 SECONDARY EDUCATION

(Age-Group 14-17)

In the field of Secondary education, the Ministry of Education has been pursuing a number of programmes for diversification and qualitative improvement of Secondary schools. Almost all the programmes in this field are included in the State sector and assistance is given to State Governments on a basis which varies from 50 to 66 per cent, according to the nature of the scheme. However, a number of Central schemes for the improvement of Secondary schools are being implemented through the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education which was established in April, 1959, when the former All India Council for Secondary Education was reconstituted.

2. Expansion of Secondary Education.

-Owing to the desire for higher education which is widespread among the people, Secondary education has been expanding very rapidly in all parts of the country. The number of Secondary schools increased from 7,288 in 1950-51 to 10,695 at the end of the First Plan. It is expected to rise to about 14,000 at the end of the Second Plan and to about 19,000 by the end of the Third Plan. The increases in enrolment have been even greater. During the First Plan, the enrolment in the age-group 14-17 increased by 6.70 lakhs,from 13.25 lakhs in 1950-51 to 19.95 lakhs in 1955-56. This is expected to increase by 11.65 lakhs during the Second Plan and rise to 31.6 lakhs by the end of 1960-61. In the Third Plan, it is estimated to go up by 15 lakhs and reach 46.6 lakhs by 1965-66, which is 15.6 per cent of the total population in this age-group (Vide Annexure IX for details).

3. Reorganisation of Secondary Education.

-All are agreed on the need to diversify Secondary education and to improve its quality and it is towards these two objectives that the efforts of the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the State Governments, are directed. For this purpose, the Government of India appointed the Secondary Education Commission in September, 1952, which submitted its report in 1953. Its major recommendations were approved by the Government of India and a sum of Rs. 22 crores was earmarked in the First Five-Year Plan for the development of Secondary education. The amount was increased to Rs. 51 crores in the Second Five-Year Plan.

4. The main items of the programme undertaken for the reorganisation and reform of Secondary education are:

(i) conversion of High schools into Higher Secondary schools; (ii) establishment of Multipurpose schools; (iii) improvement in the teaching of science; (iv) improvement in the remuneration and training of Secondary teachers; (v) provision of educational and vocational guidance in Secondary schools; (vi) examination reform; and (vii) improvement of the professional competence of Secondary school teachers, through various inservice programmes, chiefly through the agency of Extension Services in teacher training institutions.

5. Conversion of High Schools into Higher Secondary Schools.

-One of the important recommendations of the Secondary Education Commission was that Secondary education should extend up to the eleventh class. in the place of existing patterns which vary from 10 to 12 classes. This. recommendation has been accepted by all State Governments except Uttar Pradesh. By the end of the Second Plan. about 10% or 1500 schools will be of the Higher Secondary pattern and at the end of the Third Plan,. about 50 per cent of the Secondary schools would have been upgraded.

6. Establishment of Multipurpose Schools.

-The next important recommendation of the Secondary Education Commission was that Multipurpose schools, offering a number of diversified courses, should be established in order to prepare students for entering different walks of life at the end of the Secondary schooling. During the First Plan, 374 Multipurpose schools were established and their number is expected to, increase to 1800 by the end of the Second Plan. Progress in this field has been slow on account of a number of difficulties, chief of which has. been the paucity of trained teachers, especially in the practical subjects. In the Third Plan, therefore, it is proposed to consolidate the scheme., Four Regional Training Colleges are proposed to be established to train specialised teachers required for these schools. In the meanwhile, the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education has been conducting seminars and workshops for the teachers and headmasters of these schools in order to help them to improve teaching. It has also. implemented a scheme of strengthening selected Multipurpose schools, Under this scheme, schools offering technology, agriculture, and commerce and fulfilling certain criteria formulated by the Directorate are supplied with equipment and are guided by consultants in the respective fields. By the end of January, 1961, 26 courses each in Technology, Agriculture and Commerce were so strengthened.

7. Teaching of Science in Secondary Schools.

-In view of the importance of science in modern life, steps are being taken to improve its.

teaching in Secondary schools through the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education.

8. The former All-India Council for Secondary Education had launched a programme of organising science clubs in Secondary schools and over 350 clubs had been organised during 1955-58. In 1959-60, no new science club was sanctioned, but during the current year, grants- in-aid amounting to Rs. 1,20,800 were sanctioned to the State Governments for the establishment of 115 science clubs and five central science clubs. To enable these clubs to organise their programmes satisfactorily, three conferences of sponsors were organised during January-March 1960, at Jabalpur, Cuttack and Belgaum. Forty sponsors were invited to each conference which discussed various aspects of the movement. A scheme of assessing these clubs has also been taken up with the assistance of Extension Services Departments and training college lecturers in science. Two hundred and twenty science clubs have so far been assessed.

9. During 1961-62, it is proposed to take a number of steps to strengthen and augment the programme of science education. These include: (1) a survey of science teaching; (2) preparation of handbooks for the guidance of general science teachers; (3) in-service training for teachers of science; (4) establishment of a Central Science Unit to conduct comparative studies of syllabi and generally to strengthen the teaching of science in secondary schools in all possible ways.

10. In the Third Plan, it is proposed to emphasize the teaching of science very greatly. For this purpose, it is proposed to provide for the teaching of general science in all Secondary schools and of elective science in at least 25 per cent of them. A Central organisation for the improvement of science teaching is proposed to be set up and steps will also be taken to increase the output of science teachers.

11. Training and Remuneration of Teachers.

-The percentage of trained teachers in Secondary schools has increased from 53 in 1950-51 to 59 in 1955-56. At the end of the Second Plan it is expected to rise to 68 and by the end of the Third Plan, it is expected that 75 per cent of the teachers in Secondary schools will be trained. The number of training colleges has also increased from 53 in 1950-51 to about 170 by the end of the Second Plan.

12. The question of improvement in the salary scales of Secondary school teachers was taken up during the Second Plan and Central, assistance on a 50 per cent basis was given to the State Governments for this purpose. Almost all the States made use of this offer and revised the salary scales of the teachers.

13. Provision of Educational and Vocational Guidance.

-In the context of diversified courses which could be taken up by pupils according to their ability and aptitudes, educational and vocational guidance occupies a very important place. The Central Bureau of Educational and Vocational Guidance has so far been the main Central agency to assist in the implementation of this programme. Some of this work has also been taken up by the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education. In the Third Plan, it is expected that every Multipurpose School will have provision for a teacher- counsellor or full-time counsellor and most of the High and Higher Secondary schools would each have a career master to offer occupational information and guidance.

14. Examination Reform.

-The programme of examination reform was launched by the Ministry of Education in 1958. It seeks to improve the examination system, not in the narrow and mechanical sense, but in the context of the total educational development including curriculum, textbooks, teaching aids, techniques of presentation and testing devices. The main work included the preparation of test items for the examination boards and teachers, training the staff of the teacher training colleges in the new evaluation techniques, establishing evaluation units in the States and training officers for this purpose, revising the syllabi, etc.

15. The task of implementing this reform was entrusted to the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education which has evolved both an intensive and extensive programme for the purpose. Some of the important activities carried out in this field during the year under review are reported below.

(a) Administration of Tests and Items Analysis.-The officers of the Examination Unit of the Directorate administered about 50 tests in general science, mathematics, social studies and English in selected schools in different States. The answers were then subjected to item- analysis and selected items were finally allowed for transmission to the Boards.

(b) State Level Evaluation Workshops.-About thirty State level and advanced workshops were organised during January and February 1960, affecting over 600 Secondary school teachers.

(i) Extension work covering thirty colleges, 250 lecturers and 1,500 students through workshops conducted during January February, 1960. The work included orientation workshops with B.T./B.Ed. students and conferences with the members of the staff.

(ii) Ten orientation workshops in June 1960, in which nearly 200 lecturers from 63 training colleges participated. 4

(iii) Intensive work in 20 training colleges located in eleven States

This programme covered 175 lecturers and over 2,000 pupil teachers.

(d) Training Course on Evaluation for State Officers.-A five- week training course was organised in September-October 1960, at the Central Institute of Education, Delhi, for twenty-seven officers from fifteen States and Union Territories with the object of training the State evaluation personnel to take up the work of examination reform in the States during the Third Plan.

(e) Studies in Internal Assessment.-Some of the Secondary Education Boards have introduced internal assessment in their High and Higher Secondary school examinations. The last Conference of the Secretaries of the Secondary Education Boards had recommended that certain aspects of internal assessment should be further studied. Accordingly, the officers. of the Examination Unit, conducted an investigation into the subject. A report of this study has been published.

(f) Publications.-A number of brochures on examination reform were published during the year under review and were made available to the State Education Departments, State Boards of Secondary education and training colleges.

(g) Syllabi.-In pursuance of a recommendation of the Conference of the Secretaries of Boards of Secondary Education held in September 1959, the Examination Unit drafted a note on the incorporation of evaluation approach in the B.T./B.Ed. syllabi and circulated it to the various universities and training colleges for opinion and suggestions. On the basis, of replies received, a revised note was sent to the training colleges and universities for further action. Most of the colleges have agreed in principle to incorporate this approach in their teaching practices.

(h) Seminar on Research in Evaluation.-It was recognised that a stage had been reached in examination reform when its further develop- ment depended upon studies and investigations carried out by training colleges and progressive institutions on the various aspects of the reform. A Seminar on Research and Evaluation was. therefore, organised in August-September 1960. It was attended by nineteen lecturers, coordinators and headmasters of schools. As a result of the seminar, a list of subjects that required research studies was drawn up.

In the next financial year, the Directorate will intensify these activities and also take up work in several subjects which have not been dealt with so far. A Curriculum Unit will be set up in the Directorate to work out

the criteria to which learning experiences and evaluation instruments will be related. A Psychometric Unit and a Statistical Unit will also be set up for statistical analyses of the data collected and to help in the standardisation of tests.

16. Extension Service Departments.

-Consequent upon the reconstitution of the former All-India Council for Secondary Education into the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education, the staff of the Extension Services Centres was transferred to the State Government or the university or the Managing Committee which controlled the training college concerned, with effect from April 1, 1959. Nine State Governments, eight universities and all the 14 private managements have so, far agreed to take over the management of the Extension Services Centres. 'During the year under review, the Directorate continued to meet the entire expenditure on the project as before. Funds were paid in the form of grants-in-aid through the State Departments of Education,Rs. 2.24 lakhs in 1959-60 and Rs. 4.95 lakhs during the first three quarters of 1960-61.

17. A ten-day Workshop of the Co-ordinators of the Extension Services Centres was organised at the Central Institute of Education, Delhi, from 29th February to 9th March, 1960 and was attended by 47 persons. In addition, zonal conferences of directors and coordinators of the five 'zones were also held during March 1960. Two four-week workshops on audio. visual education were held at the National Institute of Audio-Visual Education, New Delhi, in May and September 1960, for the Coordinators and Technical Assistants of the Extension Centres. During January March 1961, it is proposed to hold zonal conferences of the Honorary Directors and Coordinators of the five, regions to discuss a concerted programme of, work during the Third Plan in accordance with the over-all objective of re-organising Secondary education.

18. Since the extension services have proved to be very useful, it is proposed to expand the project during the Third Five-Year Plan to cover as many more training colleges as feasible.

19. Other Programmes of the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education.

-In addition to its activities described earlier, the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education also carried out a number of significant programmes which are described below.

(a) Experimentation in Schools.-During the last quarter of 1959- 60, an amount of Rs. 15,875 was sanctioned as grant to thirty Secondary schools for the completion of experimental projects which had already been approved. During 1960-61, sixty-four projects were selected for

financial assistance costing a total sum of Rs. 31,543. During 1961- 62, the scheme will be expanded further.

(b) Seminars and Workshops.-The programme of subject-teachers' which was started in October 1959, was completed during January-March 1960. Nine- subject-teachers' seminars and six headmasters' seminars were conducted during this period. In addition, three follow-up workshops of headmasters, 'two conferences of the heads of Multipurpose schools and a seminar-cum-training course of headmasters and teachers of Multipurpose schools were also organised.

During the summer of 1960, for a period of six weeks a Working Group of selected teachers of technology, agriculture and commerce met to prepare instructional material for teachers of these three subjects. A Handbook on Agriculture has been brought out and the remaining two handbooks are expected to be printed shortly. These books will be distributed to the teachers of Multipurpose schools during January-March 1961.

During the current year, the Directorate proposes to organise altogether sixteen subject.-teachers' seminars, sixteen headmasters' seminars and two all-India seminars. In view of the extreme importance attached to -science teaching in the Third Plan it has been decided to confine all the sixteen subject-teachers' seminars to a discussion of science teaching in Secondary schools. The headmasters' seminars will discuss vocational guidance, library organisation, internal assessment, evaluation and science teaching.

The in-service training programmes of science teachers will be intensified during 1961-62, especially in general science. It is proposed to organise the following seminars: all-India seminars-7, subject-teachers' seminars32, follow-up workshops-3, seminar-cum- training courses-5, regional seminars-4, and State seminars for guidance and cumulative records-16.

(c) Library Organisation in Secondary Schools.-Libraries constitute one of the weak points in Secondary, schools and require to be greatly strengthened. A preliminary study on this problem has been made and the data collected will form the basis of further act ion during 1961-62. It is also proposed to organise seminars and workshops to prepare standardised lists of library books for Secondary schools.

(d) Studies on English Teaching.-English teaching constitutes another area which has become rather weak during the last decade and requires strengthening. A study was, therefore, made on the existing position of English teaching in the various States to find out precisely what type of future programme may be organised. This has been compiled in the form of a brochure. During 1961-62 it is proposed to organise a series of lectures on the teaching of English in collaboration with the Central Institute of English, Hyderabad.