APPENDIX P (b)- PEOPLES' COLLEGES
The following note has been received from the Government of Bombay:-
" In various parts of India attempts have been made, and are being made, to provide Adult Education at the lowest level i.e. the level of literacy, and some times also to impart the basic minimum of useful knowledge. No one, can possibly underrate the importance of this work and it has no doubt to be expanded resolutely and systematically if India is to emerge quickly from her present state of ignorance. But that is not enough. Adult Education must be provided at other levels also and we cannot afford to, ignore the `half educated classes altogether in our preoccupation with the entirely uneducated. It is, therefore, necessary at least to make a beginning in this direction and to establish suitable centres of Adult Education in some towns as well as the countryside for people who have received a certain measure of education but are anxious (or can be persuaded to develop their social, intellecual and cultural interests further.
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This proposal is by no means novel and does not ask for something which hag not been successfully done in many other countries. The "Folk Schools of Denmark" offer one illustration of the attempt to bring culture to the people ; the Village Colleges established by Henry Morris round about Cambridge offer another. But per haps the most comprehensive, scheme of the kind is envisaged in the new Education Act of Great Britain (1944) which contemplates the establishment of " Country Colleges" or " Peoples Colleges " all over the country so as to bring educational and cultural facilities of really generous amplitude within reach of the people who live at a distance, from big centres of culture and are, therefore, deprived of opportunities which their wore, fortunate fellow citizens, in bigger town% and cities, can enjoy.
In our country also there are some Universities and other educational and Social institutions which have been trying to do something of the kind. In some bigger cities and towns there are many Clubs, Institutes, Cultural Centres which provide, talks, lectures, discussion groups, Libraries and Reading Rooms so that educated people may keep their intellectual interests alive and not lapse into cultural indifference. But it is not being done according to any plan and is generally concentrated in a few big cities and University centres. What the present proposal visualizes is the establishment, to begin with, of at least a few " Peoples Colleges " in each Province which will be located in the smaller towns and the countryside and cater for a class of people which is apt to be neglected at present.
In this short note it is not possible to give a full outline of the idea. A few salient features only are, therefore indicated. The very name of the institution suggests two important characteristics-it must be related closely to the needs and the life of the people and should be conducted with their active co-operation; it should be distinguished from the ordinary centres of Adult Education which are generally poorly equipped and unattractive. It should provide a Library, a Reading Room, a Radio, a film Projector, social amenities of the type one associates with a Club, a varied programme of lectures and discussion groups, facilities for learning simple forms of Art and Crafts and opportunities for social service. The object is that it should become the social and cultural centre of the community and utilize all local talent-and any outside talent that may be available- for enriching the, life of the people with new interests and activities. The idea is not to set up any `high. brow' institution but something which will be integrally related to the life of the people and take its cue from them, utilizing all the resources implicit in folk lore and art and culture. Its staff will not be bound by a prescribed syllabus or a uniform course of lectures but will study what the people want, discuss their Problems and needs with them and then decide how best it could be useful. In the countryside, the College approach and activities will differ considerably from those in towns and they will be related more closely to rural problems and Occupations. In the matter of the seasons and time of work, too, it will adapt itself to local circumstance
It is not anticipated that the Provincial or Central Organization should establish a ready made, full fledged institution in every place. The whole Point of the scheme is that it should be a growing concern, responsive to local conditions, and utilizing all local resources in men and equipment. From the very outset or, as soon as possible, the leadership should be local and the members of the College should elect their own advisrory bodies and functionaries. The business of the Education Department should be to initiate the scheme, to popularize the idea, to arrange for a suitable building- and it is absolutely essential that the building should be suitable and attractively (which does not mean expensively) furnished -and provide the nucleus of the staff and the essential equipment. It should then be the concern of the staff and the local leadership to expand and develop the institution to meet new needs and this should. not be difficult if it really succeeds in inning the approval and support of the community.
Should the general idea appeal to the members of the Board, it will be possible to draw up a more detailed scheme for the purpose.
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2. the provision of facilities for recreative and social activities and a Youth Movement is covered by the Chapter on the subject in the Board's report on Post. War Educational. Development Moreover in that Report, it has boon assumed that the proposed Adult Education Organization which would concentrate on literacy in the early years, would later on devote itself to Adult Education in the fuller sense. With the progress of compulsory Basic Education at the same time, the Organization would perhaps undertake activities referred to in the Bombay Government's note above.