 APPENDIX A(d)-
REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF
 CENTRAL BUREAU OF EDUCATION

The Central Bureau of Education has been reorganised and it now consists of the following six sections :

1 . Publication Section.

2. Information Section.

3. Statistical Section.

4. Audio Visual Aids Section.

5. Central Education Library.

6. Central Secretariat Library

A brief review of the work done by these sections is given below

I Publication Section.-The main work of the Publication Section is:

(a) to prepare and print pamphlets, brochures, directories and journals;

(b) to print, stock and distribute all the publications of the Ministry as well as those sponsored by the Government of India ;

(a) to arrange for the exchange of Bureau's publications and to distribute gift books received from foreign countries.

Among the periodic publications of the Bureau, the Journal 'Education Quarterly' is the most important. It was, started in March 1949 and has now entered its fourth year of publication. The journal has been providing useful information and material on the various educational activities and developments in India as well as foreign countries. Recently its scope has been widened and with the object of increasing its direct utility to teachers and other educational workers, it has been decided to include in every issue a few contributions discussing significant problems of education and educational administration and accounts of useful educational experiments. It is hoped that this will increase its appeal and usefulness.

Another important publication which has been recently released by the Bureau is the Decennial Report on the progress of education in India for the period 1937-47 which provides a comprehensive survey of Indian education during a very significant formative decade. Due to unavoidable delay on the part of the press, it could not be issued earlier.

The other publications brought out in the year 1951-52 include:

1. A Review of Education in India during 1950-51.

2. Report on the activities of the Ministry during 1950-51 and programme for 1951-52.

3. Report of the Central Selections Board Under, the modified Overseas scholarships Scheme 1949-50 and 1950- 51.

4. General Cultural Scholarship Scheme-information for students.

5. Annual Report of the General Cultural Scholarship Scheme.

Among the non-periodic publications, a pamphlet entitled " Attitude of Student-teachers towards childrens' behaviour" prepared under the auspices of the Central Institute of Education has been published. This forms the first publication in the new series "Studies in Educational Psychology".

With a view to making the work of the Central Bureau of Education better known educational authorities and other workers, in the field, a small pan phlet giving necessary information regarding the work of its various units has been completed, and will be printed shortly.

The following publications are at present under preparation :-

1. Universities in India.

2. Teachers' Training in India.

3. Physical Education in India.

4. A guide to Education System in India.

5. Study Abroad (Abridged Edition).

6. Institutions of Higher Education in India.

7. Directory of Educational and Allied Organisations in India-Revised Edition.

8. Humanistic Institutions and Societies in India- Revised Edition.

9. Scientific Institutions and Societies in India- Revised Edition.

Besides the periodic and general publications of an informative, nature, it has been decided to bring out a series of brochures dealing with different aspects of education particularly, primary basic, secondary and social. These brochures are intended to bring to the attention of teachers and other workers in the field, promising educational, experiments that are being worked out in different parts of the Country, in order to enable then to utilize them for the improvement of their work. For this purpose, a number of teachers and educationists and teachers who have first-hand experience in the field have been requested to prepare brochures dealing with such topics as :

1 . Training of Educational Administrators.

2. Legislation on Primary Education.

3. Training of Teachers.

4. Secondary Education.

5. Basic Education.

6. Experiments in Child Education.

Besides these pamphlets the publication programme of the Bureau includes project to bring out brochures dealing with the following specific fields:

1. Experiments in the field of Primary and Basic Education

2. Experiments in the field of Teachers Training Institutions.

3. Experiments in the field of Secondary Education.

4. An experiment in Open Air Education.

II. Information Section.-The Information Section of the Bureau deals with the following items of work :

(a) Collection and maintenance of up-to-date literature and information on Education in India and foreign countries.

(b) Disposal of enquiries on educational matters pertaining to India and other countries.

(c) Maintenance of up-to-date lists of various educational institutions and organisations, educational authorities in the States, etc.

(d) Supply of educational literature and information to Indian Missions abroad.

(e) Scrutiny of Educational Journals and other literature in the Bureau.

During the year 1951, 4,457 enquiries (2,203 relating to India and 2,234 relating to foreign countries) were dealt with. 531 visitors sought information from the Overseas Information Library of the Bureau.

The Overseas Advisory Bureaux and Committees which were so far giving Advice only regarding studies abroad have been asked to supply information about educational facilities in India also to the students who way require it. For this purpose the Central Bureau of Education compiles requisite material and supplies the same to the Bureaux in the States.

III. Statistical Section.-The Statistical Section of the Bureau acts as a clearing house for all matters concerning educational statistics. For this purpose, it collects and consolidates statistics and reports, on specially prescribed proformas from State Governments as well as various educational institutions in India and abroad. It also publishes statistical reports on various aspects of education in the country.

The following is a brief report of the main activities of the Section during the year under review .

1. The collection, scrutiny and consolidation of statistics on all the items, reported to the 18th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education, was continued. Revised proformas for collection of " Child Welfare Statistics in States" and "Reports and Statistics of Delinquent and Neglected Children and Juvenile Offenders in States" were introduced. To facilitate collections, the Section prepared and sent to different States, proformas to collect data from individual institutions for Form' A'. For the first time, the consolidation of data on Hellerith Punchers was taken up in the Section. -

2. On the information side, the number of statistical enquiries from foreign countries, international organisations, such as UNESCO, Ministries of the Central Government, educationists, planning bodies, publishers etc. has increased considerably. During the period 1st January, 1951 to 31st December, 1951, 140 important. ,enquiries in this field wore disposed of.

3. (a) The following publications were brought out during the year:-

1. District-wise distribution of Primary and Secondary Schools in States in India, 1948-49 ;

2. Education in Centrally Administered Institutions in India, 1947-48;

3. Education in Centrally Administered Institutions in India, 1946-47;

4. General Educational Tables, India, 1946-47 ;

5. Educational Statistics, Indian States, 1945-46, Pt. II ;

6. Educational Statistics, Indian States, 1946-47, Pt. II ;

7. Educational Costing Statistics, India, 1949 ;

8. Education in the States of Indian Union, 1948-49 : and

9. Education in India, 1947-48.

(b) The following publications are in the press and are expected to be out by the end of this financial year:-

1. Neglected and Delinquent Children and Juvenile Offenders in the States in India, 1949

2. Education in Universities in India, 1948-49;

3. Education in Centrally Administered Institutions, 1949-50;

4. Educational Statistics, Indian States, 1947-48 and

5. Education in India-A Graphic Presentation, 1948-49.

No. 5 is a special publication, depicting different aspects of education in coloured charts.

(c) The following publications are under active preparation and their manuscripts are expected to be sent to the press before the 31st of March, 1952

1. Education in Universities in India, 1949-50;

2. Libraries in India, 1951;

3. Scales of Pay of School Teachers, 1950-51;

4. Education in States in India, 1949-50 ; and

5. Education in India, 1948-49.

This Section is also assisting the Home Ministry in the preparation of a brochure an literacy and Education in connection with the 1951 census.

This Section prepared several educational charts and graphs for display in exhibitions held in India as well as in London, Colombo and some other foreign countries.

A short course was organised for training the staff working on the collection and consolidation of educational data in the offices of the State Directors of Public instruction.

IV. Audio-Visual Aids Section.-During the year, the Audio-Visual Aids Section also expanded various spheres of its activities. More than 200 (16mm) films 900 (35mm) filmstrips and 100 charts and posters were, added to the Film Library maintained by the Section, thus raising the total stock to 850 films, 1300 filmstrips and 300 charts and posters. There has been a marked increase in the membership of the film library. The average number of films and filmstrips issued was about 400 per month. An annotated catalogue of 16 mm films available in the Film Library and an educative folder entitled " Introducing the Filmstrip" were also published. 1200 copies of the catalogue and 19,000 copies of the, folder have been distributed to State Governments (for circulation to secondary and primary schools), Universities and other interested institutions and organizations throughout the country.

To study the problems and formulate plans for the development of audio-visual education in this country, the Government of India invited under the auspices of the Unesco, Prof. T. L. Green, an expert on Audio-Visual Education, to pay an exploratory visit to this country. On the occasion of his visit in October 1951, an All India Conference on Audio-Visual Education was organized by the Ministry of Education, in which representatives of the State Governments and a few other experts participated. The various problems of audiovisual education including the availability, preparation and production of audio-visual aids apparatus and equipment required by educational institutions and commercial firms, the distribution of these materials, the training of teachers and technical staff and the es- tablishment of a National Committee of Audio-Visual Aids were discussed at the conference. The valuable recommendations made by the Conference have been brought to the notice of the State Governments for their consideration and necessary action.

An exhibition of Audio-Visual Aids and Equipment was organized by the Ministry on the occasion, for which exhibits were sent by the State Governments, and Local institutions,' as well as Foreign Embassies in India.

The question of establishing a unit for the production of filmstrips and duplication of dupe negatives of foreign filmstrips is under consideration.

A scheme on audio-visual education submitted by Prof. T. L. Green is being at present under consideration and UNESCO has been requested to make available the assistance of an expert for implementing the training, evaluation and production programmes which the scheme envisages.

V. Central Education Library.-The Central Education Library caters to the needs of educationists and other workers in the field. It contains books and reports on all aspects of education such as Administration, curricula, finance organisation, method, etc.

Besides the main library it also maintains a modest Adult Literature Section, Children Section, Technical Section, an Arts Section, a Film Section and a periodicals Section. it also maintains a separate Library for the use of the class IV servants of the Central Secretariat.

246 periodicals which cover most of the important educational journals- Indian and foreign -are subscribed to by the Library. An index of the various articles in the Indian Educational Journals was continued to be published in the Education Quarterly. The Library also rendered bibliographical service. It prepared 62 bibliographies and reference lists on various topics. The library has a budget provision of Rs. 23,300 for the purchase of books and periodicals during the year 1951-52.

VI. Central Secretariat Library-The Central Secretariat Library has got a collection of books on all subjects except Education, as the latter is serviced by the Central Education Library. It caters to the normal requirements of all Ministries of the Government of India including the Ministry of Education. The following is the brief account of the work done in the Central Secretariat Library during the year under review:

1. For the year 1951-52, the Library has a budget provision of Rs. 25,000/for the purchase of books and publications in India in addition to Rs. 10,000/- provided for as charges to be incurred in England for obtaining books from U.K.

2. During this year 242 now borrowers wore enrolled making the total 1502. 3628 now volumes were added and 14265 books were issued.

3. In-service Library Training Course is being conducted in the Central Secretariat Library to train personnel working in different departmental libraries.

4. 1st consignment of more than 4,000 volumes of American State Publications was received under the India-United States bilateral exchange agreement through Smithsonian Institution, Washington.

5. Standard card-charging system was introduced at the Lending Counter.

APPENDIX A(d)- REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF CENTRAL BUREAU OF EDUCATION