VI. TEACHER EDUCATION IN THE FOURTH PLAN
Introduction An important sector of post-secondary education is the training of teachers for elementary as well as secondary schools. The Education Commission have spelt out various programmes of improvement and development of teacher education. Taking into consideration the role which teacher education has to play in the reorientation of the educational system, the following approach in this field is proposed
(a) A detailed plan of teacher requirements and teacher training-both pre-service and in-service-may be drawn up.
(b) Where expansion is called for, it may preferably be given through the expansion of existing institutions instead of opening new ones. In some cases, it may be necessary to combine a number of small institutions into bigger and viable units.
(c) The quality of training institutions will need special attention. A phased programme for removing deficiencies in respect of buildings, hostels, equipment, etc. in existing institutions may be drawn up. The methods of teaching and evaluation in the training institutions need to be carefully reviewed. Material useful for teachers could be brought out with the assistance, where necessary, of the N.C.E.R. & T., in the regional languages.
(d) For in-service training to which very high priority needs to be attached-all training institutions may have extension wings for imparting refresher courses.
(e) The help of the universities could be enlisted in training programmes, especially of science and mathematics teachers.
(f) The backlog of untrained teachers and the up-dating of trained teachers may be accomplished through the Organisation of correspondence courses, especially in conjunction with summer institutes.
(g) Training facilities for teacher educators need to be provided on high priority basis.
(h) The formulation and implementation of plans in regard to teacher training may be facilitated if State Boards of Teacher Education, as suggested by the Education Commission, are established.
An attempt has been made to work out details of teacher education programmes in the light of the above approach. It is estimated that out lays required to implement these programmes would be Rs. 120 crore as shown in Statement I. In the Draft Outline of the Fourth Plan, the outlay provided for teacher education was Rs. 92 crore as shown in Statement II
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Expansion of Schooling Facilities in the Fourth Plan 2. It has been decided that the targets of additional enrolment, in the Fourth Plan, in various classes would be as under :
(a) Classes I-V 180 lakh
(b) Classes VI-VIII. 70 lakh
(10 lakh through
continuation courses)
(c) Classes IX-XI 33 lakh
Thus the total enrolment in various stages of education, by the end of
Fourth Plan, is shown in Table I.
Table I. Enrolment in Various Classes in 1968-69 and 1973-74
(in lakh)
Additional Total
Position Enrolment Enrolment
Classes in 1968-69 in 1969-74 in 1973-74
1 2 3 4
I-V 567 180 747
VI-VIII 120 70* 190
IX-XI 64 33 97
TOTAL 751 283 1034
*10 lakh students will be enrolled in continuation classes.
During the Fourth Plan additional 283 lakh children would be enrolled in various classes raising the total enrolment to 1034 lakh in 1973-74.
Requirements of Additional Teachers 3. It has also been agreed that the teacher-pupil ratio by 1973-74 in primary, middle and secondary classes should be 1 : 45, 1:30 and 1:25 respectively. On the basis of these ratios, the number of teachers, who would be in position by the end of the Fourth Plan, is indicated in Table II. Table II also indicates the number of additional teachers who will have to be appointed as a result of (a) expansion of schooling facilities and (b) normal replacement.
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Table II. Additional Employment of Teachers in the Fourth Plan
(Figures in lakh)
1965-66
1968-69 1973-74 1969-74 1969-74 Total
State (As per (Additional (Additional Additi-
Second Teachers) Teachers onal
Educational (Col. 3 + for Teachers
Survey) Col. 4) Normal (Col.5 +
Replace- 6)
ment)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Primary 11.96 14.20 16.60 2.40 2.30 4.70
Middle 4.36 5.20 6.00* 0.80 0.90 1.70
Secondary 2.77 2.90 3.90 1.00 0.60 1.60
TOTAL 19.09 22.30 26.50 4.20 3.80 8.00
*Excludes teachers who will be required for 10 lakh students to be enrolled in continuation classes. The existing teachers will be required to teach these students.
The requirements of additional teachers during the Fourth Plan is,. expected to be 8.0 lakh.
State-wise Requirements of Teachers 4. The expansion of training facilities will have to be worked out separately for individual States and Union Territories in relation to enrolment targets and the existing capacity in training institutions. Further the training programme will have to be phased according to the additional enrolment visualised for each year. An attempt will have to be made to match the out-turn from training institutions with the annual requirements of teachers. In fact, detailed calculations of subject-teachers, for each of the States, will have to be worked out and expansion of training programmes phased appropriately. In this connection, drawing up of a perspective plan of teacher education cannot be over-emphasised. For calculating cost etc.. an attempt has, however, been made to work out the over-all requirements of teachers and also be need for expansion of training facilities.
Training Facilities 5. In 1967-68, the enrolment in teachers' training colleges and training schools was 34,320 and 1.69 lakh respectively. The total facilities were available for training 2.03 lakh teachers; 34,320 for degree courses and 1. 69 lakh for diploma/certificate course. The annual out-turn of teachers with degree and diploma/certificate in Teaching, is expected to be 29,000 an 1. 12 lakh respectively in 1967- 68. The position in 1968-69 is likely to be different. In fact, a number of States have closed down some of their trading institutions because of lack of employment opportunities for teaching. It is expected that, in 1968-69 training facilities may be available for 33, ers. and 1.50 lakh in training colleges and training schools respectively. 000
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annual out-turn of training colleges and training schools is expected to be 28,000 and 1 lakh respectively. Thus over a period of five years, the number of trained teachers, with degree and diploma/certificate qualifications, who would be available, may be 1. 4 lakh and 5 lakh respectively.
6. The number of additional elementary school teachers (reference Table II) who will be required during the Fourth Plan, as a result of expansion and normal replacement would be 4. 70 lakh and 1. 70 lakh respectively or 6.40 lakh. Out of these about 1 lakh teachers would be with graduate postgraduate qualifications and the rest, i.e. 5.4 lakh teachers will be with matriculation and equivalent qualifications. (Reference Table II). The out-turn from existing institutions is likely to be 5. 00 lakh matric trained teachers. Thus additional training facilities for 40,000 teachers will have to be arranged in training schools, if the assumption is that all new teachers to be appointed during the Fourth Plan should be trained. The requirements of science and other subject teachers will be about 20,000 and appropriate training programmes will be arranged for them. In this connection, attention is drawn to para 13(v) of Annexure I to Elementary Education Programmes in the Fourth Plan.
7. The number of additional secondary school teachers, who will be required, during the Fourth Plan, as a result of expansion and normal replacement, would be 1. 60 lakh. To this will have to be added the number of graduate teachers required for elementary schools whose number, as estimated in para 6 above, would be 1 lakh. The out- turn from existing institutions is likely to be 1. 4 lakh trained teachers as against the requirements of 2. 6 lakh teachers. Thus, additional training facilities for 1. 2 lakh teachers will have to be arranged, the assumption being that all new teachers to be appointed during the Fourth Plan should be trained.
Accent on Training of Science Teachers 8. According to the present pattern of admissions in training colleges only 21 % of the candidates have a science degree which means that, on an average 4,200 science teachers with B.Ed. or B.T. degree become annually available or 21,000 trained science teachers would be avilable out of the total out-turn of 1.4 lakh during the Fourth Plan. It is estimated that the acutal requirements of science teachers, during the Fourth Plan, would be 80,000 or so out of 2.6 lakh teachers. This indicates that the pattern of admissions in training colleges will have to be diversified with greater emphasis on the admission of science graduates so that the requisite number of trained science teachers become available.
9. It has been observed that in a number of States, there are many trained unemployed teachers. One of the important reasons for this is that educational institutions do not appoint trained teachers. It would be necessary to modify the grants-in-aidcode in a suitable manner so that it is obligatory for managements to appoint only trained and qualified teachers. Unless this is done, it may not be advisable to expand the training facilities as recommended in paras 6 and 7 above.
Correspondence Courses for Untrained Teachers 10. Even though training facilities have expanded during the last 17 years, they have not kept pace with the number of additional teachers appointed to cater to additional enrolment. As a consequence, the number
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of untrained teachers has grown. Table 3 indicates the position in this regard for the year 1967-68.
Table III. Untrained Teachers in 1967-68
(Figures in lakh)
Percentage
Trained Untrained Total of Un-
Teachers Teachers trained
Teachers
1 2 3 4 5
Elementary School Teachers 11.73 3.84 15.57 25
Secondary School Teachers 3.46 1.44 4.90 29
TOTAL 15.19 5.28 20.47 26
At the end of 1967-68, the total number of untrained teachers was 5.28, lakh (26 per cent); 3.84 lakh (25 per cent) in elementary schools and 1.44 lakh (29 per cent) in secondary schools. The position is not likely to change in 1968-69.
11. According to the Second All India Educational Survey, out of the total number of 19.09 lakh teachers in 1965-66, the number of untrained teachers was 5.06 lakh, 3.15 lakh teachers in primary sections, 1.08 lakh in middle sections and 84,000 in secondary sections.
Untrained Elementary School Teachers 12. Out of 3.15 lakh of untrained teachers in primary sections 2.43 lakh teachers had teaching experience of 8 years and less, 1.8 lakh teachers. had teaching experience of 4 years and less. Out of 1.08 lakh untrained teachers in middle sections, 84,126 teachers had 8 years or less of experience. The number of teachers, whose teaching experience was less than 4 years was 64,000. The total number of untrained elementary school teachers with teaching experience of 4 years and less in 1965-66 was 2.44 lakh (1.8 lakh plus 64,000).
13. Since experience in regard to the organisation of the corresponddence course for elementary school teachers, many of whom are not even academically qualified, is not available, it may be desirable to concentrate on the training of about 2.44 lakh of untrained teachers, who may have put in 4 years or less of service, through correspondence courses, in the Fourth Plan. This problem is mainly acute in the States of Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Mysore and Jammu & Kashmir where there is a large concentration of untrained teachers. The State Institutes of Education and other appropriate organisations will have to prepare a phased programme of clearing this backlog of untrained teachers.
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Untrained Secondary School Teachers 14. According to the Second All India Educational Survey, out of 84,327 untrained teachers working in secondary sections, 67,818 teachers had teaching experience of 8 years and less, and out of these 52,750 untrained teachers had teaching experience of 4 years and less. The position may have slightly improved by now. The problem is, however, concentrated in Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Mysore, Nagaland, Orissa, Rajasthan and West Bengal. In the Fourth Plan, the target may be to train 50,000 teachers through correspondence courses in the four Regional Colleges of Education and the Central Institute of Education who have the experience of running these courses.
In-service Programme 15. Continuous retraining and refreshing of teachers of various subject specialists in methods of teaching and professional knowledge is essential because of the growing obsolescence. For instance, the Second All India Educational Survey indicated that about 65,000 teachers or about 23.4 per cent of the total teaching force working in secondary sections are science teachers. Only 31.2 per cent of them possess the prescribed qualifications of a science degree with professional teacher training qualifications. It would be necessary to draw up a regular programme of in-service training and education of teachers, through correspondence, week-end, and other short-term courses in order to provide them an opportunity to keep themselves abreast of the latest developments. Such in-service training programme will have to be provided by the existing teacher education institutions through their extension service departments and State institutes of education, science institutes and summer institutes. These departments will have to be strengthened to take up this work. The in-service programmes will have to be arranged at the district level so that the coverage is large. With a view to enabling selected primary school teachers to teach new courses of general science, teachers of 21,000 primary schools (where science kits will be provi- ded), will be trained through a two-month in-service programme in 700 selected neighbourhood secondary schools and training schools. There are at present about 90,000 middle schools, where science is taught as an integrated course of general science. In order to train the existing teachers of these schools to teach science courses as individual disciplines of physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology, a two-month in-service training course will be organised through selected teacher training colleges. During the Plan period, about 40,000 teachers will be trained. During the Fourth Plan, 5 lakh teachers (4 lakh elementary school teachers and 1 lakh secondary teachers including 1. 23 lakh science teachers) may be provided in- service training programmes.
Improvement of Training Institutions 16. The Education Commission has observed that most of the teacher training institutions have substantial deficiencies in regard to equipment buildings and other facilities especially craft sheds, craft equipment, laboratories and libraries. A number of training institutions are under private management and in most cases, the managements do not have enough funds for providing the necessary facilities. During the Fourth Plan, both recurring and non-recurring expenditure, will have to be provided to training institutions to improve these facilities including science laboratories, to increase the number and value of stipends of student teachers and provide incentives to teacher educators for improving their qualifications. Non-recurring funds
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will be utilised mainly for providing, in order of priority, laboratory, library, audio-visual and workshop equipment, minimum hostel facilities and staff quarters. It should also be possible to select about 10 per cent of such institutions and to develop them as peaks of excellence.
17. There are about 1400 training schools in the country. A number of them are small-sized and, therefore, uneconomic. It would be desirable to concentrate on developing large-sized institutions by amalgamating the existing institutions and providing additional physical facilities. There are about 220 training colleges/university departments of education. In the Fourth Plan, about 150 training colleges/university departments of education will be selected to develop as comprehensive colleges with multi-faculty training programmes. Norms will be laid down in respect of the staff and various physical facilities. The institutions selected for the purpose could be enabled to develop a minimum prescribed level.