APPENDIX Q- THE ORGANISATION OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION
The following suggestions have boon received from the Government of West Bengal:-
" The technicians that will be required in each main
employment may be divided into the following five
categories:
1. Research workers including the Professors of Engineering
Colleges.
2. Chief Executives consisting of fully qualified Engineers
and Professional teachers of Engineering Institutions.
3. Minor Executives consisting of Foreman, Chargemen,
Overseers and Demonstrators of the professional subjects
in -Engineering Colleges.
4. Skilled craftsmen.
5. Job workmen.
Therefore for the training of technicians of the above different
categories it is obvious that we shall require the institutions of the
following different types
(a) Research Institutions.
(b) Engineering Colleges.
(c) Engineering Schools.
(d) Junior Technical Schools.
(e) Trade Job Schools.
The Research Institutions should be started on an All-India basis so as to avoid duplication and overlapping, facilities being provided to all the Provinces by fixing the quote of admission and all the Provinces being asked to contribute pro rata for the maintenance of these institutions, the initial expenditure being borne by the Central Government.
As regards the institutions for the production of Engineers, every Province should have at least one such institution, its size depending on the industrial progress of the Province. These institutions instead of being of the Polytechnic type should be technological departments of Universities, i.e. Engineering Colleges. The impress of the University has a certain amount of dignifying aspect and adds lustre to these character of the individual which has a far greater sociological value than can be achieved by education in a Polytechnic. It is therefore desireable that these institutions for the training of qualified engineers should be Engineering Colleges under Universities but adequate stets should be taken to remove the two the important
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charges that are levelled against them, viz. their too academic character and absence of contact with men with whom the students will have eventually to deal after the completion of their degree course. I.Sc. Should be the admission qualification for the Engineering College and the course should be regulated so as to be covered in four years under the " Sandwich " system in which the practical training in the factories should be of at least three months' total duration in a year. The bar which now exists for the admission of the alumni of the Engineering Schools should be removed and they should got one year's remission so that they may be admitted to the B.E. Degree on completion of a three years' course. The, background of engineering knowledge which these students have acquired in three years in an Engineering School should be regarded as sufficient to outweigh the object-ion about lack of poasession of advanced scientific background which is acquired by a Matriculate in two years at the I.Sc. stage.
As regards the production of the personnel of the third category, viz., Foremen, Chargemen, Supervisors, etc., three years' training in an Engineering School after Matriculation should be sufficient., more stress being given to the practical side so as to enable the products to acquire that amount of skill which will earn for them the admiration of the workers whose charge they will assume. The admission qualification for this group will be as indicated above, Matriculation (general or technical) reference being given to the Matriculation students who have followed the technical course which should be an alternative branch of study for the Matriculation Exa- mination. The course of instruction should follow programmes of Cultural instructions, of art, technique and administration together with Engineering subjects and practice in laboratories and workshops.
The fourth category will comprise the skilled craftsmen most of whom will not aspire to executive positions. These may be recruited from Technical High School pupils, passed or failed, or from the Senior Basic School pupils where they have mastered the rudiments of craftwork and put through a 2 years' course in Junior Technical Schools following a two fold programme of general knowledge and professional practice.
Below the four categories will come the great mass of semi- skilled and unskilled labour. No special academic training is required for them before entering employment apart from the knowledge of craft work they will have acquired in the schools. Factories employing large numbers of such semi-skilled workers are expected to run their own Trade Schools the establishment of which should not be the charge of Government.
The entire scheme of Technical Education as adumbrated above may be represented in the following genealogical form:-
Technical Research Institutions
Engineering College 4 years M.Sc. Applied Physics.
I.Sc. Engineering School
Mono-Tech. Institutes. 3 years.
2 years.
Matric. General. Metric. Technical- Failed.
2 years.
Junior Technical. Senior Basic.
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In addition there is the necessity of various Mono-Technical Institutions, such Textile Institute, Silk Institute, Art School, Tanning Institute, Ceramic Institute, Commercial Institute, etc. The addmission to these will follow the Matriculation ation.