ITEM NO. 4 :
TO DISCUSS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF
 THE NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION
 

ITEM 4-(ii) UNIFORM PATTERN OF COURSES IN UNIVERSITIES IN INDIA (SUGGESTION, GOVERNMENT OF MYSORE)

It is highly desirable to evolve and implement in all the Universities of various States, a common pattern of General Education (Pure and Applied Sciences and Humanities) at the undergraduate level. With the introduction of a uniform pattern in the courses of studies and common syllabus, the students will be enabled to derive the advantage of prosecuting their studies in any University without subjecting themselves to any hardship if they have to change the Colleges during the course of their studies. It is neither desirable nor always possible to bind the students to any particular University until they complete their courses of studies. At this level there does not appear to be any need to have variety in curricula. Further the facilities extended in the direction of mobility of students from one university to the other university and also from one State to the other will promote emotional integration and national unity. Other advantages are :

(1) Common textbooks at low prices. As a large number of books may be sold the price can be kept low. The best authors can reach more students.

(2) A student can get the benefit of studying in two ore more Universities and come in contact with the best teachers in the country in a given subject.

(3) A student who is compelled to get admission in a far away University in the first year of the 3 year Course can come back to a college nearer home. Seats are usually vacant at the 2nd and 3rd year of the courses.

(Item 4-(iii) to (vi) : ltems suggested by Shri Anil Mohan Gupta)

ITEM 4-(iii) : AUDIO-VISUAL EDUCATION : (a) AT THE SECONDARY STAGE AND (b) IN ADULT EDUCATION

We do often say that we have too few good teachers in our schools, and especially good science teachers. No qualitative improvement is possible without good teachers and we want to concentrate on qualitative improvement during the Fourth Plan. We cannot hope to get an adequate supply of efficient and honest teachers within a short period of time. We can greatly improve the quality of our existing teachers by helping them with effective teaching aids. The most important among such aids are films and filmstrips. The Government of India may prepare a series of educational films and film-strips and supply selected secondary schools with them. In West Bengal there are schools which have been given projectors and magic lanterns. But suitable films and film-strips are wanting. We may utilise the services of our best teachers for the purpose and create conditions for equality of educational opportunity in our schools.

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Films may be used as one of the most important media of adult education. So far as I can see this has not received adequate attention of the Government. Educational institutions are often obliged to screen American, British, Japanese, Canadian films, even if they are not quite suitable, because they are readily available in adequate numbers while Indian educational films are rare and scarcely available. If the Films Division cannot solve the problem the Education Ministry should set up its own unit for the purpose.

ITEM 4-(iv) : EXAMINATIONS

If we are to aim developing the total personality of our pupils the present system of examinations must go, for it is absolutely incapable of measuring such developments. But in order to build up a new objective-based system of examination there must be intensive and extensive experimentation. The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with State Governments, should develop some experimental schools in every State. The results from these schools should be collected and processed by the S. I. E's and the N.C. E. R. T. which should be guided by such experimental data in formulating their con- clusions.

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE TO ITEM 4-(IV) ON EXAMINATIONS

If there is any single factor that is thwarting all our efforts for educational progress in India it is the examination system prevailing in the country today. The problem is not a new one. The Central Advisory Board of Education had been very much alive to the pernicious effects of this system almost from its very inception. In its sixth meeting held at Madras in 1941 Dr. Sir Zia-ud-Din Ahmad brought forward a resolution for setting up a `permanent sub- committee' of the Board for "Examinations". The Board asked him to submit a memorandum stating specifically the issues' which in his opinion should be referred to the proposed committee. In the seventh meeting of the Board held at Hyderabad in 1942 Dr. Ahmad submitted his memorandum. In his memorandum Dr. Ahmad mentioned about the worldwide dissatisfaction with prevailing systems of examination in various countries in the nineteen thirties. Other countries are constantly trying to reorientate their systems of evaluation. But what have we done ? In this connection it is worth remembering some of the remarks of Dr. Ahmad. "There is a general belief in this country", he said, "that, persons turned out by the old schools were more thorough and the knowledge of students now produced by modern schools and colleges is superficial and sometimes defective. This superficialilty is due not so muck to the Western method of education As to the Indian system of teaching and examination. Teaching is subordinated here entirely to examinations". "The method of judging the ability of a candidate by adding the marks obtained by him in the different questions of examination paper, written within a limited time", he remarked,, "is misleading and pernicious", "There exists,' he concluded, "at present universal discontentment against examinations as they are now conducted. What then is the remedy ? No abolition, but radical alteration after scientific enquiry. Examinations are necessary and inevitable, but they have unfortunately been misapplied and have become pedantically mechanical in their assessment of excellence". The Central Advisory Board of Education adopted Dr. Ahmad's resolution and created an "Examinations" subcommittee.

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The Board considered the report of this sub-committee in its 8th meeting held at Lucknow in 1943 and adopted its recommendations. The most important recommendation of the Committee was "that the number of external examinations which may be necessary to retain at the end of certain stages of education should be reduced to A minimum. In all cases an examination should be regarded as a servant and not a master of the curriculum". The Committee -wailed that "both the aim and the technique of external examinations as at present conducted have been subjected to serious and valid criticism in recent years but in spite of this a new system which can be accepted as generally satisfactory has not yet been evolved".

A quarter of a century has elapsed since then but we are, for all practical purposes, where we had been and we are yet to evolve a satisfactory system of evaluation. I mention all this not merely to dig out some historical facts of archaeological interest but to point out that the gangrene that is eating into the vitals of the Indian educational system had long been diagnosed but we have not been bold enough to remove it. It is still there creating ever-growing confusion and breeding newer types of corruption.

The Mudaliar Commission discussed the problem in detail and suggested some definite remedies. "We are convinced", the Commission remarked, "that our system of education is very much examination- ridden." "The examinations today", the Commission concluded, "dictate the curriculum instead of following it, prevent any experimentation, hamper the proper treatment of subjects and sound methods of teaching, foster a dull uniformity rather than originality, encourage the average pupil to concentrate too rigidly upon too narrow a field and thus help him to develop wrong values in education". These arc serious charges indeed and we all seem to have agreed that these are true.

But in spite of these findings and consequent recommendations the actual situation has not much improved. Kothari Commission has admitted that "instead of creating incentives for better teaching, the external examination intended for all will saddle teachers with standardized programmes and encourage the process of rote memorisation, which is the besetting evil of teaching and learning method in our schools today". One is surprised to find that, in spite of such clear understanding of the situation, the Commission has recommended too external public examinations in course of two successive years, for years to come, at the end of the school stage.

The Commission has referred to the achievements of the Central Examination Unit. I have been told by responsible persons in the Curriculum and Evaluation Department of the NCERT that a lot of ground has been covered by them during recent years. They have refined and standardized various tests and these have, I am told, received wide acceptance. In spite of the fact that, as a school teacher, I have felt no impact whatsoever of these happenings in my State. I do believe them implicitly. The Mudaliar Commission opined that "as at present conducted examinations do not help us to evaluate correctly even the intellectual attainments of the pupils" and recommended research. I am happy that the NCERT has taken it up in all earnestness.

But even if we can perfect our tools for measuring intellectual attainments through external examinations we will be able to touch only a fringe of the problem. Let us consider the imaginary cases of four boys getting

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first divisions and securing 625 marks out of a total of 1000 each. One of them may be a very intelligent but lazy and irregular person who has scored much below his intellectual standard. Another may be an intelligent but dishonest person who has taken recourse to some unfair means. The third may be an average young man who is extremely sincere and hardworking The fourth may be just another average boy, quite ordinary, but with a big slice of good luck. An external examiner can hardly discern these and similar personality traits. No employer or authorities of any higher educational institution can read these vital differences from the cold and dumb marks on the marksheet. Yet these are the most important facts they must know if they are to choose the right person for the right type of activity. In my opinion, most of our miseries and failures owe their origin to the fact that we have attached Undue importance to intelligence ratings neglecting other personality traits which are of far greater importance in our lives and for our social well-being. Our National Policy on Education demands that our educational system must produce young men and women of character and ability committed to national service and development If we accept this as our objective we can ill afford to forget that "The School of today concerns itself not only with intellectual pursuits but also with the emotional and social development of the child, his physical and mental health, his social adjustment and other equally important aspects of life in a word, with an all round development of his personality. If examinations are to be of real value they must take into consideration the new facts and test in detail the all-round development of pupils". (Mudaliar Commission)

Kothari Commission has fully analysed the objectives and the Nation has formally accepted them. Now it is our duty to firmly state that our evaluation must be objective-based. We shall certainly aim at the utmost intellectual development of every child but this, we must remember, is only one facet of its total development and need not be given any undue importance. We must aim at balanced and harmonious development of the child-its physical, intellectual, emotional, social, moral and spiritual development and no aspect of its total development should suffer because of our concentration on any single aspect.

If we want to realise this objective, our evaluation must be continuous as the Kothari Commission has rightly pointed out. Yet, unfortunately the Commission has pinned its faith in two public examinations at the end of class X and class XI for finally evaluating our school-going children. So long as these examinations are there and students are judged by their performances in these examinations, no real reform in teaching and learning process is possible. Our objectives will ever remain mere wishful thinking as they have have remained so long.

In order to break the ice we must, in my opinion, begin with the Experimental Secondary School Complexes. I have tried to explain my idea in my note on the "Education System : Structure and Curricular Pattern" and also in my memorandum submitted on the Kothari Commission. I would only plead that this idea is given the consideration it may deserve and a fair trial if possible.

I am convinced that if we want to see the objectives, so clearly enumerated by so many Committees and Commissions being realised, we must depend on our teachers. No one else can measure these developments and use their knowledge for removing the short comings and inspiring excellence.

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"The only way to make the teachers' judgements reliable is to rely on them". Yet I know that, in spite of professions to the contrary, we do not trust our teachers. "No one can examine better than the teacher who knows the child, and a method of examination by the teacher, combined with school records would be devised which would furnish a certificate giving information of real importance to employer or college or profession, and yet would preserve intact the freedom of the school and would rid teacher and pupil of an artificial restraint imposed from without. As for uniformity of standards, even under the present conditions two apparently similar ,certificates mean very different things and illusory uniformity can be brought too dearly". This is what the Norwood Committee had remarked and we would, in my opinion, do well to remember this advice at this juncture of our progress.

I know there are many weaklings amongst our teachers, many who are not worthy of this exalted profession. If we believe that the destiny of the Nation is being shaped in its class-rooms we must weed out the unworthy persons. But we cannot, for that reason, remedy the evil by merely deploying an ineffective external examination, at the end of each stage of education, which can neither measure progress nor remove the defects but which breeds corruption and gags experimentation. If we want our educational institutions to work for excellence and excellence alone we must learn to respect internal continuous assessments and must try our best to make them really reliable and valid. This in my opinion, is of paramount importance.

If our schools are made responsible for evaluating the total development of their pupils we may introduce with profit some suitable external examinations for assessing the special abilities and achievements of our children. In my opinion the British type of external examination will be most suitable for the purpose. Students should be allowed to leave schools and step into life without compulsorily submitting themselves to any external examination. The detailed School Leaving Certificates should give Educational authorities and prospective employers quite a clear picture of their developments and achievements. They may take examination in some subjects at various levels in accordance with their abilities, aptitudes and ambitions. The schools may thus be left free to work for excellence alone and not as factories mechanically preparing students for external examinations.

I refrain from saying anything about college and university examinations as I am, at present, not in close touch with them. But I am sure that the examination pattern of teachers' training colleges requires immediate- and drastic changes.

The problem of examinations, I hope everybody will agree with me, is a vital one. The present examination pattern, it is universally acknowledged, is vitiating the entire educational system in our country and requires immediate and drastic alterations. Yet due to innumerable vested interests in the field, it has not been possible to change it effectively though the Nation had been made conscious of its pernicious effects for more than a quarter of a century. I do, therefore, feel that we should formulate a National Policy on examinations and this should be done as soon as possible.

I do, therefore, request the Central Advisory Board of Education to set up a sub-committee which should probe into the problem in all its aspects and place before the next meeting of the Board its recommendations.

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The Central Government may then formulate a National Policy on the basis of the recommendations of the Board and, as the biggest employer in the country, should give immediate effect to them.

ITEM 4-(v) : AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

In my opinion scientific agricultural education can best reach the farmers' sons only through rural primary and secondary schools and not through polytechnics and village level workers, as suggested by the Education Commission. Before setting up costly agricultural polytechnics we should think twice. These are becoming effective disseminators of agricultural education. But it will be catastrophic to discontinue the present system of teaching agriculture in our secondary schools before we perfect an alternative arrangement.

ITEM 4-(vi) : ANNUAL REPORT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN INDIA.

The Ministry of Education, Government of India, should take up the responsibility of preparing such a report. It should not only include statistics but also details of every significant experimentation in the country.

ITEM 4-(vii) : EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONS BEYOND 55 YEARS IN HIGH ADMINISTRATIVE POSTS IN EDUCATIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC FIELDS

Dr. R. M. Kasliwal

There is a growing tendency among younger scientists and teachers to try and seek high administrative appointments as directors of institutes or vice-chancellors of the universities.

It is desirable to encourage such persons to engage themselves fully in their own specialised fields, and it is waste of talent to withdraw them from their respective fields of work for administrative posts where a more mature and experienced person who has reached the age of 55 years should generally be more useful. While prescribing the upper age limit of 65 for such posts, a lower age limit of about 55 years may also be prescribed so that the younger persons who have many more years to contribute actively in their field may not uselessly fritter away their energy in trying to enter these high administrative posts for which they could be eligible when they are in the age group of 55 years or above.