ITEM NO. 3 : TO DISCUSS THE FOURTH FIVE YEAR PLAN IN EDUCATION
Recommendations of the Planning Group on the Report of the Steering Committee
The Planning Group while discussing the report of the Steering Committee, desired that the various alternatives or choices before the country in the field of educational development might be posed squarely with their implications to enable a fruitful debate to take place on the subject.
Basic considerations 2. A certain number of considerations will have to underlie all possible alternatives. These are :
(i) The inevitable expenditure must be met. This consists of maintainning the present momentum (leaving out the abnormal interrugnum of 196669) of educational development and providing for the commitments already entered into. The present momentum may again be reviewed from two angles : qualitative improvment and quantitative expansion. So far as quantitative expansion is concerned, it was agreed that providing for expansion on the basis of the past trend of increase in enrolment, which was a measure of the social demand for education, might be regarded as a priority in the sense that it might be difficult to resist it even if it might be desirable to do so on other considerations. Qualitatively, roughly speaking, it would be necessary to provide at least the expenditure which was incurred on these programmes in the Third Plan after applying the correction factor of increase in prices. The maintenance of the tempo of existing schemes does not rule out-as a matter of fact requires-the possibility of dropping some schemes that may have become redundant or comparatively unimportant.,
(ii) As the demand for resources will always be greater than their availability, it is essential to provide for all the economies that are possible to effect through the use of improved technologies, a more intensive utilisation of facilities and creation of those facilities that are required more urgently in the economy or are more significant from the point of view of greater national cohesion, as a first charge on the finances available.
(iii) For the same reason, it is essential to tap new resources in the community for educational development by the stimulus of suitable organisational changes such as linking the school more effectively with community-needs, devising a machinery where the fruits of taxation are assured for the communities/organisations which bear its burden, decentralisation of administration so that greater initiative is placed in the hands of the community concerned and rights and responsibilities are more clearly linked, etc.
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Inevitable expenditure 3. The inevitable expenditure, duly rationalised in the light of the above considerations, is indicated below :-
Table 1. Inevitable Expenditure
(Rs. crores)
Elementary Education 430
Secondary Education 195
University Education 195
Teacher Education 25
Social Education 12
Cultural Programmes 15
Physical Education 10
Languages and Book Production 28
Administration 10
NCERT 5
Other Programmes 5
Technical Education 150
TOTAL 1080
4. The additional enrolment in the major sectors that will be
obtained by the above expenditure will be as follows :-
Table 2. Additional Enrolment in Major Sectors
Third Plan Fourth Plan
Unit (additional (targets-
achievement) additional)
Classes I-V lakhs 165 150
Classes VI-VIII lakhs 38 60
Classes IX-XI lakhs 25 33
University Education lakhs 5 9
Technical Education
admission capacity '000 .. ..
Diploma level 25 (-)10*
Degree level 11 (-)8*
*As regards Technical Education, the Ministry of Education has advised the States to reduce their admissions in 1968-69 to this level in the light of the present unemployment among engineers (even if an optimistic rate of growth of the economy is assumed, the present studies show that the supply from existing institutions will outstrip the demand) and with a desire to limit admissions to the extent of facilities available. More careful studies in the light of targets of industrial production, the rates of growth etc., that might be assumed for the Fifth Plan targets for technical education will be laid down and the figures revised, if necessary.
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5. The new departures in approach and strategy apart from the three basic considerations mentioned in para 2-that have been assumed for the above tasks and expenditure are :-
(i) An average pupil-teacher ratio of 1 : 45*, as against the present 1 : 40, for primary classes-mostly through the adoption of the shift system in classes I and II. The average pupil-teacher ratio today in some States is as high as 55 and the adoption of the shift system should enable such states to bring the class size down to a manageable size within the limits of existing resources. The amount of Rs. 130 crores saved thereby is proposed to be ploughed back to improve the quality of primary education which is most urgently needed, especially to reduce the present heavy wastage and stagnation in primary classes. Many of the steps needed for the purpose do not require finance but purely organisational changes like limiting the admission in class I to the first one or two months of the year, discontinuation of examinations in early classes, adjusting the vacation to the need for labour at the time of the harvest and the sowing seasons, etc. Other measures which would have financial implications are :-
(a) paying an allowance to teachers who work in the second shift or teach in part-time classes ;
(b) linking the school with the community and paying remuneration to teachers who do adult education work
(c) providing free books to students ;
(d) providing tools for kitchen gardening
(e) providing guide books for teachers and interesting reading material and test-books for students ; and
(f) providing the minimum necessary teaching aids and other equipment required in primary classes.
(ii) Development of part-time education at the middle and college stages
(iii) Correspondence courses for secondary and higher education and for teacher training ;
(iv) Streamlining and modernising the administration
(v) Emphasis on functional literacy though on a limited scale
(vi) Emphasis on languages and book production ;
(vii) Emphasis on consolidation in technical education ; and
(viii) All scholarships at the university stage to be generally loan scholarships.
6. If no additional resources are available and the above programme alone is implemented then the implications would be :
(i) Further postponement of the constitutional directive as regards of elementary education. The Education Commission had recommended that effective primary education of 5 years should be provided to everyone by 1975-76 and of 7 or 8 years by 1985-86. The target dates of the Steering Committee were 1980-81 and 1990-91 respectively. With the resources indicated for elementary education under the `inevitable' expenditure, the dates by which these goals could be achieved would get postponed to 1983-84 and 1993-94 respectively.
(ii) Secondary education will continue to produce students who will only rush to the universities in the absence of effective alternatives.
*This means an average attendance of 40 pupil per teacher.
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(iii) University education will continue to be at its present low quality and turn out people largely unemployable.
(iv) The vast adult population will not be effectively brought into the developmental process.
Manoeuverability and alternatives 7. If additional funds are provided the area of manoeuverability will be the amount provided minus Rs. 1080 crores and a number of choices will present themselves. Some of these will run through all sectors while others will pertain only to particular sectors. These are :-
(i) In regard to overall decisions it might be possible to take a view that we must link education effectively with productivity. So we could concentrate all the resources on these programmes which would increase productivity. These are :-
-At the school stage (up to Matriculation). providing work experience in agriculture and industry and creating through appropriate teaching methods those attitudes which are required for self-employment initiative, resourcefulness, spirit of enquiry, leadership, etc.
-Provision of vocational education of an intensive character, especially oriented to self employment, on a large scale, keeping in view the actual demand in the organised sector and the possibility of creating self-employment at the end of the elementary and secondary stages.
-Provision of technical education on a large scale largely oriented to self-employment.
-Emphasis on research and design.
-Organisation of extension education including functional literacy, on a large scale so that the practising farmer is brought under the impact of education. Part-time education and training ought to be provided for upgrading the labour force within industry. This is a most promising but hitherto neglected area.
The expenditure on each programme may be determined in the light of the resources available. Another limiting factor would be the feasibility of gearing up the educational system for various programmes in the light of the limitations of personnel and the possibility of changing the present structure. Educational changes are very difficult to effect and, unless prepared carefully through a stage of pilot projects result in considerable wastage.
(ii) Elementary education may be expanded to the utmost possible extent. The limits here again are those of feasibility apart from financial resources. It is felt that it may be difficult to push forward this programme beyond what is visualised under the inevitable programme, except to bring in an additional 30 lakhs of children at the primary stage and another 10 lakhs (through part-time courses) at the middle stage. The funds required for this purpose are Rs. 50 crores. Considerable research and experimentation must be undertaken to evolve an effective programme to eliminate wastage and stagnation which is as high as about 60 per cent at the present time.
A view could be taken that as the entire nation shares the benefits accruing from elementary education and also as this stage could enable us to lift and indentify talent, it should get the highest priority and whatever resources are required for turning it into an effective programme ought to be provided. Such a course will not only be socially just but will also ensure effective participation of the people as a whole in national programmes of
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social and economic development and lay a sound foundation for the growth of our basic institutions like the cooperatives and the Panchayats etc. In view of the fact that most of our people will not go beyond this stage of formal education and, therefore, whatever new in the matter of practices and attitudes we have to introduce, we should do so at this stage, the importance of concentrating our resources on this stage of education becomes obvious. Further, as we go to higher stages the benefit to the individual and to organised groups becomes more pronounced and hence it should be easier to shift the burden of education to the beneficiaries, which is not the case at the elementary stage. Again in developing countries the most important and difficult problem is to give the large mass of the people elementary skills through which they can process raw materials in the environment into usable goods. This task can best be accomplished through a suitably oriental elementary education. To put to productive use those trained at the higher stages require capital which in developing countries is scarce.
(iii) A view can be taken to concentrate all additional available resources on the improvement of the quality of university education either over the entire field or in certain selected areas of excellence. If resources are spread over the entire field it may be difficult to produce appreciable impact. Concentration of resources on `centres of excellence' could create focii of dynamism in our entire social, political and economic life.
(iv) A view can be taken that the teacher is the most important factor in education, and, therefore, all additional resources ought to be concentrated on teacher education. The quantitative aspect is well taken care of by the funds provided under `inevitable expenditure'. The quality of teacher training, however, could be emphasised and all its requirements met within the constraint of resources available and the feasibility of the programme.
(v) The significance of functional literacy in a country, 50 per cent of whose national income comes from agriculture, is obvious. The limitations are the vast size of the problem, the limitations of personnel required for handling the programme effectively and the absence of effective techniques required to solve the problem with utmost economy. The problem of motivation is again serious. If functional literacy is to be provided to all within the age-group of 14-45 within the next 10 years the amounts required would be Rs. 450 crores * :
(vi) In the field of technical education one could follow other countries by increasing the output of engineers and technicians, as they bring in maximum returns if properly utilised. The demands of the organised sector, how ever, are seriously limited according to all indications. If we could orient our technical education towards self- employment, these personnel could become the means of building the country in addition to creating avenues of employment. The only limitation to an advance in this direction is the capacity of the system to be oriented towards self-employment within the time period under reference. Considerable experiments will need to be conducted before any effective orientation of technical education on a large scale can be a reality.
Desirable mix : Examination of Steering Committee's Report 8. No single alternative could perhaps be accepted to the exclusion of others and the task before the Planning Group is to suggest the proper `mix'.
*The number of illiterates in the age-grups 15-44 in 1978-79, i.e. ten years hence, will be 150 million. The cost involved in making an illiterate adult literate is estimated to be Rs. 30. On this basis the cost of eradication of illiteracy among 150 million illiterates would be Rs. 450 crore during the next 10 years. This means that the average cost per year would be roughly Rs. 45 crores.
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The Steering Committee has suggested one such mix'. Comments on this `mix' are as follows :-
(i) The requirements of elementary and secondary education will need to be revised upwards as subsequent information about the existing pupil teacher ratio has shown that the assumption that some of the additional enrolment will go into existing schools was not warranted. The requirements of elementary and secondary education will now be Rs. 391 crores and Rs. 229 crores respectively against Rs. 330 crores and Rs. 201 crores respectively. Secondly, the figures of elementary education are on the basis of the ratio of 1:45 through the introduction of the shift system. On the basis of the existing ratio of 1:40, the expenditure will be Rs. 156 crores more for an enrolment of 180 lakhs assumed by the Steering Committee. The Planning Group supports the idea of the shift system in classes I and II on the ground that the children of this tender age cannot remain engaged in academic work for more than 3 hours. They are, however, strongly of the view that this should not be used as a means of further lowering the already extremely inadequate per capita expenditure on primary education. The money saved thereby should be redeployed to strengthen primary education as indicated in para 5 (i).
(ii) In teacher education, the Planning Group tentatively suggests the reduction of outlays from Rs. 120 crores proposed by the Steering Committee to Rs. 84 crores in view of the fact that in June 1968 there were 1.5 lakh teachers who had registered themselves with the employment exchanges. The situation should be carefully reviewed by a small committee. This committee should go into the situation in each State.
(iii) While the Planning Group attaches the highest importance to the salaries and service conditions of teachers, they have not made any recommendations in this regard, because it has been decided to keep the improvement of salaries of teachers outside the Plan. Their estimate of this additional liability to government during the Fourth Plan is roughly of the order of Rs. 200 crores.
(iv) In university education, while it is difficult to provide adequate quality in all our colleges and universities, it is necessary to create certain `centres of excellence' where we provide all the facilities up to the optimum level so that top men can be produced who can occupy key positions in the various walks of national life. The Planning Group is of the view that at least 15 per cent of the undergraduates* and post-graduate enrolment in science, which will mean 1. 10 lakh students may be provided laboratory and library facilities at the rate of Rs. 25,000 per student for post-graduates and Rs. 5,000 per student for under-graduates. This will mean and additional cost of Rs. 50 crores. The most immediate need and challenge in the field of higher education is the improvement of the quality of post-graduate work and research. To meet this challenge certain physical inputs are necessary. But what is even more imperative is the sense of urgency and commitment in the academic community and their initiative and resourcefulness.
(v) In regard to the reduction already effected in admissions in engineering institutions the Planning Group is strongly of the view that any deliberate reduction of seats on the basis of the present unemployment among engineers would not be advisable. For one thing as institutional development is an integral whole and cannot be adjusted to reduced admissions later on, reducing admissions subsequently leads to under-utilisation of facilities provided and higher per capita costs. Again, so far as the need of engineers in a developing country is concerned, it is unlimited. Only the country