 EQUITY AND DIVERSITY
(NAVODAYA VIDYALAYAS)

fr. Louds xavier, national secretary, jesuit educational. Association of india, sterling road, nungambakkam, madras (9.11.1990)

- common school system cannot be adopted without violation of certain constitutional safeguards provided for the protection of minority institutions. Therefore, the better strategy would be to strengthen the resources of the government, local body and aided. Schools through provision of better infrastructural facilities and teacher training so that the common school system of education adopted by these schools is perceived by the people to be qualitatively equal if not superior to that offered by the elitist private institutions.

Shri b.k. Pal, f-207, neyapalli, irc, village, bubaneswar-751012 (4th october, 1990)

- the public school system should be abolished and education upto the higher secondary level should be uniform throughout the country. Urgent measures should be taken to introduce the common school system.

- A tax be imposed on those who send their children to the public schools and resources thus raised should be spent on the education of the poor people

smt. Shakuntala saxena, headmistress, junior high school., uttarkashi (5th october, 1990)

- access to education should be provided to all children. Only be ensuring equal opportunity to all can education development by achieved.

- Uniformity in education system is necessary to ensure social justice. The low quality of many schools hamper the development of talents of bright children. Navodaya vidyalayas should be encouraged.

Shri rajpal tyagi, secretary, all india democratic teacher's organisation, central office-88 b.b. Ganguly street, calcutta-700012

- under the common school system, private educational institutions should be taken over by the government. Government grants should be withdrawn from those schools who do not pay prescribed salaries to teachers.

Shri kameshwar prasad bahuguna, camp - takkar bappa chhatravas tehri- tehri garwal

- navodaya vidyalayas system should be abolished at once.

Shri h.k. Thakur, president, vanavasi seva kendra, p.o. Adhaura, distt. Rohtas, bihar

- education should be uniform throughout the country and for all.

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

- navodaya vidyalayas should not be continued. However, special arrangements could be made for talented students.

Shri anand ram sahu, publicity secretary, sewa stambh, distt. Branch, raipur, shiv chowk, dr. Rajendra nagar. P.o. Ravigram raipur, m.p.

- There should be a uniform pattern of education throughout the country.

Shri r.d. Joshi, teacher, h.n.. Intercollege, haldwani, nanital.

- There should be a uniform pattern of elementary education.

Shri balbir singh, general. Secretary, bhartiya kissan union, kanjhawala, delhi (23rd july, 1990)

- there should be a uniform pattern of education all over the country.

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

- the navodaya vidyalayas should serve as "magnet" schools with larger catchment areas than the common schools. They may exist side by side with common schools but with more facilities.

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

- common school system as recommended by kothari commission is a must in promoting social cohesion and national integration. The system should extend to the secondary education stage also.

Shri n.r. Hiremath, ex-dy. Director of public instruction, govt. Of karnataka, and principal., sri sarvajana college of education, bangalore (31st october, 1990)

- the present navodaya vidyalayas should be converted into model navodaya grameen vidyalayas with a view to (I) evolving a new system of education that will be in tune with rural life, work,

- culture and the socioeconomic problems; and (ii) developing leadership that will be seized with these problems and feel committed to solving them.

- Common school system is desirable at least upto the end of primary education to bring about national integration by inculcating common ideas, code of conduct and social interaction, amongst children of all communities and classes. This can be done by: (I) nationalising the primary education throughout india with a common core syllabus with provision for local variations, (ii) improving the quality of education in the high schools run by governments and local boards by upgrading their infrastructure and teacher competency through strict supervision and guidance; and (iii) making the school curriculum relevant to the learner's needs and capacities at various stages and the needs of the society.

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

- the paper seeks to phase out public and missionary schools in a period of 10 years through a combination of incentives, disincentives and legislation. In reality it is not possible at this stage to have only a certain type of common school system. It is too late to regulate the proliferation of missionary and private schools especially when the government schools are not measuring upto the expectations of people. Instead of nationalising such schools the standard of government schools should be improved so that they can compete with the private schools.

Shri shatrughna prasad singh, mlc, general secretary, bihar secondary shikshak sangh, jamal road, patna (9th october, 1990)

- navodaya vidyalaya system is harmful for the society. This system should be converted into common school system.

Shri m.j. Baby, headmaster, st. Augustine's high school ramapuram, mattathil, velliyeppally p.o. Arunapuram 686 574 (19th september, 1990)

- there should be a two track system of education - an advanced curriculum for the gifted and a general curriculum for the rest. National schools should be established for the gifted. Talented children of the age group 9 - 10 should be identified selected and admitted in the national schools. They should also be provided higher education in a separated university.

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

- schemes like navodaya vidyalayas should be part of pilot projects or individual innovations and need not be a regular programme.

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

- the acceptance of the kothari commission's common school system and abandonment of navodaya vidyalayas are welcome suggestions.

Prof. Krishnaji, chairman, indian institution of maharishi vedic science and technology, maharishi nagar 201 304 (1st november 1990)

- we must have all over the country only one type of school to give quality education to all without any discrimination. Let pace setting schools grow out of regular schools instead of starting them separately.

Mrs. Rajam p.r.s. Pillay, director, balavikas institute, trivandrum- 695005

- education of the handicapped should be given special attention. Voluntary agencies should be encouraged to start special schools for them.

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 gadadhar bhatt, chairman, bhartiya shiksha mandal, bhatt sadan, jharwar, rajasthan (28th september, 1990)

- it is not appropriate to spend so much money on navodaya vidyalayas.

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

- the idea of a common school system is very good indeed but it is very difficult to implement it in the indian conditions because of the stranglehold of vested interests in the field of education at different levels. Phased and time- bound implementation of the common school system within a ten year time-frame can be attempted.

At the same time it would be difficult to include the expensive private schools in the common school system.

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

- the common school idea needs to be pursued with a sense of vision and backed up by common curricula and syllabi throughout the country. May be a common education service could be established at an all india level.

- Navodaya vidyalayas should not be abolished; instead they should be established in the remaining districts, but only in the rural areas.

Human resources development centre for teachers, rashtreeya vidyalaya teachers college, jayanagar, bangalore-110011 (discussion held on 8th october, 1990).

- The navodaya vidyalayas are necessary to encourage excellence in the rural areas. It does not have an elitist bias. It is too early to judge the merits of the scheme.

- The idea of a common school system and the concept of neighbourhood school are utopian. Merely by pumping more resources the quality of government schools cannot be raised and unless that is done neighbourhood schools will not become a reality.

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)

- while the backward ones should be given greater opportunities to reach excellence, excellence should not be forced to suffer. It india is to see the light of progress, we need excellence of the highest order at all levels.

Rajya vidwat parishad, rajasthan, adarsh vidya mandir, shiksha mahavidyalaya, raja park, jaipur-302004 (recommendation made in seminar held at jaipur oft 13-14th october, 1990

- the process of converting and integrating the existing schools into the common school system should be accelerated. However, under the common school system the quality of education, quality of teachers, teacher training programme, curricular contents, medium of instruction, fee structure and other physical and academic support facilities should be ensured, so that the society does not feel the absence of elite schools.

Department of foundation of education, jamia millia islamia, new delhi. (Panel discussion held in new delhi on 26th september 1990)

- resources will be a major constraint in the implementation of neighbourhood school concept.

- Before concrete measures are taken for introduction of common school system, at least the target of operation blackboard should be achieved. The introduction should be in a phased manner after some pilot experiments.

Workshop organised by the university of bombay at bombay oh 26th september; 1990

- the concept of common school system would require decentralisation of management as a pre-requisite. It should be implemented in a phased manner.

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

- Equal opportunities should be given to all in the matter of educational development, so that an egalitarian social order is ensured. In this context, the navodaya school concept is not jusified.

- The concept of common school system is not acceptable because in a vast country like ours with wide regional diversities, the common school system, implying a single system of education may not work and is not educationally advisable.

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 20th-21st october, 1990

- the common school system should be introduced in a phased manner within a time-frame. The existing institutions at all levels should be developed to the optimum level so that people will have confidence in the credibility of common school system.

- the navodaya vidyalayas which are residential schools, instead of being closed, may be set apart exclusively for students belonging to weaker sections in order to provide the much needed climate conducive to serious study under the constant supervision of the teachers.

Indore discussion group, indore.

- 'Talent' should be redefined transcending all sorts of parochialism and sufficient care should be taken to identify it from all the divergent walks of life. Talent must be nurtured.

- Divergent talents at all levels of education, including elementary must be encouraged. Appropriate pedagogy and mechanism should be evolved. Additional institutes for diversified talents should be opened.

EQUITY AND DIVERSITY (NAVODAYA VIDYALAYAS)