APPENDIX `D' MEMORANDUM ON ITEM 6 : INTRODUCTION OF PRODUCTIVE LABOUR IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
The idea of making productive labour as an integral part of the educational process was given to the country by Gandhiji in connection with his scheme for basic education. He pointed out that in our poor country, it was not possible to spread education among the masses unless the school pupils contributed to a part of the expenses of running the school by engaging themselves in productive craft work. For Gandhiji, craft work was not merely a hobby to be practised as a diversion from the more serious academic work, but the very basis of a sound national educational system. He emphasised that the test of efficient craft teaching lay in the utility of the product as well as the nourishment which the training provided for the intellect and the mind. Further, the present gulf which separates the upper classes in this country from the poor and downtrodden masses could be narrowed only if all young persons devoted some time to manual work. When the school community is thus engaged in productive labour, it would naturally be drawn closer to the larger community. Thus the introduction of productive labour in schools will lead to the building of a more healthy and well-knit society.
I. ELEMENTARY STAGE 2. In so far as elementary education is concerned the problem is relatively simpler. We have accepted the system of basic education as the national pattern at the elementary stage and the whole pro- gramme of basic education centres round socially useful and creative work. The main difficulty is that we have been able to convert only about one-fifth of the elementary schools to the basic pattern so, far. This is due to a number of reasons such as (1) paucity of funds, (2) non-availability of basic trained teachers, (3) lack of faith in the programme and consequent slowness in implementing it, etc. Even the schools converted to basic pattern do not always rise to the stan- dard expected of them.
The Sub-Committee appointed by the National Board of Basic Education has suggested a new policy for implementing the programme of basic education. A copy of this (along with our covering letter with which we have forwarded it to the State Governments) is at Annexure IV at page 112.
II. SECONDARY STAGE
3. Craft in secondary schools Before Independence, craft had no place in the Indian system of secondary education. Even today in the vast majority of secondary schools. education is of a purely academic type which does little benefit to the average secondary school pupil. Unemployment
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among secondary school leavers continues to be high and whereas there are scores of jobs for which skilled workers are not available thousands of matriculates register themselves at employment exchanges every year for a small number of white collar jobs. The Secondary Education Commission gave attention to this question and it is significant that the Commission felt that the improvement of vocational efficiency should be one of the aims of secondary education. Accordingly, it recommended the establishment of multi- purpose schools in this country. Craft is to be taught as a compulsory as agriculture, commerce, technical subjects, fine arts and home subject in all higher secondary schools and practical subjects such as science are to be introduced along with humanities and science. Over 2,000 multipurpose schools are already following this syllabus. However, it must be conceded that the teaching in the practical subjects and the craft has not come upto the standard for various reasons. In addition there are 47 post basic schools in the country and craft occupies a central place in the curriculum of these schools.
4. The needs of the emergency The need for introducing productive labour in secondary schools has been underlined by the present emergency. As repeatedly stressed by the Prime Minister our defence effort has two aspects. While the Armed Forces will continue to guard our frontiers, our workers, in farms and factories and all other persons must work ceaselessly to step up production both for civilian and defence needs. Agriculture in this country, in spite of the many measures taken since Independence, continues to need a good deal of improvement. As for industry, both small-scale and large, there is vast scope for increasing its productivity.
It has been felt that the main reason for the present state of affairs can be traced to our system of education which is still largely divorced from the world of work. The average citizen in this country grows up without acquaintance with any manual skill and is thus mentally ill-equipped to join the national effort to increase production. No wonder he looks down upon work and does everything to avoid it.
5. Educational systems abroad Absence of any satisfactory emphasis on manual work in our schools is in sharp contrast with more advanced countries abroad. It is a fact of utmost significance that two such different systems of education, U.S.A. and U.S.S.R., have one thing in common: a prime emphasis on manual work as an essential part of the educational process at the school stage. In the U.S.S.R. this takes the form of polytechnical education, while in the U.S.A. it called work-experience programme. In both countries productive labour is interpreted in a very wide sense and is co-terminus with the acquisition of skills.
There is one more lesson which we can study with profit from these two countries-that if education in skills is to make its full contribution to the growth of the pupil, it must receive the same treatment in the school curriculum as any other subject, in terms of the teaching arrangement and equipment and other facilities. For example, for all accounts, the industrial arts programme in an American secondary school enjoys an esteem not lower than that
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accorded to a science subject. In the U.S.S.R. the school workshops for metal work, wood work, etc. are at least as well-equipped as Science laboratories.
6. Multipurpose schools As pointed out before, over 2,000 multipurpose schools have the necessary facilities for teaching craft and other practical subjects. In the case of these and also the post-basic schools which have already facilities for teaching carft etc., it should not be difficult to introduce productive labour. Schools with agricultural streams, for example, can run vegetable and poultry farms. Similarly, where technical subjects are taught, it should be possible to produce small items of daily use in homes. Girls in home science classes can pres- erve foods, make toys, garments, etc.
7. Suggested activities in secondary schools The higher secondary schools with provision for teaching craft as a compulsory subject or the public and other schools which provide for the study of craft as a hobby can strengthen that teaching and make sure that the boys and girls learning a particular craft, practise it seriously and use it to produce specific goods of utility for the school or the community.
The problem of introducing productive labour in ordinary schools which do not have facilities for any craft-work is slightly more difficult but can be solved. In the case of these schools, it will be necessary to make a beginning by setting apart in the school timetable at least 6 hours per week for productive labour. The productive labour there can take various forms some of which are indicated below :
(a) The students may participate in the development projects undertaken within easy distance of the schools. These may include the construction of new roads, repair and improvement of existing roads, digging soak pits and compost pits, filling ditches for malaria control, construction of bunds, excavation and improvement of canals etc.
(b) Another kind of productive labour can be organised by the institutions within their own premises. For example, cutting hedges, cleaning lawns, helping in the construction of buildings on the school campus, running school cooperative stores and canteens, working in the school office or school library, polishing furniture, white-washing school buildings and keeping them in good repair, etc. are some off the activities which could be organised both in rural and urban areas without any additional cost to the school.
(c) Another possibility is to organise a programme of craft activities which are related to the common industries in the neighbourhood of the school and include machine-based craft, as well as other skills of marketable character. It is not possible in this context to think of putting up at present any large and expensive workshops ill schools. But it should be possible to buy simple tools and start certain crafts which can load to the production of simple consumer goods. This may include the making of handmade paper, soap, ceramics, leather-goods, bakery products, pins, screws, stationery, cans, mugs, towels, cloth, newar, etc.
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(d) Another way in which the students of schools can participate in productive labour is for them to work, say for one day a week, in industries which may be situated close to the schools. In such cases the idustries should be persuaded to organise special programmes for the school students as is done in many European countries.
(e) Girl students can be sent, say once a week, to hospitals as helpers doing elementary nursing, cleaning, bathing patients, etc. They may be sent to work in small-scale cottage industries (handloom, biri, confectionary, dyeing and printing etc.) or light engineering (bulb making, radio spare parts manufacturing etc.) or to catering industries and canteens to participate in productive labour. Girls in rural areas may be sent once a week to help look after the children in the "balwadis" of the blocks.
8.Phasing of the programme In our present circumstances, we cannot obviously think of introducing productive labour in a systematic manner in all secondary schools at once. This has to be done as a phased programme.
In the first instance, there has to be a minimum programme of manual work, and productive labour which every secondary school should be able to undertake. This should include such activities which can be organised by the school within its own premises and does not involve any additional expenditure. For example, community service activities, cleanliness of the school campus and its buildings, school beautification, etc., as indicated in sub-para (b) on previous page. These activities must be introduced in all secondary schools and the same can be done immediately.
Other programmes of productive labour which result in producing specific goods of use in the school or the community are really more satisfying to the school pupils and, therefore, are fully enjoyed by them. To introduce this programme, a minimum provision of essential tools and craft-material will be necessary. This will also mean trained instructors and some finance. To begin with, therefore, this kind of programme may be introduced in a limited number of schools, say 2,000 (which will constitute about 10% of the existing number of secondary schools). This figure can be raised to 50% of the secondary schools during the Fourth Plan, and the programme may cover all the secondary schools during the Fifth Plan. During the intervening period or later if any school can do things beyond this (on the lines indicated in para 7(a) and 7(d) it is welcome to do so.
9. Administration To introduce this important programme in all the schools will require a good deal of careful planning and foresight. Luckily, much can be learnt from the experience of the working of multipurpose and post-basic schools so that from the very start a realistic and practical approach to this problem may be made. For obvious reasons, it may not be possible to lay down a rigidly uniform programme on a country-wide basis. Conditions differ from State to
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State and sometimes even from one district to another and, therefore, there will be need for planning the programme at a local level. Further, the success of the programme Will depend largely upon the initiative of the headmaster and the staff of the school as well as the measures of local support they can secure for it. The heads of the schools, will, therefore, have to be given the necessary authority for implementing the scheme in the context of their own conditions and within the general framework laid down, but the local effort will have to be guided and assisted by the experts at the State level.
It will, therefore, be necessary that a separate cell in the State Education Department should be established which should provide detailed technical guidance on the different types of activities to, be undertaken in schools, organise training courses for instructors, assist in the supply of tools and raw material, arrange for marketing of goods produced in schools, and secure co-operation from other development agencies, particularly the Industries, Agriculture and Community Development Departments. It may be desirable to put the cell in charge of the same senior officer in the State Directorate of Education which has been suggested by the Ministry of Education to, be designated in each State Government for being in charge of the programme of "School Defence Corps". The purpose of the School Defence Corps Programme and the proposed scheme of productive labour is practically the same and the latter scheme will really cover a portion of the same ground which is to be covered by the School Defence Corps Programme.
For proper co-ordination of work and giving sustained impetus to the proposed programme, it may be desirable to set up in every State Advisory Council consisting of both officials and non-officials. It will be the duty of this Council to provide over-all guidance for the formulation and implementation of the programme.
Similar advisory committees may be set up at district and block levels as well in order to assist the schools in their areas.
10. Training of Instructors The success of the programme will depend on the skin of the instructors. The school craft-teachers may seek the guidance of the local craftsmen and other persons working in industries etc., in the neighbourhood. It may, however, be -necessary to organise short training courses and refresher programmes during vacations and holidays, with the help of Departments of Agriculture, Industry, etc., for the benefit of the craft-instructors and other teachers working in the schools and connected with the programme.
11. Essential conditions Some of the handicaps which were faced by crafts in the basic schools cannot exist in the case of the secondary schools where rela- tively, more grown-up children will be concerned and where, therefore, the Produce should be of better quality and more useful. It would. however, appear that there are certain essential conditions which should be fulfilled in order to ensure the success of the programme. A few of these are
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(i) Prestige value,: In the present social conditions of the counTry, manual work has not been given sufficient. prestige value. It is generally considered to be something inferior and is looked down upon. In order to counteract this particular handicap, it would appear that-
(a) Participation in the Programme of productive labour should be compulsory for all boys and girls studying in the school which is selected under the scheme. Unless this is done, children of the richer and more well-to-do families will find an excuse to avoid the work and the scheme will do more harm than good; and
(b) In selecting the schools preference should be given to those which are located in urban or semi-urban areas, so that the rural people do not get the feeling (as has already happened) that the gap between the urban and the rural people is proposed to be further magnified by this scheme :
(ii) Incentive to pupils : Suitable methods by which the interest of the pupils is encouraged and sustained in the proposed manual and productive work will have to be determined and introduced. One of the ways of doing this is to take tip the production of those simple goods which are required by our armed forces or needed in defence work. This will make the pupils feel that they are also contributing to the country's defence effort and will thus fill them with pride regarding their work under this scheme. Another possibility is to enable the pupils to use either in school or at home some of the goods which they have produced. Still another method could be to let them share a part of the profits which accrue to the school by sale of the goods;
It has also to be ensured in this connection that all the teachers of the school are associated in some form or other with the programme of productive work introduced in the school. It is not sufficient only to have the general appreciation and sympathy of the teachers when the students are working hard in producing the goods, but the teachers should also be associated either in guiding the students or in sharing their work to some extent.
(iii) Marketability: The scheme should have a suitable Provision an important matter likely to be overlooked-for marketing the goods produced by the selected schools. It is clear that in most cases, these goods cannot complete with the established commercial and trade organisations. The value of these goods, therefore, has to be considered from a different point of view. As things made by the students, they may fetch higher prices as well, but for this purpose special efforts will have to be made to boost value of the goods on sentimental consideration. It may be necessary also to find a corner in the Handicrafts Emporia or some other similar place located in each of the big cities where the students produce is displayed and sold. Suitable machinery for transporting the woods from the to such centres will also have to be devised instead of leaving it only to the resources of the school to reach the goods to the markets and arrange for their sale.
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III. COLLEGIATE STAGE
12. Craze for white collar jobs The general tendency of students who enter universities for higher education is to seek "white collar" jobs after a degree or diploma is obtained and while they are actually pursuing studies at universities they consider any co-curricular or extra curricular activity as a drag on their energies. They hardly think in terms of any productive activity which will earn some money for them or which will give them a skill useful in future life.