APPENDIX M : MEMORANDUM ON SUPPLEMENTARY ITEM : PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE EMOTIONAL INTEGRATION COMMITTEE.
(Ministry of Education)
When the Emotional integration Committee was set up at the end of May 1961, the Education Minister had expressed the view that the Committee might consider presenting a preliminary report to the Ministry. The first meeting of the Committee originally scheduled for June, could be held only on July 10, 1961. At this meeting, a Working Paper prepared for the Committee's consideration was discussed, and it was agreed that a general questionnaire be issued to all the vice-chancellors, principals of colleges, heads of schools, the D.P. Is. and the Directors of Education, and other education officials. Over 9,000 copies of the questionnaire were issued and in addition, copies were sent on request to members of the public who expressed an interest in the Committee's work and to members of our Missions abroad. Replies from over 1,000 people have been received and analysed.
A questionnaire on textbooks was also issued to the various State Governments. Several States have sent their replies; replies from, others are expected shortly. The Committee set up a sub-committee to go into the content analysis of textbooks in the social studies and languages. Since a complete content analysis of all the textbooks would have meant a mammoth study and therefore, impractical of completion within the limited time at the disposal of the Committee, it was decided to. conduct a sample analysis. The Secretary of the Committee has so far visited. eight States and met the State Education officials and several heads of schools and training colleges, and textbooks have been made available to the Committee for the sample survey which is under way.
A second Working Paper was discussed by the Committee at its meeting on August 19 and 20. It was decided to present by November a brief Preliminary Report to the Ministry of Education embodying certain suggestions for immediate implementation in the next academic year so that it may be placed before the Central Advisory Board of Education at its next meeting in January 1962. The Preliminary Report has been written after due examination of the views expressed in the answers to the general questionnaire and after considering the evidence tendered by some eminent persons who were good enough to respond to our invitation and give us the benefit of their views on the very important problems facing the country today.
The Committee would here like to reiterate what the Prime Minister said at the National Integration Conference held at the end of September, 1961 : "All over the world we see strange things happening and there are not many countries which can be considered to have
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real stability. In spite of our failings and weaknesses and difficulties we are a stable country going ahead, which can compare very favourably with any other country. But the fact also remains that the problems before us are of a giant stature. I have no doubt that we have the capacity to solve them...Essentially, these big problems have to be approached logically, reasonably and as a matter of faith in ourselves, faith in our people, faith in our capacity to Work together." The Conference had also stressed that fact and with this the Committee is in complete agreement that the importance of education in fostering national unity could not be minimised. Education properly oriented can prove the greatest cohesive force in the country.
When submitting our main report which we hope to do in the next few months, the various problems confronting the country and schemes for the promotion of emotional integration will be dealt with in greater detail. The present report contains suggestions for immediate implementation. In making these suggestions the Committee would like to stress the composite structure of Indian culture and the need to preserve unity in diversity by cherishing and respecting equally the various cultural strands which enrich Indian civilisation.
Recommendations 1. (a) The Third Five Year Plan envisages the provision of universal primary education. Such an extension of educational facilities would go some distance towards removing traditional disabilities of large sections of our people. The situation as it is emerging requires, a review of the existing policies of assisting the socially handicapped.
As far as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes am concerned they possess certain constitutional safeguards. These will continue for a decade, and their position will then be reviewed by competent authorities in the light of the results achieved.
(b) There also other sections of people who suffer from social disabilities. It is not only necessary to provide wider educational facilities for students from these sections but to devote special attention to them. Measures must be taken to attract them to schools and improve the level of their education to that they can compete on less unequal terms with the advanced members of our society. For such students, it is essential to have a better teacher-pupil ratio, and for such teachers, better training and remuneration should be provided. The extra expenditure incurred in this connection, in the Opinion of the Committee, is perfectly justified.
(c) In regard to admissions to educational institutions and the award of scholarships and fellowships, national integration will be furthered if these are decided on the basis of means and merit. In considering means, not only the income, but the educational and social background of the parents need to be taken into account. Such Criteria which are essentially social and economic, will be far mere relevant to our secular, democratic State than any based on caste and religion. The Committee is firmly of the opinion that together with determined efforts to assist in an
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effective manner the socially handicapped, we should move towards the adoption of criteria that are free from the age-old divisive characteristic of our society.
(d) Hostels should not be set aside for any one community or group. They should be open to all and mixing should be encouraged. It is repugnant to the spirit of the Constitution and national unity to encourage separatism in academic institutions. Recognition should not be given to institutions where divisive tendencies are encouraged. However, in those cases where institutions are maintained by trusts or donors, every effort should be made to persuade trustees and donors to open them to all communities. They should also be advised to get the trust deeds or gift deeds suitably changed through the appropriate court.
(e) Application forms for admissions to schools avid colleges, other educational institutions and hostels, for recruitment to the various service and for scholarships should not contain any column seeking information regarding an applicant's caste or religion.
(f) Domiciliary restrictions in regard to migration of students at school and college levels should be removed and every State should freely admit to Its educational institutions students from other States, particularly at the university level.
2. (a) The Committee, is in agreement with the importance assigned to education by the National Integration Conference recently and it further broadly endorses the recommendation made by the Conference in this behalf.
(b) The committee agrees with the Chief Ministers' Conference that the linguistics minorities are entitled to get instruction in their mother-tongue at the primary stage of education. Effective steps should be taken to implement this principle not only in the letter but also in the spirit.
(c) At the secondary stage, the medium of instruction will generally be the regional language or where certain circumstances prevail, another language mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, or English.
(d) The Committee endorses three-language formula recommended by the Chief Ministers' Conference. The Committee regrets to note that the three-language formula has been misapplied in various ways by certain Stages. The variations result in either the three-language formula in practice operating as a two-language formula or in ignoring the need to study the two link languages, Hindi and English. The formula should be clearly understood to mean that all students beyond the primary stage must learn both Hindi and English. Primary education will be in the mother-tongue, secondary education will be in the regional language or in the mother-tongue in the case of linguistic minorities provided (i) the mother-tongue is one of the language of the Eighth
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Schedule, and (ii) students, in sufficient number are available who desire education in such a language. A further variation that will have to be allowed is the use of English or Hindi as the medium of instruction in selected secondary schools provided that the other language, Hindi or English as the case may be, and, the regional language are also added. At the university level, if the medium of instruction is the regional language, Hindi and English will be added as separate languages for study. It urges that not only should the formula be implemented forthwith but the opportunity be availed of in the Hindi speaking regions to teach one of the South Indian languages as a reciprocal gesture to the need for learning Hindi in South India.
(e) The Committee recognises the need for strengthening the link for, inter-State communication as also for developing another link for contact with the international world and with advances in science's and technology. To this end, the Committee recommends that the study of Hindi and English should commence in the school at an early stage.
(f) As regards the medium for university education, the Committee feels that the regional languages are bound to replace English the medium of instruction over a period of time. The Committee is strongly of the view that such a change-over must be accompanied by the strengthening of the link of inter-State, communication and for this purpose Hindi must continue to be taught as a second language as in the secondary stage of education where necessary wand, further that English will continue to be studied not only as an important language but as the medium of communication with the world and a source of enrichment for all our languages.
(g) The Committee is of the opinion that where schools and colleges using minority languages cannot be affiliated to universities or boards within the, State they may be affiliated to universities or boards outside the State, Existing affiliations may continue.
(h) The Committee recommends that research should be under taken on graded and basic vocabularies in the various Indian languages, to facilitate the implementation of the three-language formula and in view also of the fact that it is, likely that the regional languages will ultimately be used for university education. The common Indian language which will ultimately take the place of English as a means of inter-State communication should also have its vocabulary enriched and strengthened, and its alphabet simplified. For this purpose the vocabulary should be drawn from all the living languages of India and "from the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and other languages of India" , as laid down in Article 351 of the Constitution. The need, therefore, for an All India Research Centre in Indian languages is in the opinion of the Committee, imperative.
3. The Committee does not propose in this Preliminary Report to take up the question of textbooks and the many problems that they present, as they will be dealt with more fully in the main report. It however, makes the following recommendations for immediate implementation.
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(a) Scholarships and Fellowships Scholarships and fellowships for specialised training abroad in textbook writing, production and illustration should be instituted on a priority basis in view of the urgent need for trained personnel in these two fields. Assistance from Unesco may be obtained where necessary in getting the trainees/fellows suitable placed.
(b) World Seminar on Textbooks To ensure that the country's problems in regard to textbook publication are not studied in isolation, the Committee recommends the convening of a World Seminar on school textbooks and supplementary readers, with India as the venue, in October 1962 as part of the U.N. Day programme. Such a Seminar would help teachers and educationists, textbook writers and publishers in India to profit from the experience of other countries.
(c) All India Seminar on Textbooks The Committee recommends that before the World Seminar, an All India Seminar on Textbooks, with particular reference to the teaching of social studies and languages, should also be held,
(d) World Exhibition of Textbooks A World Exhibition of Textbooks could also be usefully organised during the Seminar week and the books in question would form a useful addition to the Central Textbooks Bureau, of textbooks used all over the world.
4. The Committee feels that there are certain measures of a more or less ceremonial nature which have a great influence on the moulding of character in , young children. They help to create a group- consciousness sensitive to stimulii. With this end in view, the following are suggested:
(a) The School Uniform The Committee considers it necessary to have a common uniform in schools. It is possible that a large number of students may find it difficult to meet the cost, particularly where climatic conditions necessitate the use of two sets. However, the necessary money for these uniforms would have to be provided by the Government even though the whole cost need not fall on the exchequer. A substantial subsidy should be enough.
(b) Daily Assembly It would be advisable to begin classes everyday with a gathering of all the students in the open air or he school hall depending on the season. After roll-call there should be a ten minute talk by the head of
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the institution or a senior teacher. The talk need not be extempore but a striking excerpt from the lives and speeches of well known personalities- ancient or modern - could easily form an occasional feature of this morning assembly, Much depends, of course, on the standard of the talk and on a uniform excellence being maintained, A series of talks, either collections from great writers or speeches by distinguished Indians, could be made available in gramophone records or in print. Some schools perhaps already follow a similar method. It would be useful to extend it to schools all over the country and to see that a suitable collection of talks is put into a volume and made available to all schools, Audio-visual aids should also be used to help the teachers to equip themselves for these talks.
After the talks and before the children disperse, there should be a mass singing of the National Anthem. Children should not only know how to sing the National Anthem but they should also know all the verses of the Anthem and their meaning. Competent translations of the Anthem should be made in all the regional languages for this purpose. The story of the National Flag and the Anthem should be familiar to every child.
(c) Terminal Gathering The head of the institution should make it a point to have a gathering of students, teachers and parents twice a year at the beginning of each term where in addition to the brief resume of important events connected with the institution in the previous term and of activities which are planned for the current term, he should impress upon all students their responsibility to the school and to the country. At this terminal gathering students should repeat standing a pledge dedicating themselves to the service of their country and their countrymen. A draft of such a pledge in English is attached. Needless to say the effectiveness of the speech and of the pledge will depend on the general atmosphere which has been built up in the school and the solemnity preserved on the occasion.
(d) Open- air Dramas Integration through cultural activities is already being undertaken to some extent. One such activity that should be encouraged could take the form of open-air dramas, These are inexpensive and it should not be difficult for each school to have three or four such plays in a year. At least one play should be based upon a theme derived from the classics or from the history. A third could deal with a famous hero or heroine from the past not belonging to the region in which the institution is situated. In predominant Hindu areas, there should be some plays dealing with non-Hindu lives and vice versa.
Students' exchanges and tours Conducted tours of students from one State to another should be undertaken in increasing numbers and it is equally important to have
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conducted tours for teachers. These inter-State visits, if properly organised, should do much to acquaint both teachers and children with different parts of our country. In this connection the Committee would like to emphasise that the Youth Hostel Movement needs to be taken up more seriously. A network of Youth Hostel should be set up by all the States in selected places.
The Committee also recommends the practice prevalent in countries abroad where students live a pair, i.e. a child from one part of the country spends some time with a child in another part of the country on a reciprocal basis and this helps to foster understanding between different regions. Language would, of course, present some difficulties, but these difficulties are not insurmountable.
(f) School Improvement The Committee is of the opinion that when so much needs to be done to improve the quality and standard of our school buildings and campus, it would be very useful if every school and every institution could carry out a plan, however small it might be, in this regard. Activities not necessarily in the curriculum could be taken up so that children could contribute in their own small way to the growth of the school. This would not only increase their pride in and loyalty to the school but would also help in improving the school for future students .All encouragement should be given to them to undertake campus activities in their own areas.
5.(a) The Committee does not propose at this stage to go into detailed recommendations regarding the curriculum but would recommend that the study of history and geography needs to be made compulsory in every school, having regard to the importance of these subjects as fields of study where emotional integration can be fostered. Equally important is the need to teach children about India's developmental projects not on a regional but on an all-India basis.