 ADDRESS BY SHRI UNDER, MINISTER
 OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

I am grateful to you for this opportunity to share thinking on some vital issues concerning education and the role of media of mass communication.

Education poses one of the greatest challenges to the nation's ingenuity as it completes 25 years of Independence. That is so because education is a vital factor in national transformation, which is the main goal of our social, political and economic endeavours. It ranges much wider than the conventional school education or educating selected groups for various tasks,. Indeed, it comprehends the whole gamut of contemporary life touching it at many sensitive points.

Education planners and all those interested in changing the face of India and giving a richer content to our Independence in terms of greatest individual satisfaction through a variety of opportunities and greater collective fulfilment to society at large, are being called upon to meet this challenge.

It is a sad thought that the fundamental commitment in our Constitution with regard to education for all will not be met in a great many States before 1980 and in some States, the goal might have to be deferred until the 21st century.

The 1971 census brought the disturbing realisation that the growth rate of literacy in the country was lower than at the time of our undertaking the functional literacy programme. The level of illiteracy was revealed to be around 29 per cent as against 24 per cent. The more distressing aspect of this reality is that illiteracy is higher in the rural areas and in the female

population and these are the two sectors where the need of quick transformation is greater.

Educationists have pointed out that the reason for this unhappy phenomenon is that population is still. growing at a fast pace beyond the capacity of physical resources. Sociologists have emphasised the decline of motivation as the chief cause of the failure. Both explanations are valid. But that does not change the nature or gravity of the problem.

Of similar concern is the problem of creating more and more schools but without affecting the quality of teaching. An analysis of this crisis which has assumed serious proportions in spite of the massive effort put in by the Government indicates that if the time-lag of centuries has to be bridged, we shall have to press into service new technology, namely, the electronic media which are capable of reaching large masses-a sign of hope in our struggle against ignorance and poverty.

Experience of the last three decades around the world suggests that radio and television could strengthen the hands of educational planners. Internationally famous communication experts like Wilbur Schramm have been able to state on the basis of research and evaluation of several pilot projects undertaken in different countries and societies that television is a powerful device not only to make the learning process one of joy but also enable educationists to evolve entirely new instructional techniques. In the far-flung territory of Samoa, for instance, conventional education was entirely replaced by teaching through the medium of television. In Japan, several experiments were conducted in the field of science-teaching and teaching of new mathematics. In India too, the Delhi experiment has yielded valuable insight into various classical problems faced by the teacher. Taken together, we have in our possession a wide body of research and experience on the basis of which we can prepare a national plan for the use of television in school education. Based on tried models, Indian talent could develop techniques specially suited to our own condition.

Before we try to spell out the broad features of the pattern of possibilities, it would be useful to cast a glance at what obtains at present and to assess how far we have succeeded.

In India, we have today a country-wide broadcasting network consisting of 69 stations, covering 66 per cent of area of

the country and 78 per cent of its population. Radio has played a remarkable role in the dissemination of information and in the, emergence of a truly national culture in the domain of entertainment arts. The medium of broadcasting has been used to give massive support to India's great endeavour of modernisation of its agriculture. Our Radio Rural Forum project has been acknowledged to be an effective model for other countries in the world. We have lately used the airwaves to bring the various national languages closer. Yuva Vani-a wave length exclusively manned by youth has provided a stimulating forum to the youth adding the missing dimension in our national broadcasting. Greater sensitivity to national and inter- national issues has brought a heightened awareness and involvement. Indeed, several interesting possibilities have been explored and many a new vistas have become visible.

It is, however, a thought provoking brain teaser that only a very small percentage of the 1.2 crores licenced radio receivers in the country is located in the rural areas. Although 27 stations of AIR are putting out school broadcasts regularly, there are only 20,000 schools equipped with sets and only 16,000 are actually using school broadcasts. An insignificant number of schools have projecting facilities with the result that even the far from adequate film- resource material, which is available and in circulation, cannot be put to effective use. We have been using film as a teaching aid but nothing significant has been done to develop and establish 16 mm technology with the result that we are still behind the goal of self- reliance in 16 mm educational and entertainment for class-room and T.V. films. We have been using other audiovisual aids and devices for a variety of purposes, but we are still far short of teachers trained in the media-use.

This situation calls for a fresh critical appraisal and a close and sustained coordination between media planners and educational planners so that the range of educational activity with the help of media can be widened and the quality of education at all levels improved.

With increasing rural prosperity as a result of the mammoth effort of national development, the dark spots in the rural areas are bound to be lit up fairly soon. Radio and TV are soon going to play a valuable role in this social transformation. It is appropriate to mention that our national TV design has kept in sharp focus the need of reaching both the rural and the urban audiences. Even during the first phase of development when, after

Delhi, there will be TV centres, at Bombay, Srinagar, Calcutta, Lucknow and Madras, there will be large surrounding rural areas which will receive TV programmes. The ambitious satellite communication experiment project also aims at reaching out to the rural community spread over the length and breadth of India. TV content has also been varied and oriented towards maximum utilisation for educational purposes. But the problem of meeting the highly varied need of different audiences with imagination still remains.

Now that we are engaged in preparing the Fifth Plan, we must scan the full range of possibilities, fix relative priorities and initiate programmes in all relevant areas like improvement in the quality of instruction, meeting the challenge of expanding need of general education as well as education in specific subject; improving the quality of teachers; reducing the number of drop-outs by making education more interesting; filling the gaps in the curricula and establishing a creative partnership between the less trained teacher in the class-room and the expert teacher on the screen; etc. The central aim should be to use the dynamic medium of TV for instilling new life in the entire educational system through an integral nexus between TV instruction and the school syllabus and the time-table.

I have been pleased to learn in this connection that an Edu- cational Technology Centre is being set up in Delhi to deal with the development of curriculum, preparation of basic scripts of films, radio and TV lessons, preparation of graphics and production of 16 mm films. We should ensure a continuous feedback from the communicators and the educators to the centre to that modes and techniques best suited to the needs of children and adult students in the urban and rural areas are evolved.

The Open University which has been attracting considerable attention all over, particularly during the International Education Year, appears to provide an excellent opportunity for making university education available, particularly in the field of humanities, social sciences, general science, etc. to the widest cross-section of the Indian people, who have not had an opportunity to be at a campus. Many intelligent persons who are employed and are, therefore, unable to undergo full time instruction have derived considerable benefit from the correspondence courses started by the Delhi University which have been duly backed up by AIR's broadcast lectures. It is high time that this instructional experiment, which is quite different from those in

vogue in universities of the traditional pattern built around the printed words, is carefully assessed. In due course, this experiment could be further expanded, learning from actual experience. The Open University experiment has tremendous sociological significance in the context of the nation's progress towards a classless society of fair opportunity for all.

You are no doubt aware of the success achieved by closed circuit radio and TV systems in the Universities of the USA, the USSR and Japan, particularly to supplement the teaching of science and technology. In England, too, quite a few universities have been using closed circuit TV with remarkable success. In Australia radio and TV are combined with seminars and laboratory work at the university using radio and TV transmission as well as closed circuit internal networks. The I.I.T., Kanpur, I understand, has been using closed circuit TV as well. With increased emphasis on bringing about improvements in the teaching of science and technology in institutes of higher learning, the use of media could be exploited in full.

Media are potent instruments for bringing about social change. After the initial euphoria, the world has critically assessed the true nature of the impact caused by media in relation to change. Communications is no magic which can transform situations at will. Media only reinforce the effect and help establish a relationship of empathy and participation between the concerned people and, therefore, facilitate the adoption of innovations. Our own experience indicates the power of interpersonal communication as much as that of the mass communication media. While harnessing the use of mass communication media for education, we could evolve an integrated system so that the impact of knowledge, disseminated through radio and TV or film, is enhanced and reinforced by the personality of the teacher.

The role of media in stimulating group concern and in arousing a national consciousness of issues cannot be over-emphasised. I would like to refer to the deliberations of this conference two years ago. In more than one resolution, we had expressed abhorrence at the emergence of the cult of violence which had posed a grave threat to democracy and indeed to our national security. The conference had also reacted in distress to the growing incidence of youth unrest. As all of use know, these problems are not exclusive to India or even to the developing world. But their impact is far more deleterious on a nascent developing nation.

Although the nation woke up to the threat posed by the cult of violence and re-asserted its determination to create conditions of peace and stability necessary for growth and development, there is still need to continue the effort so that the mainsprings of. national motivation are immunised against any future mischief.

It is my belief that communication media interwoven into the system of mass education could greatly assist in resolving conflicts and tensions, which are generally the root cause of Sudden eruptions, as well as help inclucate an overriding sense of national responsibility, which alone could prove to be an effective safeguard against erratic and destructive tendencies in this connection, I would like to recall the Prime Minister's observation that "seeds of the new man must be laid in the child's mind" for it is there where prejudices remain embedded till they sprout growth under the impact of various influences in future years. School textbooks as well as supportive media input, must reflect this phislosophy. Indeed all activities concerned with education of the child and the fashioning of his personality should be inspired by the fundamental loyalty to the concept of national integration.

The voice of mass communication has become loud and pervasive and indeed the entire people are exposed to their powerful influence in one way or the other. It is high time that a national policy on media use especially in the field of education in the broadcast sense, should be evolved. This policy could be the mother of a variety of programmes In the field of mass literacy, curriculum development, teacher's training, social education, etc. which are Urgently required to fulfil our tryst with the future.

To conclude, I would like to say that the basic commitment of a free society is to man, who should be at the centre of all national plans. Let the challenge of education be met by mobilising the full value and impact of the media of mass communication so that education widens the vistas of opportunity for the common man and helps consolidate the foundations of Indian polity and ethos.

ADDRESS BY SHRI UNDER, MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING