The Chairman then requested the Hon'ble Rajkumari Amrit Kaur to make a few observations on the items of the Agenda.

The Hon'ble Minister for Health emphasised the necessity of enacting Central Legislation for the care of Juvenile Delinquents. Regarding the medium of instruction at school stages, she was of the opinion that the medium of instruction of the child at the Primary Stage should be the mother tongue. Efforts, however, should be made to teach it also the language of the Region as early as possible. It would entail no hardship on the part of the child because children, in general, are quick in picking up languages.

The Hon'ble Dr. Mookerjee who spoke next strongly supported the Chairman's observations on the question of Juvenile Delinquency. He hoped that as a result of deliberations in the Conference, it would be possible to formulate certain basic issues. Provinces which had taken

steps on the problem should be assisted to develop their programmes and wherever necessary, Central Legislation should be undertaken to deal with the problem. In his opinion placing of the subject of Juvenile Delinquency in the concurrent list of Constitution would help the achievement of the desired objective. In connection with the language problem in the country, the Hon'ble Dr. Mookerjee felt that the question should be tackled in a generous spirit and from the point of view of the country as a whole. Dr. Mookerjee hoped that there was no one present at the Conference who would retard the natural growth and progress of any Indian language. He stated that the Calcutta University provided facilities for all languages in India. There was not one language beginning with Pushtu in the North and ending with Singhalese in the South, or Burmese in the East to Gujarati and Marathi in the West which did not find a place in the University Curriculum. The Draft Constitution of India provided that every child should have the right to receive its education at least upto the Primary Stage in the mother tongue. Even in the Secondary Stage, instruction should be imparted through the mother tongue as far as possible. The Hon'ble Minister ended by saying that there was really nothing to quarrel about languages. They were all Indian languages and there was room for each of these languages so long as the essential unity of the country was maintained.

The Premier of Bombay stated that the Draft Constitution of India had provided liberal safe-guards for the linguistic minorities and he expressed full agreement with the Chairman's views in this behalf. The Bombay Government had already decided to follow the same policy about Medium of Instruction as had been formulated by the Central Advisory Board of Education and had made necessary adjustments and arrangements for the purpose. All children of age-groups 6 to 11 would be taught through their respective mother tongues which was to be decided by the parents. Teaching of Regional Language, where it was different from the mother tongue of the child, was also provided for. On the question of Juvenile Delinquency the Premier agreed with the Chairman that there was necessity for making arrangements in every Province and State to deal with the problem both from preventive and curative points of view.

Dr. Deshmukh then said a few words in support of his Bill (Appendix III). His Bill was more concerned with the care of uncared--for children than that of juvenile delinquents. The Hon'ble Member stressed the reasons for immediate action by the Centre regarding the displaced and destitute children.

Item 1.-The Chairman then explained that as there was still great controversy regarding the question of Medium of Instruction and many

complaints were being received against the policy followed in some Provinces, he felt it would be advisable to have the views of some members of the Constituent Assembly who represented the interests of linguistic minority in the province. He then called upon the Hon'ble Dr. S. P. Mookerjee to place his views before the members, as Pandit Lakshmikanta Maitra was not present. The Hon'ble Dr. Mookerjee said that the Education Minister from West Bengal was present and he would explain the whole situation.

The Education Minister, West Bengal stated that the policy his Government was pursuing during the last 18 months was to allow the students of linguistic minorities, where they were in sufficient number, full opportunities to have their education through their respective mother tongues both at the Primary and the Secondary stages. The Minister further added that the views of the West Bengal Government had been stated in a separate memorandum which was being circulated among the members of the Conference. (Appendix II). The Minister also suggested that the facility that was conceded to the minorities by the resolution of the, Central Advisory Board of Education passed at the 15th meeting, i.e., learning through their mother tongues at the Primary stage, should be extended to the Secondary stage also if the number of students so justified.

Mr. Lari then stated that the Urdu-speaking population of the United Provinces was generally dissatisfied with the Provincial Government's policy regarding the medium of instruction and the way in which it, was being implemented by the local bodies. He pleaded that the Provincial Government may be required to recognise Urdu also as a language of the Province.

Shri Guha then represented the case of the Bengalis in Assam. He stated that the Bengali children were not getting a fair chance so far as their mother tongue was concerned.

Shri Kallur Subba Rao stated that Telugu should be the Medium of Instruction for the Telugu children in Orissa in both Primary and Secondary stages.

The first day's session of the Conference ended.

On the second day the Provincial Education Ministers and Provincial Representatives attended- the Conference. The Hon'ble Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Hon'ble Dr. S. P. Mookerjee were also present for a short time.

The Provincial Education Ministers then discussed in detail the question of Medium of Instruction in schools. All the complaints received from the linguistic minorities in the Provinces were very carefully examined. Some of the Ministers expressed the view that in

spite of their best wishes to provide facilities for the linguistic minorities, the practical difficulties on account of shortage of teachers and funds often appeared insurmountable. They also requested that the Centre should give them every possible financial help. The Chairman observed that there would always be difficulties to overcome in the field of education, but they had to be faced and solutions explored. The Centre would help the Provinces in every way possible whether with money or with advice, but the Provinces should also realise their responsibilities and fulfil them.

The problem of Urdu was also considered and the Hon'ble Shri Sampurnanand agreed that he would have the position clarified, as regards the place of Urdu in the curriculum, text-books in Urdu and facilities for instruction through Urdu so that there may be no room for misunderstanding in the matter. The following resolution was then unanimously passed:-

" The Medium of Instruction and examination in the Junior Basic Stage must be the mother tongue of the child and where the mother tongue is different from the Regional or State Language, arrangements must be made for instruction in the mother tongue by appointing at least one teacher, provided there are not less than 40 pupils speaking the language in the whole school or ten such pupils in a Class. The mother tongue will be the language declared by the parent or guardian to be the mother tongue. The Regional or State language, where it is different from the mother tongue, should be introduced not earlier than Class III and not later than the end of the Junior Basic Stage. In order to facilitate the switching over to the Regional Language as medium in the Secondary Stage, children should be given the option of answering questions in their mother tongue, for the first two years after the Junior Basic Stage.

" In the Secondary Stage, if the number of pupils, whose mother tongue is a language other than the Regional or State language, is sufficient to justify a separate school in an area, the medium of instruction in such a school may be the mother tongue of the pupils. Such schools if organised and established by private societies or agencies, will be entitled to recognition and grants-in-aid from Government according to the prescribed rules.The Government will also provide similar facilities in all Government, Municipal and District Board Schools where one-third of the total number of pupils of the school request for instruction in their mother tongue. The Government will also require aided schools to arrange for such instruction, if desired by one-third of the pupils, provided that there are no other

adequate facilities for instruction in that particular language in the area. The Regional Language, will, however, be a compulsory subject throughout the Secondary Stage.

" The arrangements prescribed above will in particular be necessary in metropolitan cities or places where a large number of people speaking different languages live or areas with a floating population speaking different languages".

Item 2.-The members of the Conference then discussed the existing arrangements for care of the juvenile delinquents in the Provinces and agreed that they were inadequate. The following resolution was passed :-

"The Conference recommends that in view of the fact that a number of Provinces have no Acts dealing with the problem connected with the Juvenile delinquents, and in view of the importance of the problem and its inter-provincial ramifications, a Committee be appointed with powers to examine (1) the legislation at present in force in the different Provinces; (2) the provisions or the implementation and administration of such legislation; and (3) the different aspects of the problem of delinquent child, and to suggest (a) legislation for all the Provinces to deal with the problem of the delinquent child, and (b) provision for : juvenile courts or investigation centres; probation officers for enquiry into the life histories and environmental conditions of children brought into courts and centres; training-houses, after-care homes, fit-person Institutions and reformatories; training of officers, persons, magistrates, and persons in whose charge children will be placed; finances and all other incidental matters"

The following will be the members of the Committee.

1. Shrimati Durga Bai, Member, Constituent Assembly of India.

2. The Hon'ble Shri Niharendu Dutt Mazumdar, Judicial Minister, West Bengal Government.

3. Dr. P. S. Deshmukh, Member, Constituent Assembly of India.

4. Dr. Hem Chandra Baruah, Assam

5. Shri D. V. Kulkarni, Chief Inspector of Certified Schools, Bombay Province, Poona

6. Prof. P. R. Kumaria, East Punjab.

7. Shri M. P. Narayan Menon, Chief Inspector of Schools, Madras.

8. Dr. K. G. Rama Rao, Prantiya Shikshan Mahavidyalaya, Jubbul pore.

9. A representative of the Indian Council of Mental Hygiene, Bombay.

10. Dr. R. M. Halder, Ministry of Education, (Convener).

The Committee will have power to co-opt additional members.

It was also decided that the Committee should be asked to report by the end of November and that the representative of the Ministry of Education should be the Convener of the Committee.

On the question of care of destitute and uncared-for children, the Conference adopted the following resolution:-

" In view of the alarming increase in the number of destitute and uncared for children, the Conference recommends that the State should take immediate steps for the welfare of destitute and uncared-for children and to implement the provisions of the Draft Constitution for protection of children against exploitation and moral degradation ".

The Conference then ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

APPENDIX I

AGENDA for the Conference of Provincial Education Ministers,etc.

1. To determine the policy in regard to the Medium of Instruction at all School Stages and how to enforce it.

2. To consider the problem of Juvenile Delinquency in the country.

APPENDIX II

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

In accordance with the resolution adopted by the Central Advisory Board of Education at their meeting held in December 1938 and the recommendations made in the Report on Post-War educational development in India, in January 1944, the Government of West Bengal came to decide early last year that a school student, whether in the primary or in the secondary stage, should have the privilege and facility to learn all the subjects through his mother tongue, unless he belongs to a class of students whose numerical strength in a school is so low that the facility cannot be afforded to him by opening a separate section for that class of students. As the Government of West Bengal is further

of opinion that a student in the primary stage should not be burdened with a second language a student whose mother tongue is other than the provincial or regional language should in their view, learn that language in the secondary stage. This is in accordance with the recommendations of the Norwood Report on the Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools in England (1941) which suggests that a second language should be introduced only when the child attains the age of 11. The West Bengal Government, therefore, consider that the resolution adopted at the meeting of the C.A.B. held in Allahabad last years does not go far enough and in fact goes back on the previous decisions of the Board is as much as it does not recommend that a school student should be permitted to have the whole of his school education through the medium of his mother tongue; on the contrary it permits denial of the facility in the secondary stage. Surely a child cannot be expected to pick up a second language so much in classes III-V that he will not find any difficulty if he be taught through the medium of the second (provincial) language or be asked to answer questions set at his examinations in that language. In our considered opinion, therefore, the previous recommendations of the C.A.B. made in 1938, confirmed as it was by the Board in their report on Post-war development in India, should be re-affirmed in the interest of sound education of a school student and to ensure his normal development.

For many years past English has been given up as the medium of instruction in the high schools of Bengal and the students in the secondary stage have been allowed the facility to learn through their mother tongue. In other provinces also such decisions were taken before the date of Independence. It would be unfortunate, therefore,

if after removing the impediment of English as medium of instruction we now impose as medium of instruction in schools a language other than the mother tongue of a student.

The policy adopted in West Bengal early last year to permit a school student to learn through his mother tongue throughout his school career has been implemented in West Bengal wherever the question of school education of linguistic minorities has arisen and it has facilitated the solution of the problem. For instance, in the Darjeeling district where Nepali is the principal language, the Government of West Bengal have allowed the Nepali-speaking students to have their whole school education, whether primary or secondary, through the medium of Nepalese, although it has been provided that they should learn the provincial language, Bengali, as a second language from class VI onwards. Similarly, in a particular school where there are students speaking more than one language the Education Ministry of West Bengal considers it desirable that there should be 2 sections-one for the majority of students and another for the minority to enable both the classes of students to have their education through their mother tongue. The Education Ministry of West Bengal is of opinion that if the principle adopted in that province in pursuance of the pre-Independence decisions of the C.A.B. be adopted in the other provinces and the provincial or regional language where it is different from the mother tongue of a child be introduced as a compulsory second language in the secondary stage then the difficulties of the school students belonging to linguistic minorities in the different provinces may easily be removed and the apprehension of cultural conversion definitely allayed. The question of supply of teachers cannot stand in the way of the implementation of such a policy for there can be no dearth of teachers to teach the principal provincial languages.

APPENDIX III

A BILL

to provide for protection, maintenance, custody, education and employment of children.

WHEREAS it is expedient and necessary to provide for protection, maintenance, custody, education and employment of uncared-for children and young persons so as to save them from moral and material

abandonment and exploitation.

It is hereby enacted as follows:-

1. Short title, extent and commencement.-(1) This act shall be called "The Children's Protection Act, 1949."

(2) It shall extend to the whole of the Indian Union.

(3) The Act shall come into force immediately.

2. Definitions.-In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context-

(1) "a child" means any person not above the age of fourteen

(2) "parent" means father or mother including a step-father and step-mother.

(3) "guardian" means any person who is, for the time being, in actual charge, custody or control of the child or young person.

(4) "young person" means any person who is above 14 years of age but not above 18.

(5) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act.

3. It shall be lawful for any Magistrate, a Member of the Provincial or Central Legislature, a police constable and other person as may be prescribed to interrogate any child or young person found loitering or begging or vegabonding in any public street, or at any railway station or in or near any public place, to bring him before a Magistrate.