(II) APPENDIX B MEMORANDUM ON ITEM 5 : SCHEME OF CORRESPONDENCE COURSES AND EVENING COLLEGES
I. ENROLMENT TARGET The Third Five-Year Plan has provided that 60,000 students will1 be enrolled in correspondence courses and evening colleges during the five years of the Third Plan. This will consist of 50,000 arts students and 10,000 science students. It is proposed to divide these into 20,000 students under correspondence courses and 40,000 under evening colleges The latter will consist of 30,000 arts students and 10,000 science ones.
It is necessary to allocate a larger number of students to evening colleges than to correspondence courses; because the former are relatively easier to start than the latter for which the country has almost no experience. Further, all the 10,000 students allocated for science studies under this scheme are proposed to be covered by the evening colleges; for Organisation of the study of science subjects through correspondence courses is relatively more difficult all over the world, and in our case where we are just beginning with an experiment in this system it is advisable that we postpone the relatively more difficult courses, viz., science courses, to a later stage.
II. ORGANISATION
Evening Colleges Evening colleges should be organized by the existing universities and colleges and no new body need be set up exclusively for that purpose. To utilise the same buildings, furniture, etc. it is necessary that such colleges are opened in the premises of the existing universities and colleges. They should be something like an evening shift of an existing University or college, with a different set of teaching and other staff.
Evennig colleges should be meant primarily for the local students rather than those who live so far away that they cannot come to the institution and attend classes every day. Among the local students also, those should be enrolled for the evening colleges who cannot attend day classes because of their pre-occupation during day time. That is, the evening colleges should be meant generally for employed persons, viz., teachers and others working in local institutions, offices and other places of work. It is necessary to ensure that the facility of evening colleges is not utilised by those young boys and girls who should, and can, attend only full-time day colleges, although those young persons who cannot find a seat in any of the day colleges should also be eligible for admission in the evening colleges.
Thus to make the proposed facility of evening colleges function well and economically, it is necessary to open such colleges only in big population and work centres. Beginning in the opening of such colleges will,
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therefore, have to be made with the biggest cities like Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, (Delhi already has this facility), etc. Biggest industrial towns like Ahmedabad, Kanpur etc., could also be covered initially. Other places, where a good enrolment is forthcoming, and which are recommended by the State Government or the university should also be included in the scheme.
Correspondence Courses The Union Ministry of Education is initiating in the Third Plan the scheme of evening colleges and correspondence courses and for that purpose the necessary allocation of funds has been made in Central sector of the Plan. A view was taken at one stage that such courses may be started by setting up a central organization under the Ministry of Education. That is not workable. In the first instance, persons working in such a central organization being cut away from the full- time teaching work, there is a serious danger that the academic standard of the correspondence students may be rather low. This central organization could not, therefore, be a bureau, academy, office, etc. Even if the job of organizing correspondence courses for the country as a whole is given to a Central university, say, Delhi University, it will not work well, because it will be difficult and perhaps too expensive for the same university to maintain staff doing correspondence teaching work in all the regional languages as the media of education, to which the Indian universities in different parts are gradually changing.
The best course, therefore, will be to start such courses in the various universities themselves. Also, as one of the several controls, which will have to be introduced to ensure good academic standards of the correspondence course students, it will be necessary to put on the same teachers the responsibility of teaching both the correspondence course students as well as others. Further, the correspondence courses will mostly benefit those who are living far away from university and college centres; hence it will be necessary to select for such courses those universities which cater to larger areas of population like the University of Rajasthan. Areas in the country where there is a shortage of university graduates should also be given the facility of correspondence courses, e.g., Gujarat, Assam, Orissa, request for correspondence courses from this State has already been received informally) etc. In addition, preference in selection of universities for correspondence courses may have to be given to those which are smaller in size and are relatively newer; for, they are in a position to administer better the larger enrolment which will be put on them because of the correspondence courses, and they also take more interest, pay greater attention and, therefore, show quicker and better results in this new experiment than the larger and older universities. This does not, however, preclude any university from being considered for the scheme, if it wants to take up the work and the case is justified.
Although, as stated above, the responsibility of teaching correspondence course students and others in the university should be on the same teachers so that the head of any particular department in the university is responsible for the academic standards of both the correspondence course and other students enrolled with him, yet the concerned university will have to open a separate department for the correspondence course students. The head of this department should be in the same grade and of the same
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status as a university professor, and he should be concerned with everything pertaining to the correspondence course students other than teaching. His job will be More administrative, coordinating and welfare. He will, for example, be responsible for the despatch of lessons to the students, get back their assignments, ensure that proper and adequate library service is given to the correspondence course students, organize residential school's during vacations and attend to. all other correspondence and difficulties of these students scattered over large areas and located at places at hundreds of miles away. Experience elsewhere has shown that correspondence courses properly organized throw big and responsible amounts of work which, if scattered over the existing departments like the registrar's office, library, etc., affects very adversely the correspondence course.
III. PERIOD OF EDUCATION Almost all the Indian universities are gradually changing over to a three-year degree pattern. At least that is the recommended all- India pattern. It is only appropriate "that the period of education to complete the degree course in the evening colleges and correspondence courses be more than this. Many of the students following these courses are often employed persons, so that they cannot devote sufficient time and attention to these studies at home. Further whatever work they do in the evening colleges or in the correspondence courses is often with a tired mind, so that results of their efforts are proportionately less. The time for which an evening college runs each day is inevitably less than the time. for which a day college runs. In the correspondence course, the students do not have the personal guidance of teachers and have to find by themselves solutions to their difficulties and a good deal of time is spent in the postal service through which the lessons are received and the assignments returned by them. It is only reasonable, therefore, that the period of instruction in these courses should be larger in order to maintain proper standards of education. On the basis of experience in other places, it is suggested that the degree courses in evening college should be of four years and those for correspondence of five years. In the case of those universities which may still be following the pattern of two-year degree course after intermediate, it may be three years for evening colleges and four years for correspondence courses.
It may perhaps not be desirable to open postgraduate studies through evening colleges and correspondence courses. In any case the results of this experiment with respect to graduate courses he first observed for some years before considering the question of postgraduate courses.
IV. EXAMINATIONS AND DEGREES It is necessary that the students attending evening colleges and correspondence courses should take the same examination as the other students. This alone will ensure to some extent uniformity of academic standards in our graduates. If this is accepted, then it is only appropriate that the same degrees be given to all the students who have taken the same examinations of the university. In the first instance, if proper controls are introduced (as elaborated in section VII) the academic standards of the evening college and correspondence course students will be quite high. To some extent, the defficiency in the standard will be made up by a longer course of instruction, as indicated earlier, which these two categories of students will undergo. Even otherwise, these students often being
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more mature, having greater interest and devotion in studies, and possessing a clearer and more definite vision of their material advantage by getting a university degree (e.g. teachers) and also being conscious of their handicap in relation to full-time students, often do at least as well in the examinations as the full-time students. In any case, if they have taken the same examination, they must be given the same degrees. Above all, in India with so much unemployment unless the same degree is given to both the evening college and correspondence course students, the scheme will not work and the problem to which a solution is being found through these newer kinds of facilities may even get aggravated.
V. STANDARD OF EDUCATION Fears are some times expressed that the academic standards of the evening college and correspondence course students may be rather low. Unless special measures are taken to ensure proper standards, such a fear may prove to be real.
Evening Colleges In so far as the evening colleges are concerned, the only factor which can adversely affect the academic standard of the students attending such colleges is the relatively shorter duration of the evening college as compared to the day college and relatively lesser freshness (after having worked the whole day in their occupation) with which many of the students would be attending such a college. To counteract both these difficulties, it has been provided in the scheme that the degree course through evening colleges should be for one year more than that in the full-time day colleges.
The other educational advantages received by students attending regular institutions like living with other students, learning corporate life, etc., may also be less in the case of evening colleges as compared to the day colleges. However, these disadvantages can also be minimized to the very large extent by the concerned authorities by paying special attention to removing the handicaps involved. Some of the outdoor activities like games, sports etc. could be organized to a large extent during the day time even for the evening college students. There is no reason why such activities may not be possible to be organised during day time (may be even in the mornings or evenings) on at least some days in each week. Other club activities like indoor games, participation in various kinds of students' unions, associations, handicrafts, hobby clubs etc. could undoubtedly be encouraged more or less in the same fashion as in the case of day college students.
Correspondence Courses The greatest handicap of correspondence course students is the absence of personal contact with the teacher. This handicap is in addition to their ability to devote relatively smaller amount of time to their studies in case they happen to be employed. Special care, therefore, has to be taken to ensure that tuition, which is different from passing the examination, is not allowed to suffer in the case of students receiving lessons through the mail. It is because of these considerations that the period of the degree course for correspondence students has already been increased by one year than that for the evening college students. Provision has also been made in the that the teaching of correspondence course students is done by the same teachers who teach day students and the head of each teaching
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department in the university should be responsible for the academic standards of both the correspondence course and the other students.
Special emphasis has to be laid in the correspondence system of education for a very intensive, efficient and distinctive library service. For this purpose, the department for correspondence course will have to maintain a separate library or a separate wing in the existing library of the university exclusively for the use of correspondence course students. The books of this library will be mostly out with students located far away in the interior. The correspondence course students have mostly no facility at their own places to purchase books and in many cases their financial resources also do not permit such purchases. Further, the department itself has to encourage such students to read books and consult literature other than the lessons sent to them. Very often, the lessons themselves have references to portions in certain books or they will recommend certain books for supplementary reading and consultation as part of the lessons themselves. The postal service through which the books will have to be circulated among the students through the library will take some time, particularly when the books have to be moved through registered postal service. Also, as the same lessons will go to all the students at the same time, the same books Will be needed simultaneously by all the students needing help from the library. The result of all this is that the library has to maintain many copies of all the textbooks and several copies of each supplementary reading material. Even of the reference literature a couple of copies have to be maintained in this library. In view of the library playing a very important role in the correspondence system, it is essential that technical and other services have also to be prompt and efficient necessitating a liberal provision of library funds and staffing.
It has also been indicated in the scheme that residential schools of short duration should be organised for the correspondence course students. These schools must be an integral part of the system of correspondence courses. During vacations when the university and hostel buildings are available and the teachers are also free from their day and evening work, such schools can be organised quite conveniently. It may be an essential condition to insist on every correspondence course student to attend at least one such residential school during each academic year; if some students can do so with respect to more schools it will be only to their advantage. The teaching work during such schools could be done on a more intensive scale and the lectures could be given more in the form of review lessons covering the whole of the course in a limited number of periods. Also, greater opportunity should be given to the students to ask questions for seeking clarification in their studies. Demonstration work, practical classes (particularly for science students when enrolled) should also be organised during such schools, and the work by the students done so intensively that they can complete the prescribed practicals etc. This is certainly possible. It will, of course, be necessary to pay suitable honorarium to the teachers who are detained for work in residential schools during their vacation. It will also be necesasry during such schools to organise extra-curricular activities to make up to the extent possible other educational advantages which correspondence course students would be missing in view of their staying far away from the institution.
It will also be necessary to be rather strict in getting back the work assignments given to the correspondence course students. This strictness
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should be enforced in the same fashion as is the condition today of compulsory attendance in classes in the universities and colleges. With a certain margin for exemption each student should be expected to return the assignment sent to him and attend to the corrections, including redoing the assignment if the same is pointed out by the teacher.
Another element which should be developed in the correspondence course system of education to be introduced in this country should be to organize regional centres of coaching and guidance. For this purpose, a liaison will have to be established by the department of correspondence courses in the selected university with other colleges and centres of education in the area covered by such courses. The teachers working in such colleges could be assigned the job of receiving a certain number of correspondence course students at particular times on specified days and helping them in the removal of their difficulties. To give greater life to this work, vacation schools may be organized, wherever necessary and possible, at such centres as well as on regional basis. Here again, it would be necessary to pay a reasonable honorarium to the teachers to help the correspondence course students in this way.
In addition, the teachers of the various academic departments in the selected university may also be provided facility to the extent possible to tour not only the aforementioned regional centres, but also other places where groups of correspondence course students live. This is with the purpose of removing their difficulties on the spot, and building up personal contact with the students which is lacking in the correspondence system and is so necessary for good education. This element in the system of correspondence courses can, of course, be organised on a somewhat limited scale, depending upon the availability of funds and means of transport.
Experience in Australia (and possibly elsewhere) would indicate that the examination result is more or less the same for the correspondence course students as for others, provided it is judged only with reference to those who complete the course and take the examination. As stated earlier, it is true that passing the examination is one thing and receiving proper tuition may be another. it may, however, be hoped that if necessary controls to ensure high standards of tuition and academic achievements even through the correspondence courses are introduced, there is no reason at all why such standards are not maintained. On the contrary, if necessary controls to maintain these standards have been introduced effectively, it is not unreasonable to expect that the correspondence course students may even show better results; for, there are several factors in favour of the correspondence course students which in many cases may more than compensate for their handicaps. Firstly, they are themselves conscious of their handicaps. Secondly, if they do their assignments properly, they would get greater practice in writing which is the medium of examination. Thirdly, many of the correspondence course students may be persons badly in need of a university degree (e.g., teachers) for their promotion in the job, so that they will take to their studies with more seriousness and determination and a clearer vision. Finally, many of such students may be more mature persons having greater experience and knowledge of life, which is a favourable factor in the study of several subjects like, philosophy, economics etc.