 CHAPTER I
SCHOOL EDUCATION

The principal institutions and programmes of the Government of India in the field of School Education are :

(1) The National Council of Educational Research and Training, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and the Bal Bhavan Society;

(2) Expansion of Primary Education under the scheme of providing Employment to educated persons, voca- tionalisation of Higher Secondary Education and the third Educational Survey;

(3) Educational Technology Project, Reorganisation and Expansion of Science Teaching at School stage, and setting up textbooks printing presses received as gift from the Federal Republic of Germany;

(4) National Foundation for Teachers Welfare, National Awards to Teachers and Nehru Bal Pustakalaya.

Brief notes on these are given in the paragraphs that follow :

National Council of Educational Research and Training

The Council continued the important activities in its charge. These cover curriculum development for the new schooling pattern of 10+2, science education which includes, among other things, a science talent search every year on a national scale, preparation and evaluation of textbooks for schools in various subjects and examination reform. It organised workshops to develop appropriate teaching and evaluation techniques in primary schools.

During the year under report, the Council undertook several research studies in the field of educational psychology and foundations of education. Under the social sciences programmes, the Council started a project to prepare a series of children's books dealing with the life and work of freedom

fighters. Work connected with the language programmes and population education programmes, was continued. To promote national integration through education the Council organised nine inter-state camps for students and teachers and two camps for teachers. A new feature this year is the involvement of Teachers organisation in such camps. Audio- visual education, work experience and teacher education were also some of the important features of the Council's activities.

Training Colleges for Teachers

The four regional colleges of education at Ajmer Bhopal Bhubaneswar and Mysore continued to conduct the four year and one year course in teacher education as also the one year M.Ed. course at Bhopal and Bhubaneswar and the one year M.Ed. course in science education at Ajmer. The Central Institute of Education in Delhi continued to offer its courses leading to B.Ed. and M.Ed. degree.

Summer Institutes in Science

The Council organised 98 summer institutes in science of which 87 were unitary summer institutes, 4 each of the special and sequential type summer institutes and 3 project technology summer institutes. 3,400 teachers of science and mathematics were provided orientation to the new syllabi and instructional materials. A national science exhibition for children was organised by the council in collaboration with Jawaharlal Nehru memorial fund at Teen Murti House New Delhi from November 10-19, 1973. A State level exhibition was organised in collaboration with Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund at Anand Bhavan in Allahabad from November 14-23, 1973.

Grant-in-aid for Research Projects

The Council gave grants to educational institutions to carry out research projects and publish outstanding research work in education. It also continued to extend grants to voluntary professional educational organsations during the year.

Publications

During 1973-74, the publication unit of the Council brought out 180 titles.

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan administers 169 Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country and provides educational facilities for transferable Central Government employees. During the year under report, 13 Kendriya Vidyalayas were opened including one at Kathmandu, Nepal, for the benefit of the wards of the employees of the Indian Co-operation Mission. Further, schools have also been opened in difficult defence stations in the border areas.

The academic standards maintained in these schools continued to be of a high order. This year the pass percentage of the Vidyalaya candidates who appeared in the All India Higher Secondary Examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education Examination was 91.59 as against the Board's pass percentage of 71.8. Out of the 122 vidyalayas which sent up students for the Board's examination, 16 obtained 100% results and 10 secured meritorious positions. The Vidyalaya students have also made their mark at other competitive examinations. In the National Science Talent Search Examination conducted by the N.C.E.R.T. in January, 1973, 67 students of Kendriya Vidyalayas have been selected for the award of scholarships and certificates of merit. The, number of entrants to the I.I.Ts., the N.D.A. and other national institutions from among the vidyalaya students is also on the increase. The total number of students on roll now stands at 1,19,295. There are 5,695 teachers.

An intensive programme of inservice training for teachers as enabled about 4,000 of them to be trained during the Summer Institutes held every summer. Work experience has been introduced as an integral part of the school curriculum and is gaining ground steadily. Physical education is given every encouragement and a large number of students, both boys and girls, have taken part in tournaments conducted at regional and national levels this year. Other co- curricular activities have also enriched the school programmes.

Links with schools abroad have brought about in children a respect for the cultures of different countries. This year three students are going abroad to U.S.A., U.S.S.R. and Phillipines as part of a project on international understanding. Further, the Sangathan received as gift a science laboratory for the Kendriya Vdiyalaya, Colaba from the Polish National Commission for UNESCO in commemoration of the 500th birth anniversary of Copernicus.

Bal Bhavan Society

Bal Bhavan Society, an autonomous organisation under this Ministry, is a recreational-cum-educational Centre for children and strives to stimulate the children's growth creatively. To this end it provides facilities in the field of fine arts, humanities, sciences and physical education.

During the year, 10 exhibitions were held and 20 workshops pertaining to painting, graphics, college construction, puppet-making and manipulation, handicrafts woodwork, clay models, batik work and photography were successfully conducted for the benefit of the parents and teachers. For the first time, a workshop for science teachers was organised.

The repertory group of Bal Bhavan Society gave performances of three children's plays-"Mithyabhiman" "Chuck-chuk Bhaiya Talam Tal" and "Andhre Nagari Chopat Raja". This group went to the village schools and gave performances there also. Besides, 2 seasonal festivals were held in addition to celebration of Independence Day and Bal Din. 12,000 children participated in 'Bal Din'.

Scheme of Providing Employment to the Educated Unemployed

The Central Scheme for the Educated Unemployed, Expansion of Primary Education, formulated in the latter part of 1971-72, was continued during 1972-73 with a budget provision of Rs. 30 crores. The number of additional elementary school teachers appointed during two years exceeded the target in some States, and the total number is estimated to be about 76,000.

The Budget allocation of Rs. 30 crores originally made for the year under report, had to be reduced, for reasons of economy, to Rs. 24 crores. This would only suffice to meet the cost of continuing the teachers already appointed and maintaining the supporting programmes undertaken during the previous two years.

A new scheme called "Half a Million Jobs Scheme" was introduced during the year 1973-74. The scheme is administered by the Planning Commission. The Commission approved the appointment of about 97,000 teachers and decided that those appointed during 1973-74 should be paid stipends at the rate of Rs. 100 per mensem in the case of untrained matriculates and Rs. 150 per mensem in the case of trained matriculates. These incumbents are to be appointed as regular teachers in 1974-75 and paid out of the Fifth Plan allocations in the succeeding years.

Vocationalisation of Higher Secondary Education

The Kothari Commission (1964-66) inter-alia recommended that facilities for vocational education to fifty per cent of the students beyond class X be provided by 1986. The NCERT has evolved a new syllabus covering the 10 years of general education and 2 years of Higher Secondary education. A number of diversified vocational courses are to be started in areas not so far covered. The courses will take into account the needs of each district with particular reference to employment prospects. During the Fifth Five Year Plan, 1,000 selected higher secondary and multipurpose schools will be strengthened with equipment, accommodation, etc. to enable each school to train 100 students annually. A total provision of Rs. 10 crores has been proposed in the Fifth Plan for this purpose. This will be a Central Scheme. In addition, to encourage innovation and research in School Education, a sum of Rs. 40 lakhs has been provided in the Fifth Plan.

The Third All India Educational Survey

Work on the Third All India Educational Survey was started in July 1973. The, Survey will be very comprehensive and is expected to provide necessary bench-mark data in the field of school education, technical and vocational education, higher education, cultural statistics and educational administration. The date of reference for data collection is December 31, 1973. The information on basic data is expected to be ready by March 31, 1974 and the entire survey is expected to be completed by the end of February, 1975. The Government of India is meeting the entire expenditure. The NCERT is in over all charge of the Survey.

Educational Technology Project

Under the Educational Technology Project which was launched in 1972-73 for making full use of films, radio broadcasts, the expanded television coverage of the country and the new educational techniques such as video/audio recorders, programmed learning etc., an Educational Technology Centre has been set up in New Delhi as a separate Institute of the NCERT. Development of innovations in education, undertaking training and orientation programmes for teachers, communicators and administrators, testing hardware and appropriate technology for education, evaluation of materials, training programmes and systems and

their revision and building an Information Bank of Educational Technology, are some of its main programmes.

In the short span of time since its inception, the Centre has arranged three workshops-two in the month of July and August 1973 in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and new Mathematics for identifying talent for script-writers and presenters needed for production of ETV programmes for Maharashtra and one in December 1973 for TV script- writers for Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) programme. The Centre has also taken up a programme for production of films and re-editing and modifying some of the films produced by Films Division which are generally suitable for education. It also organised in Delhi a seminar-cum-exhibition of German educational toys in collaboration with Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi and the Department of Science Education of the NCERT in October 1973. The Centre has also started a television status survey in Delhi, the report of which is expected to be released shortly. In addition to these activities the Centre has undertaken a few feasibility studies like the study of the equipment known as "Language Master" and the study for optimising education in selected areas.

Besides the Educational Technology Centre in New Delhi, Educational Technology Cells are being set tip in all States, in a phased manner. To start with, such a Cell has been established in Maharashtra which launched its school television project on 8th October, 1973. Under this project there are, for the present, only two transmissions per week-one for English and one for Science. The project is to serve as a pilot experiment to familiarise pupils and the class-room teachers with the new medium of television in preparation for the regular educational or instructional television programmes which the State Governments propose to start from the next academic year. At present, the programmes consist of existing film and tape-recorded materials and are not, therefore, based entirely on the school syllabi. However, care is taken to select material relevant to the syllabi intended to enrich the learning experience of pupils. By June 1974, the State Governments hope to have full facilities for production of TV lessons, closely knit into the syllabi, increase the number of TV transmissions and organise a common time-table for all schools.

Similar ET Cells will be set up in other States during the next two to three years. Sanction has already been accorded for the establishment of such Cells in Jammu and Kashmir. Punjab and Kerala.

Two important meetings on Educational Technology were held in Bangkok and Tokyo during the year. The Bangkok meeting which related to the Asian programmes for educational innovations and development was organised by the UNESCO from 5th to 13th November, 1973 while the Tokyo Seminar on the "Application of Educational Technology" was arranged by the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO from 28th November to 10th December, 1973. India was represented at both these meetings by the officials of the Ministry of Education.

Reorganisation and Expansion of Science Teaching at School Stage

An agreement was signed between the Government of India and UNESCO/UNICEF in 1967 for the reorganisation and expansion of science teaching at the school stage. The State Governments were requested in July 1969 to start a Pilot programme to try out the new instructional materials and, in the light of the experience gained, introduce new curricula in all their schools. Assistance under the Pilot phase of the programme, was limited to the supply of new textbooks and Science kits free of cost to 50 selected primary schools and 30 selected middle schools in each State and the reimbursement of expenditure incurred by the State Government in providing in-service training to the teachers of the schools covered by the experience. The Pilot phase of the programme has been introduced in all the States and some of the Union Territories. The remaining Union Territories will adopt the books used in the adjacent States.

A supplemental agreement was subsequently signed between UNESCO/UNICEF and the Government of India in April, 1972 for expanded assistance to cover :

(a) Supply of Science laboratory equipment and selected library books to another 100 teacher training colleges and 400 teacher training schools.

(b) Supply of Science kits to 24,000 primary schools and 31,000 middle schools in a phased manner.

(d) Supply of supervisory Vehicles at the rate of one per State.

(e) Supply of mobile laboratory vans at the rate of one per State; and

(f) Limited supply of paper for printing the new instructional material.

Finalisation of separate plans of action for this expanded pro- gramme was in hand, in consultation with the respective State Governments, UNICEF and NCERT. The plans of action have been finalised already in respect of Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh Administration A & N Islands and Pondicherry Union Territory. Final drafts of the plan of action are awaited from the remaining States and Union Territories.

Under the provisions of the agreement, 6,000 metric tonnes of paper for printing textbooks are expected to be received from UNESCO for free distribution to the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations. The first/shipment of 1,000 metric tonnes of paper from Norway has been received and allotted to Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan. The requirements of the other State Governments are being ascertained. Steps will be taken in keeping with the progress made in the implementation of the programmme, to allot paper to the remaining States also, as soon as further consignments are received from UNICEF.

Textbook Printing Presses Received as Gift from the Federal Republic of Germany

The Printing Press at Chandigarh started production in January, 1972. It has facilities of photolitho printing in Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and Gurumukhi. The building of the Bhubaneswar Press has been completed and orders placed for import of the machinery. The building of the Mysore Press is almost complete. The Presses at Bhubaneswar and Mysore are expected to be commissioned during 1974-75.

The printing capacity of each of these Presses is 20,000 books of 96 pages in A-5 size (21Ox148 mm) per shift. The annual printing capacity of all the three Presses, when in full operation, is expected to be 3 million books. For the Fifth Five Year Plan a provision of Rs. 1.30 crores is proposed for the spill-over expenditure, operating expenses and additions to the plants.

National Foundation for Teachers' Welfare

As part of the Teachers' Day celebration on September 5, 1973, a vigorous collection drive was organised throughout the country. Functions to honour the teachers were also held.

Collections during the year totalled about Rs. 34 lakhs. Of this, 80 per cent has been released to States and Union Territories. A sum of Rs. 2.28 cores has so far been released to 27 State and Union Territory Working Committees. Jammu and Kashmir State has not yet joined the scheme. The Foundation has built up a Corpus of about Rs. 2.5 crores. The interest on this is given for various schemes of Teachers' Welfare.

CHAPTER I SCHOOL EDUCATION