PREFACE -  METHODOLEGY AND 
PROCEDURES APPROACH
 

The Preface is a personal statement of the Chairman of the Comm- ittee, Acharya Ramamurti. This sets out the overall philosophical perspective and some personal perceptions of the Chairman. The observations of the Chairman arc valuable and would be read with much interest by people concerned with educational policy and planning in future years.

1.2 Chapter I spells out the manner in which the Committee conducted its work. It shows that within the limited time available to it, the Committee tried to seek the views of a large number of people an gave to the various aspects of the matter serious consideration. Indeed, Parts I & II of the documents attached to the Report bring out the vast number of persons consulted and the documents perused by the Committee.

1.3 As regards Chapter 2, in reviewing NPE 1986, the Report asserts that it has been guided by the following principal concerns

*Equity and social justice

*Decentralisation of educational management at all levels *Establishment of a participative educational order

*Inculcation of values indispensable for creation of an enlightened and humane society

*Empowerment for work.

These concerns are unexceptionable and have also been uppermost in the mind of the people who formulated NPE 1986.

1.4 The Committee states in this Chapter that it was within its perception that much of what was contained in its report had already been dealt with by different Commissions and Committees; however, many of the ideas and concepts had remained as such without being translated into action and, therefore, its effort was largely one of advising on possible alternative modalities of implementation.

1.5 The attempt in this Chapter is also on establishing a correlation between the principal concerns (referred to in para. 13) and what the Committee considers to be its very important recommendations. For example, the Committee has recapitulated its views on the Common School System, the Scheme of Navodaya Vidyalayas, its recommendations

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regarding the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, th@ minorities, the scheme of vocational education, etc. There does not seem any need to make separate comments on the references made by the Committee to its recommendations in subsequent Chapters, because those have appropriately been dealt with in other D-series documents. A mention may, however, be made in respect of two points which do not occur in the same fashion in subsequent Chapters.

1.6 The concept of participative educational order : The Committee has underlined the importance of involvement of educationists, teacher and educational institutions at all levels not only in educational improvement, but in the overall process of development. Although this recommendation cannot be disputed in principle, there are limits to its relevance. Moreover, the concept of participatory educational order should go beyond involvement of educational institutions and teachers and should extend to the community itself. People's participation in education - particularly elementary education and adult literacy - should be in the form of informed facilitation in achievement of educational goals and through a well-formulated system of overseeing the laxities and underperformance of the system.

1.7 Questioning the concept of HRD : The Committee refers to the mention in NPE 1986 to the unprecedented opportunities that would be thrown up in the ensuing decades and is critical of individuals being treated as a resource, rather than being valued. This is a biased interpretation of the concept of HRD. As a total reading of NPE would show, human beings are not taken in it as a resource in the utilitarian sense, or economic sense, but as persons who are to be cherished, nurtured and developed with tenderness and care and to be imbued with a strong commitment to human values and social justice. The reference to unprecedented opportunities which are likely to become available refers to the opportunities in technologies, growth of mental capabilities, communication and information technologies, learnign opportunities, etc..