for which it would be established, the functions which it would be expected to perform may be described in general terms somewhat as follows:-

(i) to advise on any educational question which may be referred to it by the Government of India or by a local government;

(ii) to call for information regarding educational developments of special interest or value local governments.

For the due performance of these functions, it will be necessary that the Board should consist not only of members who are experts in educational matters but also of members who have knowledge of the conditions in different provinces and whose names will carry weight and influence. The Government of India are, therefore, provisionally of opinion that the Board should be constituted as follows :-

(a) The Educational Commissioner with the Government of India, as Chairman.

(b) Ten representatives of provincial governments who ordinarily would be Directors of Public Instruction.

(c) Nine non-official representatives of the local governments to be nominated by the government of India from a list of non-officials recommended by local governments, two names being submitted for consideration by each local government.

(d) Three nominees of the Government of India.

The tenure of office of the non-official members of the Board would be three years. The official members of the Board would continue until they were replaced by others.

6. It will be seen that the total membership of the Board under these proposals-amounts to 23 whereas the old Central Advisory Board consisted of fourteen members only. Even when constituted on this enlarged basis, the Board may not be in a position to deal adequately with all the problems which may be referred to it, for example, with such problems as the education of defectives, commercial education and some aspects. of rural education. In any case, so large a body may find difficulties in working out detailed recommendations. It seems desirable, therefore, that the Board should be able to set up ad hoc committees to deal with special problems. It would also appear desirable that is should set up standing committees to deal with various secondary education, for girls' education and technical and industrial education, respectively. But branches of education. There might for instance, be committees for primary education, for it would be for the Board itself to decide what standing and 'ad hoc' committees it should establish and it should also have the power of appointing to its committees persons who are not members of the Board but who possess special knowledge or experience of any problems which the committees will examine. It is thought that it would convenient if the size of the committees were restricted to not more than five, of whom ordinarily at least one half would be members of the Board.

7. In view of the other heavy calls upon the time of the members of the Board, more especially on the Directors of Public Instruction, who will ordinarily be members of it, and of the expenditure involved in travelling allowance, it is considered that one meeting of the Board each year should suffice, but that committees might meet oftener. It would probably be convenient if the Board were to meet in Delhi during the cold weather, when the Legislative Assembly is not in session, the committees meeting at any centre convenient to the majority of their members.

8. In Chapter XV, Section I of their Report, the Auxiliary Committee of the Indian Statutory Commission have recommended that regular conferences of Educational Secretaries and Directors of Public Instruction should be summoned by the Government of India to discuss current matters of importance, and also that special conferences on education should be-convened as required. If an Advisory Board on the lines suggested above is established, there would seem no necessity for

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such conferences. Current matters of importance would be discussed at the ordinary meetings of the Board, of which the Directors of Public Instruction would be members, and the necessity for special conferences would be obviated by the appointment of ad hoc committees of the Board.

9. The Bureau of Education would serve as the secretariat of the Board, its chief functions being :-

(i) to maintain a reference library of educational books and periodicals;

(ii) to supply information on educational subjects at the request of provincial educational officers or authorities;

(iii) to issue from time to time educational monographs likely to, be of interest and value to provincial Departments of Education ; and

(iv) to issue an annual report on the progress of education in India and a quinquennial review of education in India.

The Auxiliary Committee of the Indian Statutory Commission have recommended that the Bureau should send educational experts abroad to investigate educational problems. The present study leave rules already provide sufficient facilities for such investigations. The Bureau could, however, stimulate work of this kind by suggesting to Ministers of Education problems which might profitably be investigated by officers on study leave. The results of their studies should be published and circulated by the Bureau.

10. The average annual cost of the Central Advisory Board and the Central Bureau of Education discharging the functions outlined above is estimated at the outset at Rs. 42,400. This does not include the traveling allowance of official members, other than the Educational Commissioner, which, in accordance with the usual procedure, would be borne by the local government appointing them. Until the financial relations between the central and provincial governments under the new constitution have been determined, this expenditure would be borne by Central revenues. Its subsequent allocation would depend upon the character of the financial relations which are established between the central and provincial governments but would, of course, be determined in consultation with local governments.

11. I am to request that the Government of India may be favored, by the 1st April 1931, with the views of the Government of Madras/etc., on the matter together with any suggestions they may wish to offer.

This letter had a mixed reception. The Governments of the United Provinces and the Punjab strongly supported the scheme, and the Government of Bihar and Orissa approved the re-establishment of the Advisory Board but questioned the necessity for the Bureau. The Government of Burma and Assam were prepared to accept the scheme in principle but considered it inopportune on financial grounds. The three Presidency Governments were at first definitely opposed to the scheme, but Bombay and Bengal subsequently agreed to accept it in principle. The Government of Madras were the most categorical : "Apart from the fact that the deliberations of the Board in the past have been of little benefit to this Presidency, this Government consider that, in view of the financial stringency, the present is an inappropriate time for the consideration of the scheme."

On the basis of these replies received from local governments however the Education Health and Lands Department again pressed for the acceptance of their scheme, and it was considered in Council in June 1933. The decision was that "establishment of Advisory Board would be sympathetically considered if the financial situa-

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tion permits". Another reference was made to Council in January 1934, but it was then decided that the proposals of the Hon'ble Education Member be not proceeded with on account of prevailing financial stringency."

The case might have still lingered on indefinitely had it not been for the strong advocacy and persuasiveness of Sir Girja Shankar Bajpai who was then Member-in-Charge of Education and who was very keenly interested in the revival of the Board. He now modified the original proposal by saying that the Central Advisory Board of Education only should be revived in the first instance and that the question of reviving the Central Bureau of Education may be deferred until the advice of the Board has been obtained as, to the lines on which it should be formed and the exact functions which should be entrusted to it. This modification was obviously made with the object of reducing the additional expenditure involved in the proposal and to make it acceptable to the Finance Department. The total cost of the proposal was, thus reduced from about Rs. 43,000 to about Rs. 30,000 only and consequently, the Finance Department also accepted it in principle. Sir Girja Shankar Bajpai then circulated the following note to the Executive Council of the Governor-General :-

"The question of the revival of the Central Advisory Board and Bureau of Education in India, which were abolished in 1923 as a measure of retrenchment, has been under the consideration of the Government of India for some time. It has been considered by the Executive Council more than once during the last two years. In June 1933, Council decided that the question of "the establishment of an Advisory Board would be sympathetically considered if the financial situation permits" (File No. 86/32-E., Serial Nos. 1-17). The question was again brought before the Council in January 1934 but it was decided that the proposal could not be proceeded with on account of the prevailing financial stringency.

Both the Indian Statutory Commission and its Auxiliary Committee on the growth of education in India strongly recommended the desirability of establishing a Central Advisory Board of Education and of attaching to it a Bureau of Education. The Government of India accepted this view' and formulated a scheme the details of which are given in paragraphs 5-10 of-this Department circular letter to local governments, No. 48-Edn., dated the 8th January 1931 (Edn. A. January 1931, nos. 79-82). In their Report, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (paragraphs 223 and 227) also emphasise the need for a central organization to facilitate the collection of ideas and information and generally to help in coordinating the provincial activities in subjects such as education and have expressed the view that such organizations should be in existence, at least in skeleton form, when the new Constitution begins to function.

Non-official opinion, in the Indian Legislature as well as outside it, has also demanded the establishment of a Central Advisory Board. The All India Educational Conference held at Delhi in December last passed a resolution for the reconstitution of such a body. The proposal has, therefore, the strong backing of not only eminent and influential educationists in India but also of the general public at large. Many local governments are at present considering the possibility of reconstructing their educational system and the existence of an all-India organization such as the Central Advisory Board is much needed to help them in formulating their schemes of development and maturing their plans.

The International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations has also been pressing the Government of India for the establishment of a National Committee on Intellectual Cooperation and the formation of a National Centre of Information for India and they have been informed that the Central Advisory Board when established will be in a position to undertake the functions of such organizations.

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The Finance Department have accepted in principle the necessity for the revival of the Central Advisory Board of Education (without the Bureau at present). This may be regarded as evidence of the fact that that Department does not consider postponement of the proposal by reason of financial stringency or the relative priority of other proposals to be any longer necessary. The proposal to revive the Central Advisory Board with effect from the next financial year is circulated to Honourable Members. If it is approved, the financial details of the scheme will be settled in consultation with the Finance Department. The approximate cost of instituting the Board will be about Rs. 32,000*."

The proposal was approved by all the Members of the Council and by His Excellency the Governor-General on 18th January 1935. It was then sent up to the Standing Finance Committee which also approved it on 1st February 1935 (by a majority vote). The Congress Party was, at that time, opposed to the proposed introduction of reforms under the Government of India Act, 1935, on political grounds. It was, therefore, natural that the three Congress members of the Standing Finance Committee (Pandit Govind Ballab Pant, Shri Srikrishna Sinha and Shri T. S. Avinashilingam Chettiar) "dissented on the ground that they were unable to accept a proposal which was based, to some extent, on a recommendation made in the report of the joint Parliamentary Committee."

Some additional time was then taken up in fixing up the staff required for the Board and in making the necessary appointments. But all hurdles were at last overcome and on August 8, 1935, the revival of the Central Advisory Board of Education was notified by the Government of India and the following orders were issued :-

No. F. 122-3/35.-A Bureau of Education was established at the headquarters of the Central Government under the Educational Commissioner with the Government of India in 1915. Its main duties were to collect and collate educational information in India and abroad and to arrange for the publication of educational reports on different subjects, including an annual report and a quinquennial review on the progress of education in India. Subsequently, a Central Advisory Board of Education was created in 1920 under the chairmanship of the Educational Commissioner with the Government of India. The principal functions of the Board were to offer "pert advice on all important educational matters that were referred to it and to conduct educational surveys, whenever required. It was felt that, with the devolution of responsibility for education to the provinces under the Government of India Act, 1919, such an organisation would serve to keep local governments in touch with one another. This expectation was fully realised and both the Bureau and the Central Advisory Board of Education served a very useful purpose. But, as a result of the recommendations of the Indian Retrenchment Committee, which was presided over by Lord Inchcape, they were abolished in 1923 in the interests of economy.

2. Even at the time, the Government of India had doubts as to the wisdom of this step. They took it under pressure of the need for economy that was then paramount. The passage of years has progressively emphasised the need for the revival of the Board. The systems of education in vogue in different parts of India have been subjected to stresses which have revealed the need for review and reform. In particular, the relation of the present systems of education to fitness for available opportunities of employment has assumed nation-wide importance. The demand for a comprehensive examination of educational problems with a view to the exploring of methods for solving them has become insistent. While the autonomy of the provinces in education is recognised and welcomed, it is argued with force that the Government of India cannot stand aloof but must play their part in the pressing task of educational reconstruction.

*Department of Education, Health and Lands, File No. 2-1/35-E.

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3. The Government of India have given careful thought to these developments. They are of opinion that the most valuable contribution that they can make towards the right development of education in India is the provision of a clearing house of ideas and a reservoir of information. They have, therefore, decided to revive the Central Advisory Board of Education with the following functions and constitution :-

(1) Functions :

(a) To advise on any educational question referred to it by the Government of India or by any local government;

(b) to call for information and advice regarding educational developments of special interest or value to India; and to examine this information and circulate it with recommendations to the Government of India and to local governments.

It may be, objected that the definition of functions is too broad. This is deliberate. The intention is that the Board should be a live organism, endowed both with incentive and opportunity for growth. This will not be possible if the scope of its activities is too closely circumscribed and its initiative crippled by over- definition. But, while recognising its title to such legitimate latitude, it. is necessary to emphasise that its recommendations will be entirely advisory and will not be binding on provincial governments and authorities. To give them any other character would be incompatible with the constitutional position.

(2) Constitution :

(a) The Honourable Member-in-Charge of the Department of Education, Health and Lands (Chairman). On occasions when he is unable to preside over a meeting of the Board, he will have the right to appoint a deputy who will ordinarily be the Educational Commissioner with the Government of India.

(b) The Educational Commissioner with the Government of India.

(d) One member elected by the Council of State.

(e) Two members elected by the Legislative Assembly.

(f) Three members nominated by the Inter-University, Board, India.

(g) A representative of each local government, who shall be either the Minister in charge- of Education (or his deputy) or the Director of Public Instruction (or his Deputy).

The tenure of office of the non-official members of the Board will be three years. The official members of the Board will continue until they are replaced by others. The Secretary of the Board will be appointed by the Government of India.

4. It is essential to the effective working of the Board that its agenda should not be congested by excessive details and that its members should have ample opportunity of considering the broad outlines of the advice which will be tendered by them. It is, therefore, imperative that the groundwork of that advice should be carefully prepared. For this purpose, the Board will be at liberty to form standing and ad hoc committees, and will have power of appointing to those committees persons who are not members of the Board but who possess special knowledge and experience of the problems which the committees will examine. But in order to preserve an intimate con- nection between the Board and its committees, at least two members of the Board shall be members of each committee. Each committee shall ordinarily consist of not more than five members.

It will be the function of the Educational Commissioner with the Government of India, assisted by the Secretary of the Board, to prepare the agenda and the explanatory memoranda of the Board.

5. The names of persons appointed to be members of the Board under paragraph 3(2) above will be announced shortly. The Government of India have not yet fixed any date for the first meeting of the Board, but it is anticipated that it will be held at Delhi as soon as possible after the beginning of the cold weather. Steps have already been taken to draw up the agenda of the first meeting in consultation with local governments.

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