10. Education has to be assigned Top Priority as it is the fundamental basis of all progress. "Our progress as a National can be no swifter than our progress in education". Notwithstanding this, education has been relegated to the social services sector and is in no way being considered productive in nature. This thinking has to be changed as the prosperity and development of a nation depends on the quality of manpower that education produces. The investment in education is a long term investment as the period of its gestation goes even beyond 20 years. There is no escape from this investment. This is a must if the Nation has to survive in this technological era. The expenditure on education has been on the decrease over plan periods. Now we

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should treat education as a Priority sector and allocate about 10% of our country's GNP to give a much required fillip to our effort to get the desired result in this field.

11. Himachal Pradesh Government has identified backward areas on the basis of criteria of development. Additional inputs have been earmarked for the spread of education among STs/SCs/Women/OBCs and Antodaya familites. Education is free upto Matriculation level throughout the State. But in this effort the Government of India should offer assistance packages to enable us and others similarly placed, to enable us to extend educational facilities to our underdeveloped and deprived people at different levels.

12. Schemes like Operation Black Board and Science Improvement Programme are attractive, but their impact analysis should be undertaken with the involvement of the users and these schemes should be updated in their applicability and operation with additional incen- tives so as to make them more useful. The new schemes may also include provision for repairs/construction of school buildings, storage material and drinking water facilities etc. If it is not possible to start these schemes on 100% basis, these be introduced on sharing basis particularly for hill States where the cost of construction is exhorbitantly high.

13. The scheme of Adult Education should be reviewed in the light of its results and mass impact. Its effects should percolate to grass-root level among our rural poor and slum dwellers. Special area specific approach projects should be carved to make it more relevant and rewarding with greater liaison between the schools, colleges, universities and the State Governments. This would enhance its utility considerably and the community would be able to appreciate the State effort in this direction.

14. There has been a lot of expansion at all levels but it should be further stepped up in sonic States. All our resources should be pooled for consolidation of educational facilities. As you all will agree with me, the Hill States are sparsely populated-our density being 77 person per Sq. Km. Some areas are having still thinner population. While consolidation of educational facilities is very important in Hill States with low density of population, expansion of educational facilities, too, will have to be continued alongside.

With these few words, as I conclude, I express my thanks to you all.

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SHRI BHARAT BONDRE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION MAHARASHTRA

At the outset, I would like to thank the Honourable Union Minister and his colleagues for convening this meeting at a very appropriate time. In the first place, we are at the beginning of the VIII Five Year Plan and, therefore, whatever decisions are taken in this meeting can be implemented effectively and efficiently during the plan period. Secondly, the major items on the agenda for this meeting would be the strategies to be adopted for different sectors of education in the Eighth plan. Decisions taken in this meeting will help in introducing relevant programmes in the remaining period of the Eighth Plan. My Government has, from time to time, given detailed reports of the progress made in various sectors of education to the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Hence here, I will try to hightlight only those areas which need particular attention of the CABE.

Pre-School Education

Pre-School education is a feeder and strengthening factor for universalisation of elementary education. In Maharashtra, we have 21,811 Anganwadis under the ICDS Programme. There are 4190 Balwadis attached to single teacher primary schools run by the Zilla Parishads. In addition, there are pre-primary schools run by the voluntary agencies recognised by the Education, Social Welfare and Tribal Development Departments of the State Government. Under the programme of Operation Blackboard, a second teacher is being provided to all single teacher schools in a phased manner. The possibility of starting Balwadis in all such single teacher schools with the help of the second teacher appointed under Operation Blackboard has been explored. In addition, it is proposed to extend the "School Readiness Programme" being implemented by the Bombay Municipal Corporation to the other Districts of the State. In this programme, the primary school teachers interact with the parents and children motivate them to enrol and send their children to school, `Play methods' are used to attract children to formal school environment.

Supervision over private pre-primary schools, which are ran under different names like K. G. classes, Nursery, Montessori, Shishu Mandir, etc., also need urgent attention. These

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are, at present, not recognised by the State Government. The methodologies adopted by these schools need to be carefully reviewed. There is no doubt that there is a need for bringing about appropriate attitudinal changes among parents and teachers. However, there is an equally urgent need to supervise such schools so that their activities conform to the principles of Child Psychology.

Elementary Education

Under the Programme of Operation Blackboard, 52 blocks, 45 Municipalities and 5 Corporations were covered last year. We have prepared a project report for 68 blocks in the second phase. Major problem that we are facing in this programme is paucity of funds for construction of classrooms. In the first phase 3,101 one-room units and 683 two-room units are expected to be constructed. Cost of the construction comes to about Rs. 17.87 crores. Resources required for the remaining blocks would be more than 70 crores. It would be very difficult to find funds of such magnitude. It is, therefore., necessary to review this scheme to overcome this problem.

Non-Formal Education

A welcome feature of the new Programme of Non-formal Education of the Government of India is that the VIII Plan gives a prominent place to the education of working children through NFE in the scheme of things for UEE and that it is proposed to continue the scheme in the centrally sponsored sector and raise Central share of the scheme to 75%. The Programme of Non-formal Education should be considered not only as a component of universalisation of elementary education, but also as a strengthening factor for the Literacy Programme, as it would help in arresting the growth in number of illiterates in future. I would urge the Government of India, that Central Assistance should also be made available for NFE Projects in districts where literacy rate is below national average, irrespective of their locations.

Teacher Education

In the light of NPE 1986, the curriculum of primary education (for Stds. I to VIII) has been revised and, the same is implemented in the State from June, 1989.

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The process of revision of syllabi for Diploma in Education and Bachelor of Education in the light of the NCTE frame-work, 1988 is in progress.

After having completed the Programme of Massive Orientation of School Teachers in the implementation of NPE, '86 for the last four years we have already entered the operational phase of the programme.

The work of identifying the existing Junior Colleges of Education to be converted into DIETs has been completed. In Maharashtra 11 DIETs have been approved by the Ministry of HRD. Government of India.

Efforts to Promote Girls' Education

The population of children in Maharashtra in the age-group 6-44 is 1.29 crores. The enrolment of the children in these age-group is nearly 100 per cent. As per State Government's policy primary schools have been provided within a radius of one and half Km. with a population of 200. The State thus has satisfactory infrastructure to provide primary education to the children. However, high drop-out rate continues to be an area of concern in primary education in the State. The dropOut rate is high especially amongst the girls and children belonging to SC/ST. A number of programmes have been undertaken by the State Government to improve the primary education. especially to reduce the drop-out amongst the children in the schools. Some of these measures are as follows :

(a) Savitribai Phule Dattack Palak Yojana-The scheme was started in 1983-84. In this scheme the school teacher identify the economically poor girls who are likely to dropout on account of their poverty. They also meet the local community members and motivate them to contribute Rs. 25 per month or Rs. 300 per year either in cash or in kind to maintain the girls in the scheme. Till March, 1990, 1.56 lacs girls in Primary Education have benefited. The scheme has been evaluated and it has been decided to extend the scope of this scheme from the academic year 1991-92 to all the Districts on a large scale.

(b) "Matru Prabhodhan" Scheme-This scheme was started in 10 Districts in the State which aims as,

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interacting with the young mothers whose girls are about to enter the primary schools or are in the schools. The scheme not only continuously motivates the mothers to send their girls to schools but also aims at creating awareness amongest them regarding aspects of health, hygiene, nutrition and education. The scheme is being monitored by the S.C.E.R.T. and in view of the good results notice in the 10 Districts. it has been decided to extend the scope of the scheme to at least one taluka each in all the Districts from June, 1991-92.

(c) Village Education Committee-Under the Primary Education Act, there is a provision for setting up of Gram Shikshan Samiti (Village Education Committee). However, these Samitis were not very effective. A review was undertaken and as per the guidelines given by the Government of India, Village Education Committees have been set up throughout the State with specific responsibility of micro-level planning and monitoring of education programme of primary, non-formal and literacy. Efforts are now being made to orient Village Education Committee Members in order to enable them to discharge their duties effectively. The committees consist of local sarpanches, school teachers, parents literacy instructors, young activists and women members.

(d) Free Uniform and Textbooks for children belonging to Backward Class-Under this scheme two sets of uniforms are provided to the children belonging to the Backward Class. However, due to financial constraint the coverage under this scheme is not satisfactory. The Government has provided in 1990-91 Rs. 3 crores for this scheme.

Under Book Bank Scheme an amount of Rs. 2.00 crores is being provided for the students in the primary sector.

National Literacy Mission

The literacy rate of Maharashtra as per 1981 Census was 47.2%. There is a wide disparity between literacy rates of men. and women, which is 34.8% as against men's literacy rate of 58.8%.

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Under the National Literacy Mission, the State Government as intensified the efforts to eradicate illiteracy in the age-group of 15 to 35 and some of the notable measures undertaken by the State Government are as follows :-

- 100% literacy programme for Sindhudurg and Wardha Districts. In both these Districts after a house to house survey, a number of illiterates were identified in October-November, 1990. With the active involvement of local Leaders, Sarpanches, School Teachers, Voluntary Groups, Mahila Mandals and students, the District Collectors of these two Districts prepared a time-bound plan for eradication of illiteracy. The programme has started in both these Districts and there is a high degree of motivation and commitment on the part of all participating agencies. The programme is monitored regularly at the Taluka, District and State level. It is expected that by July, 1991 these two Districts will be able to attain the objective of 100% literacy.

- One Taluka in each of the remaining 27 Districts (except Bombay) was also identified for total eradication of illiteracy. The house to house survey was done in December, 1989 with the active help of Sarpanches and School Teachers. To create proper atmosphere, meetings of the Village Community, Local Panchayat Members were organised and local instructors were selected and trained by March, 1990. The programme was started in April, 1990 and a mid-term evaluation was done by an external agency viz. Gokhale Institute of Education, Pune. The Institute has indicated that in majority of Talukas more than 50% people have been made literate by these efforts.

- Bombay has a rich history of voluntary groups working in varied fields from literature, arts, women issues, social and economic developments. A meeting of some voluntary groups was convened by the Department in July, 1989 in, the University Department of Chemical Technology, Bombay. A group of voluntary Organisation decided to work for literacy in a specified area from Dharavi and Bhabha Atomic and Research Centre. The group also registered itself as

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CORO (Committee of Resource Organisation). This group has identified five slum areas in Bombay for total eradication of illiteracy and the Education Department has requested Tata Institute of Social Sciences to evaluate this programme since its inception and the efforts of the Department is, therefore, to involve voluntary groups in Bombay on a large scale.

- Bombay University has responded by starting mass programme of literacy through student volunteers. In 1989-90 nearly 30,000 students volunteers and in current year also approximately the same number of students are making nearly 30,000 persons literate in Bombay University area.

- Amravati University has also identified 70 villages in the University area for taking up literacy and rural awareness programme through its student.

- At the request of the Education Department the Doordarshan has positively helped the programme by starting a serial called `Akshardhara', which focuses on creating motivation amongst the volunteers and learners. So far 13 Episodes have been telecasted and nearly 25 volunteers from all over the State have written to the Doordarshan. showing their desire to participate in the literacy programme.

- The All India Radio in Bombay, Nagpur, Pane and Aurangabad are broadcasting literacy programmes in their weekly programmes. The Bombay All India Radio has recently started a new programme called "Shalebaherchi Shala" focusing on creating awareness and motivation for literacy amongst the people.

- With the Central and State funds, thus there are 31,310 Adult Education Centres where 7.9 lacs learners are learning. The highlight of this programme is that out of these total learners approximately 60% are women. Therefore, the State Education programme has focused attention on the women's literacy.

Technical Education

The State Government has established a Technological University of a unitary and non-affiliating type at Lonare in Raigad

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District of Konkan taking into consideration the upsurge of industrial growth in the area. In the initial phase, the University has started a petro-chemical course and other non-conventional courses relevant to the area will follow.

Maharashtra is a highly industrialised State and manpower requirements in industrial and tertiary sectors in our State are increasing at a rapid pace. In order to meet this emerging demand utmost importance is being given to ensure that technical institutions are suitably equipped and staffed to impart high quality education. We had in the past conducted a critical evaluation of the infrastructural facilities available in the unaided institutions, and I am glad to say that current evaluation shows significant improvement in the quality of facilities provided by these institutions. We also expect to get shortly about Rs. 123 crores by way of World Bank assistance for our Technician Education Project for upgrading and expanding our polytechnic education system. We also expect to get Rs. 6 crores Japanese aid for upgrading and expanding the facilities in the College of Engineering, Pune.

In our State, due emphasis is laid on encouraging more and more women to take up technical education. At present of the total enrolment in Engineering Colleges and polytechnics in the State about 10% are women. With a view to stepping up the enrolment of women we have started 10 new Polytechnics exclusively for women and have also introduced courses such as computers and electronics which are generally preferred by women.