THE CABE, 47TH SESSION, 1992

 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE
 CABE HELD ON 5-6 MAY, 1992

1. The 47th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) was held at Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi on May 5-6, 1992 under the chairmanship of Shri Arjun Singh, Union Minister of Human Resource Development.

2. A list of participants is presented in Annexure-I.

3. Shri Anil Bordia, Member-Secretary CABE, welcomed the members of the Board and invitees to the meeting. Tracing the history of the CABE he stated that the Board had a long and distinguished record of advising the central and the state governments and autonomous bodies on all sectors of education. He then outlined the business listed for the meeting of the Board and briefly introduced the agenda (Annexure II) , the main item of which was consideration of possible modifications in the National Policy on Education, (NPE) 1986 in the light of the recommendations of the CABE Committee on Policy. A draft of the possible modifications was circulated to the Members. Thereafter he invited the chairman to deliver his inaugural address.

4. In his inaugural address, Minister of Human Resource Development conveyed his appreciation of Shri Janardhana Reddy's, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh, commitment to Education. He thanked him and the members of the CABE Committee for their Report which was broughtout in a short time and was thorough with

valuable insight into the educational needs of the country. He observed that the NPE-86 formulated after a deep and extensive thinking stood the test of time. Education should keep abreast of times. In the fast changing world scenario, the responsibility of enlarging and informing the young minds and making them useful citizens of the country rest on us. In this context, the meeting was crucial as the members were going to discuss the modifications in the Education Policy in the light of the recommendations contained in the Acharya Ramamurti and Janardhana Reddy Committee Reports. He hoped that the deliberations of this meeting of CABE will prove to be land marks in the history of Indian education. The text of the address of Shri Arjun Singh, Union Minister of Human Resource Development is a appended at Annexure-III.

6. The minutes of the 46th meeting of CABE were confirmed subject to the written comments, if any, which may be sent in due course.

7. The Action-taken Report on the minutes of the 46th meeting was noted. It was agreed that written comments, if any, would be sent in due course.

8. Thereafter the Chairman requested Shri Janardhana Reddy, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh, to introduce the main item, viz. consideration of the Report of the CABE Committee on Policy and the draft Revised Policy Formulations.

9. Shri Reddy thanked the Prime Minister and the Union

Minister of Human Resource Development for entrusting the work of policy review to hint. He said that he was singularly honoured being basically a teacher. He thanked all members of the Committee for their cooperation. He said that the perspective of the Committee was that the National System of Education envisioned in NPE-1986 should be strengthened and that education should make people good citizens. He further said that education, like religion, should be kept away from politics and that the biggest need of the country was national integration. He said that Acharya Ramamurti Committee Report contained valuable data and many practical suggestions for implementation. The educational developments since 1986 have also been kept in view while determining the requirements and the needs of the country in the education sector. The long and valuable experience of Shri Anil Bordia, Union Education Secretary, was extremely helpful during the deliberations of the Committee. Shri Reddy stated that the CABE Committee on Policy broadly endorsed the NPE-1986. However certain modifications which had been necessitated in the light of the developments since 1986 have been suggested. The Programme of Action (POA) needed to be revised considerably to take into account the developments since 1986 as well as the recommendations of the Ramamurti Committee.

10. Thereafter the Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh, expatiated on the points of agreement and differences between the approach of his Committee and that of NPERC. He said while agreeing with Ramamurti Committee's recommendation about generic vocational courses at the secondary stage, his Committee felt

that vocational stream should be a distinct stream intended to prepare students for identified occupations spanning across several areas of activity. Ho said on Navodaya Vidyalayas his committee was firmly of the view that they should continue. He also referred to pace-setting residential schools in some States intended to serve the same purpose with full scope for innovation and experimentation and said that they would serve the objective of excellence coupled with equity and social justice (with reservations for rural areas, SCs and STs). He said he was certain that these schools would promote national integration and would become catalysts of a nation wide programme of school improvement. The Central government should assist the State governments in running these schools.

11. Shri Reddy said that the CABE committee was not in favour of amending Article 45 of the Constitution as recommended by Ramamurti Report. The new thrust in elementary education, as recommended by his Committee would consist of (i) universal access and enrolment (ii) universal retention of children upto the age of 14 and (iii) a substantial improvement in the quality of education to enable all children to achieve essential levels of learning. He further said that every effort should be made to ensure that the constitutional obligation to provide free and compulsory education upto the age of 14 years became a reality before we enter the twenty-first century. Shri Reddy also spelt out that the Policy should be reformulated to bring about new initiatives that are required in secondary education. He also stressed the need for uniformity in locating the plus two stage

in the schools rather than in the colleges. The CABE Committee recommended educational tribunals for the redress of grievances, on the lines of administrative tribunals. In technical education he referred to the need for amending the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) Act so that the State governments have a greater say in its functioning and technical education can progress on professional lines.

12. Shri Reddy said that an important area which exercised the mind of the Committee very much was that of resources. The Committee very strongly felt that education should be given high priority and should not be treated as a residual sector in the matter of allocation. The Committee recommended that need-based finances be provided for priority areas like Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE), adult literacy and vocationalisation. It also suggested certain measures to complement higher budgetary allocation such as prioritisation within educational sector in the matter of allocation of governmental resources and progressively making higher education and technical and management education largely self- financing.

13. Shri Reddy concluded by saying that education must reach everybody and provide its support services from Anganwadi workers to University researchers. That will answer the clarion call of the Prime Minister to reach the grass roots level.

14. He then requested the Members to give the Board the benefit of their advice to finalise the Revised Policy. A copy of the speech of Shri Janardhan Reddy; Chairman, CABE Committee

on Policy is furnished in Annexure-IV.

15. The Chairman complemented the CM, Andhra Pradesh for having set the tone of the meeting. He stated that he shared the deep concern of all over resources for Education. In this connection he had met the Prime Minister who assured him that as soon as the augmentation of resources took place, Education would be the first to get the benefit of augmentation. The Minister for Human Resource Development requested CM, Andhra Pradesh to preside over the meeting, as he had to attend to urgent business in the Parliament.

16. On a suggestion from Dr. Malcolm Adiseshaiah it was agreed that the discussion in the plenary session should be based on three documents, viz. , Janardhana Reddy Committee Report, Developments in Education since 1986 and the Draft Revised Policy Formulations.

17. Thereafter general discussion ensued. The written texts of the speeches of State/UT Education Ministers are appended at Annexure V. Some of the salient features/issues touched upon by the Members of the CABE during the plenary session on May 5 and the session in the afternoon of May 6 are outlined below.

18. Shri Veerappa Moily, Education Minister, Karnataka, described the meeting as `epoch making'. He stated that campaigns for total literacy had a significant impact in the enrolment of children in schools. Presenting the State profile be said that Karnataka would achieve total literacy by December, 1993. He observed that since the NPE-1986 was evolved by late

Shri Rajiv Gandhi, the revised policy should take us forward to fulfil his dream of improving the manpower and skills in training.He supported the amendment of Article 45 of the Constitution with a view to including ECCE as part of primary education to provide a strong foundation for education. He said that Navodaya schools should be cost effective. There should also be linkages between industry and technical education. The powers of AICTE can be decentralised as the State Councils of Higher Education can easily look after Engineering and Polytechnic education. He was not in favour of preventing brain drain but favoured the idea of a brain bank. In order to meet the onslaught of English medium schools `Model Schools' should be started as in Karnataka. However, he called the Janardhana Reddy Committee Report `revolutionary' which will set the pattern for education in coming years.

19. Shri Ajit Panja, the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting said that Radio and Television can go a long way in carrying out the programmes and policies of the NPE. He informed the Board that Radio was covering 98 per cent population and TV 72 per cent. Illiterates can hear radio and learn and as far as TV is concerned they can see, hear and learn. Education, he said, was not merely reading and writing. It was human resource development. He offered to open a second a channel on TV devoted solely to Education and Information. He, therefore, suggested that a small Expert Group be constituted which should list out the specific points to be implemented through Radio and TV including a separate channel for Education on TV which has

become necessary in view of the New Information order. He also offered the services of DAVP and the Publication Division for publishing low cost books for children in all languages. The artists of Song and Drama Division can go to the interior villages to spread the message of literacy. They should be associated with literacy campaigns and Non-formal Education. The Field Publicity Organisation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should also be used for educational programmes if such a recommendation was made by the CABE the media would be put to better educational use than at present. He also suggested that a Group on Education through I & B media may be set up. C.M., Andhra Pradesh, who was presiding, thanked the I&B Minister for his special concern for education and agreed with his suggestion to Constitute such an expert group.

20. Shri Shankar Dayal Singh, M.P referred to the recommendations on languages of the Janardhana Reddy Committee Report (Para 15.3 on page 55 of the Report) and stated that the policy should mention only those languages which are listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and not. the dialects like Bundelkhandi, Magadhi, Braj, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Rajasthani, etc. If such dialects were mentioned, the list will become very long. He also said that the objectives of the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan (KHS) should be clearly and correctly stated. The KHS is not merely for training of teachers. It also conducts classes for teaching of Hindi to non-Hindi speaking people and foreigners. Shri singh agreed with the views of the Janardhana Reddy Committee that KHS, Central Hindi Directorate (CHD) and

Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT) should not be merged. He wanted centralisation of production of textbooks as well as merger of Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas into one single Organisation. He also urged that the three language formula, as enunciated in the conference of Chief Ministers in 1961, should be strictly adhered to and the curricula adopted there be enforced properly. He also said that education was becoming expensive and the weaker sections could not afford it. He regretted the absence of any reference to the expensive education in the Reddy Committee Report. Finally he observed that the Report was silent on Gandhian Education. The CABE should make a strong recommendation about the basic education for inclusion in the Revised Policy on Education.

21. Dr. D.S. Kothari said that the title of the Report of Education Commission (1964-66) was `Education and National Development'. If he were to write the Report today he would title it as `Education and Character Building'. True education, he said, lay in character building. Quoting Arnold Toynbee who said that the only way of salvation for mankind was the Indian way, he exhorted the government and the people to promote Indianness of Indian education. He was firmly of the view that the Indian education system has a special obligation to mankind. He expressed his concern at the increasing violence and the erosion of values in the country. He said the salvation lay in linking science, technology, and productivity with Gandhian ideals. The requirement of the time was wisdom and tolerance tempered with three Hs, viz. , Humility, Humaneness and Humanity and therein

lay the true role and message of education. That alone, he concluded, would save the planet and the mankind. The need of the hour was true humanity which made no distinction between religions.

22. Shri Sikandar Bakht, M.P., pointed out the absence of the concept of `national temper' in the Agenda Papers. He also bemoaned the absence of play-fields and playgrounds in the capital and other cities. He said that we had neglected sports in the schools, which build character and inculcate discipline. Sports do not mean mere body building. They also mean the training of mind which leads to national dignity. What we need, he said, are play grounds and not stadia. At the time of partition Delhi with a population of lakh had 6-7 playgrounds which were well known. Today with 85 lakh of population, there is hardly any play-ground, only stadia are there. He further said that vocational education should not start from class IX but from the very beginning. `What we want', he concluded, was not mere literacy but education which builds character. If the world is to be saved from destruction, the only solution lay in the Indian way as rightly pointed out by Dr. D.S. Kothari.'

23. Shri Radha Raman Shastri, Education Minister, Himachal Pradesh emphasised the role of Education in character building which alone was the solution to the phenomenon of increasing violence on the campus. He wanted curriculum to be revised with inclusion of value education and cultural heritage in it. He was

in favour of a common and uniform curriculum for the entire country. He pleaded for making girls education a priority sector towards of universalisation of Elementary Education. He informed the Board that Himachal Pradesh had doubled the allocation for girls education. For protection of the dignity of girls on the campus special laws should be made so that girls can pursue their studies in peace and with dignity. For weaker sections, he said, we require special thinking and special strategies with special plans which should be effectively implemented and monitored. Finally, he said resources for education should be enhanced. and planning process made easy.

24. Dr. C.Aranganayagam, Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, endorsed the views of the Janardhana Reddy Committee Report that the recommendations of NPERC required very little of policy reformulation and that the' Programme of Action needed to be revised considerably. He also endorsed the views of the Reddy Committee on the strategy to achieve UEE, and on secondary education, vocational education, open learning system, National Council of Higher Education (NCHC) and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). He further stated that the Government of Tamil Nadu had accepted the scheme of Navodaya Vidyalayas. Tamil Nadu also gave a new boost to girls' education. He pointed out that drop-out rate of the girls in Tamilnadu is the lowest in the country after Kerala and that the Government of Tamil Nadu are implementing a number of incentive schemes for girls, viz., Foster-Parent Scheme, `Special Marriage Grant for Educated Girls' and Special Monetory Incentives for

Mothers who Adopt Small Family Norms, etc. Recently the Tamil Nadu Government has decided that education in classes I to V in Primary and Upper Primary Schools will be handled only by lady teacher and that in Women's Polytechnics, only women will be appointed as Principals' irrespective of their seniority. Speaking on adult education programmes, he said that although the State Government agreed with the views of the Reddy Committee, the modus operandi adopted for implementation of this scheme had caused some problems. The Education Minister stated that they had received a very serious complaint that the volunteers engaged for this work were attempting political proselytisation particularly in places like Kanyakumari district where some excard holders, had been engaged as volunteers. The literature printed for this purpose, he further stated, did not fully reflect the goals which the NPE-1986 had laid down. He, therefore, wanted that suitable corrective measures be taken in consultation with the State Government before it was too late. And finally on language issue he wanted a flexible policy which meant promotion of all Indian languages as distinct from imposition of any particular language.

25. Smt. Margarat Alva, Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension and Science and Technology, stated that she had been associated with the formulation of NPE-1986 from the beginning and was deeply interested in human resource development where science and technology played a vital role. She said that the main thrust of NPE-1986 was `Education for Equality' and the country would be

interested in knowing the progress achieved on equality front. She further stated that our target should be 0-14 and that Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) should form part of primary education which is the main strategy for reducing the drop-out rate. The Anganwadi workers should be brought into the mainstream of education to play an effective role. She said that she had been advocating the optimum use of educational infrastructure since the days she was Minister of State for Women and child Development. She, therefore, stood for shift- system. She urged introduction of mid-day meal scheme for primary school children and also setting up of Balwadis attached to primary schools. She also impressed the need to find the right type of teachers for the Navodaya Vidyalayas. Speaking on higher education, she said that development in this sector had been lop-sided and that instead of general colleges we should have more technical schools, polytechnics and craft training institutions. Besides we should have sports schools, more NSS and volunteer service.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CABE HELD ON 5-6 MAY, 1992