INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF SARI I.D.NO.
 SAHIB, SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF
 EDUCATION & SE.WE. TO THE
 CONFERENCE OF EDUCATION
 SECRETARIES & DIRECTORS OF
 EDUCATION HELD AT, NEW Delhi, 
FROM  SEPTEMBER, 1972
 

On behalf of my Ministry and myself, I join my friend and colleague, Shri J. P. Naik, in welcoming you to this important conference. It has been convened, as you know, to discuss the programme of educational and cultural development to be included in the Fifth Plan. I need hardly emphasise the significance of close and continuous cooperation between the Centre and the States in the formulation and implementation of educational and cultural plans. Under the Constitution, educational and culture are largely a responsibility of the States. But they are also an important national concern. Successful development of programmes in these fields depends necessarily on the willing and sustained cooperation between the States and the Centre. I feel, therefore, personally heartened by your active assistance in the preparatory work for this conference and by your participation in it. This augurs well for the future. It is an assurance, if one were needed, that every effort would be made to prepare meaningful and realistic plans of educational and cultural development and to implement them with vigour and vision.

II

TIME-TABLE FOR THE FINALISATION OF THE FIFTH PLAN

First of all, I would like to place before you a tentative time-table for our work on the Fifth Plan.

The discussions in this conference and in the Central Advisory Board of Education will help to determine the strategy and broad policies of educational and cultural development. They will also indicate the programmes to be included in the Fifth Five-Year Plan. We hope to place the recommendations of the Central Advisory Board of Education in your hands

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before the end of this month. As condsiderable preliminary work has already been done in the States and Union Territories on this subject, it should not be difficult for you to finalise the broad outline of the Fifth Plan for Education and Culture in your States and Union Territories by the end of November, 1972.

1 propose to have another round of consultations with you partly to inform us at the -Centre of what you are doing and partly to inform you of the developments that may have taken place here at the Centre. These discussions will be held at four regional conferences of State Education Secretaries and Directors of Education. I propose to organise them in November or early in December at Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and Delhi. As a result of these consultations, I hope, it will be possible to finalise the National Plans on Education and Culture and submit them to the Planning Commission by the end of December 1972.

We may have to meet against when the draft Fifth Plan is finalised by the Planning Commission towards the end of March 1973. This may be some time in May or June 1973. It will be necessary then to take stock of the whole position, to modify our programmes of advance action, if necessary, and to formulate detailed plans for the first year of the Fifth Plan (1974-75). This will give us enough time to finalise these plans in time for discussion with the Planning Commission as usual, in the last quarter of the calendar year (1973).

I will welcome your comments and suggestions regarding this time- table.

III

TWO MAIN CATEGORIES OF ISSUES

The main theme of discussions in this conference is the programme of educational and cultural development to be included in the Fifth Plan and the advance action to be taken in this year and the next towards its successful implementation. A paper on the proposed educational programme has been circulated to you in advance. I am sure you have had occasion to examine it in all its bearings. I regret that it has not been possible to circulate in advance a similar paper on the plan for

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cultural development. We have, however, attempted a draft working paper which has now been placed on the table, We shall take it into consideration tomorrow.

In dealing with both these papers, two main categories of issues arise :

a. The first relates to the formulation of a policy and the strategy for development. Here, the main responsibility obviously lies with the Central Advisory Board of Education and the Education Ministers in the States and the Centre. These issues will therefore be discussed in all their aspects in the coming meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education.

b. The second issue relates to implementation of the approved strategy and policies. Here we, the civil servants, have obviously a basic responsibility. It is on these issues, therefore, that this conference should deliberate in depth and formulate appropriate action schedules. IV

POLICIES AND STRATEGY OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIFTH FIVE-YEAR PLAN

Taking the first strategy of these issues, it will be readily observed that the programme of educational development proposed for inclusion in the Fifth Plan is based on the following main assumptions :

1. The present socio-political situation in the country pro- vides a favourable setting for a comprehensive educational reform. It is, therefore necessary to put in our best effort to transform the existing educational system, to improve standards and to continue expansion and especially to provide universal primary education.

2. Such an effort will necessarily need a massive financial outlay. In all Plans, a strong case was made out that education should be given a high priority and an allocation of ten per cent of the total outlay. But in the first three Plans, eduaction was allocated only about 7 per cent of the total outlay in the public sector and in the Fourth Plan, this proportion

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fell to. 5.2 per cent. It is now proposed that this should be raised to 10 per cent of the total outlay in the Fifth Plan. Any curtailment in this outlay will hamper the achievement of comprehensive educational development.

3. While larger financial inputs are necessary, they alone will not be able to achieve the results in view. It will, if anything, be all the more necessary to mobilize the immense human effort needed for implementation of the programme-the effort of teachers, students, educational administrators and the people as a whole.

In formulating our proposals for the Fifth Plan, it is obviously essential that we should identify and execute a few key programmes on a priority basis. Besides Technical Education, which is to be considered by the All-India Council of Technical Education, the key programmes for development are : (1) transformation of the educational system; (2) improvement of standards; (3) provision of integrated services covering health, nutrition, education and social welfare for pre-school children from the most under-privileged social groups (4) provision of universal education for children in the age-group 6-14 by 1980-81; (5) qualitative improvement of secondary education; (6) vocationalization at the higher secondary stage; (7) adoption of a common pattern of school and college classes (10 + 2 + 3); (8) intensive qualitative improvement in higher education (9) development of a national scholarships policy which would enable the most under- privileged social groups to have excess to good education at all stages; (10) youth services with special emphasis on liquidation of illiteracy in the age-group 15-25; and (11) strengthening of educational administration.

I should be greatful to have your comments on this general approach to the development of education in the Fifth Plan, the broad programme of priorities and the magnitudes of financial investment visualised. Our considered recommendations on these issues, would, I am sure, be of help to the Central Advisory Board of Education in its deliberations.

V

THE CHALLENGE BEFORE THE ADMINISTRATION

Before I turn to a detailed examination of the second category of issues dealing with implementation, I may also

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highlight the immense challenge that faces us if the policies and programmes I have just outlined are to be properly implemented.

During the last 25 years, the principal achievement of the educational system has been expansion. One wishes one could say that the record in dealing with this problem has been altogether happy. Adequate steps remained to be taken throughout this period to strengthen the administrative machinery. This was partly because of the general reluctance to increase ` administrative expenditure' and partly because a good deal of it was treated as Non-Plan. Whatever the reasons, the fact remains that the Education Departments of today are not adequately equipped to deal even with the problems of large scale expansion.

It is necessary to remember that the Education Departments face a far more complex and difficult challenge in the Fifth Plan. First of all, the stresses and strains within the educational system, especially in the system of higher education, have considerably increased. They place a far greater responsibility on the administrative system than at any time in the past. Secondly, expansion in the Fifth Plan will be much faster, specially in the context of the decision to provide universal primary education. At the same time, we will have to deal with two other major programmes: transformation of the educational system and improvement of standards. These would, in themselves, call for tremendous effort. Never has so difficult, so complex, so large and so varied a challenge been faced by the educational administration in the past. We must take full cognizance of this; and one of our first responsibilities should be to strengthen the Education Departments. This should preferably be done as part of the advance action programme.

VI

STREAMLINING OF ADMINISTRATION

How is educational administration to be streamlined ? What steps must immediately be taken to this end? This is among the foremost issues we must consider at this conference. It is from this point of view that I should like to offer a few suggestions.

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1. Universal Education for the Age-group 6-14: The fulfilment of the directive of Article 45 of the Constitution is the largest single task we shall attempt in the Fifth Plan. The following are some important steps that will have to be taken for this purpose :

a. In States where the task is very large, it may be an advantage to create a special Directorate of Primary Education. In many States, senior officer of the Directorate, with the status of Joint or Additional Director of Education, may have to be placed in charge of this programme.

b. The district level machinery will also have to be substantially strengthened. In every village and town, we will have to prepare annual lists of children who are not attending schools. We will also have to organise enrolment drives at the beginning of each academic year. This huge effort cannot be made without proper strengthening of the district machinery.

c. It has to be noted that the bulk of non- attending children are girls and children of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The existing departmental machinery has not been equipped adequately to deal with the complex problems involved in the enrolment of these under- privileged children. There is, no doubt, a special machinery to deal with girls' school; but in most States, this will need strengthening at the district level. But the Education Department generally do not have any special machinery at all to deal, with the enrolment of children from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. It is absolutely essential that a suitable machinery for this programme is created, both at the State and the district levels.

(d) One of our greatest problems will be to reduce wastage. This will have to be attempted largely through the organisation of part-time education for the age group 11-14. We have had no experience of running part-time education programmes at the primary and middle school stages. New syllabi will have to be prepared for these classes; the teachers will have to be appropriately oriented; and the Inspectorate will have to be specially trained. The task is as large as it is siginificant.

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(e) It is extremely important to mobilise community support for programmes of primary education. This support can come for construction of buildings, for providing equipment, for the provision of ancillary services like school meals or free supply of text-books, etc. Fortunately, some States have significant experience of mobilizing such community support. What is needed now is an all-out nation-wide effort to mobilise the maximum of community resources for the development of primary education. The Education Departments will have to be suitably organised and geared to undertake this responsibility.

2. New Programmes: There are some programmes proposed to be developed in the Fifth Plan which are almost new. There is hardly any machinery in the existing set up to deal with them. We will have to take early and adequate steps to strengthen the Education Departments suitably for them also. These programmes include. for instance, the following.

(a) Model Schools: The -establishment of model schools and qualitative improvement of other schools is a significant and challenging programme that needs close attention. There will be a separate autonomous organisation to look after the model schools. But the responsibility for running these institutions will vest, in the main, with the State Education Departments. I would therefore request you to give your earnest consideration to this programme and to make all the necessary preparations for it. I would also request you to note that about 10 per cent of the educational institutions at all stages are to be raised to optimum level. In addition, an effort has to be made to raise every educational institution to certain minimum level. The Education Department will therefore have to take steps, right from now, to define these minimum and optimum levels to survey the existing situation, to work out the financial and other implications of the programmes and to implement it, partly through State help and partly by raising local resources.

(b) Youth Services: Another new programme to be included in the Fifth Plan, is the programme of youth services. This will be built round the Nehru Yuvak

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Kendras which are being established in each district. These Kendras will work, to begin with, in collaboration with the model secondary and primary schools. At a later stage, their activities will have to spread to all educational institutions. Their development will also involve the large-scale organisation of informal education and the use of mass media and considerable extension activity. The Education Departments have not yet handled youth programmes of such a type on any significant scale. They will have to be suitably equipped for the purpose.

(c) National Service Volunteers: Yet another challenging effort which is to be part of the Fifth Plan in the educational sector is the enlistment of the services of voluntary teachers (who would be graduates), retired teachers and other local persons who can play some role in the new programmes. So far, we have relied mainly on full- time and formally trained teachers to run our schools. To increase the effectiveness of the programme and also to reduce costs, we shall now have to utilise all available community resources. A radical departure proposed is to bring in National Service Volunteers and other part-time teachers. We must equip our administrative machinery suitably to this major change in the educational strategy.

(d) Pre-School Development: A fairly large programme for the development of integrated services in education, health, nutrition and welfare for pre-school children from the under- privileged sections of the community is proposed to be developed in the Fifth Plan. At present this programme exists only in a small way, if at all. Strengthening of the Education Departments for this is also inescapable.

(e) Vocationalization of Secondary Education: This is another important programme. Considerable original work is needed for its success. An adequate and efficient organisation will have to be built up for the introduction of work-experience in classes I-VIII and for the provision of compulsory training in crafts and trades in classes IX-X. Greater efforts still will be needed for vocationalization at the higher secondary stage. Manpower requirements will have to be estimated by carrying out suitable surveys in each district; appropriate courses of vocational education will

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have to be designed to meet the local needs of each area; teachers will have to be trained for these courses; teaching materials will have to be prepared; and arrangements for practical training will have to be made on a large scale. All this implies that the Educational Departments will have to work in close collaboration, not only with the other concerned Departments such as Agriculture, Industry, Labour and Employment, Medical and Public Health, but also with the principal employing organisations and institutions. Appropriate coordinating machinery would have to be created at the district and State levels. This is a crucial programme that has been largely neglected in the past. I would request you to examine it in detail with a view to ensuring that the necessary administrative machinery is created well in time.

3. Involvement of Teachers: The programmes proposed for inclusion in the Fifth Plan will all need concerted efforts to involve, first and foremost, the teachers and the students. Improvement of curricula and text-books, reform in the methods of teaching and examination, and encouragement to experimentation and new ideas, to mention only a few items, cannot be made without their constant and continuing support.

(a) Improvement of Curricula: This task will have to be undertaken on a high priority basis as part of the advance action programme. The principle on which curricula are proposed to be revised have been enunciated in the working paper. The Ministry of Education has requested the NCERT to prepare model curricula for classes I-X and classes XI-XII on the basis of these principles. These curricula should be available by the end of December, 1972. I would suggest that the State Education Departments, through their State Institutes of Education, should also initiate action in this direction as early as possible. When the new curricula prepared by the NCERT are circulated, they can be utilised by the State authorities to revise their own curricula. There would naturally be variations in matters of detail. But the effort, in national interest, should be to have a broadly common curriculum, at least in the key subjects. It would be worthwhile to try and finalise the new curricula by the end of the current academic year. The new textbooks, can then be prepared and new courses introduced in

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all parts of the country by the beginning of the Fifth Plan.

(b) Text-books : High priority should be given to the improvement of textbooks. Arrangements for their proper supply and distribution will also have to be made I should like to invite your attention to the proposed provision for the establishment of text-book presses. It would be a great advantage if up-to-date regional textbook presses are set up as soon as practicable with a suitable all-India, coordinating organisation. This will improve the quality of text-books and reduce their prices.

(c) Improvements in teaching methods and in the examination system: For these important programmes, it would be necessary to organise commensurate programmes of in-service education of teachers and the inspecting officers. This will also require strengthening of the State Institutes of Education. What is even more important, the administration at the district level will have to be strengthened to provide the necessary extension services to schools and teachers.

(d) Experimentation: We must make every effort to encourage freedom, initiative and experimentation on the part of the schools and teachers. The necessary framework and planning will have to be introduced for this purpose. Teachers, headmasters and inspecting officers will have to be adequately oriented.

4. Secondary and Higher Education: There are two main points in secondary and higher education which the Fifth Plan would particularly underscore.

The first is to check deterioration of standards which takes place through indiscriminate expansion. For this purpose, the location of new institutions at the secondary and higher stages will have to be properly planned. We will have to ensure that new institutions established are of an optimum size which is at once economic and efficient. Suitable steps may have to be taken to develop existing institutions also to these optimum levels. Over- dependence on private enterprise will, in any case, have to be given up; the States will have to assume larger and

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increasing initiative in establishing new schools and in regulating the schools under private management. All this will impose a severe strain on the Education Departments unless they are suitably reinforced.

The second issue pertains to programmes of qualitative im- provement. Here also, the Education Departments will have to play a vital role by providing guidance and financial assistance.

There is hardly any need to give further illustrations. As we discuss the working paper, many other points which call for administrative action will come to notice. But what I have said already will suffice to show that, unless a radical reorganisation and strengthening of the Education Departments is attempted right from now, it may not be possible to implement the major programmes we have in view for the Fifth Plan.

I would request the conference to adopt specific recommendations on these and allied issues.

VII

PROGRAMMES OF CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Finally, I would like to say a few words regarding programmes of cultural development which we will discuss tomorrow afternoon.

In the first four Plans, cultural programmes were not treated as a separate theme. They were covered under "Other Programmes" included in the Educational Plan. They also received severely restricted allocations which varied from 1 to 2 per cent of the total outlay on Education. This has not been a happy situation and has had several undesirable consequences. I think it is time that programmes of cultural development received their due emphasis, at least in the coming Plan.

As I said earlier, we have made a tentative exercise regarding programmes of cultural development to be included in the Fifth Plan. It suffers from many weaknesses mainly because we did

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not have enough data about programmes that are now being operated upon in the States and their thinking on the development of cultural activities in the coming year. I should, therefore, be grateful for your comments and suggestions.

At the end of this conference, it is proposed, if you agree, to appoint a number of working groups to look into the different areas of cultural development. Each group would consist of some representatives of the Centre, some representatives of the States and a few experts in the field. It would be of advantage if the groups can meet quickly and draw up an interim report by the first week of October and their final report towards the end of November 1972. On the basis of these reports, it should be possible to present to the Planning Commission a set of interim proposals by the middle of October 1972 and the final draft Plan for the development of cultural programmes by December 1972. This will be in keeping with the Planning Commission timeschedule.

VIII

ADVANCE ACTION

May I, with your permission, also suggest that we should take immediate steps to formulate programmes of advance action necessary in this year and the next? In so far as action to be taken during the current year is concerned, we will have to take decisions at this conference itself and take action on them immediately, both in the Centre and in the States. In so far as advance action to be taken in the next year is concerned, it would be necessary to have these also finalised before the end of November 1972. This will enable us to make financial provision for it in the Central and State budgets for 1973-74. Some tentative decisions on this subject, therefore, will also have to be taken at this conference.

Some suggestions for advance action, during this year and the next, have been given in the Section XVI of the Working Paper. These may be taken as a basis for your discussions.

I would request the conference to make its specific recom- mendations on the subject.

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IX

Friends, I have taken much of your time with this inaugural statement. My main object has been to invite attention to some of the important issues we have to examine. I am grateful for your indulgence. Before closing, I should also like to say, once again, how very important it is that the plans for educational and cultural development, which we are drawing up in this Silver Jubilee Year of the Independence, are formulated with all the care and thoroughness that we can bring to bear on the task. The proposals before you represent what may perhaps be described as the largest and most comprehensive effort for educational reconstruction in all its aspects. They necessarily presume intensive and sustained effort at implementation. Implementation thus assumes far greater significance than at any time in the past. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. It is our duty as well as privilege to rise up to it.