Technical Education The Technical education system of the country is designed to meet the technological needs of economy both on, short-term and long-term basis The development of technical education is, therefore, regarded as areas of high priority, in economic planning. In order to meet the urgent requirements of the nation each Five Year Plan of Technical Education is characterised by major stress on certain specific aspects. In the Sixth Plan period, major emphasis would be on (a) consolidation, (b) optimum utilisation of existing facilities, (c) expansion of facilities in areas where weakness exists, (d) creation of infrastructure in areas of emerging technologies vital for the development of the country, (e) improvement of quality and standards of education, and (f) furtherance of national efforts to develop and apply science and technology as an instrument of the country's socio-economic progress. This approach seeks to ensure the completion of development programmes initial in the earlier plans and institution of new schemes, wherever essential to meet the latest challenges in the field of technical education.
Adult Education Adult Education Programme continued to be a priority programme. Apart from its inclusion in the Minimum Needs Programmes of the Sixth Five Year Plan, it also stands included in the 20-Point Economic Programme. The Government have accepted the recommendations of the
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NAEP Review Committee by and large. With a View to achieving the cent per cent coverage of adult illiterates in the age-group 15-35 by the year 1990, as envisaged in the Sixth Five Year Plan, the Government have formulated new policies and strategies. Accordingly, emphasis will be laid on the coverage of districts having literacy rate, below the national average and the other target groups of women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, migrant labourers and other weaker sections of society. Voluntary organisations which have, no communal leanings will be extended financial support for carrying out their programmes, in the field of adult education. Larger participation of students in the programme will be enlisted. The National Board of Adult Education has been reconstituted under the Chairmanship of Minister of State for Education and Culture to advise the Government formulation of policies and programmes of adult education and for coordination in their implementation. Nearly 1.28 lakh centres were functioning in the country during the year 1982 with a total enrolment a 36.68 lakh. During 1982-83 it is expected to reach the target of 45 lakh.
Under the project for Non-Formal Education for women and girls undertaken by the Directorate of Adult Education with assistance from UNICEF. first instalment has been released to 8 States/Union Territories for setting up of child care centres along with on-going women centres for adult literacy, Sanctions have also been issued to certain State-Resource Centres for the preparation of prototypes of learning and teaching materials. specially suited for, the women and girls literacy programmes.
Scholarship The Ministry continued to implement various schemes in National and External Scholarships. The over-riding consideration has been to enable brilliant students to pursue their studies both at the school level and at the higher level irrespective of their economic disadvantage. The other consideration has been to bring about greater opportunities of educational equalisation with particular reference to weaker sections and potential talents in rural areas. The Ministry also continued to provide scholarship facilities for higher and specialised education to nationals of other countries.
Book Promotion The Ministry continued its activities to produce good literature at moderate prices, encourage writers and foster reading habits among the people both in urban and rural areas. The programmes of Aadan Pradan and Nehru Bal Pustakalaya, were particularly aimed at the promotion, of national integration. The National Book Trust continued to organise book festivals at international, national and regional levels. An outstanding event of the year has been the organisation of a Children's Book Festival which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister. The National Book Trust has also initiated a number of promotional and publishing programmes to mark the Silver Jubilee lectures on "Books which have influenced me". During 1982-83, the liberalised import policy was continued, enabling import of educational scientific and technical books and journals, news magazines and recorders for learning. The copyright Board registered 3417 Works during the year. The Copyright Amendment Bill has been introduced in Rajya Sabha on November 5, 1982.
Languages The policy of Government of India is to encourage the development of all Indian languages including classical, modern and tribal. The activities and programmes undertaken during the year under report were intended to achieve the desired objectives with the emphasis on training of teachers in the scheme of the three languages formula and the production of University level textbooks with a view to media switch. over from English to regional languages. Without intending to impose Hindi in any form, the facilities for the teaching of Hindi in Non-Hindi speaking States were con- tinued through financial assistance for the appointment of Hindi teachers in their schools; assistance for establishing Hindi Teachers Training Colleges; award of scholarships to students in these states for the study of Hindi beyond the matriculation stage; financial assistance to voluntary Hindi organisations to enable them to hold Hindi teaching classes; organisation of correspondence courses for teaching Hindi; concluding research on the methodology of its teaching and providing Hindi books to various organisations. In addition to the existing 10 Calligraphy Centres at Delhi,
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Bombay, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Bangalore, Patna, Srinagar, Tonk, Nagpur and Madras, it has been decided to open new centres at Allahabad, Patiala, Jaipur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Aligarh and Calcutta. 640 Secondary School teachers in Urdu have been trained by Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore. Under the Indo-Foreign Cultural Exchange Programmes. German-Hindi and Hindi- German; Czech-Hindi and Hindi-Czech; Hungarian-Hindi and Hindi-Hungarian dictionaries/conversational guides are also being prepared by the Central Hindi Directorate, New Delhi. Under the scheme of Propagation of Hindi Abroad', foreign students are provided facilities for studying Hindi on Government of India scholarship. Hindi teachers are deputed in foreign countries land Hindi books are distributed through our Embassies/Missions abroad. Grant-in-aid to various voluntary organisations were also provided for promotion and development of all Indian languages.
Unesco India continued to play a leading role in matters relating to UNESCO and participated in many important international conferences and meetings organised under the auspices of UNESCO.
The Indian National Commission for Cooperation with Unesco held it, fifteenth and sixteenth conferences on the June 10 and October 18, 1982. respectively, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The conferences were presided over by Smt.. Sheila Kaul, Minister of State for Education, Culture and Social Welfare, in her capacity as the President of the Commission.
A six-member delegation led by Smt.. Anna R. Malhotra, the then Education Secretary, participated in the World Conference on Cultural Policies, held in Mexico City from July 26 to August 6, 1982. Besides the statement made by the leader in the Plenary session of the conference which was very we'll received, the Indian delegation sponsored three draft recommendations about (i) sharing of experiences for preservation of cultural properties, (ii) strengthening of international programme for development of communication; and (iii) calling for support to the International Fund for Promotion of Culture. The three draft recommendations sponsored by India were adopted unanimously by a consensus.
A high-powered delegation, led by Smt. Sheila Kaul, Minister of state for Education, Culture and Social Welfare, attended the Fourth Extraordinary Session of the General Conference of Unesco, held at Paris, from November 23 to December 3, 1982. The main agenda of the conference was to consider and adopt the Draft Second Medium-Term Plan for 1984-89. India was elected as one of the Vice-Chairmen of the Conference and also a member of the Drafting and Negotiating Group. Smt. Sheila Kaul, as leader of the Indian delegation, made a comprehensive statement covering all areas of Unesco's competence, emphasising the needs of developing countries in respect of various programmes envisaged in the field of education, culture, communication, science and technology. The members of the Indian delegation participated in the discussions relating to all the Major Programmes proposed under the Medium-Term Plan, while contributing significantly to the final consensus which was reached in the Drafting and Negotiating Group.
In Conclusion There is no denying the fact that education is the most important single factor in achieving rapid economic development and technological progress as also in creating a social order founded on the values of freedom, social justice and equal opportunity. It is one of the aims of the Government to intensify its efforts in this direction so that education becomes the focal point of planned development envisaged by the nation.