PROGRAMMES AND POLICIES
Pre-School Education 37. Owing to the dearth of resources, the main emphasis in the Fourth Plan in the field of pre-school education, will be on the training of teachers in pre-primary training institutions with attached experimental nursery schools, -providing grant-in-aid on a limited scale to municipalities and corporations for setting up pre- primary schools in slum areas and organising low-cost pre-primary classes in rural areas with community support.
Elementary Education 38. The provision of universal education for all children up to the age of 14 years would be achieved latest by 1990-91; and the provision for the universal education for all children in the age- group 6-11 would be completed by 1980-81. This will be achieved : (a) by opening new schools in school-less habitations, (b) by encouraging, the enrolment.of girls and children of backward communities, and (c) by progressively eliminating wastage and stagnation.
39. About 5 per cent of the rural population do not have facilities for primary education. Therefore, in the Fourth Plan,. priority will be given to opening primary schools in about 16,000 rural habitations which have a population of 300 and above, but have- no schools, at present, within a distance of one mile. Likewise, in , the opening of new middle schools, preference will be given to the school-less rural habitations with a population of 1500 and above. Simultaneously vigorous efforts will be made to encourage a larger enrolment of girls, particularly at the middle stage. At the primary stage, the enrolment of girls is highly unsatisfactory in the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. At the middle stage, the position is very unsatisfactory not only in these three States but also in Uttar Pradesh. It is proposed to eliminate wastage and stagnation over the next 15 to 20 years according to a phased programme. This will be done through greater integration of work in the school and among the parents, especially in classes I and II and in regard to the care of the pre-school child; through more effective control of admissions in class I so that all the children join the class about the same time, through the provision of mid-day meals; through such programmes as free textbooks and free clothing to needy children; and through effective teaching. To begin with in the Fourth Plan, It definite target will be laid for the reduction of wastage and stagnation by 25 p given to the present incidence and vigorous efforts will be made to achieve it. In regard to qualitative improvement, special attention will be given to the revision of curricula, production of better textbooks and the improvement of teaching of science, particularly at the middle stage.
40. According to the programmes drawn up, the targets of expansion for elementary education, are shown in Table 10.
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TABLE 10
Enrolment targets for elementary stage
Classes/Age-group 1960-61 1965-66 1968-69 1973-74
actuals actuals anticipa- proposed
ted
1 2 3 4 5
I-V (6-11)
Boys 235.93 328.38 356.77 446.51
Girls 114.01 186.14 211.19 301.45
TOTAL 349.94 514.52 567-96 747-96
VI- VIII (11-14)
Boys 50.74 77.18 91.43 136.19
Girls 16.31 28.18 39.02 64.84
TOTAL 67.05 105.36 130.45 201.13
I-VIII (6-14)
Boys 286.67 405.56 448.20 582.70
Girls 130.32 214.32 250.28 366.29
TOTAL 416.99 619.88 698.41 948.99
Percentage of population in the age-group
I-V (6-11)
Boys 82.9 98.5 97.1 106.7
Girls 41.3 57.7 60.3 76.8
TOTAL 62.8 78.5 79.2 92.3
VI_ VIII (11-14)
Boys 33.2 44.5 47.9 60.6
Girls 11.3 16.9 21.1 30.4
TOTAL 22.5 30.9 34.7 45.9
I-VIII (6-14)
Boys 66.4 79.8 80.0 91.2
Girls 32.0 43.6 46.4 60.7
TOTAL 49.0 62.0 63.6 76.4
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The additional children who will be enrolled in Classes I-VIII, during the Fourth Plan would be 250 lakhs as against 213 lakhs in the Third Plan. Thus, by 1973-74, the provision of schooling facilities would be available for 76.4 per cent of the children in the age-group 6-14; schooling facilities for boys would be available for 9.2 per cent and for girls 60. 7 per cent.
Secondary Education 41. The enrolment at the secondary stage has shown the highest rate of growth in the field of general education. In the Fourth Plan, it is expected to enroll 33 lakhs additional children in classes IX- XI. The position about expansion of facilities at the secondary stage is indicated in Table 11.
TABLE 11
Enrolment at the secondary stage
Enrolment Percentage of the
(Figures in lakhs) Age-group
Year
Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1960-61 24.6 5.6 30.2 17.5 4.2 11.1
1965-66 42.8 12.3 55.1 27.3 8.2 18.0
1968-69 48.5 15.7 64.2 28.2 9.5 19.0
1973-74 71.0 26.2 97.2 35.2 13.5 24.6
It will be observed that, by the end of the Fourth Plan, schooling facilities according to proposed programmes would be available for 24. 6 per cent of children in the age-group 14-17; 33.2 per cent for boys and 13.5 per cent for girls.
42. While making adequate provision for the inescapable growth in enrolment, the main effort in the Fourth Plan will be to enrich the content and improve the quality of secondary education. This will be achieved by a strict enforcement of grant-in-aid rules for the recognition of new schools whose location will be determined according to the requirements of each area, taking into consideration the optimum utilisation of the facilities already available in the area. At the same time encouragement will be given to the setting up of secondary schools in the backward areas and special facilities will be provided for increasing the enrolment of girls at this stage. Scholarships will be offered to bright students from rural areas to enable them to complete secondary education. The present improvement programmes relating to the revision of curricula, production of good textbooks and examination reform will be strengthened further. Emphasis will be placed on the pre-service and in-service training of science and mathematics teachers and the provision of at least the minimum laboratory equipment so as to ensure that every secondary school in the country is able to teach science as a compulsory subject up to Class X. A beginning will also be made in the vocationalisation of secondary education by reorienting and strengthening the teaching of practical subjects in schools which have,
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at present, facilities for teaching these subjects so as to provide terminal courses for those who will not go beyond the matriculation stage. ITIs are already providing such courses for some students. By and large vocationalisation will be at the post-matric stage and will be mostly imparted in institutions for the training of paramedical personnel, agricultural schools, ITIs, polytechnics etc., whose intake will be determined by the need for such personnel. But there is considerable room for further experimentation.
University Education 43. Taking into consideration the inevitable expansion, it is estimated that the total enrolment in arts, science and commerce courses including the P.U.C. and the intermediate classes of Bombay University (but excluding U.P. intermediate colleges which are regarded by the State Government as a part of the school system) will increase from 16.93 lakhs in 1968-69 to 26.28 lakhs in 1973-74 indicating an additional enrolment of 9.35 lakhs. The additional enrolment in pre-university, and intermediate, undergraduate and postgraduate and research classes would be 2.76 lakhs, 27,000 5.33 lakhs and 99,000 respectively. The additional enrolment in law during the Fourth Plan is estimated to be 35,000. Emphasis will be laid on the development of postgraduate studies and research by expanding the existing centres of Advanced Study and establishing clusters of such centres of Advanced Study in a few universities for inter-disciplinary research in selected subjects. Science education will receive the highest priority. More than 50 per cent of the allocations are reserved for this purpose. It will be expanded and improved through the provision of laboratories, scienctific equipment and qualified staff. Provision has also been made for new universities, the establishment of which has already been agreed to. Special assistance will be made available to about 100 selected colleges for improvement. The affiliated colleges have been hitherto completely neglected even though they provide education to more than 88 per cent of the enrolment at the university stage. It is proposed to organise at least 850 summer institutes during the Fourth Plan, with an enrolment of about 40,000 teachers. A number of student welfare services like improvement of hostel facilities, student study homes, health services, sports and games etc. will be taken up. Residential facilities, for students and teachers will be further expanded. The existing schemes of National Scholarships will be expanded in the Fourth Plan. The emphasis will be on loan rather than grant scholarships.
Social Education 44. Provision for functional literacy both in rural and urban areas for clearly identifiable groups and compact areas, where intensive programmes of increasing production are launched or where the public response is very good, will be given high priority. Further, educational institutions, through the programme of National Social Service and the village adoption scheme, will take up the programme of initial literacy. These programmes can be successful if there is adequate follow-up in terms of reading materials and libraries. Necessary provisions for this have been made. Voluntary organisations have an important contribution to make in promoting adult education programmes. They will be assisted. The University Departments of Adult Education will be helped in taking up pilot projects, conducting research and organising extension and extra-mural lectures.
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Teacher Education 45. The main emphasis in this sector will have to be on qualitative programmes like the provision of in-service education, professional education of teacher educators, improvement of existing facilities, provision of correspondence courses for the existing untrained teachers, educational research, upgrading the academic qualifications of the existing unqualified teachers, taking up specialised courses and setting up of State Boards of Teacher Education. Expansion of training facilities will be related by the State Governments to the demand for new teachers and the existing training capacity. Special emphasis will be laid on the training of science and mathematics teachers.
National Service and Youth Programmes 46. The national service and sports programme which has now been accepted as an integral part of educational development, will be implemented during 1968-69 on a pilot basis by the universities and colleges. During the Fourth Plan it is proposed progressively to increase the coverage of students under this programme from one lakh in 1968-69 to 6 lakhs in 1973-74. The coverage of students under the NCC in 1973-74 would be 4 lakhs. So the coverage of the two programmes taken together will be 10 lakhs against a total estimated enrolment of 12 lakhs in the first two years of the degree-course by the end of the Fourth Plan. A number of welfare programmes for urban and rural youth will be taken up and an attempt made to provide a number of activities, through educational institutions, to non-student youth. Physical education and sports programme will be continued. The Ministry of Education have set up a Study Group which is preparing details of youth welfare programmes. The programmes of Planning Forums will be expanded in the Fourth Plan.
National Council of Educational Research and Training 47. The programmes initiated by the NCERT in the field of evaluation and guidance, curriculum construction, extension, educational research etc. will be consolidated. The programmes of development of science education will be expanded. It is proposed to effect closer collaboration between the programmes of the NCERT, the State Departments of Education, State Institutes of Education, universities and the other institutions which are concerned with the qualitative improvement of education in the country.
Development of Languages 48. The Official Languages (Amendment) Act, 1967 and the Govern. ment Resolution thereon enjoin upon the Government of India to prepare and implement a comprehensive programme for the spread of Hindi as well as other modem Indian languages mentioned in the Constitution.
49. A number of schemes for the development of languages have been proposed in the Fourth Plan. These include the setting up of Institutes of Languages, with the objectives of conducting inter- linguistic reserarch, training of translators in different languages and production of literature in Hindi and other Indian languages including tribal languages. It is also proposed to assist the State Governments in the production of literature in Indian languages so as to facilitate the change-over to regional languages
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as media of instruction at the university stage. The programmes of the Scientific and Technical Terminology Commission will be stepped up. The Central Government will also continue to assist the Hindi teachers training colleges and the appointment of Hindi teachers in non-Hindi States. Assistance will be provided to the voluntary organisations for the propagation and development of Hindi. It is also proposed to set up an institution at the university level with Hindi medium in South India. The schemes for the development of Sanskrit like improvement of pay scales of Sanskrit teachers, award of scholarships for Sanskrit studies, etc. will be continued and further expanded. Grants will be given to voluntary organisations devoted to the production of Sanskrit literature.
Book Production 50. With the decision to switch over to modern Indian languages as the media of education at the university stage, it has become necessary to develop two important programmes, viz., (i) the production of books in modern Indian languages with a view to their adoption as media of instruction at the university stage and (ii) the production of indigenous books in English with a view to reducing our dependence on imported books to the minimum. These programmes will be taken up by the Central Government in collaboration with the University Grants Commission and State Governments. At the school stage, intensive efforts will be made (a) to improve the quality of textbooks, (b) to produce ancillary teaching and learning materials on an adequate scale, and (c) to make proper arrangements for the distribution and sale of school textbooks. It is also proposed to suggest to the State Governments to set up autonomous book production corporations. The coordinating machinery for taking up the big programme of book production both at the Centre and State levels, will be established. Emphasis will also be placed on production of books for children, especially from the point of view of national integration and development of interest in science.
Cultural Programmes 51. The programmes of Archaeology, Akademies and Museums will be stepped up. Central assistance will continue to be made available for the reorganisation and development of museums run by State Governments and private organisations on the advice of the Central Advisory Board of Museums. It is also proposed to expand the museums run by the Central Government, i.e., National Museum, Delhi, Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad and Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta, etc. There is provision for the expansion of National Library, Calcutta, Delhi Public Library and the National Archives of India. The cultural and Budhistic institutions will be developed. It is proposed to make available to school and college students plaster casts and paintings of museum and archaeological objects and filmstrips depicting places of historical interest etc. The work relating to the compilation of the Indian and the District Gazetteers will be continued.
Vocationalisation of Education 52. Details of the programme are being worked out.
Development of Science Education 53. Science, being basic to the development of a modernising society, has been given a very high priority in the proposals for various levels of education. The proposals are brought together in this section so that they can be viewed as a whole and the relationship of the efforts at various levels made
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clear. The efforts in the Fourth Plan will be to provide facilities for the teaching of science, as an integral part of the general education programme at least up to the high school stage. With this end in view, programmes of pre-service and in-service training of teachers will be strengthened, the curriculum in science will be up- graded and modernised and necessary physical facilities of laboratory and equipment will be made available to as many schools as possible. The agencies which provide leadership role at the State level will be strengthened and a net-work of supervisory agencies will be set up to ensure proper implementation of the science programmes. In addition, encouragement will be provided to information activities through science clubs and science fairs.
54. At the elementary stage, the development programmes include provision of laboratory facilities to all existing teacher training institutions, provision of science kits to 21,000 selected primary schools, provision of in-service training facilities to teachers of selected schools and a pilot project in each State to improve science teaching through a mobile laboratory-cum-training van.
55. At the middle stage, it is. proposed to establish about 150 science teaching centres' in selected science colleges, to provide in- service training facilities for 40,000 science and mathematics teachers now teaching these subjects and to provide a science study- room and equipment for each of the 20,000 selected middle schools.
56. At the secondary stage, the State Institutes of Science Education will be strengthened, science units will be set up in the State Directorates of Education and science supervisors will be appointed in 150 districts. Existing training colleges will be provided science equipment, one-year pre-service training centres for science teachers will be set up in selected universities and a large in-service training programmes will be undertaken. Funds have also been provided for laboratory rooms and equipment in 8,000 existing secondary schools and 4,000 new secondary schools to be set up during the Fourth Plan and in about 500 higher secondary schools of the 12- year pattern. Provision is also made for grants to science clubs, science fairs at all levels and for the establishment of State Science Museums.
57. At the university stage, there has been a rapid expansion of science education during the past two decades. The enrolment in science subjects which was about 27 per cent of the total enrolment in arts, science and commerce subjects in 1960-61 rose to about 39 per cent in 1968-69. In the Fourth Plan, it is proposed to expand and diversify science education so as to meet the growing demand of science graduates and postgraduates in various disciplines. It is proposed to lay particular emphasis on the expansion and improvement of facilities at the postgraduate and research levels. For this purpose, the Centres of Advanced Study set up in various universities will be strengthened. Inter-disciplinary and intra-disciplinary research will be encouraged through the setting up of `clusters' of Advanced Centres in related subjects. It is proposed to provide suitable short-term training courses in applied science subjects for science graduates who fail to get absorbed in vocations requiring the knowledge of science courses pursued by them. It is proposed to improve science education facilities by developing selected institutions and selected courses of study, organisation of summer institutes, refresher courses and college development programmes and development of instrumentation workshops and computer facilities in universities and collegiate institutions.
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58. The total provision exclusively for the scheme of expansion and improvement of science education in the Fourth Plan is Rs. 117.50 crores out of a Plan outlay of Rs. 255 crores for higher education. This is in addition to the outlays provided for schemes like hostels and staff quarters, etc. which are common to both science and humanities courses. The provision exclusively for science education at the elementary and secondary stages Is Rs. 22.50 crores and Rs. 41.41 crores, respectively, thus making a total provision of Rs. 181. 41 crores for science education at all stages. This is exclusive of the provision for science courses in technical institutions. Out of this about Rs. 20 crores is for training of teachers, mostly for elementary and secondary teachers.
Technical Education 59. It is proposed to bring down the admission capacity of degree and diploma, courses from 24,000 and 48,000 respectively to about 17,000 and 26,000 In the light of the anticipated demand for engineers and diploma holders, during the Fifth Plan. These figures will be revise# as soon as firm figures of demand are available. The main emphasis in this field will be to concentrate resources and energy on improving quality and standards. The improvement programmes would relate to pre-service and in-service training of teachers, reorganisation of diploma courses in order to diversify them and reorientate them functionally to the needs of industry, expansion and improvement of postgraduate engineering studies and research, curri- culum development and preparation of instructional material 'including laboratory equipment, expansion of apprenticeship training in industry, etc.