 ADDRESS :
PROFESSOR M.G.K. MENON
MEMBER (EDUCATION) PLANNING
 COMMISSION

Member (Education) Planning Commission

Madam Chairman and Distinguished Delegates,

I am very happy to be here at this meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is the highest level body in the country for educational policy and planning and which is meeting at, what I regard, as a most opportune moment. It is opportune because we have now completed three years of the Sixth Five Year Plan; we are now in the fourth year of the Plan and we have one. more year of the Plan to go--1984-85. Thereafter, there will be a new Plan, the Seventh Plan, and if we are to prepare for that Plan land, in particular, aim for a new thrust in the field of education, rather than just work out some numbers relating to funds needed to keep various programmes going for obtaining approvals in legislatures, then we have a period of 18 months or so in which to analyze how we have progressed so far and where we should be going. This is, therefore, a most opportune moment to set in motion a series of steps which could be of great relevance to planning our educational system for the next five years of the Seventh Plan and beyond. I hope that important suggestions will

emerge from this body, which, as I said, is a unique forum of all those who are concerned with education, particularly at the political level--a forum of the Ministers of Education of the State Governments chaired by Minister of Education of the Centre along with various others who are concerned with education at the administrative levels, such as Secretaries of Education, Vice-Chancellors, Education Advisers, etc. We will shortly have the privilege of listening to Dr. Madhuriben Shah on aspects of the University system.

The first point I would like to emphasise concerns the importance of education for the nation and for development; and the priority we ought to attach to education. It seems to me, that education is somehow taken for granted; and does not have a public visibility except when there is major frustration or indiscipline, In contrast, in a factory you can press a few buttons and we hear the clanging of machines and lights coming on and off and production taking place; you go to a power generating station and you see the motors and turbines rotating at high speeds and electricity being generated; you can see a rocket taking off; and similarly you can actually see a whole range of things in the areas of hardware. But education is somehow not tangible in that form. Each one of us has been through the educational system and is concerned about it from the viewpoint of our children. We know its importance for life and progress and yet there has been a tendency to regard education as a low priority item, as a luxury item or as an incidental item. I think it is the first and foremost responsibility of the Central Advisory Board to alter this picture, with regard to priorities and policies

at the Centre and in the States, and particularly with regard to those who handle the purse strings and the finances. Education is not the cake but the bread of life. We have to recognise that the most important resource a country possesses are its human resources; and human resources can be really effective only when one has educated human resources, qualified and skilled human resources; and only then can we use all other resources in the country in an optimum and effective manner to transform these into productive wealth and make them effective for all other aspects which constitute development. The Prime Minister, when she addressed the members of the National Commissions on Teachers said: "Our aim is development. The term "development" has so far been identified with economic development. Because of our poverty and backwardness economic development is important. But economic development by itself does not take a country forward." In emphasising this, I would like to add that economic development cannot take place without education. So, the first point we ought to emphasis at the Central Advisory Board of Education is the fact that education should be given its rightful place as one of the priority areas.

The second point I would like to make is that we have had by now extensive experience of our ongoing educational system, not only from the days before India attained Independence, but of the tremendous planned efforts with regard to education since Independence, i.e.. since 1947. We ought to seriously ask ourselves : What have we achieved ? Are we on the right path ? Is it purely a matter of extending what exists, of having so many more schools, so many more colleges, so many

more universities, producing more of the same things ? Is it a matter of limitation in expanding the existing system ? Or are there basic and fundamental changes needed in approach, thrust, direction and quality ? We need to know the answers to these questions to prepare for the Seventh Plan. Groups must get together to answer these questions, not in great detail, but to arrive at a perspective. We must always remember that in the educational system, we are dealing with human beings. There is the educational pipeline of students in primary schools, in secondary schools, in vocational courses, in colleges in the Universities, etc. You can't suddenly change the thrust and direction of the system, because one is dealing with human beings who have expectations and aspirations and who plan on fulfilling these based on what they know and what exists. So we cannot make sudden changes. Changes have to be consistent with the time constant of the educational system; but we must aim at the sort of changes which will ultimately make education relevant and meaningful.

I would now like to make some basic points which are well-known to all those concerned with education but which can stand emphasis and repetition We must ensure that education is not mere pedantic transmission of knowledge. But that is the way it is today. This increases the load at all points, in textbooks, at examinations, of home work and so on as our stock of knowledge increases; it makes education uninteresting; the individual is taught a certain amount of facts and knowledge, but not how to acquire knowledge. In contrast, education should be concerned with the development of the human personality to its full height

of giving rein to the intrinsic sense of curiosity that exists in the human being and allowing it to Rower, and encouraging the spirit of inquiry, of logical reasoning, the scientific method, and rational objective thinking. Today, unfortunately, with the emphasis on knowledge oriented education rather than personality oriented education a large part of the educational effort has turned out to be irrelevant to the students, overloads them and is such that they are not interested in it. Indeed, instead of developing their personality it has tended to stunt their personality. The Prime Minister in her address to the National Commissions on Teachers said : "How do we bring flexibility to the educational system so that children learn what is relevant to them ? And there is an active link between the en- vironment and the subject taught in the class rooms. There is also need to adjust school hours and holidays to suit local factors. The children should be available to help their parents in the field or at their home when they are needed." It is important for us to ponder seriously over these important aspects stated by the Prime Minister. Education should not be something which is Imposed from some capital city on a uniform faceless basis without flexibility. It is something which should be organically related to the environment, to the culture and to social structures of the community it caters to and, thereby contribute to human personality development.

The Hon'ble Minister Smt. Sheila Kaul has mentioned that Rs. 4000 crores are being spent each year on the education system of the country. It is the responsibility of those gathered here to ensure that this

fairly large sum of money is spent meaningfully on behalf of the nation. Are we spending this in the right way ? Could we spend it differently to make it more effective ?

As a result of the value system which has been allowed to grow and procedures that are practised with regard to employment, there is today a situation wherein certification, credentials and degrees have become essential. This forces students into colleges, into universities and into taking up courses which they are not interested in, and which are not relevant to them and which are not relevant to society. As a result, increasingly we are spending money on higher education in a manner which does not lead to meaningful results for society. It is not that we have an excess of colleges or universities for the population of the country; far from it; it is that these are becoming increasingly irrelevant with lowered standards for the larger part of their outputs. On the other hand, there are aspects which relate to elementary education, to adult education, and removal of illiteracy, which are enormously important, for which money has not been available on the scale needed; but in these areas the programmes have generally been "more of the same" rather than with any innovation, or new orientation. We cannot say that we will not have more colleges or more universities or close down many that exist; that would not be feasible. What is needed is to promote relevant education at the lower levels, vocationalisation at all levels as well as through special programmes and value systems such that those who come out of the vocational system are regarded and rewarded, not only in financial terms and creative

employment opportunities but in terms of their standing in society; it is extremely important that a trained and skilled carpenter commands the same prestige as a diploma holder in engineering or a graduate of a University; at present the latter remains largely unemployed or misemployed--but when employed command undue authority, power and standing in society. Education and its links to the other elements in human society, particularly the value systems need to be taken note of.

An aspect about the educational system which we need to emphasise is the demographic pressure. We have today a growth in population estimated to be just under 2%. All our efforts at development fend to be much less tangible because of this increase in population. It is for this reason that we have a major national effort relating to population stabilisation. What needs to be emphasised adequately is that education is a very important component of any population stabilisation policy. Education has to have a high priority if we have to achieve success in population control.

I would like now to touch upon some of the topics listed in the agenda papers. First of all, I would like to congratulate the Ministry of Education on producing a very interesting and comprehensive, though brief, paper relating to the area of elementary education. As the Hon'ble Minister, Smt. Sheila Kaul has stated in her opening remarks, this is an area where responsibility has been enjoined by the Constitution; we have been unable to fulfil this responsibility up to now; we

have now put a target date of 1990. There are several questions that come to my mind when I look at this area. First there Is the question of the reliability of the enrolment figures. Second, I would also like a detailed consideration of the whole question of "dropouts". There is basically what some people refer to as a `crisis of non- performance'. What are the actual drop-out figures and why do they arise ; if we understand this we can proceed to deal with the problem. Third, there is the important point emphasised by the Hon'ble Minister, namely, target groups which have to be specifically identified; these target groups relate to girls, women, backward and rural areas, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, etc. We have to analyze the problems of Education in the case of these target groups. There is need for more detailed data analysis and planning relating to the catchment areas and the relevance of education in this area (and to the special target groups) to make it attractive and meaningful.

We can congratulate ourselves on the fact that we have impressive progress and that there has been enrolment as large as 40 lakhs; but this is no ground for complacency. Let us look at the overall figures. First we have set ourselves a target date, namely 1990, by which date we will try to fulfil our constitutional obligation. We will have about 160 million children in the age group of 6 to 14 by 1990, We do not have yet an age-wise break-up according to the new census projections; these are not available But if you go by certain fertility and mortality rates and so on, one can guess at this break- up on a rough basis. We had an enrolment of 90 millions at the beginning of the Sixth Plan and the enrol-

ment at the end of the Plan will be almost 110 millions. Therefore, what we have to cover in the Seventh Plan, viz., 1985-1990, would be 50 millions. This is a very large number. We should be conscious of the magnitude of the problem before us.

I am very happy that the Hon'ble Minister made a reference to Prof. J.P. Naik, one of our very distinguished educationists, because in every discussion that I have had with him (and equally in his writings) he had laid great emphasis on optimal use of resources in the educational system and low cost relevant education. When we con- sider, the magnitude of the problem before us, we will realize that finances and management abilities required to implement these target's in the Seventh Plan will be more than that available, unless we introduce innovations to overcome the, present bottlenecks. The innovations will have to include much greater involvement and participation at the local level than hitherto. One cannot leave an area such as education which is so closely related to the needs, aspirations, culture and interests of local population entirely based on a system and financial allocations decided at distant levels such as the State or Central capitals. It is an area where achievements will depend on the extent of local involvement, local participation and local mobilisation of resources. This will be true of several other areas such as health, drinking water, etc. which affect the local community at grass roots level.

The Hon'ble Minister, in her opening remarks, had referred to the 10+2+3 system; and, there is a document on this which has been circulated with the agenda papers.

This system, if properly implemented, would take off the pressure from the university system, by ensuring that there are channels for training and career advancement for those who wish to branch off at the "10 level", at the "12 level" or go into the University system.

I would like to. emphasise at this point the importance of "vocationalisation". I am afraid we have only paid lip service to this in comparison to its real significance and relevance for the country. For vocational education to take off, it is essential that there are fiscal rewards as also societal recognition for those who are in various so called vocational fields. Apart from taking load off the university system, vocationalization will ensure much greater relevant employment opportunities, both in the self-employed sector as well as in employment in important developmental areas. I hope the Hon'ble Minister from Tamil Nadu will say a little more about the efforts In Tamil Nadu relating to vocational education which I have been informed about that includes elements of vertical mobility and also attempts, in many places, to link vocational education with local factory and industrial systems. It is important not to treat vocationalisation as a separate compartment but to relate it organically with what exists in the vicinity such as local agriculture, forestry, industry, etc., and which alone can provide opportunities for real understanding and experience of practical situations.

I would like to also draw your attention to the fact that we have had, and continue to have, very significant developments in science and technology and possibilities arising out of these new advances. I am glad that there is a paper

on broadcasting for education and development. I must say that we have not made much use of the radio so far compared to its potential. And, as things are going, we are unlikely to make use of television either. I would like to remind you that TV was introduced into this country not purely for entertainment purposes but in the first instance for agriculture with the Krishi Darshan programmes of Delhi TV. We have gone a long way since then, as you can see from the TV programmes that are currently on, but certainly not along the pathway of using the power of this powerful medium for development. It is not only TV, but a whole new range video cassette recorders and tape recorders, space broadcasting, cheap optical equipment and in general cost reduction with major enhancement of capabilities that have come up which should enable us to bridge this communication/education gap. These are clearly support systems. They are complementary to the educational system They can increase the efficiency enormously with reduced costs in many cases, but they are not substitutes for the normal educational process with teacher-student interactions.

The Hon'ble Minister for Education made a remark about financial allocations. As you are aware, the total Plan outlay for the educational sector in the Sixth Plan is Rs. 2524 crores. Now certainly all that money will be available for education. It is unlikely that there will be any cuts in it during the Plan. In fact, the outlay for the first four years, including that for the current year (1983-84), is Rs 2066 crores e.g., four fifths of the allocation. Therefore, roughly, one has been spending on a fairly uniform basis about Rs 500 crores a year on the Plan side. The Hon'ble Minister also referred to the total

figure of roughly Rs. 4000 crores per annum on education. This brings out that a large Part of our expenditure on education is essentially non-Plan (Rs. 3500 crore per year), and the Plan effort (Rs. 500 crores per year) is a relatively small part of the total effort. You cannot expect Plan allocations of such large magnitude as to alter the educational system through innovations and changes that can be brought about with these funds. What we have to do is essentially "zero based budgeting", which means a look at the total expenditure, which is Rs. 4000 crores a year on education, consisting of Plan plus non-Plan put together, and see what we are doing and accomplishing with those resources.

It will be difficult, at this stage in the Sixth Plan when three years are over, and allocations have already been made for the fourth year to accommodate totally new schemes or additions. But one could make a start next year, i.e , the last year of the Plan with regard to new thrusts that could carry over into the Seventh Plan and be relevant then. Our main efforts just now should be to examine what we are doing with the money already being spent and how effective it is in fulfilling our objectives for this sector and if not what changes need to be made to bring about effectiveness and relevance; we can then ask how much additionality is required which would make the Seventh Plan efforts very much more successful.

ADDRESS : PROFESSOR M.G.K. MENON MEMBER (EDUCATION) PLANNING COMMISSION

Member (Education) Planning Commission

Madam Chairman and Distinguished Delegates,