SECTION IV AN ADVICE ON REORGANISATION OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN INDIA : DR. ING. MINORS SHIMOSAKA, JAPAN
Dr. Ing. Minoru Shimosaka (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Metropolitan University).
1. Introduction
In consideration of the necessity of development of polytechnic education in India, the Ministry of Education and Youth Services of Indian Government has decided to establish the Special Committee for Reorganization and Development of Polytechnic Education for the purpose of reforming its system. This Committee is composed of Indian national members and has decided to draw up a ten-year reorganization plan in the coarse of six months. The Indian Government asked the Japanese Government through the Japanese Embassy in India, to send a Japanese adviser to the committee. As the system of polytechnic education is very like that of the technical college in Japan in its school years, it was decided that I should bear the burden of the duty and the Overseas Technical Cooperation Agency despatched me to India in April, 1970. As the abovementioned Special Committee for Reorganization and Development of Polytechnic Education was to start its function in April, 1970, it was requested that the adviser stay in India for a month at the be-inning and again for the same length at the close of the six month period and give advice.
I attended various conferences at various places in India (the meetings of the Special Committee for Reorganization and Development of Polytechnic Education, conferences of polytechnic principals, etc.) and inspected some polytechnics, institutes and factories on the schedule drawn up by the Ministry of Education and Youth Services of Indian Government. All through the period of my stay in India every day except Sunday was assigned for conferences or inspections.
Most of the institutes I inspected were established with funds from such advanced countries as West Germany, France, Great Britain and the United States, and the machines and instruments for experiments were those of the countries the funds came from. Many of these installations were on the equal level with those of universities in Japan but some were inferior. The polytechnics have ordinary machine installations to be used for experiments, but these are not adequate for obtaining exact results from experiments. The equipments for experiments seem to be left unused, and I asked how much they were being used, and the answer was that they were not used for teachers' researches nor were the students allowed to handle them. Teachers are afraid I learned, that students who are not accustomed to handling machines may ruin them. For the explanation of machines, demonstration equipments are mainly used. As a result, a lot of demonstration equipments were seen, but many were too crude. The equipments for machine working practice were unsatisfactory. But in the sandwich course polytechnics, the period of practice in the factory is long.
As it seems very difficult for the students trained in this way to obtain a satisfactory professional knowlege and skill, deformation is necessary. In addition to this, the problem of language makes the matter more difficult. There are 14 influential native languages spoken in India, to say nothing of many more lesser ones, and they are foreign languages to each other. English is taken up as a common means of communication and technical education is carried on through English. But some of the students lack basic knowledge of English and class work does not proceed very smoothly. Therefore at the time of entrance into the polytechnic, it is necessary to give lessons in English and make the students fairly competent in the language. This situation in India has no parallel in Japan and English study in India is quite an urgent problem. The level of education at the primary, middle and high schools also seems low. It must be raised.
I inspected factories, both of big and small scales. They were all in good order. I suppose this is because they chose representative factories for my inspection.
Judging from what I learned through my inspection, together with what I saw and heard during my tour in this country, I hold that some fields of Indian industry, by introducing foreign technology of advanced countries, have made considerable progress (e.g. by completing its equipment and getting technical guidance through establishment of Joint concerns) but much of what has been introduced from advanced countries is not fully utilized. That is to say, though the technical installations may appear to be of first class, they are not necessarily utilized to the full or are apt to be out of order, and the standard of products is not very high. But it is witnessed everywhere that people are making great efforts to catch up with advanced countries as fast as possible. Japan seems to be the best object of their efforts. The case is the same in other fields of industry and in the world of education.
The Special Committee for Reorganization and Development of Polytechnic Education informed me of the system of technical education in India, and I, on my part, explained its Japanese counterpart. A keen interest was accorded to the technical college in Japan, so I will explain it later in details.
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Places Inspected
I travelled from north to south in the central part of India, making inspections or attending conferences. I mention the names of the places I visited. The Committee or other conferences were held at the places marked with an asterisk.
New Delhi*-Chandigarh-Nangal.
Bhakra Dam-Bangalore*-Hyderabad*.
Madras-Coimbatore*-New Delhi.
Institutions Inspected
Polytechnics 12 places
Institutes 9 places
Factories 13 places
2. Technical Education in India
(i) Educational System in India
The system of the primary and secondary education is nearly the same with that of Japan (of Fig. 1), and it is made up from the primary school (of 4 school years), the middle school (3 years) and the high school (3 years). Children are taken into the primary school at the age of five. When a student leaves the high school (at the age of 15), two courses are open to him, university or polytechnic. Before going up to a university, a student has to finish the pre- university course. The school years/of the technical university is 5. The polytechnic has three courses of two, three and four (sandwich course) years of which, three years is the normal course and the graduates become diploma holders. In the four year course, the students become 18 years old at the time of graduation. There are some varieties in operating the four year course, but they all belong to the sandwich course and the students are sent to factories for practice during their course of learning. The practice is performed every other month, every two months or six months. Most of the polytechnics set greater intervals between the practice as the school year advances. The sandwich course seems to be more adopted at the private polytechnics than in others. There are two ways of running these affairs; in one case, a factory manager establishes a school, while in the other, a school manager owns and runs a factory for a profit. In either case, the practice is carried in a directly operat- ed factory. It seems this method has been adopted to reduce the running expenses of a school or a factory. So if a student chooses the three year course at the polytechnic, it is 13 years from his entrance into the primary school to the graduation from the polytechnic. It is 14 years in case of the technical college in Japan. In case of the technical high school, also in Japan, it is 12 years. If we compare the school years, the polytechnic comes between the technical college and the technical high school. The age at the time of graduation is 20 at the technical college, 18 at the technical high school, while it is 18 at the polytechnic, the same with the technical high school in Japan.
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(ii) Present Situation and Problems of Me Polytechnic
The age of admission is 15 both at the polytechnic in India and the technical college in Japan. Though it is the same in terms of the age, it is not in terms of the level of primary education received previously; that of India seems lower than that of Japan. The main reason for this difference seems to stem from the language. As there are more than 14 influential native languages in India, English must be used as a common language. But students are not necessarily proficient in English. And this is great obstacle for raising the level of education,
The newly organized Special Committee for Reorganization and Development of Polytechnic Education in India think that a diploma holder of the polytechnic is insufficient in his ability of designing and drafting, or is a poor worker in the factory, in short, he is insufficient as a technician, and that they must find some means to train him into a competent one. The reason of this shortcoming is not merely the shortness of school years compared with that of Japan; the level of the scholastic attainments at the time of admission, the -curriculum at the polytechnic and also the substance taught to the students must be re-examined. The teaching method of design and drawing, the contents of experiments and practice and the way to carry them out have their own problems to solve. All the polytechnics have ordinary experiment and practice facilities, in addition to a lot of demonstration equipments, but they are all inadequate for the researches of the teachers. So it seems the teachers do not attempt any research, but devote all their time to the instruction of students. Here we have a serious' problem. Teachers do no allow the students to operate the equipments for experiments and make use of the demonstration equipments only. It is impossible to cultivate students, abilities in this way. It is through learning the working of machines by handling them for themselves, examining their ,efficiency through repeated experiments not without some blunders at times, that students come to have a real knowledge of machines. It can not be avoided that they sometimes ruin a machine in executing their experiments. Teachers should give them proper guidance so as to prevent breakdown of machines. It is quite necessary that teachers make efforts to gain capability themselves so that they can give ade- quate instruction to the students. In giving instruction in design and drawing for example, a teacher should give enough basic knowledge in advance so that the students can get along on their own. A teacher must perform various experiments, study designing and cultivate full capability adequate to teach the students.
The best way to run the polytechnic is to adopt the system of the technical college in Japan, For this purpose, I recommend a reformation of the polytechnic system. without touching the present system of primary education; to set the school years as follows:
Pre-Polytechnic 2 years
Polytecnic 3 years
to give English and other general subjects during the pre-polytechnic years and thus pave the way for the professional education and make the students get enough professional knowledge, technology and skill during the three years of the polytechnic. To start this system, capable teachers must be trained in the first place. Without well- qualified teachers, the object will never be attained.
3. Technical Education in Japan
(i) System of Technical Education in Japan (of. Fig.2)
In Japan the attendance at the primary school and the lower secondary school is compulsory. Children enter the primary school at the age of six and stay there for six years (till the age of 12), then enter the lower secondary school, finishing the course in three years. After leaving the lower secondary school, pupils can choose either the senior high school (3 years), the technical high school (3 years), or the technical college (5 years). To enter the faculty of engineering in a university (4 years), it is necessary to finish the course of the senior high school. So the age of the students at the time of graduation from these schools is, 18 at the technical high school, 20 at the technical college, and 22 at the faculty of engineering in a university.
As for the substance of instruction, the technical high school gives general, common knowledge of engineering; the technical college and the faculty of engineering in a university give professional know- ledge and technology. So. the curriculum of the technical college is more substantial than that of the faculty of engineering, and allots a great deal of time for designing, drafting and practice.
The system of the technical college has recently been brought into existance, and it is only eight years since its creation. But great expectation is being accorded to it from all the fields of industry and demands for the graduates from these fields far surpass the number of the graduates. The industrial world makes it a rule to set no distinctions between the graduates from both these educational institutions, and gives equal chance of promotion according to their ability. It is, desirable for those who want to work in the fields of research to go up into the graduate division (bachelor and doctor course) after graduation from university.
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(ii) Fields Where School and University Graduates Work and Their Pay
There is no limit as to the fields where the graduates from the technical high school, the technical college, and the faculty of engineering work. Everybody can work wherever he wants to, if he is competent enough, but most of them take the following lines:
Graduates from the technical high school Workers
Graduates from the technical college Technicians
Engineers.
Graduates from the faculty of Engineering Technicians
Engineers
All the government, public and private schools and universities are equally treated and there is no discrimination made among them.
The initial salary for the new graduates working in the industrial world is, on the whole, as follows:
Graduates from the technical high school. yen 38,000 per month
Graduates from the technical college. yen 48,000 "
Graduates from the faculty of engineering yen 53,000 "
These are the monthly amount including bonus, but it is different in different companies and it is going up every year. The figures shown here are average for April, 1970.
The graduates from the technical college are two years younger than those from the university, and many companies adopt the line of making the salary of the technical college graduates at the time of two years after the graduation equal to the initial salary of university graduates, and after that giving promotion according to each person's ability.
(iii) Running Expenses of Schools and Universities
There is a great difference in the operating costs among the faculty of engineering in a university, the technical colleges and other schools according to the status of the founders, i.e. government, public and private. Here I show the figures per student at a government school or a school similar to that and can be taken as a standard. They show the yearly running_and personnel expenses, and do not include the expenses for facilities and equipments or research aid subsidies.
Running expenses per
student
Technical high school ... yen 100,000
Technical college ... yen 220,000
Faculty of engineering (University)... yen 300,000
All the teachers of the high school are simply teachers, but at the technical college and university they are professors, assistant professors and lecturers. The requirement for a high school teacher is to possess a teacher's license. To be professor. assistant professor or lecturer he must have a good scholastic research career, and must be acknowledged as having enough ability to perform his duty. So he is taken into service after personal screening. There is no
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discrimination made between the teachers of general subjects and those of professional subjects.
The monthly amount of a teacher's salary (the average of 12 months) at the technical college is about 50,000 yen to 150,000 yen plus bonus. He can also receive, the benefit of the mutual-aid-co- operative association.
(iv) Japan Society of Engineering Education
I am going to describe, for the sake of reference, a brief outline of the activities of Japan Society of Engineering Education which is closely related with technical education in Japan.
Dividing the whole country into seven districts, we have district societies of engineering education (with the name of the district prefixed like Kanto Society of Engineering Education). These societies are organized by the industrial world, faculties of engineering in universities and technical colleges in the area belonging to each district. Integrating all these district societies, we have Japan Society of Engineering Eduaction. So the members of district societies are at the same time members of the integrated society.
These district societies have committees for cooperation between the industry and educational institutions, make investigation into the problems concerning engineering education, and publish the results in the bulletin of each district. These results are utilized as reference data in solving the problems in the industrial world, the faculties of engineering and the technical colleges.
The Japan Society of Engineering Education holds a general meeting once a year and on that occasion the members come to meet from all parts of Japan, and make report on the activities of each district society during the past year and exchange information. In this general meeting ye have panel discussions on various problems concerning technical education and exchange our opinions directly. As the details of the progress of these panel discussions are published in the bulletin of the society, absentee members are also able to know the proceeding of the discussions and .PA make use of these data for reference. The Japan Society of Engineering Education organizes a nationwide committee, when occasion demands, for co-operation between the industry and the educational institutions, and makes a study of various problems concerning engineering education, and on the results obtained, gives advice to the parties concerned.