PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTIETH MEETING
The Central Advisory Board of Education held its Twentieth Meeting at New Delhi on the 9th and 10th November, 1953. The Standing Committees of the Board met on the 8th November, 1953.
The following were present
Ex-officio 1. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Minister for Education, Government of India-Chairman.
2. Dr. S. S. Bhatnagar, Educational Adviser to the Government of India.
3. Shri Humayun Kabir, Additional Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Education.
Nominated Members 1. Shri E. W. Aryanayakam
2. Dr. H. J. Bhabha
3. Mrs. Zarina Currimbhoy
4. Maj. Gen. E. Habibullah
5. Dr. Zakir Husain
6. Dr. Amar Nath Jha
7. Shri B. L. Manjunath
8. Shri J. A. K. Martyn
9. Dr. Mata Prasad
10. Smt. Hansa Mehta
11. Smt. Hannah Sen
12. Shri N. K. Sidhanta
13. Smt. Ammu Swaminathan
14. Mr. Justice Teja Singh
15. Dr. B. P. Pal.
Elected by the Parliament 1. Shri Frank Anthony
2. Shri Ram Chandra Gupta
3. Shri T. Madiah Gowda
4. Smt. Mona Hensman
5. Shri Venkatesh Narain Tiwari
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Representatives of States
Andhra 1. Shri S. B. Pattabhi Rama Rao
Assam 2. Shri Omeo Kumar Das
3. Shri D. Goswami
Bihar 4. Shri J. C. Mathur
5. Shri K. P. Sinha
Bombay 6. Shri Dinkar Rao Narbhoram Desai
7. Kumari Indumati Chimanlal
8. Shri A. L. Dias
9. Shri D. C. Pavate
Madhya Pradesh 10. Shri P. K. Deshmukh
Madras 11. Smt. O. C. Srinivasan
12. Dr. M. D. Paul
Orissa 13. Shri Radhanath Rath
14. Shri R. Sharangi 15. Dr. B. Prasad
Punjab 16. Prof . C. L. Kapur
Uttar Pradesh 17. Shri Kishan Chand
West Bengal 18. Dr. D. M. Sen
19. Dr. P. Roy
Hyderabad 20. Shri Devi Singh Venkat Singh
21. Shri L. N. Gupta
22. Shri P. Sethu Madhav Rao
Madhya Bharat 23. Shri P. C. Gupta
24. Shri S. N. Chaturvedi
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Mysore 25. Shri A. G. Ramachandra Rao
26. Shri B. M. Krishnan
27. Shri J. B. Mallaradhya
28. Shri N. S. Venkataram
Pepsu 29. Sardar Balwant Singh
Rajasthan 30. Shri Bhola Nath
31. Shri Milkhi Ram
Saurashtra 32. Shri Damodar Lal Sharma
Travancore-Cochin 33. Shri V. Sundararaj Naidu
Jammu and Kashmir 34. Shri A. Kazmi
Ajmer 35. Shri Bhatia
36. Shri Baqi
37. Shri Widhani
Bhopal 38. Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma
39. Shri Abdul Alim
40. Shri D. P. Verma
Delhi 41. Kumari Shanta Vasisht
42. Dr. A. N. Banerji
Himachal Pradesh 43. Pandit Padam Dev
44. Shri M. C. Sarasvati
Vindhya Pradesh 45. Shri A. P. Mathur
Shri K. G. Saiyidain, Joint Education Adviser to the Government of India. (Ex-officio) (Secretary).
The following members were unable to attend:-
1. Dr. Meghnad Saha
2. Dr. S. R. Sen Gupta
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3. Shri K. Zachariah
4. Dr. A. L. Mudaliar
The following attended the meeting as observers:
1. Shri A. N. Basu
2. Dr. Kumari Shakuntala Nihalchand
3. Dr. D. Ensminger
4. Shri A. Ghosh
5. Shri D. R. Kalia
6. Dr. Clifford Manshardt
7. Dr. Olive D. Reddick
8. Mr. H. El. Sakka
9. Dr. B. A. Saletore
10. Dr. J. D. N. Versluys
11. Dr. Patrick C. Young
2. The Chairman of the Board, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Minister for Education, welcomed the members and referred to some of the outstanding problems in Indian education. The English translation of his speech is given below:
FRIENDS I am glad to welcome you again to this the twentieth meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education. I regret that it has not been possible to call this meeting earlier. When it became clear that it could not be held before August or September, I decided that we should wait till the Report of the Secondary Education Commission had been published and been available to the members for consideration. This, as you know, was submitted at the end of August and the Board will, therefore, have an opportunity to consider it at this meeting. I have, however, directed that in future the meetings of the Central Advisory Board should be held every year in the third week of January,
All educationists are concerned at the evident lack of adjustment today between the educational system and the needs of the community. The problem has assumed gigantic proportions today but its origin must be traced to the beginning of modern education in India.
When the modern system of education was fashioned for the country, sufficient attention was not paid to our needs and ideals. There was no National Government and hence the system of education that was built up looked more to the needs of the Government than to the needs of the people of the country. Though the East India Company, on becoming the rulers of the country, accepted the need of providing education in the modern sciences, the main need of the Company was to train up a number of English-educated persons who could help it in carrying on the administration of the country. Education was therefore organised to ensure the supply of an adequate number of English-educated Indians and the attention of the Government was concentrated on providing higher education needed for training such personnel. Since, however, it is impossible to have students at a higher stage
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unless they have gone through the stages of elementary and secondary education, the Company made some provision for education at these stages as well, but, nevertheless, the emphasis was on higher education and the other stages were subsidiary and subservient to it.
So long as the number of persons educated in English was not larger than that required by Government there was no problem of the educated unemployed. This situation continued till the beginning of the 20th century. An English-educated Indian was then almost sure of a job but already a situation was developing when the supply of Indians with university education was tending to become larger than the demand. Government service could not absorb all educated Indians nor was there any development of commerce and industry which could profitably use such personnel. In the last few decades this problem has been growing steadily more acute. We, therefore, find a growing volume of criticism against the prevalent system of education and one cannot deny that this criticism is, to a large extent, justified. If, the result of education is to create a situation where society is not able to utilise the services of the educated, there is obviously some defect which must be remedied. Increasing stress is now being placed on technical education but the situation has not eased as there was no clear picture of the development, of national industries. The result was that there was growing unemployment among persons educated not only in the academic disciplines but also in various technical subjects. We find that the surplus over requirements is increasing every day. Since there is no alternative mode of utilising this body of educated personnel, the result is a growing volume of dissatisfaction in society and a sense of frustration among young men and women who have received the highest training available in the country.
It is, of course, true that if we consider India's total population, the number of persons who are receiving higher education is by no means too large. If only 3 1/2 lakhs of students are in the universities in a population of over 350 millions, no one can say that the number of university students is too great. Since, however, the present state of the country's development in Agriculture, Industry and Commerce does not enable us to provide gainful employment even for this small number, it has become a burden for society. Today, our universities are like factories which are turning out products that do not conform to the demands of the society in either number or quality. It is, therefore, necessary to carry out changes in higher education which will, by carrying out improvements in both directions, enable society to Utilise the talent and training of the men and women who are receiving education beyond the school stage.
The need for educational reform has been voiced from every side but those who plead for such reform do not generally have any clear or concrete picture before them. There is a general desire that something should be done for the reform of education but few know what that "something" ought to be. It is therefore necessary to survey the whole field of education and prepare a comprehensive plan of Positive reconstruction of education so that we can maintain for the country the progress that has been envisaged after the attainment of independence.
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I would, in this context, like to place before you my conception of the function of education in society. Every individual has a right to an education that will enable him to develop his faculties and live a full human life. Such education is the birthright of every citizen. A state cannot claim to have discharged its duty till it has provided for every single individual the means to the acquisition of knowledge and self-betterment. For education up to this standard, the question of requirements of society does not arise, nor can we provide facilities only in accordance with existing demands. Every individual, unconditionally and without qualifications, is entitled to education up to this stage. To my mind, the requisite standard for such education is the secondary stage and I am convinced that regardless of the question of employment, the State must make available to all citizens the facilities of education up to the secondary stage.
Beyond this stage, the position is somewhat different. When we consider the facilities for higher education in a State, we must match the facilities to the needs of society. Any maladjustment between demand and supply at this stage would create problems which the State must at all costs seek to avoid. Apart from any other reason, the provision of higher education is so expensive that no State can afford to increase the number of persons receiving such education beyond what it can absorb. In the field of economics, there is always close correlation between demand and supply. Any deviation from such co- relation leads to social crises. In the field of higher education, we must accept the same law and fashion the supply according to the demands of society.
Since the attainment of independence, Government of India have been conscious of the need of preparing a comprehensive blue-print for educational reconstruction. Some steps in that direction have already been taken. You are aware that during these five years we appointed two high-power commissions to enquire into the problems of university and secondary education and make recommendations for their improvement and reform. The problem of elementary education has also been repeatedly considered, and there is a consensus of opinion that it should be of the basic pattern. Government have already taken a decision in this behalf, and the time has come when similar decisions must be taken in the field of university and secondary education.
I have already said that the provision of secondary education must be universal and without any reference to any special needs of society. This, however, demands a reform of the system which will entail that the vast majority of the people find in it a satisfying and complete stage of education The Commission whose report has recently been published and which you are going to consider today has already recommended that secondary education should be reorganised. It must be the completion of education for the vast majority of the people. At present it is only a stepping-stone to education in universities. In future it must be for the majority the entrance to life in various industries crafts and professions and serve as an entrance to higher education only for a select minority. For a proper and healthy development of society, it is necessary that
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the vast numbers who are in elementary and secondary schools accept the responsibility of various traditional occupations in ac- cordance with their taste, aptitude and training. There must also be unambiguous recognition by society that all professions are socially valuable and a person is to be honoured who performs the duties of his station with competence and sincerity. If we are to ensure equal respect for various professions and provide that the majority seek such professions at the end of secondary stage of education, it is necessary to reorganise secondary education to provide for a variety of diversified courses. I think that one of the most valuable recommendations of the Secondary Education Commission is the insistence that every student at the secondary level must learn some one craft irrespective of the fact whether he or she aims at adopting it as a profession or not.
Such a reorganisation of secondary education presupposes and will be facilitated by a further expansion and improvement of basic education. I have already stated that it is the Government's accepted policy that education at the elementary level shall be of the basic pattern. The real object of basic education is to train up children as members of a community and develop in them habits of co-operative action for the social good. While the ideals of basic education have been accepted by the Centre and the States, I regret to say that the implementation of the programme has not been as rapid as we could wish. Greater emphasis must be placed on the early conversion of all elementary education to the basic pattern, but we must, at the same time, remember that this can succeed only if basic education is conceived in an imaginative and creative way. One of the reasons for the inadequate response of the State and the community to the appeal of basic education has been the rigidity of outlook of some of the advocates of this pattern of education. We have to recognise that all education is and must always be an experiment. Basic education is a great experiment and we have to recognise that it has not yet been carried out on a sufficiently wide basis. We must be prepared to develop, modify and adapt it to meet the divergent needs of town and village, of industrial and agricultural areas and of the different parts of country some of which are coastal, some mountainous and some riparian and some arid or semi-arid. We must also recognise that there are differences in taste and aptitude of children and there are some who are more practical-minded while others have a greater predilection for abstract or artistic activities.
The most important consideration for the reform of university education appears to be to limit the number of students who enter their portals. I have already said that the present number of such students cannot be regarded as excessive but we have to ensure that with the expansion of elementary and secondary education there is no inordinate increase in these numbers till the necessary agricultural, industrial and commercial development has taken place to sustain a larger number of highly trained personnel. The chief aim of university, education must, therefore, be consolidation and improvement.