PRESENT POSITION-A REVIEW
Expansion of Educational Facilities 3. There has been phenomenal expansion in the facilities for education as summed up in Table 1.
TABLE-1
Number of students at schools & colleges
(Figures in lakhs)
1950-51 1955-56 1960-61 1965-66 1968-69
Stage and Age-group (Actuals) (Actuals) (Actuals) (Likely (Anti-
Achieve- cipated)
ment)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I Primary (6-11
Classes I-V
Enrolment 191.5 251.7 349.9 514.5 568.0
Percentage of age-group 43.1 50.0 62.8 78.5 79.2
II Middle (11 - 14)
Classes VI-VIII
Enrolment 31.2 42.9 67.1 105.4 130.5
Percentage of age-group 12.9 115.9 22.5 30.9 34.7
III Secondary (14-17)
Classes IX-XI
Enrolment 12.6 19.8 30.2 55.1 64.2
Percentage of the age-group 5.6 7.9 11.1 18.0 19.0
IV University Education'
(17-23)
Enrolment 3.1 5.5 7.4 12.3 16.9
Percentage of the age-group 0.8 1.2 1.5 2.3 2.9
V Technical Education
(Admission capacity)
Diploma(No.) 5,900 10,480 25,000 49,900 48,000
Degree(No.) 4,120 5,890 13,820 24,700 24,000
There is very great variation in different States in regard to class systems, the age of entry, etc. For purposes of convenience the broad pattern prevailing in the country, has been taken. Primary stage has been taken to mean classes I-V, corresponding to the age- group 6-11 middle stage to mean classes VI-VIII, corresponding to the age-group 11-14, secondary stage to mean classes IX-XI, corresponding to the age-group 14-17, and the university stage corresponding to the age-group 17-23. There is a considerable number (about 20% in the case of primary stage) of students who belong to the over-age and under-age groups but it is hoped that as the education system settles down and as children start going to school at the right age, the over- age and under-age children will tend to disappear. The enrolment expressed as percentage of the population of the corresponding age- group is a fair measure of the task accomplished and the task remaining to be done.
**Excludes enrolment in classes XI and XII (in U.P. which are affiliated to U.P. Board. The enrolment in these classes has been included in secondary classes.
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Educationally Less Advanced Area 4. This general expansion of educational facilities however, is not uniformaly spread. There are regional imbalances in regard to the overall expansions and in relations to various sectors of education. So far as elementary education (age-group 6-14) is concerned the problem is mostly concentrated in the three educationally less developed States of Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. By 1968-69, they will be accounting for 48 per cent of the non-attending children. This position would be worse than what it was in 1960-61 when the non- attending children in these States were 32 per cent of the total non- attending children in India.
Backward Sections of the Population 5. Educational facilities have not spread uniformly among the various sections of the population. The backward sections of the community such as scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, and the population in rural and hilly areas have not availed themselves of all the educational facilities available to them.
Girls' Education Girls' education has lagged considerably behind that of boys as can be seen from Table 2.
TABLE-2
Proportion of enrolment of boys and girls (1951-69)
(Percentages)
Classes Classes Classes University
I-V VI-VIII IX-XI Stage
Year
Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1950-51 71.9 28.1 82.9 17.1 86.8 13.2 88.4 11.6
1965-66 (Provi- 63.8 36.2 73.2 26.8 77.7 22.3 76.6 23.4
sional)
1968-69 62.8 37.2 70.1 29.9 75.5 24.5 76.0 24.0
(Estimated)
Though the gap between the enrolment of boys and girls is narrowing
there is still considerable difference between the two.
Adult Literacy
6. The adult illiterates have not been given sufficient
attention. The percentage of literates increased from 17 to 24 during
1951-61 and the number of illiterates also increased from 298 million
in 1951 to 334 million in 1961. The number of illiterates in the age-
group 15-44, however, was 131 million. In 1968-69, it is expected
that the number of illiterates in the age-group 15-44
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would be about 150 million. Adult education is a crucial sector where all studies have shown that it is possible to get a quick return in economic terms. Its neglect, therefore, has serioulsy affected the development effort of the country.
Teachers Education 7. The rapid expansion of educational facilities has outstripped the resources of trained teachers, buildings and equipment. As Table 3 below will show, in spite of increasing provision for training of school teachers, the number of untrained teachers has been increasing.
TABLE-3
School teachers-trained & untrained
(in lakhs)
Teachers Trained Untrained Percentage
Year teachers teachers trained
1 2 3 4 5
1950-51 7.50 4.30 3.20 57
1955-56 10.29 6.23 4.06 61
1960-61 13.83 8.95 4.88 65
1967-68 20.47 15.19 5.28 74
In certain subjects, acute shortages have been experienced at the secondary stage. For example in science and mathematics, the present shortage is estimated at 40% of the requirements. Similarly, technical institutions-are short of staff by 30-40 per cent. Shortages are experienced in other stages of education as well. Apart from numbers. the equality of training has considerably deteriorated.
Buildings 8. On the basis of figures collected from the States in 1964-65 it was estimated that 50 per cent of the schools at the primary and middle stages had no buildings of their own or were housed in totally unsuitable accommodation. At the secondary level and in training institutions., 30 per cent of the existing schools and institutions were in this unsatisfactory state. They estimated the backlog as Mows
Institutions Backlog in
lakh
sq. ft.
Primary and middle schools 4695.0
Secondary schools 468.0
Primary teacher training institutions 28.0
Secondary teacher training institutions 0.64
Hostels for training institutions 77.0
Total 5268.64
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Since then the position may have deteriorated further because although new schools continued to be opened during the interregnum 1966-69, the plan provision for expenditure on buildings during these three years was proportionately inadequate Similarly in technical institutions, although precise data on the above lines are not available, there are indications of shortage of buildings.
Equipment 9. As regards equipment, there is hardly any equipment worth the name in most of the primary and middle schools. At the secondary stage it was estimated in 1964-65 that about 60 to 70% of the secondary schools were without. adequate laboratory equipment. As regards universities and colleges, the U.G.C. have repeatedly pointed out the inadequacy of equipment. Even in technical institutions there is shortage of equipment both indigenous and foreign.
Textbooks 10. There is a dearth of proper textbooks. The National Council of Educational Research and Training is making some efforts in this regard. As regards university textbooks, attempts have been made to produce cheap editions of foreign textbooks with the assistance of the USA, Uk, and the USSR. Apart from the problem of textbooks there is almost a complete absence of children's books. The States have tried to meet the problem of textbooks through nationalisation but this is still in an experimental stage. Various difficulties have been encountered, especially in regard to the availability of paper and printing presses. The position in regard to libraries both institutional as well as public, is very unsatisfactory.
Scholarships 11. Expenditure on scholarships, stipends and other financial concessions, through Government sources has been rising in recent years. It rose from Rs. 2.75 crores in 1950-51 to Rs. 24.06 crores in 1963-63 and is estimated to increase to Rs. 35 crores by the end of the Third Plan. Of the total enrolment at various stages of education, scholarship holders at the end of the Third Plan are estimated to form 2.8 per cent at the middle stage, 8 per cent at the secondary stage and about 18 per cent at the post-matric stage, in- cluding technical education institutions.
Manpower Shortages 12. The educational system is not linked with manpower neds with the result that critical shortages have been experienced during the last three Plans in certain fields such as of professional, technical and related workers, of sales workers, transport and communication workers, craftsmen and production workers etc. These result from imbalances in the educational system.
Science Education 13. There is too little emphasis on science. Owing to difficulties of staff and equipment, the quality of science teaching at all stages is not satisfactory. At the elementary stage, including the middle it is practically nonexistent. At the secondary stage although general science is said to be available, for all students, its standard is extremely low. By 1965-66, the number of students studying science as an elective subject is expected to rise to 20 lakhs
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out of 55 lakhs of students. At the university stage it is estimated that by 1965-66 as against the original target of 42. 5 per cent, only about 39 per cent of the students will be enrolled in science courses.
Vocational Education 14. There is also the imbalance between general and vocational education. In other countries besides there being considerable emphasis on the inculcation of basic skills at the elementary stage, about 40 per cent of the students go to vocational schools at the secondary stage. In India, crafts, nominally introduced in a number of elementary schools, is very badly taught and the resultant educational value is very little. At the secondary stage, by 1965-66, only about 6.5 lakh children would be in vocational schools (including teacher training) corresponding to general secondary schools in which enrolment would be about 55 lakhs. At the post-matric level, enrolment in arts, including commerce and oriental learning courses, accounted for 34.2% of the total enrolment in 1950-51. This has increased to 52.2% in 1962-63. The percentage of students enrolled in science and professional educational courses has on the other hand decreased from 65.8 per cent in 1950-51 to 47.8 per cent in 1962-63.
Educated Unemployment 15. This accounts for the increasing numbers of the educated unemployed on the live register of the employment exchanges. In spite of shortages in certain categories as mentioned above, the number of registrants with qualifications of matriculation and above rose from 1. 5 lakhs in June, 1953 to 7. 80 lakhs in June, 1963 and to 11. 7 lakhs in June, 1968. Although part of this, increase is due to the larger awareness of the public about the utility of employment exchanges yet it clearly shows the increase in the number of unemploy- ed educated people. Though the proportion of educated registrants to the total number of registrants is falling the absolute numbers are rising and pose a serious social and economic problem.
Orientation of the Educational System 16. As a result of the deliberations regarding the orientation of the educational system to the new emerging needs it was decided to convert the elementary schools to the Basic pattern, to diversify secondary education and increase its duration so as to make it a terminal course for the large majority of students and to increase the duration of the university course from 2 to 3 years for the first degree. As regards Basic education, the percentage of Basic schools to the total number of elementary schools is estimated to have increased from 15.1 per cent in 1951 to 26.5 per cent in 1965-66. The quality of these schools is extremely varied and the large majority of these schools are not very different from the ordinary schools. Though 75 per cent of the training institutions will be converted to the Basic pattern by 1965-66, the quality of programmes offered in these training institutions and the condition of buildings and equipment available needs considerable improvement.
17. As regards diversification at the secondary education stage, as has already been stated, it hardly exists. Out of the 3700 diversified courses provided in multipurpose schools, the number of technical, agricultural, commerce, fine arts and domestic science courses was only 1700 and the other courses were in the humanities and sciences. These courses neither give the student sufficient vocational skills as to enable him to settle down in a job nor do they prepare him adequately for university education with the
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result that the colleges prefer students who have taken up science rather than those who have gone in for diversified courses. The implementation of the other recommendations of the Secondary Education Commission viz. that of increasing the duration of secondary education has been largely confined to the institutions in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab and Bihar. Taking the country as a whole the number of higher secondary schools at the end of the Third Plan is expected to be only 5,315 out of a total of 22,385 high/higher secondary schools or about 24 per cent.
18. At the university stage, the three-year degree course has not been accepted by the State universities of U.P. and. the Bombay University. In most other universities also where it has been introduced it has not led to a three-year integrated course as was the original intention but only to a combination of 1+2.
Wastage in Education 19. Even the utilisation of the resources of men and money is not satisfactory as is shown by the fact that considerable wastage takes place all along the line in education. At the primary stage 60% of the students, who enter class 1, do not get even permanent literacy because they drop out before reaching class IV. This wastage figure has remained almost steady over the last 16 years. The quality of education imparted also leaves much to be desired. It also appears that there is hardly any impact of this education on agricultural practices and the running of panchayats and cooperatives which are the basic institutions of our national life and for the satisfactory organisation of which, necessary attitudes have to be inculcated at this stage.
20. At the secondary stage and the university stage more than 50 per cent students fail in the public examinations. Again, a majority of the students pass in the third division. In 1962-63, for instance, 71% of B.As., 43% of B.Sc.s 50% of M.As., and 15% of M.Scs. passed in the third division. As the prospects of employment for the third divisioners are very limited, as is shown by the recent survey of the pattern of graduates employment carried out by the D.G.E.&.T., they add to the number of the educated unemployed. In technical institutions a recent survey carried out by the Education Division revealed that the wastage was 25 per cent at the graduate level and 50% at the diploma level.
Financial Resources 21. Although expenditure on eduction increased from 1.2 per cent of the national income in 1950-51 to 2.9 per cent in 1962-63, and the Government share of expenditure increased from 56% of the total expenditure in 1951-52 to 68% in 1961-62, the total amounts provided fell far short of the requirements. it is also significant that the percentage of development resources allocated to education have remained practically stationary during the three Plans, being 7.6% in the First Plan, 6.6% in the Second and 7.5% in the Third.