CHAPTER II
SCHOOL EDUCATION
 

School education is, essentially a responsibility of State Gov- ernments whose programmes for its expansion and improvement receive Central aid. The programmes directly undertaken by the Government of India in this field are broadly restricted to a few special schemes, research and training activities. The Union Government also provides financial assistance to voluntary educational organisations engaged in carrying out significant experiments in school education. A brief account of the various Central schemes under this sector has been given in the paragraphs that follow.

2. Seventh National Seminar on Elementary Education: This Seminar, which was held at Mahabaleshwar (Maharashtra State) from 15th to 20th May, 1967, made a number of recommendations for early achievement of the goal of universal elementary education. The more important among these are :

(1) Five years' effective education for all children should be provided by 1975-76 and eight years of effective education should be achieved for all children in the entire country by 1985-86.

(2) In all school-less localities, schools should be opened within the next two years.

(3) Steps should be taken to establish middle/upper primary schools within three miles' radius.

(4) Adequate arrangements should be made for in- creasing, the enrolment and maintaining regular attendance in the schools.

(5) Part-time schools should be started as pilot projects for children who cannot attend on a full-time basis.

(6) Stipends and scholarships should be given to the tribal children on a liberal scale.

(7) For very sparsely-populated or migratory-popula- tion areas, residential schools with arrangements for free board and lodging should be set up.

(8) Teacher educators working in training institutions should be given a better status and a special allowance.

(9) In order to enable elementary schools to develop rapidly and according to their capacity, it is essential

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to prepare a developmental plan for every school. both short-term and long-term.

(10) The School-Complex programme should be developed on the lines recommended by the Education Commission.

3. State Institutes of Education: A Centrally sponsored scheme for the establishment of State Institutes of Education was initiated during 1963-64, with a view to improving the quality of education at the school level, The main functions of these Institutes are to organise in-service training for inspecting officers and teacher educators, conduct studies and investigations and to produce literature for teachers and students.

4. State Institutes have been established in all States except Nagaland and Haryana. A State Institute has been established in Delhi also.

5. Central assistance on a 100 per cent basis is given to State Governments for meeting the developmental activities of these Institutes.

6. Crash Programmes for Improvement of Science Education: A crash programme for the improvement of science education, which was initiated during 1964-65, was continued during the year. Under this scheme, central assistance to States is given an a 100 per cent basis for strengthening science laboratories, in secondary schools, training of science teachers and establishment of State Units/Institutes of Science Education.

7. State Units of Science Education have been established in 11 States. Steps are being taken to strengthen these Units and to bring them to the level of full-fledged State Institutes of Science Education.

8. State Evaluation Units : During the third Plan, the Ministry introduced a Centrally sponsored scheme for the establishment of State Evaluation Units. Under this scheme, which was continued during 1967- 68, 100 per cent assistance is given to the State Governments for developmental activities. State Evaluation Units have been established in all the States except Madras and Nagaland.

9. Bureaux of Educational and Vocational Guidance: The Centrally sponsored scheme of educational and vocational guidance was initiated in 1962-63 with the object of establishing State Bureaux of Educational and Vocational Guidance in the States where such bureaux had not been set up till then and to strengthen the existing bureaux in other States. These bureaux have now been established in all the States except Madras and

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Nagaland. As in the other Centrally sponsored schemes. central assistance on 100 per cent basis is given to the State Governments for meeting the developmental expenditure of these bureaux.

10. School Feeding Programme: The school feeding programme for children in elementary schools was started in 1962-63 in pursuance of the recommendation of the School Health Committee appointed by the Government of India in 1960. International organisations like CARE, UNICEF and Catholic Relief Services provide food commodities like corn flour, rolled wheat, bulger wheat, vegetables, milk powder, etc., as gifts. Transporation charges, administrative expenditure, etc., are met by the State Governments and Union Territories. Ibis programme. is in operation in 13 States and 5 Union Territories. The programme has now been placed in the State sector as a Centrally aided scheme. During the year under review, approximately 90 lakh children were covered under the programme.

11. Textbooks : In order to improve the quality of textbooks, almost all the State Governments have nationalised the production of textbooks. Nevertheless, in some of the States the number of nationalised. textbooks is very small, while in others it is quite large. In one or two cases, even the distribution and sale of textbooks has been taken over by the State Governments. At the national level, NCERT is preparing textbooks which can be adopted/adapted by the State Governments.

12. Textbooks Printing Presses: A gift of three printing establishments comprising modem machinery and equipment in composing, reproducing, printing, bookbinding, etc. has been offered by the Government of Federal Republic of Germany. The offer has been accepted and the Agreement between the two Governments was signed on 27th November, 1967, in New Delhi. The printing establishments will be located at Mysore Bhubaneswar and Chandigarh. The presses will be used for the printing of school textbooks and other educational literature in various regional languages. It is hoped that these gifts will go a long way in producing good quality textbooks at cheap rates.

13. Swedish Gift Paper Scheme: The fifth and last grant of 8,000 tons of Swedish gift paper was supplied by the Royal Swedish Government during the year under report, thus completing the total supply under the existing Agreement of 42,000 tons over a five-year period. The Swedish paper is distributed to the Governments of States and Union Territories for the printing of school textbooks for free distribution/sale at concessional rates to poor and needy children.

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14. A further ad hoc grant of 3,000 tons of paper has been offered by the Swedish Government. A fresh Agreement to this effect is expected to be signed between the two Governments shortly.

15. Correspondence Courses for Teachers of Secondary Schools : In order to clear the backlog of a large number of untrained teachers in secondary schools, a scheme of correspondence courses has been included in the Plan. The preliminary work regarding the scheme was completed during the year and it is expected to start functioning in 1968-69.

16. A delegation consisting of Shri N. D. Sundaravadivelu, Joint Educational Adviser, Ministry of Education, Shri M. S. Patel, Dean of Faculty of Education, Baroda University and Dr. G. Chaurasia, then Officer on Special Duty, National Council of Educational Research and Training, visited USSR during March-April, 1967 to study the system of correspondence courses in that country. The report submitted by the delegation has made some important observations and in the light of these, the scheme is being revised. The report has been printed.

17. National Awards for Teachers : During 1967-68, 99 teachers of primary and secondary schools and Sanskrit pathshalas/tols received national awards in recognition of the meritorious services rendered by them to the community.

18. Triple Benefit Scheme : The Government of India have also stressed the need for adoption of the Triple Benefit Scheme (Pension, Provident Fund and Insurance) by the State Governments, for teachers in aided institutions. Eight States have since made a beginning with this scheme and others are considering action. In so far as the Union Territories are concerned, the Government of India have already sanctioned the scheme with effect from April, 1966.

19. Educational Facilities for Teachers' Children : The children of teachers are provided with free education, to a varying extent in various States. In Union Territories, they are given free education up to secondary stage. In a few States like Madras and West Bengal, education is free for children of primary and secondary school teachers.

20. National Council for Women's Education : The National Council for Women's Education continued to advise the Government on various matters relating to the education of girls and women and to maintain contacts between Government and the various organisations working in this field. The scope of the

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Council was enlarged during the year to include the education of girls and women at all stages.

21. In view of the difficulty of convening frequent meetings of the Council, a small standing committee from amongst its members has been set up. It can meet at short notice and pursue the implementation of its recommendations.

22. The Council had recommended that the special programmes for the education of girls and women should be evaluated. The work has been entrusted to NCERT and the State Institutes of Education and is in progress.

23. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan : In pursuance of the recommendations of the Second Pay Commission, the Ministry has established a net work of Central Schools having a common syllabus and medium of instruction for the benefit of the children and wards of government employees of the transferable category. With effect from 1st April, 1.966, the administration of these schools has been transferred to an autonomous body called the Central Schools Organisation (since re-named Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan), which has been registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act of 1860.

24. At present, 118 schools are functioning under the Society and about 57,000 children are studying in these schools. A list of the Kendriya Vidyalayas is given in Annexure IV.

25. Tibetan Schools Society : The Tibetan Schools Society is an autonomous organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. It was set up in 1961 and has the Union. Education Minister as Chairman. The main object of the Society is to establish and to carry on the administration and management of schools or institutions set up for education and/or training of Tibetan refugee children.

26. The Society is now running 8 residential schools for orphans and semi-orphans and 5 day-schools for the children of Tibetans working in refugee settlements. The total number of student's on the rolls of the residential and day schools as on 1st November, 1967 was 3,759 and 1,289 respectively. It also gives a grant-in-aid to four institutions engaged in the education of Tibetan children, namely, (1) Tibetan Homes Foundation, Mussoorie; (2) Incho School, Gangtok (Sikkim); (3) Kalakshetra, Adyar (Madras); and (4) Clemant Town School, Dehra Dun.

27. Central Institute of English, Hyderabad : The Central Institute of English was established in November, 1958, as a Society, registered under the Hyderabad Societies Registration

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Act. Its main object is to improve the teaching of English in India through research and training of teachers in suitable techniques. During the year under review, it continued to receive assistance from the British Council and the Ford Foundation.

28. The Institute continued to train teachers who, in their turn,. trained teachers of English in their areas in short courses organised by extension centres, universities and State departments of education. It also continued to broadcast radio lessons for schools in Andhra Pradesh in collaboration with the Department of Education, Andhra Pradesh and All-India Radio, Hyderabad, and to publish a bulletin incorporating research findings and other suggestions on various aspects of the teaching of English.

29. The Institute has a Research Section which has completed contrastive studies in English vis-a-vis a number of modern languages. It has also recorded a large number of talks on the teaching of English and on pronunciation. These are recorded free of cost for any educational institution which sends the necessary tapes.

30. In December 1967, an annual Conference of Directors of Studies of English Language Teaching Institutes was held to coordinate the working of English Language Training Institutes in India. The Extension Unit of the Institute continued to organise short-term in- service training for English teachers in different parts of the country and to keep the ex-trainees acquainted with the latest work done at the Institute.

31. The Textbook Production Unit of the Institute has been engaged in producing two sets of school textbooks (one series for classes III-XI and the other for classes VI-XI), pupils' books, teachers' books, workbooks and supplementary readers designed specifically to suit the needs of Indian learners of English.

32. Bal Bhavan and National Children's Museum : The Bat Bhavan and National Children's Museum was established in Delhi in June, 1965. Their main purpose is to afford opportunities to children for education through recreational and physical activities and to operate a suitable programme of training and research with a view to promoting education of children. through visual aids and providing them with opportunities for the expression of their creative talents. The institution has received general recognition for its outstanding and valuable work.

33. Among the major projects undertaken by this institution in the current financial-year is the reorganisation and strengthening. of its Science Section.

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34. The entire expenditure on this institution is borne by the Government of India. It is managed by a registered society on which two officers of the Ministry of Education and one officer of the Ministry of Finance represent the Government of India.

35. Assistance to Voluntary Educational Organisations : This scheme which is being operated in the fields of pre-primary, primary and secondary education, has the following three sub-schemes :

(a) Scheme of Assistance to Voluntary Educational Organisations working in the field of Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Education;

(b) Scheme of Assistance to Voluntary Educational Organisations working in the field of Women's Education;

(c) Scheme of Assistance to Selected Good Residential Schools.

36. The first sub-scheme was started during the first Five-Year Plan, the second in 1962 and the third in 1964. Assistance is given on a sharing basis in respect of the first two sub-schemes and at 100 per cent for the third sub-scheme. The assistance is given for specific objects such as : (1) projects of an experimental or educationally significant nature; (2) laboratories, libraries and science equipment; (3) production of educational literature including educational journals but excluding textbooks; and (4) holding of seminars, exhibitions and/or conferences of national importance on school education.

37. National Prize Competition of Children's Literature in Regional Languages: The National Prize Competition of Children's Literature in Regional Languages, which is the 13th in the series, was held during the year. Under this scheme, the competitions in Hindi, Sindhi and Urdu languages are centrally organised by the Ministry of Education. Competitions in the regional languages are held by the States on behalf of the Government of India and their entire expenditure is reimbursed.

38. Central Board of Secondary Education: The Board, re- constituted in 1962, is a registered society sponsored by the Union Ministry of Education. The Educational Adviser to the Government of India is the controlling authority of the Board.

39. The total number of institutions recognised by the Board at the close of the year under report was 619, as against 559 at the close of the last year. The number of schools under the Delhi Administration, where all the higher secondary schools are affiliated to the Board, is 435. Out of these, 421 schools are following the higher secondary examination of Delhi scheme, 3

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higher secondary schools, the technical scheme and the rest the all- India scheme. Outside Delhi, there are 184 schools of which 180 are following the all-India scheme. The number of Central schools taking the all-India higher secondary examination of the Board has gone up from 103 to 116 during the year.

40. There are four demonstration multipurpose schools attached to the Regional Colleges of Education it Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar and Mysore. These are affiliated to the Board and are following the scheme of studies specially drawn up by the NCERT on an experimental basis. The first final examination under this scheme was held by the Board in 1967. Three technical schools, run by the Director of Technical Education, Delhi Administration, were affiliated to the Board during the period under report and the higher secondary technical examination has since been revived.

41. Public schools like the Lawrence School, Lovedale, Vikas Vidyalaya, Ranchi; Modern School, New Delhi; Birla Public School, Pilani and Military Schools of Ajmer, Dholpur, Chail, 'Bangalore and Belgaum are on the list of institutions affiliated to the Board. All these schools prepare candidates for the Board's All-India Higher Secondary Examination. The examination is recognised by various Indian universities and institutes of higher learning. This year, the Joint Matriculation Board of UK has recognised this examination.

42. This year the Board published five textbooks in English and one in Sanskrit in order to improve the teaching of the subjects. A system of review has also been newly introduced for the proper selection of books submitted by publishers.