RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION
(Thirty Ninth Session-June 6-7, 1983)
I. Planning of educational resources and advance preparatory
action for the Seventh Plan In the opinion of the Board, convening of the 39th session of the CABE is timely, in that it provides an opportunity to take stock of achievements so far made during the Sixth Plan period, review the policies and strategies adopted, and initiate advance preparatory action for the Seventh Five-Year Plan especially in the context of the targets to be achieved by 1990-both in respect of universalisation of elementary education and removal of adult illiteracy under Point No.16 of the New Twenty-point Programme. The Board also takes note of the fact that the 1981 census has indicated that the magnitude of the tasks ahead is likely to be considerably larger than envisaged earlier.
Consequently, the programmes of the Seventh Five Year Plan have to be substantially accelerated both in the fields of universalisation of elementary education and adult education.
Education should be given high priority in the Seventh Five-Year Plan.
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The Board recognises, that this would call for a large allocation of funds and massive mobilisation of resources at all levels and recommends, inter alia :-
(a) that the Eighth Finance Commission be requested to provide special grants to meet the special needs of all States, particularly the educationally backward States which cannot be expected to be met through the normal process of Plan and Non-Plan allocations. The enormous problem of provision of facilities specially school buildings should be similarly tackled through special grants by Finance Commission as otherwise it would be impossible to remedy the accumulated backlog in this regard;
(b) that the Central and State Governments should provide significantly enhanced allocations for education with high priority to elementary edu- cation and girls' education and the removal of illiteracy;
(c) that in recognition of the importance of local and community participation in strengthening the infrastructure and facilities for education, especially school buildings, active involvement of Panchayats and other local bodies, parent-teacher associations and other voluntary agencies should be encouraged;
(d) that the resources base for education be diversified through institutional finance and utilisation of programme funds such as National Rural Employment Programme;
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e) that the need for the optimum use of existing resources and for devising viable alternatives involving low cost technologies be given priority;
(f) special efforts be made to review existing Non-Plan expenditure to ensure maximum returns therefrom ;
(g) that special allocation be provided in 1984- 85 for advance preparatory action for the Seventh Plan, in order to ensure a good start for the programmes of the next Plan.
II. Spread of universal elementary education for the age-group 6-14
1. The Board notes with satisfaction the pace of progress achieved in increasing enrolment in elementary classes as part of the New Twenty-point Programme. However, in view of the enormity of what remains to be done in terms of numbers, and bearing in mind the other dimensions of the problem viz., retention and successful completion, it cautioned against complacency. The Board emphasizes in this context that the coverage henceforth shall be of difficult target groups and/or backward areas.
2. Consistently with this focus on difficult target groups and/or backward areas, there is need for micro-level planning. For each of the areas/groups so selected for special attention, specific programmes/projects will
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have to be formulated with reference to their needs, resources, and constraints.
3. Recognising the limited potential of the conventional education system to cater to such special requirements, the Board emphasises increasing resort to innovations. Accordingly, in-depth studies will have to be commissioned at different places to develop suitable approaches/strategies.
4. It was noted in this context that over the years. a number of innovative projects had been implemented for testing out various concepts and techniques. Some of these are now available for wider adoption not only for the difficult groups/areas, but also for the improvement of the general system.
5. Among the target groups, education of girls requires special attention, particularly because of the significant impact that their education has on promotion of family planning, child care, and general improvement in the quality of life.
6. Special incentives will have to be provided to encourage girls to enrol in schools/non-formal education centres and suitable changes in staffing policies and procedures will have to be introduced to augment the availability of women teachers, particularly in rural and difficult areas. The relevance of early childhood education centres for enabling girls to attend schools has also to be recognised.
7. While incentives may have special significance for difficult groups or in difficult areas, their relevance
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for promoting enrolment and retention in general cannot also be ignored. Nevertheless, the efficacy of each incentive will have to be evaluated. Depending upon the findings of such evaluation, the attempt should be to develop an optimum application of incentive schemes.
8. Relevance, quality and efficiency of the education system is as important, if not more, as its quantitative expansion. Many children do not join school or drop out of it prematurely because they find education in the formal system irrelevant and therefore unattractive. It will be necessary to decentralise the process of curriculum development so as to make education context-oriented and related to local situations and life needs.
9. Special attention will simultaneously have to be given to improve the quality and efficiency of education. This will require increased attention to training of teachers, upgradation of syllabi, development of textual materials, provision of teaching aids and equipment and suitable physical facilities
10. While every effort should be made to convert as many single- teacher schools into multi-teacher schools, it is necessary, at this point of time, to develop suitable modalities for improving the instructional programme of existing single-teacher schools.
11. The Board recognises the importance of `No detention' policy for strengthening motivation of students and preventing frustration that occurs from early failure. In order, however, to ensure that systematic teaching and learning take place, the implementation of a liberal policy of promotion will require
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simultaneous adoption of a non-graded system as well as a system of continuous assessment of attainments.
12. The problem of meeting the building requirements of elementary schools has to be dealt with on a priority basis. Apart from making suitable provision in the budgets of the State Governments for construction of school building, it is necessary to tap all other available sources, e.g., National Rural Employment Programme, institutional finance, international funding and community participation. In the construction of school building advantage should be taken of the experimental work that has already been done at different places for reducing costs.
13. The inadequacy of the formal system to meet the educational needs of those children who, for various reasons are unable to enrol in the formal system or drop out of it prematurely, was stressed. In this context it is, therefore necessary to develop alternative strategies to provide educational opportunities to them. Among other things, they may include the establishment of non-formal education centres, increasing use of mass media communication, adoption of distance learning approaches, etc. They need to be adopted on a wider scale. In nonformal education it is necessary to constantly experiment with different approaches and consequently develop a variety of models.
14. In order to make various non-formal education models viable and attractive it will be necessary to ensure that students enrolled in these centres reach a level generally equivalent to that reached by their counterparts in the formal system. From this point of view minimum
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learning competencies will need to be identified and suitable instructional programmes and textual materials developed in relation to them. It will be necessary to provide for suitable certification/accreditation mechanisms so as to allow mobility between the two systems.
15. Non-formal education, while providing the requisite literacy and numeracy, should also attempt at inculcating among the students skills which are useful in the production processes of the community. Such provision for skill training will make non-formal education more attractive and relevant to community needs. While in the programme of non-formal education various incentives like free text-books, free stationery, etc., have already been built in, it would be necessary to consider the provision of other incentives to students in these centres in view of the fact that the system caters to the educational needs of difficult groups/areas.
16. The development of elementary education cannot be achieved in isolation without taking cognizance of the factors determining the quality of life of the child, comprising his first primary physical needs of nutrition, immunisation and mother's care as also the sustenance he draws from the natural environment comprising flora, fauna, agricultural crops, animal life and the socio-cultural life- style of the community including varied traditional skills, festivals etc. Educational strategy should be envolved in conjunction with other development sectors which are focussing attention on child health and family welfare, environment, social forestry, agriculture, handicrafts small scale industry. It is, therefore, essential for the Departments of Education in the States to keep in
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close touch with and structurally inter-link their programmes with other agencies and programmes such as the ICDS and the IRDP etc. This would ensure an integration so necessary for ensuring organic growth of the students.
17. Recognising the need to assist States, which are at varying levels of development, the Board reiterates the following recommendation made in its 37th Session.
"The magnitude of the unfinished task in the provision of universal elementary education, both quantitative and qualitative, varies largely from State to State; and unfortunately it is very high in those State, which do not have adequate financial resources. The Board therefore, recommends that a new programme of Central assistance for provision of universal elementary education should be evolved in consultation with the States under which assistance would be made available to a State on the basis of (a) its needs, (b) its ability, and (c) its effort. No State should however, be eligible for assistance under this programme unless it puts in the minimum effort prescribed. The effort to be put in by the State as well as the Central assistance made available should be specifically earmarked for this programme."
III. Removal of adult illiteracy The Board takes note of the progress achieved in the field of adult education against tremendous odds and at
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the same time notes the enormous magnitude and complexity of the task ahead. Point 16 of the 20-Point Programme has laid down the goal of covering of all the adult illiterates in the age group 15-35 by the year 1990. About 11.55 crores adult illiterates would have to be covered while in the first three years of the Sixth Five Year Plan about one crore have been covered. This Would call for a substantial stepping up of the level of performance under this programme, with community participation on a mass scale.
The Board also notes that it is equally important that the learners do not relapse into illiteracy; this calls for qualitative upgradation of the programmes with special emphasis on post literacy follow up and continuing education.
The Board notes that the remuneration to Instructors and Supervisors in the adult education programmes as well as the provision for contingencies etc. are low and need to be considerably increased.
The University Grants Commission has already accepted the report of the Working Group for better involvement of students in higher education sector in Adult Education programme which has laid down a definite time schedule for action. The Board welcomes the proposal to involve colleges and students on a much larger scale than hitherto, and recommends that groups of students should work for a given period of time with an identified group of persons or a village for removal of illiteracy. Linkages should also be established between adult education programmes and the university curricula.
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The Board emphasises the importance of encouraging the participation of women in adult education programme through all means available. It notes that the imparting of vocational skills in women adult education centres has been particularly fruitful and recommends that such functional literacy education centres should be encouraged.
The Board also attaches great importance to the establishment of adequate linkages of adult education programmes with development departments and effective co-ordination with all the agencies which can contribute to adult education such as Integrated Rural Development Programme, Integrated Child Development Programme, National Rural Employment Programme, Agricultural and Animal Husbandry and Health Extension Programmes, Nehru Yuvak Kendras etc. In addition to esta- blishing requisite machinery for coordination, it would be necessary to have definite guidelines issued to the functionaries of the respective development departments making it obligatory on their part to contribute actively to the quality and content of adult education programmes. In the case of illiterate workers employed in the organised sector-public and private, the managements should prepare and implement plans for literacy and continuing education of their workers so designed as to meet their specific needs. The Ministry of Education and Culture in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Training and other concerned Ministries and Departments should oversee these programmes.
The mass media facilities including satellite telecast should be fully utilised for providing adult and continuing education.
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Recognising the important role of both voluntary organisations and local bodies in promoting adult education, the Board recommends that the existing scheme for assistance to voluntary organisations should be considerably enlarged and made more liberal and diversified with a view to giving a major impetus to voluntary effort in this field.
With a view to developing suitable teaching-learning materials in training of adult education personnel at all levels, the Board recommends that State Resource Centres should be set up in the States wherever they are not in existence at present, and the activities of such centres enlarged.
The Board realises that programmes on adult education on the lines envisaged above would call for substantial resource allocation by the Centre as well as by the States. It notes that although the Sixth Plan envisaged an equal contribution by the Centre as well as the States in this regard, some States were lagging behind. The Board urges the Centre and the State Governments to ensure considerable stepping up of allocation for the programme in the Central as well as the State Sectors, to make up for the shortfall so that at the end of the Sixth Plan period the States' commitments to match the Centre's efforts are fulfilled. Considering the magnitude of the problem ahead, the Board recommends that the low cost alternatives consistent with the requirements of quality and effectiveness of adult education programmes should be explored.
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IV. Improvements In school education The Board notes with satisfaction the special efforts made by various States to promote the quantitative growth and qualitative improvement of school education. In particular, it endorses the programmes related to girls' education and those meant to encourage the children of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The problems of children in hilly areas and in North Eastern States deserve special attention, and the Board underlines the need to augment financial help to solve these problems. Experiments such as those initiated by Maharashtra Government under the programme of Rapport-based school improvement seem to point to a way by which school and community can work together for the advancement of education. Such experiments should be encouraged and carried out in different parts of the country. Special emphasis should be laid on aesthetic education, and efforts should be made to train increasing number of students in music, dance and drama so that they may develop refined taste and appreciation of Indian artistic heritage. The Board reiterates that the development of scientific temper among students should also be given an intensive impetus and encouragement.
V. Women's education