ELEMENTARY EDUCATION AND
UNIVERSALISATION
 

dr. V.e. Moray, advocate, supreme court, "maduban", g-19/4, dlf qutab enclave phase-I, gurgaon (12.11.1990)

- incentives like free text books, stipend etc. Should be provided to educationally backward sections of society.

- To promote girls education hostels/residential. Schools should be established.

- Mobile schools should be set up for nomadic tribes.

Shri shiv samaddar, former steel secretary and member upsc, k-1997 chittaranjan park, new delhi-110019 (5th november, 1990)

- the system should be founded on the principles of "learning by doing" and of "work experience" which are directly related to the day to day life of the community. The system should correlate education with productive work and social service.

Shri s.s. Gokhale, secretary, faculty association, iit, madras (24th october, 1990)

- elementary education should be made compulsory for all.

- There is need for new pedagogy at the elementary school level keeping in mind the difference between literacy and education and recognising the need for non-formal and vocational education. Voluntary agencies can help in augmenting governmental efforts and in reinforcing moral value system in a student which is rather difficult to achieve in a formal school education.

23

Smt. Subhadra jain, marudhar girls school, p.o. Vidyawari, station rani 306115, distt. Pali (rajasthan)

- every school should have separate staff for child care and girls education

shri m.b. Prajapati, assistance teacher, kathara primary school., kathara, surendra nagar, gujarat

- in rural areas children face the problem of transportation. This should be solved.

Shri lajja ram tomar, all india organising secretary, vidya bharati akhil bharatiya shiksha sangathan, saraswati kunj, nirala nagar, lucknow-226020

- elementary education should be universalised.-

smt. Daya sirohi, principal, s.d. Girls inter college, saharanpur -247001 (u.p.)

- basic amenities should be provided in all schools. Mid-day meal scheme should also be introduced.

General secretary, divya path sansthan, amar kantak distt. Shahdol. (Madhya pradesh)

- all children in the age-group 6-14 years should be given compulsory education.

Shri virendra prakash pancholi, 3 daya, irrigation campus machhala magara scheme, udaipur, rajasthan

- for universalisation of education necessary resources should be provided and teachers should be paid well.

24

Shri sagar mal sar, t.g.t.(hindi), govt. Girls senior secondary school, patparganj, delhi

- primary education which is the real foundation should be strengthened.

Dr. P.c. Bansal, b-58, inder puri, new delhi (8th november, 1990)

- it will be necessary to cater to the needs of the non-school children of school going age through non-formal system.

- Government alone cannot meet all expenses on universalisation of elementary education. It can only provide some basic facilities. The rest will have to come from the community. New modes of raising resources are to be explored. The fee structure for post secondary education could also be revised.

Shri thimmanagouda patil, head master, govt. Model higher primary school, munirabad, distt. Raichur, karnataka (3rd november, 1990)

- primary education deserves top priority. Every effort should be made to bring into reality the universalisation of primary education.

- It is not advisable to have ungraded class rooms because gradation acts as an incentive to learn. The absence of gradation will create chaos and confusion.

shri om shrivastava, astha sansthan, 109 kharol colony, udaipur, rajasthan (27th october, 1990)

- the ideas expounded on "opening up and non-formalising the school system" are really relevant to indian conditions, particularly for rural areas where education has to be approached with pragmatism.

25

As regards involvement of community it seems there is more emphasis on school reaching into the community. There should be a mutuality - community launching socioeconomic project with school's support and school launching learning projects with community support. This process may help to incorporate traditional knowledge and wisdom into the curriculum.

Shri khem singh gill, vice-chancellor, punjab agricultural university, ludhiana (29th october, 1990)

- certain proposals such as ungraded classes and freedom to "drop in" a school. At any time look quite attractive on paper but may be very difficult to implement in reality. Similarly, holding of classes twice in the day - morning for written tradition and evening for oral tradition and cultural action may not be possible. The report also does not clearly spell out as to how the participative management of all education needs in an area by the community is to be ensured.

Shri j. Shukla, director of adult education, gujarat state, dr. Jivraj mehta bhavan, block no. 12, 3Rd floor, gandhinagar-382010 (30th october, 1990)

- an autonomous body may be established at state level for universalisation of primary education by 1995.

- Summer and winter vacations should be abolished at primary level for achieving the goal of universalisation of primary education within a specified time.

26

- The teaching hours in primary school may be reduced from 6 hours to 3 hours and the spare hours and spare teachers may be utilised for non-formal education and adult education. This system shall reduce the expenditure and unnecessary wastage of time on the part of students at primary level.

- Some incentives may be introduced for neoliterates and some minor punishment may be imposed on illiterates with pre- notice of reasonable number of years.

Shri k. Ramamoorthy, additional chief secretary, government of gujarat, education department, sardar bhawan, sachivalaya, gandhinagar-382010 (26th october, 1990)

- the idea of ungraded class rooms is acceptable as also the common school system. The latter will, however, be difficult to be implemented when most of the schools are in private sector.

- While the need for early childhood care and education is recognised, in the absence of adequate resources for primary education it is not possible to include in it the load of early childhood care and education. What is called for is restructuring of elementary education with an early entry age and distribution of the curriculum.

Shri anil biswas, editor, gangshkti, muzaffar ahmad bhawan, 31, alimuddin street, calcutta-700016 (27th october, 1990)

- it is doubtful whether the suggestion to have a flexible school system will be operationally feasible. Since conditions vary from locality to locality the system to come up will not have any uniformity. It will affect mobility.

27

Prof. Atiq a. Siddiqi, co-ordinator, curriculum development centre, department of urdu, aligarh muslim university, aligarh-202001 (24th october, 1990)

- unless adequate resources are provided the suggestion to have flexible school system will fail.

Fr. George kollashany, bosco yuvodaya, 91, b, street, 6th cross, gandhinagar, bangalore-560009 (3 november, 1990)

- special measures will have to be taken for the education of the working child. The school should be taken to the working place. Voluntary organisations engaged in such efforts should be encouraged. Working children attending classes should be given all facilities available to formal school children. There should be enough flexibility in the content and curriculum to accommodate the needs and requirement of the working child.

Shri p.n. Panicker, state resource centre, kanfed, saksharatha bhavan, trivandrum, (panel discussion held at thiruvananthapuram on 1st november, 1990)

- opening up and non-formalising the school system is a very valuable suggestion. Much spade work has to be done before implementing it. The suggestion can be implemented over a period of time with the active cooperation of the local community.

Shri h.p. Biswas, programme officer, deptt. Of adult and continuing education, university of delhi, delhi (one am discussion held at bangalore oh 3rd november, 1990)

- non-formalisation and opening up of the school system is not practicable.

28

- Access to education for rural children should be seen not only in terms of enrolment but from the retention angle also. This has implications for the kind of schools such children should attend. The streams - general and vocational - could be tried at school level. Alternatively, vocationalisation could be introduced at the primary level itself.

Bangalore city south district secondary schools head master's and pre- university college principal's association, kalasipalayam, bangalore- 560002 (recommendations made in a special committee meeting held on 11.10.90)

- the situation in which students are free to come and go at their convenience would render education highly ineffective and a course of study has got to be continuous in order to yield practical and desirable results. In the existing particular of recruitment of teachers it is highly doubtful if even 10% of the teachers would be capable of managing such a situation.

University of delhi and indian university association for continuing education (suggestions made in one day discussion held in new delhi on 30th october, 1990)

- it is essential to make education compulsory for children upto 14 years of age even if it involved some legislative action. However, education must not be provided through the formal system alone. The possibility of awarding credits to children for skills acquired during the course of their work should be examined. Certification of such work through proper evaluation and filling up conceptual gaps in the education and training of working children could help them to obtain better bargaining in wages as adult workers.

29

- Non-formal education schemes should not be scrapped but should be further enriched. Voluntary organisations should be given more support both materially and intellectually. Efforts should be initiated to disseminate resource findings in non-formal education to the grass root level.

Southern regional centre of the council for social development, hyderabad and indian university association for continuing education, new delhi. (One day discussion held at hyderabad on 22nd october, 1990)

- the present educational delivery system must be made appropriate to overcome problems of large scale non-enrolment and drop out.

- The present school system should be restructured in such a manner that every child, boy or girl, somewhere and somehow should be covered by the integrated learning network inclusive of local learning support to schools.

Shri ranjeet singh, general. Secretary, bhartiya shikshan mandal, uttar pradesh, 2-a/411-a, azad nagar, kanpur

- in every village mohalla centres should be set up where the children could learn through games and other recreational activities. These centres develop their physical, mental and functional faculties. Two to three hours can be fixed for these activities.

- Food, cloth, books, stationery and other facilities should be provided to the students from the economically weaker sections.

- Schools should be opened in every locality and basic amenties should be provided there. Where no building is available, classes should be conducted in temples, mosques, and dharmshalas.

30

- academic session should be arranged according to village conditions or harvesting time.

Department of foundation of education, jamia millia lslamia, new delhi -(panel. Discussion held in new delhi on 26th september, 1990)

- the suggestions that school timings etc. Be fixed according to the convenience of the community and that classes be held twice a day are contradictory. To have classes twice a day is neither practical nor feasible.

- Linkages of ecce facility with primary schools will create problem of space. Besides, separate 2-3 years pre- school education enables smooth transition from home to school and better performance and reduces drop-outs.

- Opening up and non-formalising the school system will be possible only if teachers are trained and are willing for the same.

Dr. S. Muthukumaran, vice-chancellor, bharathidasan, university, tiruchirapalli, tamil nadu.

- Even if formal school system is more flexible, the non- formal system will have to continue for some more time to help the target groups.

- School children should be involved in a large measure in nonformal/adult education. In this context, the practice of involving senior students in teaching the juniors which had been in vogue in tamil nadu before the british school pattern came into existence,

31

could be revived with great profit to the students, as a majority of the students in such system will be both teaching and learning at the same time.

- The pre-primary stage should be so structured as to integrate the physical health and mental growth of the child. The education at the pre-primary stage may preferably be taken care of by the primary schools, so that the transition from 'pre-primary to primary may be smooth.

- In order to effectively implement the non-formalisation of school system, the teacher should be preferably from the same locality or from the close neighbourhood.

University of madras and indian university association for continuing education (views expressed in one day discussion held in madras on 21st october, 1990)

- the main goal should be universalisation of elementary education. The higher education system should actively respond to the need for attaining this goal. Non-formalising the school would enable the school to reach out to the learners in all age groups in the area. Removal of the dichotomies should help in arresting the drop out rate. Elementary education should receive the highest priority as a national commitment to expanding the base for the growth of the learning society. In the rural areas even compulsion fails to enforce universal elementary education. The parents should be compensated for loss of resources when they send their children to schools. Resources from the adult education programmes could be diverted to elementary education.

32

Seminar organised by institute of education and culture, hyderabad, the university of hyderabad and the osmania university, hyderabad at the central institute of english and foreign languages, hyderabad on 20th21st october, 1990

- universilisation of elementary education ensuring both universal enrolment and universal retention and covering all boys and girls and working children in the age group 6-14 should be achieved by 1995. All needed physical facilities, teaching personnel and equipment as envisaged in the operation blackboard programme of npe-1986 and any other facilities needed should be provided to all elementary schools.

- The non-formal stream of education should be continued as a supplementary and supportive channel to the formal system so that those who dropped out of the school or who did not enter the school at all may have education at their own pace and time. This should not be treated as a parallel system nor should its quality be diluted. Those qualifying in the non-formal institutions should be permitted to join/return to the formal school at the appropriate stage.

One day discussion organised by the centre for adult education and extension, university of kerala in collaboration with the indian university of association for continuing education at thiruvananthapuram on 27th october, 1990

- it is absurd and incorrect to claim that a primary school exists within one kilometre of every habitation. The poa of npe-1986 indicated that 1,90,000 communities did not have access to schooling and other development services. The npe-86 tried to wriggle out of the national responsibility of uee by advocating upe and nfe. The common school system advocated by the review committe

33

could transform the entire social system by giving support for sustained neighbourhood/community action for development.

- The issue of pre-school education must be viewed as a precondition for uee. The present training base of the icds workers must be expanded to include school readiness as a content area.

- Three folk media-folk rhymes, folk tales and folklore - could be very effectively utilised at the pre-school and primary school levels of education.

Indore discussion group, indore.