 PLAN OF ACTION

13.01. In this chapter some of the lines on which action needs to be taken for implementing the recommendations of the Committee on the reorganisation and development of polytechnic education are con- sidered. Such action is required at the planning, decision-making and implementation levels involving not only the Central and State Governments but also industry and, more importantly, the polytechnics themselves.

13.1. Technician Manpower Estimates and Surveys

13.1. It is observed that, notwithstanding the provisions made in the Second and Third Five Year Plans, for such quality improvement programmes as increased hostels, staff quarters and teacher training and refresher courses, the demand for more institutions and additional admission capacity in - polytechnics has bad a higher priority in the Annual Plans of the State Governments often at the cost of the much- needed improvement and consolidation of polytechnic education.

13.12. The Committee noted in this context that according to some recent estimates, made by the Institute of Applied Manpower Research, of the probable demand for technicians during the Fourth and Fifth plans, the overall facilities at present created in the polytechnics would, by and large, be sufficient to meet the future requirements; what is required is the careful planning of speciality-wise admission taking into account the nature and type of technician requirements in local industries. The Committee is of the considered view that. at least for the next five years. there is no need to start any new polytechnic. The existing intake capacity in polytechnics is adequate to meet the demands for technicians in the next three Years. Thereafter the position may be reviewed and the intake may be changed to meet the actual needs, Meanwhile, concentrated attention ha,, to be given to the question of reorganisation and modernisation of the existing, polytechnics.

13.13. Efforts should be made immediately to make reliable estimated of the demand for technicians for the Fifth and Sixth Plan periods. These need to be undertaken at least on a regional basis, if not by the State, and in terms of the different types of technicians. branches of engineering and specialisation and their distribution according to industry, commercial organisations. public utilities and other sectors of employment. The Central Government should sponsor these studies to be undertaken by institutes like the Institute of Applied Manpower Research in Collaboration with industry and the State Governments

13.14. In addition to this, it is necessary that the speciality-wise assessment of technician demand including the analysis of occupations should become a continuous activity so that technician education may at all times be geared to meet the changing technician manpower needs and the changing requirements of technician jobs. The Committee has therefore recommended the setting up of special units in the Directorates or Departments in charge of technicial education in the States. At the Centre, this should be one of the responsibilities of a separate unit in the technical division of the Ministry of Education in its function as the Secretariat of the proposed Committee on Technician Education and Training.

13.15. In this context, the Committee reiterates a suggestion made by the Education Commission that investigations should be carried out in cooperation with industry. aimed at job. analysis and specifications in terms of levels and clusters of skills and responsi- bilities for technicians. It is learnt that the All India Manufacturers, Organization is sponsoring a comprehensive survey in this regard to be undertaken jointly by the National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering and the Institute of Applied Manpower Research. The Committee welcomes this survey and recommends that it should become a regular feature.

13.2. Reorganisation of Existing Polytechnics

13.21. The main emphasis of this report is upon the need to coordinate the educational programmes in polytechnics with such training in industry as would help to turn out technicians who will meet the actual manpower needs- of industry. For this purpose, a number of recommendations have ben made for (a) modernisation of the curricula for conventional courses, (b) reorientation of courses in relation to newer fields of activity in rural areas, non-industrial urban areas and industrial areas, depending upon the location of polytechnics; (c) introduction of courses related to technician level occupations in commerce, business and other fields; (d) introduction of special courses in Women's polytechnics; (e) introduction of diversified courses wherever possible; (f) organisation of sandwich courses in cooperation with industry; and (g) provision of suitable programmes for skilled craftsmen and technicians working in industry to equip them better for their present as well as future work Recommendations have also been made for changes in the structure of staffing the departments the addition of training and placement, and guidance and counselling, services in the polytechnics and improvement in the existing methods of learning and teaching processes including better campus and library facilities. It is suggested that these recommendations be studied by all the individual polytechnics and adapted into an integrated plan of development of the concerned polytechnic. This would require an acceptance, by all concerned of the need for planning at the institutional level and for strengthening the institutions to undertake this function efficiently and with competence.

13.22. It is not the idea of the Committee that this effort on the part of the individual institutions will substitute the need for action at the State and the National levels. On the other band the strengthening of development planning at the level of an institution, which is strongly recommended, will supplement the data-base for policy formulation by the appropriate agencies in the State and Central Governments.

13.23. In formulating development plans, the polytechnics should be "outward-looking" to take note of the actual needs of the community they serve; in that process, they would also be "forward- looking" in as much as their plans would be related not only to the current situations but also to future trends. The proposals in this regard by Principals and senior faculty members, polytechnics should receive careful consideration and support from the Government and the industry.

13.3. Autonomous Institutions

13.31. The Committee has also given sufficient thought to the question as to how the necessary momentum can be generated with the technician education system, in order to make it dynamic and alive to the changing requirements of industry and the changing methods and concepts of education. In our country of vast dimensions, with varying levels of economic and industrial development and diverse sociocultural patterns, it is neither possible nor necessary to aim at total uniformity in our approach to the development of technician education. Furthermore, the Committee is of the view that innovations and experimentation should be sponsored, promoted and encouraged keeping in view the limited financial resources likely to be available for the purpose. This should initially be done in selected polytechnics which. in due course. would set the pace and direction for all the other institutions. Such institutions should be accorded sufficient flexibility and freedom without being hampered by routine regulations aiming at uniformity at the average' level.

13.32. It has accordingly been recommended that about 25 polytech- nics (comprising at least one and not more than two polytechnics in each State or Union Territory) should immediately be selected and developed into autonomous institutions with sufficient administrative authority, academic freedom and flexibility and financial resources so that they may initiate worthwhile experimental projects in the field of technician education. These projects should include the identification of technician areas, design of new courses of. study and training, organisation of suitable types of programmes in association with industry, formulation of rational curricula and tea- ching methods and aids, and development of better systems of assessment and evaluation.

13.33. These institutions should be selected fro those which maintain high academic standards an competence and are located conveniently close to industries and establishments which arc most forward-thinking in technical development and professional training.

13.34. Each selected polytechnic should prepare a detailed plan of its development projects and evaluate the progress periodically in consultation with the State Government concerned, professional bodies, industry and the Regional Committees of the All India Council for Technical Education.

13.35. It is recommended that the State Governments should endeavour to develop all the existing polytechnics into autonomous institutions during the next 10 years.

13.4. State Council of Technical Awards (SCTA)

13.41. In order to facilitate the rapid and effective reorganisation of educational programmes through the flexibility and freedom of polytechnics to experiment with new courses, patterns, new methods of course organisation, evaluation and assessment and at the same time to set and maintain high standards in accordance with national requirements. it has been recommended that an autonomous and independent body to be called the State Council of Technical Awards should be set up in each State. The State Governments may determine the manner and method of setting up the State Council of Technical Awards and specify its relationship to the State Board of Technical Education.

13.42. The SCTA should be assigned the responsibility to look after all academic aspects of technician education in polytechnics in the State. Besides guiding the autonomous polytechnics and evaluating their progress the Council would assist all the other polytechnics in the State to frame new courses and provide guidance in respect of the maintenance of standards of instruction and the reform of examinations. The Council would advise the Government on the selection of polytechnics for autonomy, and also on measures to develop all polytechnics towards the attainment of high standards of facilities, faculty and performance.

13.43. The Committee has recommended that selected polytechnics should in due course be authorized to conduct part-time degree courses for technicians. Such a measure would contribute to enhance the status of polytechnics, their teachers and the technicians. The SCTA could play a valuable role in fostering the development of polytech- nics along these lines, by becoming, in due course, important organisations for the award of degrees and diplomas for students of post-matric education. higher education and polytechnics.

13.5. Committee on Technician Education and Training

13.51. If the proposals of reorganisation of polytechnic education are to be implemented speedily and effectively, the administrative and advisory machinery at the Centre and in the State need to be geared up. The Committee has therefore recommended that a Committee on Technician Education and Training should be constituted under the auspices of the All India Council for Technical Educa-

cation to advise the Council on all matters relating to the coordination and development of technician education in the polytechnics.

The functions of the Committee would be:

(i) to plan and keep under review the development of a unified national pattern of education for technicians in industry, commerce and other services, and

(ii) to advise the All India Council for Technical Education on the establishment and development of suitable courses, and the assessment of standards of performance of various institutions.

13.52. The proposed Committee may be constituted with about 15 to 20 persons drawn from those interested in technician education, experts from industry and commerce and representatives of professional bodies. In order to-give efficient secretariat help to the Committee, a separate unit may be created in the Ministry of Education.

13.6. A Crash Programme of Teacher Training

13.61. The Committee is convinced that the success of implement- ation of its recommendations regarding qualitative improvement of polytechnic education depends to a large extent upon the responsiveness of the faculty to such programmes. In particular, it refers to the need to bring about a practical orientation of polytechnic teaching to adopt modem methods of instruction based on live problems of the industry, and to develop in the faculty appropriate skills of communication and teaching.

13.62. In order to start the process of improvement of the quality of polytechnic education in a comprehensive manner, it is recommended that a crash programme be formulated by the State Govt., preferably in consultation with the State Council of Technical Awards, to cover at least 25 per cent of the teaching staff during the next three years. This should aim specifically at (a) training teachers on such aspects of polytechnic education as evaluation and assessment, curriculum development, industrial orientation to teaching and reorganisation of laboratory programmes, (b) providing them with- training in industry for a period of about 3 months so as to help link class-room instruction with the practical needs of industry with particular reference to problems of design, process and production control, selection and use of machine tools and manufactur- ing processes; (c) improving the art of teaching for effective transfer of knowledge and skills and (d) training workshop instructors in the technique of imparting manipulative skills.

13.63. Such a crash programme is required not only for the selected autonomous polytechnics but also for all other polytechnics. The programme should be implemented in close cooperation and industry, Technical Teacher Training Institutes and other training and educational agencies under the universities and the Directorate General of Employment and Training.

13.64. The State Governments should prepare, in consultation with the SCTA, a perspective plan of faculty development by assessing (a) the number of teachers to be selected annually for training in industry, for updating of subject-knowledge and for education in teaching principles and techniques; (b) the levels and categories of such teachers; (c) the types and places of such training; (d) the provision for a training reserve in the staff structure; and (e) the financial implications of such a programme. During the next ten-year period all the faculty members in polytechnics should have completed a programme of professional training, based upon the type of technician courses offered and the presonal needs of the teacher concerned,

13.65. Closely related to the above suggest-ion for faculty development is the preparation of laboratory projects, manuals, casebooks of problems, teaching aids etc. for polytechnics. The Com- mittee has expressed its view elsewhere that the present practice of equipping laboratories according to a standard list should be discontinued. In its place there should be carefully prepared lists of equipment which would take into account the types of technician courses, the pattern of their organisation viz. sandwich, part-time or full-time and the nature and kind of educational situations to be pro- vided in the different-laboratories. The autonomous polytechnics, which have been recommended, should take up this work on a high priority basis with such guidance and help as will be available from the State Council for Technical Awards, industry, professional bodies like the Indian Society for Technical Education and the Institution of Engineers (India) and the Technical Teacher Trainning Institutes.

13.7. Teachnical Teacher- Training Institutes

13.71. It is noted that these Institutes are presently in a process of establishment and that it would take some more years before they are in a position to provide their servicing facilities to all polytechnics in the concerned regions. In devising their programme of work for the immediate future, these Institutes should attempt to coordinate their work to supplement the proposed activities of the autonomous polytechnics so that the thrust for modernising polytechnic education is generated a wider front.

13.72. One way of ensuring this would be -for these Institutes to associate in their academic bodies the principals and senior members of the faculty of selected polytechnics. It is desirable that the principals of the Central Craft Teachers Training Institutes (CCTTI) should also be associated. The Technical Teacher Training Institutes should establish a continuous and intimate dialogue with the polytechnics with regard to their programmes. It is understood that one Institute has already initiated an extension service to all the polytechnics located

in Its region. This programme should be commended to all the Institutes. The Committee also hopes that the polytechnics will use the facilities in these Institutes for a variety of educational purposes and not merely to depute their faculty for conventional training courses.

13.73. A suggestion has been made to the Committee that admission to polytechnics should be based on aptitude tests. The Committee was also told that efforts are being made by the Directorate General of Employment and Training and the National Council of Educational Research and Training to evolve and validate tests which would be "culturefree" and suitable for students irrespective of their rural/urban background or socioeconomic status. The Committee recommends that the Technical Teacher Training Institutes should take up this work in collaboration with other concerned agencies and develop batteries of tests suited to the specific requirements of technician education and- training.

13.8. Training in Industry

13.81. The proposals for inititting action for training in industry of faculty and of students have been made earlier. In order to facilitate quick progress in this direction, it is suggested that each establishment in industry, commerce and public utilities should immediately set up a separate unit for developing liaison with polytechnics and help them formulate, implement, supervise and evaluate specific training in industry. Their training officer will also associate himself with the design of the institutional part of technician education.

13.82. Some of the other proposals of the Committee in connection with augmenting training facilities for students are:

(i) Setting up of Production-cum-Training centres at places where two or more polytechnics are situated in order to provide practical training to the students of other polytechnics in rural and non-industrial areas.