 APPENDICES : MEMORANDA ON THE ITEMS DISCUSSED
(I) APPENDIX A
MEMORANDUM ON ITEM 4 : CENTRAL AND CENTRALLY  SPONSORED SCHEMES OF THE EVENING OF EDUCATION

The general approach in the formulation of the Central and Centrally sponsored schemes has been determined by the assumption that ordinarily all development schemes executed by the State Governments would form part of the Plans of the States and that the schemes for the Central sector should be designed for certain specific areas and fields of activity.

The technical distinction between a Central Scheme and a Centrally Sponsored Scheme arises from the nature of the agency which will implement the scheme in detail. The execution of a Centrally sponsored scheme, within the framework of its approved design, will be through the State authorities, the financial assistance for the purpose, according to the pattern that may be agreed upon, being provided by the Central Ministry to the State Government over and above the normal ceiling of the State Plans. The technical distinction apart, the Ministry's general approach in formulating the Central schemes and the Centrally sponsored schemes is that even though the responsibility for the detailed execution of a Central scheme would lie with the Central Ministry, its implementation will be carried on in close association with the State authorities so that the programme of educational development may be viewed in its essential character as an integrated whole.

The outlay that may be allocated for the schemes of the Central and Centrally sponsored sector would cover the schemes for the development of universities and colleges, block grants for which are placed at the disposal of the University Grants Commission. The schemes of the University Grants Commission have not been included in these papers as they are in the process of formulation in the discussions currently being held between the Commission and the individual universities. In these notes, therefore, a reference to the Central and Centrally sponsored schemes may be construed as covering the schemes of the Central Ministry.

The proposed schemes are divisible into two broad categories: (a) schemes which were undertaken in the Second Plan and which are to be continued in the Third Plan as a developmental programme-continuing schemes; and (b) new schemes that are proposed to be taken up in the Third Plan. The following are the broad principles that have guided the formulation of these schemes:

(i) Research, pilot projects, experimental activities, designed to build up a body of knowledge and experience on which all educational effort can draw;

(ii) Development of national institutes, including regional institutes, designed for educational research and training mainly at the highest professional level;

(iii) Training programmes and provision of services in sectors of vital educational and national importance; and

(iv) Provision of special services, for example, scholarships, programme of education of the handicapped, development of Hindi and Sanskrit, etc.

The paragraphs that follow explain in broad outline the manner in which the above principles. have been applied to individual sectors.

Elementary and Basic Education

The dominant programme in the Third Five-Year Plan of Education is provision of free and universal primary education and introduction of compulsion in as large an area of the country as possible. The resources for this task have been provided in the State Plans. The expansion programme as it gets under way will throw up a number of problems-educational and administrative-attention to which has to be given from now on. Some of these are:

(a) With the primary emphasis on expansion, the progress of Basic education during the Third Plan will be of a limited order. In the Fourth and the subsequent Plans the main problem will be to adjust the Basic system of education to universal enrolment which would represent a wider range of abilities and social and mental difference. The demands that universal enrolment will make on the Basic system of education will have to be carefully studied and assessed during the next five years so that it may be possible in the subsequent Plans to have appropriate schemes for the expansion of Basic education in the context of universal enrolment.

(b) The expansion programme is conceived mainly in terms of the traditional subject content and methods of teaching. There are certain foundational subjects which have now to be introduced in the pattern of elementary education, such as science and health education. Suitable studies and experiments will have to be developed during the next five years so that guidance may be given to the State authorities in due course for the changes that may be found necessary.

(c) The problem of wastage and stagnation at the primary stage needs to be systematically studied and tackled. Limited though the existing enrolment is, wastage as well as stagnation is colossal. When enrolment becomes universal and children from families not used to think in terms of schools are brought in, the wastage will be even higher. If universal education is to be effective this problem will need to be solved on a satisfactory basis.

(d) The educational administrative personnel in the States has been used to a system of limited primary education. The problem of universal enrolment calls for a 'reorientation of' administrative attitudes based on a correct appreciation of the problems involved therein. It would, therefore, be necessary for training courses to be organised at all levels to reorient the educational administrators.

(e) The continued deficiency of suitable reading material for children has to be rectified and experimental work has to be done for the important problems of a free supply of textbooks to children in primary schools.

In formulating the schemes for the Central sector attention has been given to the measures that would be necessary for dealing with the above

problems. The pilot project scheme for intensive educational develop- ment is designed to provide conditions where the effect of total education at the elementary stage can be studied, analysed and a body of experience built up. The pilot project will link up the training institutions with the schools in the area and the programme will turn on the central theme of providing the Basic system of education in the context of universal enrolment, with a greater range of crafts and educational content.

The research in the problems of elementary and Basic education will be promoted through the scheme of financial assistance for such projects.

The scheme for special training programmes and seminars contem- plates the training of key educational administrators from the States who in turn will organise similar seminars and workshops at the State, district and taluk levels. Assistance to voluntary organisations working in the field of elementary education will be given to encourage experiments and try out new ideas.

The scheme, first started in the Second Five-Year Plan, for production of literature for children will be continued and expanded.

Secondary Education

Secondary education though occupying a strategic position in the total education system continues to be the weakest link and the irresistible claim of expansion without a corresponding pace in qualitative improvement has done little to improve the position. The backlog of improvements that are essential and desirable is accumulating.

In the context of the industrial and economic development of the country secondary education has to meet a pattern of national require- ments which is substantially different from that of the past. The numerical increase and the expanding pace of education are bringing pupils into the secondary schools who represent a very much wider and more varied range of abilities and aptitudes. Programmes of secondary education have, therefore, to meet not only the requirements of qualitative improvement within the existing framework but also prepare the experience and expertise required for the changes in social and economic pattern that are taking place.

The specific problems to which attention has been given in the schemes proposed for the Central sector are as follows:

(a) Institutional development for undertaking and promoting operative research in problems of secondary education;

(b) Training of key personnel in those subjects in which there is a deficiency and which are of vital importance for the larger plans of development-science, technical and other practical subjects;

(c) Evolving improved methods in teacher education and carrying them forward into schools and the State training colleges;

(d) Reform in the examination and evaluation system to reduce the colossal waste that takes place at present;

(e) Vocational and educational guidance of the students so that their education may be more closely related to their abilities and aptitudes and to the employment opportunities;

(f) Diversification of the curriculum to cater for a larger range of social needs;

(g) Promoting a national outlook amongst the students; and

(h) To promote experiments in the secondary education.

The programme of operative research, training, evolving improved practices and providing the Central organisation for dissemination of improved practices is an integrated whole. This is proposed to be undertaken by developing the existing Central institutes and establishing new institutes. The Institutes and the developmental outlay provided for this will be confined to build up a National Institute of Education for educational research and training at the highest professional level. In addition four regional training institutes will be established for the training of teachers of science, technical and other subjects in the multipurpose schools.

For carrying forward the improved teaching practices to the training colleges and schools, the existing Organisation of extension centres will be maintained and developed.

The programme of examination reform envisages a Central unit for the construction of test material, etc., and State units for training teachers in the new concept of evaluation and standardising the tests to the local conditions.

The programme of educational and vocational guidance provides for the Central unit to train up the key personnel for the States, strengthening the State bureaux, training whole-time counsellors at the Centre and training part-time counsellors in the State bureaux.

A programme of particular importance is the strengthening of the existing multipurpose schools in the States. The development of multipurpose education has suffered because of the lack of teachers in important subjects such as technical, scientific, agriculture, fine arts, etc. This deficiency will be made good by the establishment of four regional training colleges but if the schools where the trainees will go out after training are not strengthened to provide the type of conditions which are necessary for multipurpose education the benefits of the training programme would remain largely unutilised. It is, therefore, necessary that some of the existing multipurpose schools should be strengthened so that this reform which has already made some headway may be set on the right lines in the very beginning.

University and Higher Education

In the field of university and higher education, the Ministry of Education has provided for the schemes which require a measure of central coordination, assistance and guidance for the improvement of standards and expansion of educational facilities. The need has also made itself felt of providing suitable assistance to institutions of higher education, other than universities, which have helped in the development of higher education within the framework of the Indian tradition, and through significant experiments in the field.

With this point of view, the following schemes have been provided in the Third Five-Year Plan:-

(i) Correnspondence Courses and Evening Colleges;

(ii) Rural Higher Education;

(iii) Assistance to AU-India Institutions of Higher Education and the Inter-University Board;

(iv) Educational Conferences, Exchange of Professors and Educational Delegations;

(v) Assistance to Publication of University Text books;

(vi) National Institute for Women;

(vii) Loans for Hostels in Big Cities.

Physical Education and Recreation

Physical education has to be looked upon as an essential part of the larger process of education. Although the importance of physical education has been accepted in the past in theory, no practical steps were taken to give it an integral place in general education. Even the First Five Year Plan carried no provision for physical education. It was only at the beginning of the Second Plan that serious thought was given to the subject and the realization began to grow that the general level of national fitness would go on deteriorating unless physical education receives greater emphasis in the programme of developing human resources than it has secured heretofore. In formulating the schemes for the Central sector account has been taken of the fact that unless the momentum that has slowly gathered during the course of the Second Plan is sustained and carried forward, the benefits which would accrue from current and past investments in the programme would be irrecoverably lost.

The schemes for the Central sector are designed to fulfil the following objectives:-

(a) Provision of training facilities for key personnel of which there is an acute shortage in the country;

(b) Strengthening the training institutions with a view to equipping them better for supplying the physical education teachers in the schools;

(c) Promoting operative research in those subject- areas which are of particular importance in the promotion of physical education in the context of the conditions in the country; and

(d) Undertaking such activities as would quicken greater awareness of the need for physical efficiency.

The objective of training key personnel is intended to be secured through the scheme for the development of Lakshmibai College of Physi- cal Education, Gwalior and grants-in-aid and organization of seminars on physical education. Provision has also been made for research in special branches of physical education and particular attention has been given to the development of yoga and research in those aspects of yoga which have a direct bearing on physical education.

An improved syllabus for the training colleges has been evolved and necessary provision made for organizing special courses to enable the training colleges to implement the syllabus. To promote greater awareness of the need of physical fitness, a scheme for intensifying the National Physical Efficiency Drive has been included in the Plan.

In the promotion of physical education, in the larger sense of the term, the National Discipline Scheme has won a unique place for itself. By the

end of the current year it would cover 7.92 lakhs children, and provision is envisaged for its further expansion.

Promotion of Sports and Games

India's position in the world of sports has been relatively low and has been constantly suffering a visible and progressive decline. The spectacular success in the field of sports which certain countries have achieved in recent years has been possible through a well-planned and comprehensive effort and is born of the recognition that high standards in sports are the result of special training and a widespread network of facilities which serve to draw in the youths in all age-groups and quicken their enthusiasm.

In formulating the schemes for the Central sector it has been considered carefully whether a particular scheme can be put in the States sector and only those schemes are proposed for the Central sector which if not retained in it would go altogether unattended. In the Second Plan, provision of play fields was a Centrally sponsored scheme. The Centre also gave assistance for the supply of equipment to educational institutions. These schemes have now been left to the States.

The Central schemes are intended to secure the following.objectives:

(a) Provision for regular supply of trained coaches; planned coaching is the key to success in sports;

(b) Assistance to all-India sports organisations to enable them to hold championships and participate in international events; and

(c) To encourage utility stadia through which alone it would be possible in due course to have a network of stadia facilities in all parts of the country.

In addition to the above, it is necessary that we should take in hand some preparation for the time when India may be in a position to hold international events.

Youth Welfare Activities

The schemes for youth welfare activities were initiated in the Second Plan and are to be carried forward in the Third Plan to sustain the momentum that has been gathered and to secure the following objectives :