THE CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
BROAD PARAMETERS OF THE STRATEGY The basic emphasis in interlinking Education and Culture would be on the development of a child's personality particularly in terms of helping the child to discover his latent talent and to express it creatively. This Plan of Action envisages development of a progressive sequence from the pre-primary stage to the University level. The chief features of the Plan of Action may be enunciated as under:
a) students will be expected to learn in a participative process;
b) the means and material used for cultural exposure would be simple, inexpensive and related to their immediate environment;
c) over a period of time, the concept of cultural neighbourhood would be evolved, in which the community would be expected to play a significant role in terms of its help and involvement in various forms;
d) a special emphasis would be given to curriculum reorientations and motivating teachers to interact with the students by suitable adjustments in pre-service and inservice training courses;
e) with a view to encouraging students and youth in cultural and allied activities their interest in them will be appropriately reflected in their result sheet.
2. This Plan of Action would be phased over the 7th Plan and 8th Plan periods. The thrust in the first instance would be on building up A pervasive consciousness of India's cultural heritage through curriculum changes, utilisation of local material and community interaction. This will be followed by stress on specialisation of courses and sophistication of cultural software. The momentum would be built up by extensive networking of cultural and educational institutions so as to make an optimal use of cultural expertise, facilities and materials.
PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL STAGE
OBJECTIVE 3. The main objectives at this stage would be:
a) to arouse in the child certain elementary sensitivities towards environment;
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b) to help them learn through playing freely with natural material like clay, sand, flowers and leaves;
c) to help them learn through movement and sound by singing and dancing together and by exposure to natural environment to participate in the joy of sensing colours, forms and rhythms.
PLAN OF ACTION 4. The main accent of this programme would be on the following:
a) preparation of a 'Cultural Primer' as a kind of handbook for teachers, workers engaged in institutional care of children at the pre-primary level. This would cover pre-primary nursery, anganwadi and other network of institutions;
b) the community through Panchayats and other civic bodies would be motivated to provide facilities like open spaces, other incentives to familiarise children with toys, inexpensive material like posters, pictures, clay models etc. depicting cultural motifs.
SUBSEQUENT PROGRAMME 5. Subsequently, action would be taken to take care of the development of a certain basic core of facilities to cover all those children who are not looked after by an institutional or departmental agency. This would require the following action:
a) provision in each village and for each segment in urban areas minimum facility for playing space or park for children at this stage;
b) Training of pre-school teachers in integrating cultural activities with preschool learning programmes;
c) preparation of educational toys and games for pre- school students which are indigenous and aesthetic in quality and safe for use by small children.
PRIMARY SCHOOL STAGE
OBJECTIVE 6. The main objective at this stage would be:
a) to impart the child with a basic core of facts about India's cultural heritage;
b) to integrate and develop students' physical and cognitive skills;
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c) to create through awareness a feeling of love for India's natural and cultural heritage;
d) to encourage participation of students in creatively meaningful activities and initiating them in collective signing and other arts.
PLAN OF ACTION: 7. The chief aspects of the Plan of Action in this period would be to take care of the following:
a) extensive revision of the textbooks to reflect cultural awareness as part of the school curriculum;
b) reorientation of teachers' training programmes to give them the capability of imparting instruction in theoretical and demonstrative methodologies in cultural instruction;
c) extensive training programmes for in-service teachers in each district for specified durations through pooling of resource personnel;
d) inducing students to learn by participating in community singing, in painting and dancing together and other manifestations of cultural inclinations; spotting out talent in arts and other cultural activities would also begin at this stage;
e) building up community interaction by inviting local artists and craftsmen to demonstrate and teach students their crafts like clay work, wall paintings, carpentary, puppetry, folk dancing and singing;
f) setting up of schools museum corners largely with collections of students themselves in the form of stones, feathers, leaves etc;
g) organisation of tours in the neighbourhood particularly to monuments and places of historical and cultural significance.
8. in subsequent years, the above activities would be systematised further and the emphasis would be on provision of more developed facilities and specialisation of pre-service and inservice training for the teachers. This would cover the following action:
a) preparation of special books, educational material and audio visual facilities for primary schools;
b) earmarking of separate rooms for cultural activities equipped with museum corners, musical instruments, pictures and posters for students;
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c) institutionalising community interaction in terms of seeking help of local artisans and craftsmen including performing artists like dancers, singers on an organised basis of association, through honorarium, fees, incentives etc.
MIDDLE/HIGH/SECONDARY SCHOOLS
OBJECTIVE 9. At this stage, the main objectives in cultural instruction would be:
a) to further strengthen and build up in students love and understanding of India's natural and cultural heritage;
b) to nurture in students an aesthetic approach based on perception of beauty and a perspective beyond immediate emotional or other passions;
c) to impart to the student's personality a broad- based approach that reflects values. of secularism, nationalism and consciousness of their constructive role in the larger destiny of India.
PLAN OF ACTION: As in the earlier stages of education, approach would be to enlarge cultural activities mainly through students' own participation, community help and building up of certain core facilities. This plan would cover:
a) provision of at least one core/resource teacher for culture in each school;
b) reflection of diverse images of natural and cultural heritage in the school curriculum;
c) imparting the curriculum with a distinct outlook particularly in terms of social studies and history by correcting historical distortions and by giving a value orientation to lessons drawn largely from Indian heritage and great Classics;
d) organisation of systematic visits and to us to monuments, museums and sanctuaries;
e) building up of a system of cultural demonstration by local artists and training in productive work as a part of Socially Useful Productive Work;
f) development of conservation ideas by adoption of monuments by the students and the community and helping to clean and safeguard these monuments;
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g) inducing among the students an idea of service by motivating them to participate in cleanliness operations, literacy drives, conducting of surveys with particular emphasis on the value of dignity of labour;
h) setting up of museum corners with models, illustrations, posters, charts, books and with objects collected by students from their neighbourhood including local crafts, flowers, leaves, feathers etc.
10. In subsequent periods, these cultural exposures would be enlarged in terms of thematic coverage with broadbasing of participation and induction of technology. These aspects would cover the following action:
a) the network of Navodaya Vidyalayas would be used for development of resource centres in each district to share with other schools in the neighbourhood the facilities of exhibitions, projections through audio- visual technology and models for cultural software based on the peculiar features of the area;
b) extensive cultural meets would be held at the inter-school, inter-district and later at inter-State levels to spot creative talent through a system of awards and scholar-ships. The idea would be to honour the creatively distinguished as also the dedicated through a system of incentives;
c) networking of various schools for visits to museums, libraries, galleries and monuments maintained by the State and the Central Archaeological Surveys;
d) provision of a cultural kit containing an audio visual and related educational material on Indian culture in all High Schools through Central/State sharing scheme;
e) special courses for cultural reorientation of teaching and administrative personnel connected with educational institutions;
f) development of software for satellite programmes on India's natural and cultural property with particular reference to themes of creativity and inculcation of values;
g) building up of a cultural resurgence through system of awards and incentives for honouring teachers and trainers for their expression of cultural creativity and devotion to Its promotion.
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UNIVERSITY LEVEL
OBJECTIVE 11. At the college and university level, the main emphasis would be on the following aspects:
a) broad-basing and diversifying of cultural courses like music, fine arts, performing arts, etc.
b) correction of historical and cultural distortions by reassessing critically the content of existing courses in social sciences, humanities, languages etc.
c) imparting of cultural instruction of students engaged in highly specialised science or technical courses so as to give their personality an all-round development;
d) development of special courses in technical institutions like archaeological engineering, relevance of India's architectural heritage, maintenance of monuments, museology, musical composition etc., apart from performance. PLAN OF ACTION:
12. The following action is envisaged:
a) opening of the Fine Arts Departments in Universities;
b) setting up of special assessment studies to appraise the cultural thrusts of the existing curriculum and revision of textbooks;
c) earmarking of separate space in colleges for painting gallery of art, facilities for photography, sculpture etc.;
d) colleges would be encouraged to have societies/groups of students devoted to drama, dance, literature, music etc. Special assistance could be provided for encouraging these voluntary activities by the students;
e) networking with schools in the neighbourhood area for putting up of mobile exhibitions or conducted tours by school students to these special rooms/galleries put up for cultural displays.
13. In the later phases, emphasis would be on enlarging the base as also sophisticating courses and technology connected with culture. This would cover the following activities:
a) development of specialised courses like archaeological engineering, traditional Indian architecture and its relevance to contemporary context, use of inexpensive local material for building etc. In engineering, technical institutions particularly Regional Engineering Colleges,
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IITs, State Engineering colleges and Institutions of Architecture;
b) capsule courses on these subjects in institutions like Polytechnics and ITIs;
c) special fellowships/scholarships/incentives would be given on the basis of State and national competitions for creative and performing arts.
IMPERATIVE REQUIREMENTS OF INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE 14. It is imperative that the Plan of Action should have an institutional infrastructure for its implementation and monitoring. This aspect has certain crucial parameters and these could be enunciated as follows:
a) strengthening of existing infrastructure;
b) evolving a system of organised networking with institutions in the neighbourhood by developing linkages between Central and State institutions through a 'cultural spread' effect;
c) innovating new institutions to fill the present cultural void.
PLAN OF ACTION: STRENGTHENING OF EXISTING INSTITUTIONS
I. NCERT This institution will have a crucial role to play in revision and reorientation of curriculum at the school level. In this connection, it will be required to coordinate its activities with SCERTs and State Departments. In this context, it could be used as a channel for funding as also as an institution for monitoring.
II. CENTRE FOR CULTURAL RESOURCES AND TRAINING (CCRT) This institution will be required to play administrative and software development role to the activities of NCERT in respect of framing of curriculum. Its current programme of training of resource personnel in cultural instruction will have to be further expanded. It would be required to open State chapters/cells in close coordination with State Departments of culture and other institutions. Its chief task would concern evolving of inexpensive but effective cultural software mainly with local material. In close collaboration with NCERT, it would also develop models for cultural technology like audio visual projections, sets of posters, display albums etc.
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III. UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION The University Grants commission would, through a special arrangement in its organisation, monitor promotion of arts through institutions. It would also evolve an Innovative scheme to encourage and finance participation by local communities, State Governments, Voluntary Agencies in promoting art education through courses at the college and university level.
IV. ZONAL CULTURAL CENTRES