APPENDIX D(A)-- REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RURAL EDUCATION COLLEGIATE STAGE
At its 17th meeting held in April, 1950, the Central Advisory Board of Education approved inter alia the recommendations of the Uni- versity Education Commission regarding rural universities contained in Chapter XVIII of the Commission's Report.
On the basis of a memorandum submitted by the Government of Bihar with reference to their proposal that the Board might consider further the recommendations of the Commission pertaining to Higher
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education with special reference to the requirements of rural areas, the Board considered the question at its 18th meeting, held in January, 1951, and recommended the appointment of a Committee to enquire into the experiments that are being carried on throughout India on rural education at collegiate stage. The Committee was accordingly appointed in 1951, but no meeting was called because on enquiries from various State Governments, it was found that no appreciable work had been done in the field.
At its 19th meeting, held in March, 1952, the Board recommended that the Committee should also consider the question of suggesting changes in such a way as to meet the requirements of both rural and urban students and make facilities for Higher education available to both types of students on equal terms.
It was also decided that the Committee should discuss the follow- ing point suggested by the Bihar Government:
"To consider requesting universities in India to affiliate rural colleges, or if they are unable to do so, to recommend the Government of India to introduce legislation for the setting up of a Central University to which such institutions might seek affiliation".
The following were the members of the Committee:-
(1) Dr. Zakir Husain (Chairman)
(2) Dr. K. L. Shrimali
(3) Shri S. R. Londhe
(4) Shrimati Asha Devi Aryanayakam
(5) Shri J. P. Naik
(6) Shri T. Madia Gowda
(7) Dr. Kini
(8) Dr. D. M. Sen
(9) Shri J. C. Mathur
(10) Shri Nanabhai Bhat
The Committee met at New Delhi in April, 1953. The report of the Committee is attached (Annexure) for the consideration of the Board.
REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE RURAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE
A meeting of the Rural Education Committee was held on the 6th April, 1953, at 11 A.M. in Room No. 52. The following were present:
1. Dr. Zakir Husain (Chairman)
2. Smt. Asha Devi Aryanayakam
3. Shri T. Madia Gowda
4. Dr. K. N. Kini
5. Shri S. R. Londhe
6. Shri J. C. Mathur
7. Dr. D. M. Sen
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8. Dr. K. L. Shrimali
9. Shri K. G. Saiyidain
10. Dr. R. K. Bhan Ministry of Education.
11. Shri Sohan Singh
On a request from the Chairman, Mr. Saiyidain gave the background of the appointment of the committee. The 18th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education had advised that an enquiry should be held into experiments of Higher education in the rural areas. Later on in the 19th meeting, the Central Advisory Board of Education expanded the terms of reference so as to-
"enquire into the experiments that are being carried on throughout India in rural education at the collegiate stage, the Board recommended that this Committee should also consider the question of suggesting changes in the syllabus and curricula of the existing universities in such a way as to meet the requirements of both rural and urban students and make facilities for Higher education available to both types of students on equal terms".
The members of the committee were requested to give short accounts of the working of the institutions of rural education with which they were connected so that the Committee may formulate its conclusions and recommendations on their basis. The main problem was how to provide suitable facilities for post-school education, cultural and vocational, in rural areas. As the memorandum which raised this question before the Central Advisory Board of Education was sent by the Bihar Government, Shri J. C. Mathur was asked to start the discussion.
Mr. Mathur, in giving the genesis of. the problem said that Bihar had been carrying out consistently an experiment in Basic education since 1937-38. They had developed Basic education through the senior stage of the post-Basic stage. In 1950, the first batch of students completed the 12 years of Basic education. A majority of these were absorbed either as school teachers or went back to their work in the villages, but some of them wanted to go in for Higher education. But, as they had not passed the Matriculation examination, they could not be admitted to any university, which created a serious difficulty.
The Bihar Government at that time had sanctioned a Basic Training College at Turki. They, therefore, started a Concurrent Course for the 34 boys who wanted to take up Higher education after the post- Basic stage but could not be admitted to the universities. That, however, did not solve the problem because these students were still handicapped vis a vis the regular university students.
Originally, the Bihar Government did not favour the idea of having a separate rural university for the products of the Basic schools, because it would run the risk of being considered as provid- ing an inferior type of education. Again, the proposed rural uni- versity would be faced with difficulties regarding the subjects which it could teach. Many of the subjects mentioned in the University
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Commission Report had no corresponding professions. Now, they had veered round to the view that they should have some universities which should recognise rural colleges of the type at Turki and confer degrees for the work done in them. That would remove the reluctance of many students and parents to avail themselves of Basic Education.
The Chairman said that it was not surprising that Bihar was facing that difficulty. So long as Basic education was regarded as an "intrusion" in the field of education, the problem would continue. The rural university, however, was not an adequate solution because in the present frame of mind of the people in general these universities would not have the prestige of other universities. He pointed out that, if the universities did not admit the products of Basic education, the Government may be forced to tell the universities that it would not recognise their degrees for service.
Mr. Mathur said that the situation was worse than it appeared. Even for the post of village level workers where the products of Basic schools were certainly superior to that of the traditional agri- cultural schools, the Community Project Administration had preferred the latter.
Mr. Saiyidain said that as the problem was peculiar to Bihar, the Community Projects Administration at the Centre was not probably apprised of the situation, but if a representation was made to it, it was likely to agree to take the post-Basic students as village level workers.
Dr. Sen said that it would be better to dovetail the Basic system with the High school system to enable an easy transfer of scholars who have completed the eight-year Basic education into higher classes of Secondary schools leading to the University education.
The Chairman said that that would not be facing the problem squarely. The question was that when the Government had recognised the Basic education system and desired that all schools sooner or later should be run on Basic lines, why should the products of the Basic system suffer?
Prof. Shrimali suggested two alternatives. Firstly, the students who finished post-Basic education might be admitted to the universities straightaway. This course, however, would lead to some difficulties. For example, the universities required a certain standard of English which post-Basic students may not have, and to acquire which the post-Basic students would have to spend a couple of years. The better alternative would, therefore, be to have different colleges for post-Basic students. The State should recognise the degrees conferred at such colleges as equivalent to the present degrees and even give preference for special jobs to products of these colleges. He quoted the instance of certain institutions which, even though they were not universities, enjoyed equal, if not greater, prestige. Of course, these institutions would have to maintain proper standards.
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Dr. Sen suggested that the committee should bear in mind not only the peculiar situation in Bihar but also the need of educational institutions in rural areas to raise the cultural and vocational level of the people in general. For the peculiar problem of Bihar, he suggested that the Education Department, Bihar, should negotiate with the universities so that the latter may admit the post-Basic students after giving them a reasonable test.
The Chairman, however, was not in favour of this special test to be applied only to the Basic schools' products.
Dr. Kini, supporting this view, said that these tests might vitiate the whole Basic system, because of the risk that the schools would gear themselves to the requirements of the universities, which were based on the non-basic system of education.
After some discussion the Chairman crystallised three main points of agreement among the members as follows:
(1) Negotiations should be conducted with the universities to explore the possibility of removing the disabilities of students who passed from the post-Basic schools;
(2) Rural institutions for Higher education should be developed not only for those who have completed post-Basic education but to meet the needs of the countryside in general; and
(3) The Government should prepare a list of such services in which products of Basic schools and of rural institutions of Higher education could be given reasonable preference.
The discussion that followed showed two separate trends of thought. One trend represented by Mr. Mathur was that the products of Basic education should have their work recognised in the form of a degree to be conferred by a central body of the nature of an affiliating university. These degrees would thus have statutory recognition. This, he thought, will raise the prestige of the Basic education in society. Some other members, however, were opposed to the idea of such a central body being established. Dr. Shrimali pointed out that when the Bihar Education Department had not been able to persuade either their Government or their University to accept post-Basic students on the same terms as other university students, it would be embarrassing to set up a central university of the type suggested by Mr. Mathur. It was better to keep the experiment on a regional level. The Chairman agreed with this view.
Mr. Saiyidain suggested that, if the State Governments were per- suaded to give recognition to post-Basic products for services and entry into competitive examinations, that would be sufficient.
Mr. Mathur, however, was of the opinion that this would not give them the prestige which would accrue from a degree conferred under an act passed by the Parliament. The Chairman was not willing to mix the question of employment with that of education and held that a central university for this purpose was not the Proper solution and it might quite conceivably be considered an inferior type of
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university by the other universities. Mr. Saiyidain said that so far there were very few institutions of Higher rural education in the country and those that existed were of such diverse types and had such diverse objectives that it would be difficult for a central university to weld them into one pattern, and it might even be undesirable to do so at this stage. The meeting was then adjourned and reassembled at 9 A.M. on the 7th April, 1953.
In addition to the members who attended on the first day, Mr. J. P. Naik was also present.
Initiating the proceedings, the Chairman said that he agreed with Mr. Mathur as to the necessity of a body which should recognise the work of post-Basic students. The question was how best to do it?
Mr. Mathur suggested that an existing institution like Shanti- niketan may be developed into a university or an existing university may have something like external departments.
Mr. Saiyidain suggested that the difference of approach and ideology between a college, such as the Turki College and the existing universities would militate against the success of the experiment.
Mr. Mathur suggested that whatever the form, the body would develop standards, conduct inspections, affiliate and if necessary disaffiliate institutions, and conduct a flexible assessment of results and confer degrees. A rural university was also recommended by the Planning Commission.
The Chairman said that the Committee should endorse the recom- mendations of the Planning Commission with regard to a rural uni- versity. But pending the formation of the university it would be desirable to have a Council to coordinate the work of various experi- ments now being conducted in the field of Higher rural education. Of course. the more desirable thing would be to have regional rural universities but a central rural university might be the first step. The university in question should, however, assess institutions rather than students.
Dr. Sen said that in West Bengal they were developing a system of Continuation education for adults who could not give their whole time to studies. It was an experiment in learning while earning. For this type of education a degree-conferring university was not necessary. He however, justified the establishment of a rural university on the ground that while it was now generally realised that Basic education was the right system up to the age of 14, few people were convinced of the validity of the principles of Basic education at the University stage. Some organisation was therefore, necessary, that would provide facilities for Higher education to the products of the post-Basic schools and lead them to a degree.
It is, however, assumed that the Organisation of post-Basic schools should be such as would enable scholars on the completion of their training there to move without any difficulty into the courses of training in professional colleges, i.e., Medical Colleges, Colleges of Engineering and Technology, Agricultural Colleges etc.
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After some discussion on the suggestion of Mr. Saiyidain, the Committee made the following three recommendations:
(1) This Committee endorses the recommendation of the Planning Commission for the establishment of a central rural university and recommends that, when this university comes into existence, it should consider the possibility of affiliating rural colleges providing degree courses-if they so desire-pending the establishment of regional rural universities.
(2) A Council of Rural education should be established to coordinate the work done in the various rural colleges and other institutions providing Higher education in rural areas. It should also be asked to draw up a scheme of the rural university.
(3) In existing universities, courses specially geared to the needs of rural areas and rural population should be introduced and they should also develop their extension services, particularly through Engineering, Agricultural and Medical colleges.
The Central Government should encourage the establishment of such courses in existing universities through financial assistance.
Mr. Saiyidain suggested that members should give an account of the work in the institutions with which they were-connected, so that the Committee might formulate their recommendations on the basis of the material thus provided.
Accordingly, Mr. Naik gave the working of the Mouni Vidyapeeth at Gargoti. The Institution intends to have four centres, each centre to cover 25 to 30 villages. The first centre has been started at Gargoti.
The object of the experiment is, firstly, to improve the standard of living of villagers through the work of students; secondly, to train rural leaders for this work; thirdly, to establish suitable courses for the training of leaders and, fourthly, to forge a suitable administrative machinery for carrying out the experiment.
They had established a Janata College which would be helpful in organising and supervising community centres.
In pursuance of the programme, the Vidyapeeth last year contacted 150 young men of the age group 18-21 in villages in an area of five miles around. The students were brought together in a three-week camp. After that they set up three Community centres, each centre to look after reconstruction work in three villages. For this purpose young men formed themselves into a volunteer corps.
Mr. Naik said that the Vidyapeeth wanted to expand their work with adolescents. The problems they would tackle in future would be-
(i) How to promote the continuation of the education of youth, and
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(ii) How to help the youth to maintain their leadership in village reconstruction work.
He admitted that at the moment the Vidyapeeth was not an institution of "Higher education" except for its Teachers' Training programme.
Mr. Naik told the meeting that later on they wished to have a two-year post-Matric course on the level of Junior Colleges in the U.S.A. The students will be given an opportunity to specialise in social service and they will also be introducing extension service in agriculture centres round the High school. They also proposed to conduct research in problems of rural education.