 1977. About thirty teachers from the member schools of the Board, situated in different parts of the country participated in this workshop. The teachers during the course of their training developed several projects based on the syllabus in Science prescribed by the CBSE. The projects were aimed at using technological resources available in conjunction with the scientific principles to apply the knowledge in solving every day problems.
(b) CAMET The Central Board of Secondary Education conducted two workshops in Mathematics last year i.e. in 1977 in collaboration with the British Council and CAMET Loughborough, U.K. These workshops were held at New Delhi and Bombay. The object of the project was to familiarise the teachers with the modern techniques of handling new mathematical tools of secondary level and to acquaint them with the new methodology of mathematics teaching. Besides Loughborough, U.K. was also exposed to the, participants for further improvement and feed back.
(c) Advance Training in Sciences The Central Board of Secondary Education selected 10 teachers for advance training in the teaching of Sciences at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham, U.K. under the CAMET-CBSE Project approved by the Government of India, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare. During their stay of three month, they will prepare projects based on the CBSE science syllabus, in order to make science teaching, application oriented.
Other Activities
(a) Annual Sports Meet The National Sports Meet was declared open by Shri Prabhudas B.Patwari, Governor of Tamil Nadu. The Third All India Sports Meet of the member schools of the Central Board of Secondary Education was held in Madras from December 21 to
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23, 1977. The athletes drawn from all the member schools spread over the country participated in the Meet wherein 7 records in the events of 100 M Hurdles, 200 M Hurdles, 800 M Hurdles, Javelin, Discus, 4x100 M Quartet and 800 M race were broken. Earlier it was proceeded by two Zonal Meets, one of which was held in the South at Madras on December 18 & 19, 1977 and the other held in the North at Pilani on December 15 & 16, 1977. About 1500 athletes participated in the Zonal Meets.
(b) Affiliation of Institutions The total number of institutions affiliated to the Board was 1134 as on 31-12-1977.
Scholarships The award of the Board's merit scholarships for the different examinations held in March/April 1977 was 48 for different streams/subjects. In addition to the Board's merit scholarships, 126 National Scholarships were also awarded to the candidates passing the Board's various examinations.
Kendriya Vidayalaya Sangathan The Sangathan continued to make steady progress during the year. A brief account of its activities is given below.
Expansion of Kendriya Vidyalayas During the year 20 Kendriya Vidyalayas were opened which brings the total of Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country to 242. These include Vishesh Kendriya Vidyalaya run for the students from the northern border areas and Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kathmandu, meant for the children of the Government of India employees posted in Nepal.
Enrolment The student enrolment in Kendriya Vidyalayas rose from 1,69,405 in 1976-77 to 1,82,883 in 1977-78 registering an increase of 7.95%.
Examination Results
All-India Higher Secondary Examination Of the 7,977 candidates who appeared in the All-India Higher Secondary Examination in 1977, 6796 passed. The overall pass
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percentage was 85.2. The first and second divisioners totalled to 94 per cent. Nine students were placed in the merit list in the Science Group and six in the Humanities group.
All-India Secondary School Examination This examination was held for the first time by the Central Board of Secondary Education at the end of class X under the 10+2 scheme. 8,370 students appeared in it. Their overall performance was very impressive. Almost all the students from the Kendriya Vidyalayas qualified for admission to class XI Nine students secured position in the merit list and nine got highest marks in different subjects.
Students' Achievements Of 103 Scholarships awarded by the NCERT in 1977 on the basis of the National Science Talent Search Examination, 25 were obtained by the students from Kendriya Vidyalayas.
Of another 350 Scholarships awarded by the NCERT in the same year on the basis of National Search Examination, 41 were earned by the students of Kendriya Vidyalayas.
65 exhibits were displayed by the Kendriya Vidyalayas in the National Science Exhibition held in Teen Murti House in November, 1977.
Physical Education Physical education and sports occupy a key place in the curriculum of Kendriya Vidyalayas. Provision for these has been made in the school time-table. Apart from that, tournaments in games and sports are held every year at Sub-regional, regional and national levels.
Kendriya Vidyalayas captured two gold and three bronze medals and eighth position in the Athletic Meet conducted by the S.G.F.I. at Trivandrum in December, 1977.
Mountaineering and trekking are new activities of the Kendriya Vidyalayas. One hundred and twenty students participated in the expeditions to Pindari Glacier and Hemkund.
Work Experience Work experience is an integral part of the curriculum of Kendriya Vidyalayas. Emphasis is laid on the social usefulness and economic viability of the product made by students.
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Assembling of electrical appliances, sewing and needle work, manufacture of furniture, and preparation of jam and jelly, etc. are some of the activities covered under this programme. Raw materials locally available are often used to produce quality goods. Profits earned are deposited regularly in the Students' Sanchayika, i.e. Post Office Savings Bank Accounts.
Admission Policy A major change in the admission policy made effective from May, 1977 was that subject to a candidate's qualifying in the admission test, the criterion of admission should be the number of times the parent was transferred during the preceding seven years. This criterion applies to all the Central Government employees including Defence Personnel.
In-Service Education A science orientation programme was organised for 40 Principals in October, 1977 at Bangalore. Twenty Summer Institutes in Science and Mathematics and twenty in Humanities and English were conducted in collaboration with the NCERT to orient teachers for teaching at the plus two stage.
In-service education courses were also arranged for 1000 primary teachers.
A one-week in-service education course was organised for the newly recruited Principals in December, 1977.
New Regional Offices Two regional offices, one at Bhopal and the other at New Delhi were opened on 1-11-1977, raising the total number of the Regional Offices to 9.
Upgradation of Kendriya Vidyalayas 133 Kendriya Vidyalayas were upgraded during 1977 to the plus two stage.
Central Tibetan Schools Administration The Central Tibetan Schools Administration, an autonomous organisation under the Ministry which has set up for running, managing and assisting institutions for the education of children of Tibetan Refugees in India is at present running four residential schools and 16 day schools in various Tibetan settlements.
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It is giving financial assistance in the form of grant-in-aid to seven institutions for the education of Tibetan children.
The total number of students studying in the schools run or aided by the Administration is 9,000 out of whom 1456 are boarders and 7544 are day scholars. The number of boarders also includes 979 India-born Tibetan children admitted as boarders on payment of Rs. 100/- p.m. as Board and lodging charges. In residential schools, apart from board and lodging daily necessities and medical facilities are also provided to free to orphans who came to India as refugees. Mid-day-meals and free textbooks and stationery are also provided to all students including those studying in day schools.
The Budget Estimates of the Administration for the year 1978-79 amount to Rs. 83.36 lakhs while the Revised Estimates for 1977-78 amount to Rs. 79.65 lakhs.
The Central Tibetan Schools Administration also awards scholarships to Tibetan students for prosecuting higher studies. A sum of Rs. 82,420/- was sanctioned for scholarships to 34 students during 1976-77. Out of 34 students, 14 students of 1974 batch, 5 students of 1975 batch and 15 scholarships for the year 1976 continued to receive such scholarships. In 1977, 14 more students who passed their Higher Secondary Examinations were awarded scholarships.
Bal Bhavan Society Set up in 1956, the Activities Sections, namely Creative Arts, Performing Arts, Science, Physical Education, Teacher Training, Musem and Library of the Bal Bhavan Society, New Delhi, continued during the year its useful programmes for the children of the Capital. The present membership of Bal Bhavan is 3,089. Among the activities, mention may be made of three major festivals, Varsha Ritu, Independence Day and Bal Din, organisation of three exhibitions, workshops for teachers and parents in painting, collage, modeling, photography, with 200 participants and orientation and refresher courses for teachers of Delhi Administration, Jawahar Bal Bhavan personnel from Karnataka and Afgan trainees under Indo-Afgan Cultural Exchange Programme. Bal Bhavan movement has gathered momentum and Bal Bhavan programme is presently under implementation in 70 schools in Delhi.
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Nehru Bal Pustakalaya This scheme seeks to provide supplementary reading material to children with national integration as the main aim. Each title is brought out in all the principal regional languages with uniform format, price etc. It is implemented by the National Book Trust with a grant of Re. 1 per copy brought out by it. Generally, 100,000 copies of each title are published. The Trust brought out 32 original titles and 267 translations by the end of the Fourth Plan. Till the end of 1977-78, 46 original titles and 448 translations were published.
National Foundation for Teachers' Welfare The Foundation was set up by the Government of India in 1962 with the object of providing financial assistance to teachers and/or their dependents in distress.
The 22nd meeting of the General Committee of National Foundation for Teachers Welfare, comprising inter-alia the State/Union Territory Education Minister's, was held on 10-8-1977 under the Chairmanship of the Union Education Minister. A number of welfare proposals such as scholarship scheme for teachers children were approved.
Teachers' Day was observed on September 5, 1977. As in the previous years, voluntary contributions were raised on the occasion throughout the country and functions were also held to honour teachers.
Collections during the previous year totalled over Rs. 50 lakhs. Of this, 80 per cent share were released to States and Union Territories for extending financial assistance to needy teachers and their dependents. During the year under review, the different units of the Foundation extended financial help of over Rs. 20 lakhs to such teachers/dependents
The Corpus of the Foundation, which is being built up to serve as the reserve fund, now has Rs. 3.77 crores, against the target of Rs. 5 crores. Once the target is reached, it will be possible to subsidise teacher welfare schemes out of the interest occuring on the reserve fund.
National Awards to Teachers Till 1976, 1687 teachers had received awards of whom 915 were primary school teachers, 683 secondary school teachers,
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87 teachers of Sanskrit Pathshalas and 2 teachers of Arabic/ Persian Madrasas.
It has been decided that from 1977 onwards each State/ Union Territory will be entitled to at least one award. Earlier the smaller States were combined and entitled to two awards and all the U.T.'s (except Delhi) to one award. The total number of awards is now 115 of which 101 awards are for primary and secondary teachers, 9 for teachers from Sanskrit Pathshalas and 5 for Arabic/Persian teachers.
Educational Concessions for Children of Officers and Men of the
Armed Forces, Killed or Disabled Following the Indo-Pakistan conflict of December, 1971, the Central Government proposed to the State Governments to give the following educational concessions to the children of defence personnel and para-military forces killed or permanently disabled during the hostilities for their studies up to the first degree level :
(a) Complete exemption from tuition and other fees levied by educational institutions concerned as well as charges levied for school bus maintained by the school and actual fares for railway pass for students or bus fare certified by head of institutions;
(b) Grants to meet hostel charges in full for those studying in boarding schools and colleges;
(c) Full cost of books and stationery; and
(d) Full cost of uniform where this is compulsory,
Most of the State Governments/Union Territories agreed to the proposal and announced educational concessions more or less on the above lines for such children studying in educational institutions under their control. these concessions are being continued in the Central Government institutions and some private institutions not recognised by any State Government. This facility was extended to children of defence personnel and paramilitary forces killed or disabled during the 1962 and 1965 wars.
Hostel Subsidy to Central Government Employees On the recommendations of Third Pay Commission relating to educational facilities and allowances, orders were issued that hostel subsidy would be payable to all permanent and quasi-permanent
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Central Government employees and such temporary employees as have put in not less than one years' service, belonging to groups A, B, C and D (without any upper pay-limit), who on account of their transfer are obliged to, keep their children in the hostel of a residential school away from the station at which they are posted and/or are residing. The hostel subsidy is admissible at a uniform rate of Rs. 60 per month per child.
Junior Division NCC Troops in Public, Residential and Central
Schools The expenditure on the maintenance of Junior Division NCC Troops in public Residential and Central Schools is shared between the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Defence on 40 : 60 basis.
With the introduction of the 10+2 pattern in the country, it was decided to allow entry to Junior Division NCC from class VIII. It has been decided that attendance at any activity connected with NCC should count towards academic attendance upto six per cent of the minimum attendance required under the rules.
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