APPENDIX B :
MEMORANDUM ON ITEM 4 :
REORGANISATION OF HIGHER
 SECONDARY AND PRE-UNIVERSITY
 EDUCATION
 

Item No. 4. Reorganisation of higher secondary and pre-university education.

(Governments of Madras and Gujarat)

REORGANISATION OF COURSES OF STUDIES IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

(Government of Madras)

The Curricular Pattern of School Education.

1. There is an approved plan of reorganisation of courses of studies in all the schools and colleges of this State. This reorganisation commenced in the school year 1958-59. Changes are taking place from year to year. They are due to be completed at the end of school year 1962-63; 1963-64 will be the first year in which the curricular pattern as reorganised is planned to be in full force and effect. I now propose a modification of this approved plan.

2. This modification will not affect the changes already made and those which are planned to be made during 1961-62. The latter comprises the introduction in all secondary schools of the new VIth standard replacing the old I Form as well as (ii) the new Xth standard in replacement of the old VIth Form.

3. The two changes planned to be made during 1962-63 are :(i) the introduction in all secondary schools of' the new VIIth standard replacing the old IInd Form and (ii) the introduction in certain selected secondary schools (not all) of the new XIth standard, thus setting up in these schools a Tamil medium equivalent of the pre- university course in colleges.

The modification proposed by me relates purely to the latter o these two changes.

I propose that the XIth standard should not be introduced in any school in the State during 1962-63 or any subsequent year of the Third Five Year Plan period.

4. The primary reason for this proposal is that the resources available for secondary education during the Third Five Year Plan period should be devoted exclusively to assess the success of the reorganisation effected up to the new Xth standard. The primary aim of reorganisation up to that stage is to secure that the education provided hitherto in 11 years is provided in 1O years.

In view of the large and continuous increase in the numbers seeking admission to secondary education, it will be necessary to take steps to

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make sure that the tendency to failing standards caused by growing numbers has, in fact, been arrested and revised. Efforts should be concentrated during the remaining years of the Third Plan period in order to raise the actual average level of attainment.

5. At the end of next school year, 1961-62, the S. S. L. C. Examination should be held for pupils who complete the new Xth standard on the same basis as hitherto for pupils who complete the old VIth Form and certificates issued. Those who fulfil the requirements prescribed by the university for admission to college education should be given what may be called a "General Secondary Education Certificate" ; and others who merely complete the course without attaining the prescribed minimum level may be given the usual Secondary School Leaving Certificate. (This is only a verbal change in place of the infelicitous distinction at present made between S. S. L. C. (Eligible) and S. S. L. C. (Completed). Though only a verbal change, it will mark the beginning of planned process of raising standards.

6. At the end of the school year 1962-63, a new "Elementary Education Test" (as distinguished from a State wide public examination) should be instituted. This test should be held for all pupil- who complete the new VIIth standard and it should be common to all secondary schools of every educational district in the State. On the basis of results of this test, two kinds of certificates should be awarded. An "Elementary Education Certificate", should be given to all those pupils who are verified by the test to have attained a minimum standard fixed in the district for admission to all secondary schools in that district. All pupils who have completed the VIIth standard without attaining this standard should be given an "Elementary School Leaving Certificate."

7. Strict insistence on the possession of an Elementary Education Certificate as a condition of admission to the VIIIth standard of secondary schools is necessary. This must be followed up by planned provision of better staff and better equipment for all these secondary schools which lack them at present. It is only when this process is completed during the Third Five Year Plan period, that the possibility of a substantial upgrading of standards of college education will become possible.

8. Provision should be made for recognition of the "Secondary School-Leaving Certificate" as well as the "Elementary School Leaving Certificate" as standards of minimum educational qualification for the two lowest categories of posts or services in the Public Services. This will be necessary to ensure that pressure is not brought to bear on educational authorities to reduce their requirements for the grant of the Secondary Education Certificate and the Elementary Education Certificate.

9. Steps should also be taken during the Third Five Year Plan period to open craft-training schools and vocational training schools in greater numbers to absorb a proportion of the holders of Elementary School Leaving Certificates and Secondary School-Leaving Certificates.

This again will help to secure strict insistence on specified students for the award of the Elementary Education Certificate and Secondary Education Certificate,

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10. Carrying this principle lower down, it is necessary that there should also be a "Primary Education Test". This test should be taken by pupils who have completed the new Vth standard and it should be a common test for all elementary schools within one local area i. e. a Panchayat Development Block, or Municipal town, as the case may be). A Primary Education Certificate should be awarded only to those pupils who, having completed the first five years of schooling, give proof of having attained the prescribed minimum standard. Possession of a Primary Education Certificate should be insisted on strictly, as condition precedent to admission to the new VIth standard.

II. The Curricular Pattern of College Education.

11. Reorganisation of the courses of studies in colleges has been completed. The changes effected by reorganisation are :

(i) (a) the abolition of the old Intermediate course of two years;

(b) the institution, for limited period, on a transitory basis of a pre-university course rou- ghly but not exactly corresponding to the first year of the old Intermediate course.

(ii) (a) the addition of an extra year, saved by (i) above, to the old two-year degree courses and their reorganisation as "Three-Year Degree Courses", picking up for the "Pre University Course," and

(b) the addition of an extra year, saved by (i) above, to the Medical, Engineering and other Professional Degree Courses.

12. The foregoing reorganisation gave rise to many problems some of which have been solved, and others are not fully solved.

(i) An acute problem arose in respect of colleges which provided only the 'Intermediate' courses and had no provision for offering degree courses. This problem has been solved at considerable expense by upgrading them.

(ii) This solution of the problem gave rise to another problem, with the general inflation of authorised strength, leading to large gaps between authorised strength and actual admissions. The financial and management problems incidental to this solution are probably not yet fully solved.

(iii) In this situation, the abolition of the pre-university course in colleges 'which has the postulation as a necessary feature of the reorganisation will create financial and management problems of an even more acute character than the abolition of the Intermediate course.

(iv) Apart from these considerations, there is the problem of change in the medium of instruction. The old Intermediate course provided an adequate cushion of two years during which the effects of inequality of opportunity for pupils from different parts of the State were ironed out,

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Before the degree course commenced, all pupils had become acclimatised to a new medium as well as to the new methods of instruction. The abolition of the old Intermediate course has reduced this cushion from two years to one. As a result, the increase of efficiency gained by reorganisation of the degree courses of study is to a significant extent offset, If, in this situation, even the one-year cushion of the pre-university course is abolished, it is certain that the entire gains secured at considerable expense by the reorganisation already effected will be also practically wiped out.

13. For all these reasons, the course proposed in Section I is no less necessary in the interests of college education than in the interests of school education. The remaining years of the Third Five Year Plan period can be devoted to stabilisation and improvement on the basis of existing organisation and avoidance of the grave new problems incidental to the rapid or early abolition of the pre- university courses in colleges, which would be the necessary corollary to introduction of the new XIth standard in schools.

14. This will also provide a breathing space for deliberation and re-thinking about the future of the pre-university course as well as of its school-equivalent, the projected but suspended new XIth standard.

Such re-thinking is essential. It will be recalled that when the reorganisation of college courses was undertaken by the University, the Government asked for postponement by one year in order to plan the college level reorganisation and the school-level reorganisation jointly. That postponement was refused and the University went ahead. When subsequently, the school-level reorganisation was planned, the connection became clear and was accepted that it was quite impossible to provide a 12-year school course which was the assumption on which the college level reorganisation is based. It was agreed that a 11- year school course should be planned with adequate time for upgrading standards so as to secure the level attainable by adding one more year to the then existing 11-year course.

Experience has now clearly shown that it will take a very long time to secure this result.

The proposal in Section I implies that even for the more limited objective of compressing the old 11-year course into IO years, the entire Third Five Year Plan period will be needed.

15. In the light of this experience, is it wise to plan for a II year school course even during the Fourth Plan or the Fifth ? Would it not be wiser to accept the reorganised ten year course as the final pattern of school education, add an extra year to college education and replan the college courses so as to gain the maximum possible advantage out of this extra year ?

In my opinion, the answer is in the affirmative. The question, however, is of far reaching importance for the future development of higher education. It is necessary that there should be adequate discussion and agreement, not only between the State Government and the University in Madras State, but also between all the State Governments

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and the universities of the South Zone (if not also of India as a whole).

16. Assuming that there is agreement on an affirmative answer, how best could this addition of an extra year to the college education be utilised ?

There can, in my opinion, be no doubt that it should be added to the pre-university course ; and we should again have a two-year course separating the end of secondary education from the beginning of the first degree course of university education. This two-year course, however, will differ from the old Intermediate course in one important respect ; the first degree course to which it would lead will be a new three-year-degree course, not an old two-year degree course. That will be a vital difference. In order to mark this difference, I propose that this new course may be called the "Junior College Diploma Course."

17. I propose, in other words, that admission to university degree courses should be granted only to holders of "Junior Colleges" awarded by the university. The relevant two-year course should be instituted only in those educational institutions which are recognised by the university as being properly staffed, properly equipped and fully prepared for preparing pupils for taking the university examination.

Such institutions may be referred to as "Junior Colleges."

18. It will be necessary to secure that the institutions recognised by the university as junior Colleges should be evenly distributed among all the districts of the State.

The total number of seats in all Junior Colleges of the State should be evenly distributed among districts in approximately proportional relation to the total strength of the new Xth standard in secondary schools of the districts concerned.

In order to secure this result, colleges in which post-graduate education is provided should not be recognised as Junior Colleges. The authorised strength in Madras city colleges should be reduced. In the mofussil districts where degree colleges do not exist or do not provide sufficient facilities suitably selected high schools should (after adequate preparation to the satisfaction of the university be recognised as junior Colleges. The concept of "higher secondary schools" should be finally replaced by the concept of "Junior colleges".

19. Here again a clear distinction should be drawn between the completion of the two-year "Junior College Diploma" course and the attainment of the standard pescribed for admission to degree courses. This difference should be marked by limiting the award of "Junior College Diploma" to those pupils who attain the standard and the award of a "Junior College Leaving Certificate" for others. This is necessary in order clearly to emphasise that the two-year course is a significant educational effort in itself even if it did not lead to the attainment of the standard necessary for admission to a degree course.

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It should be recognised that the holder of a Junior College Leaving Certificate has had a better education than the holder of a Secondary Education Certificate. It is in fact the equivalent of a Higher Secondary Education Certificate which was intended to be made available to all secondary schools and now found to be impracticable.

20. When this change is made and a three-year-degree course is again reorganised. it will be possible to achieve two important results. First, the curricular content can be increased so as to absorb a substantial part of the curricular content of the M. A.M. Se, degree courses. Secondly, the average attainment reached by individual pupils can be substantially improved. How will these two results be secured ? This will be secured because the intake of pupils will be at a higher average age. They will be better acclimatised to the sharp change between school and college of both the medium and the method of instruction. Finally, they will have already covered the whole or at least a substantial part of the curricular content of the first year of the degree courses. There can be no room for doubt that the average degree holder after such reorganisation will be a much better educated person than the average degree-holder at present.

21. if the Junior College Diploma course is instituted, it will be necessary to provide that admission to Medical, Engineering (and other) professional degree courses to holders of junior College Diploma.

When this is done, the present courses will have to be reorganised. A choice will then be open between two possible principles of reorganisation. We may either seek increased output from these institutions (as recently enlarged and equipped), in which case the duration of the course should be reduced by one year. Or we may seek to increase the curricular content, in which case the present duration of the course will have to be maintained. Either way decisive advantages can be secured.

III. Concluding Remarks,

22. Similar possibilities either of increased output or of improved curricular content are opened up in respect of polytechnics, teacher training schools and other vocational training institutions.

23. The reorganisation of courses of studies in schools which is now in progress should be completed in school year 1962-63 with one important modification of the approved plan. The introduction of the new XIth standard should be suspended for the duration of the Third Five Year Plan period. The resources available for secondary education during the Third Five Year Plan period should be utilised for stabilising the reorganisation of school curricula effected up to the new Xth standard and assessing its success.

24. An extra year will become available through successful completion of the reorganisation of school curricula. It should now be regarded as an open question whether this extra year should be added on to school curricula as a new XIth standard; or it should be added on to the

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college curricula (as the basis for a further reorganisation). It is the purpose of this paper to point out the superior advantages of the latter course.

25. If this course were accepted the reorganisation of courses of studies in schools and colleges would be as below:

I. Schools : (A) The old pattern of five years primary school courses, followed by three years of higher elementary/middle school courses, leading to three years of academic/diversified secondary school courses would be replaced by:

(B) the pattern of seven years of elementary school course, leading to three years of academic/multipurpose secondary school courses.

II. Colleges (A) The old pattern of two years Intermediate course by two years of B.A. B.Sc. courses would be replaced by

(B) the new pattern of two years of junior College Diploma course, followed by three years of B.A./B.Sc. courses.

C. SUBRAMANIAM 6. 9. 61

THE REVIEW OF THE INTRODUCTION OF MULTIPURPOSE AND HIGHER. SECONDARY COURSE