APPENDIX J CONSIDERATION OF A RECOMMENDATION FOR PRODUCTION OF INSTRUMENTS FOR THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
The Secondary Education Commission has recommended that General Science should be a core subject at the Secondary stage of education. The purpose of making this subject compulsory is to train our youth to be enlightened citizens, able to live effectively in a world wherein science is playing such an essential and rapidly increasing part.
This objective can be achieved only if the necessary instruments and other laboratory facilities are quickly provided for teaching this subject in about, 12,000 Secondary schools in the country. Furthermore, similar facilities should also be made available to all the new schools that are established.
In addition to General Science a large percentage of Secondary schools have also to teach other elective subjects such, as Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Proper instruments are also required in large numbers for teaching these electives with a reasonable degree of efficiency.
As against this known and rapidly increasing demand, there is a serious shortage of locally made science instruments and laboratory equipment for schools. This is true not only of quantity but also of quality which is unsatisfactory.
In view of this discrepancy between demand and supply, the ad hoc grants given to Secondary schools by the Central and State Governments are not being fully or properly utilised.
In order to remedy this wasteful situation the following measures may be considered:
(a) A production agency be set up, with the assistance of the Central Government to manufacture the Unesco designed instruments for tropical countries. These simple, strong and accurate instruments, when produced in large series, would go a long way not only to meet the demand of Indian schools but also the needs of some of the neighbouring countries.
(b) A central agency be set up to lay down precise specifications for all standard instruments that are needed for teaching science at the Secondary stage.
These specifications should accompany an engineering drawing or a. blue-print for each instrument, adapted and redesigned so as to make it efficient and workable under tropical conditions.
(c) These specifications and blue-prints should be made available to production units distributed region-wise. Such a procedure would prevent the production of unworkable and inferior instruments. The Indian Standards Institute may be entrusted with the control of the quality and reliability of the instruments thus produced and certify their conformity with the relevant specifications.
The Central Advisory Board of Education may examine the recommendations at Annexure XIV made by the Science Committee of the All-India Council for Secondary Education, which studied the problem of school instruments.
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ANNEXURE XIV
Provision for the manufacture of Unesco Designed Instruments The Committee broadened the scope of this Work-plan and agreed that it should be entitled as "Provision for the Manufacture of Standard Scientific Instruments in India."
The reason for doing so is that the committee is convinced that there is not only need for indigenous manufacture, of Unesco designed instruments but also of other standard apparatus required for school laboratories.
After further discussion of this important topic, the following statement was approved by the Committee:
The need for good and accurate science instruments for teaching Science in the, High and Higher Secondary schools is urgent.
Substantial funds are being made, available by the Central, and State Governments for the purchase of science instruments. But these funds are not properly utilised because of the fact that the production of instruments in the country is very much lower than the present demand and the quality of such instruments is mostly unsatisfactory. The Committee, therefore, welcomes the proposal to set Up in the country a new company for the manufacture of standard scientific instruments, particularly the instruments designed by Unesco.
The Committee, feels that these instruments may also be made use of in the whole of South-East Asia and in other neighbouring countries. Such an extensive need was clearly felt at the Unesco convened "International Study Conference" held at Bangkok in October, 1956.
The Committee requests the Council to take all suitable measures to see that this new enterprise is provided with the necessary funds, so that it goes into production as early as possible. It is understood that any profits arising from this venture would be available to the Council for the improvement of Science education in the country.
The Committee also noted that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is proposing to establish a Scientific Instruments Centre, for designing standard instruments, for developing new ones and for training technicians and skilled workers. This Committee feels that it would be desirable to coordinate the work of this proposed Centre with that of the above mentioned Centre.
The Committee recommends that the Government of India may be requested to advance funds towards the working capital of the proposed production unit and accept repayment in the form of approved instruments. The Government giving cash grants, for equipping science laboratories in the Higher Secondary could thus start distributing these instruments to the States, instead of schools.
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