 PROGRAMMES OF QUALITATIVE IMPROVEMENT

40. Educational expansion which is so essential for national development and equalization of educational opportunity should not imply any lowering of standards. On the other hand, it should be accompanied by simultaneous efforts to raise substantially the standards of education and to keep them continually rising. At least in the crucial sectors, our standards should be internationally comparable.

Teachers : Status and Education

41. Standards in education are primarily determined by the quality, competence and character of teachers. It is therefore necessary to make a sustained effort to attract to the teaching profession a significant proportion of talented young men and women who leave the schools and universities every year and to retain them as dedicated, enthusiastic and contented teachers. An important step in this direction will be to improve the remuneration and conditions of work and service of teachers and to provide them with adequate opportunities of professioal advancement. From this point of view, the following are some of the important programmes to be developed :

(1) There should be minimum national scales of pay for university, college and school teachers. An upward revision of scales applicable to the teaching profession in the context of general pay structure in the country is justified and should be carried out as soon as possible, and the whole position should be reviewed periodically. lit particular, the existing wide gap between the salary scales for school and university (or college) teachers should be reduced; the principle of parity for salary and allowances should

be adopted at the school stage for all teachers in the service of government, local authorities or voluntary organizations.

(2) A uniform system of retirement benefits should be introduced for all public servants and teachers, the triple-benefit scheme (i.e., a scheme to cover pension, provident fund and insurance) being adopted as a transitional measure. Appropriate welfare services should also be provided on a basis of joint contribution and management by teachers and government.

(3) The conditions of work and service of teachers, should be improved and should be uniform for teachers under different managements. Steps should be taken to ensure security of tenure to teachers in nongovernment service. Adequate residential facilities should be provided to teachers at all stages.

(4) Teachers' organizations should be encouraged and recognized. In each State, there should be an advisory council consisting of the representatives of the organizations of teachers, voluntary agencies conducting educational institutions and officers of the Education Department. Its scope should include all matters relating to conditions of work and service and welfare services of school teachers and improvement of education.

(5) With the upgrading of remuneration, there should be a corresponding improvement in qualifications, quality and work of teachers. Adequate qualifications, both in general and professional education, should be prescribed for teachers at different levels. The procedure for recruitment should also be improved and should be similar in all institutions, irrespective of their managements.

(6) The training of school teachers should be brought within the broad stream of university life and the isolation of training institutions from the schools should be ended. Schools of, education should be established in universities. Each State should prepare and implement, on a priority basis, a plan for the expansion and improvement of teacher education at all stages.

(7) The academic freedom of teachers to pursue and publish their studies and researches and to speak and write about significant national and international issues should be protected. Teachers should be also free to exercise all civic rights including the right to participate in elections; and when doing so, they should be entitled to and take leave of absence from their substantive posts.

42. The improvement in the status of teachers should be accompanied by a corresponding deepening of their awareness of the crucial role which they have to play in moulding the life and character of the rising generation and ultimately of the nation itself. 'Teachers should pursue learning and

excellence with dedication and devotion, bear unstinting loyalty to their institutions and strive for the welfare and all-round development of the students entrusted to their care. Teachers' organizations should evolve codes of conduct for teachers which should be zealously guarded by the profession itself.

New Methods of Teaching

43. The improvement in the quality of teachers and their professional preparation should help to revolutionize the process of education by the adoption of modern methods of teaching whose chief aim is to build up proper interests, attitudes and values and whose accent is on the dignity and freedom of the individual, awakening of curiosity and promoting love of learning, habits of self-study, capacity to think and judge for oneself and problem-solving ability. This development which is the essence of progressive and modern education should be facilitated through other programmes of qualitative improvement such as revision and upgrading of curricula, adequate supply of high-quality teaching and learning materials, examination reform, organization of a nation-wide programme of institutional development, provision of adequate student services and the discovery and development of talent.

Curricula and Textbooks

44. There is an urgent need to upgrade and improve school curricula, to increase their knowledge content and to provide adequately for the development of skills and the inculcation of right interests, attitudes and values. Similar steps are also needed at the university stage.

45. High priority should be given to the organization of a rich and varied programme of co-curricular activities for. students at all stages. Games and sports should be developed on a large scale, and on a priority basis, with the object of improving the physical fitness and sportsmanship of the average student rather than only for training champions. There should be a great emphasis on the provision of playing fields and on the fullest use of stadia by educational institutions. Coaches should be provided in schools and colleges. Special efforts should be made to develop hockey in which we excel, football, volleyball, wrestling and Indian games like Kabaddi or Kho- Kho which cost little but provide vigorous physical exercise. Hiking and mountaineering need special encouragement.

46. The quality of textbooks should be kept at the highest level by attracting the best talent available through a liberal policy of remuneration and by giving special encouragement to outstanding teachers. The Government of India should take immediate steps for the production of high-quality textbooks which may be adopted/adapted in the States. The State Governments. should set up autonomous corporations, functioning on commercial

lines, for the production of textbooks. But they should not claim a monopoly therein and should enlist the cooperation of the private sector. In each class and for every subject for which a textbook is needed, there should be at least three or four approved books and a school should be free to choose the books best suited to it.

47. It is essential that an increasing number of common books should be read by all school students in the country. For this purpose, the Government of India should undertake, sponsor or promote the production of a series of books on different topics of national interest. These should be written by the most competent persons in the field, translated in all Indian languages, priced excactly the same in every language and made available in the library of every school.

48. The expenditure that parents have to incur on textbooks should be kept within reasonable limits by avoiding frequent changes in textbooks, by reducing the number of prescribed or recommended books and by keeping their prices to the minimum. A careful study should be made of the anticipated demands for paper and printing capacity during the next fifteen, years and early steps should be taken to ensure that the production of paper and increase in printing capacity in, the, Indian languages keep pace with the expansion of education.

Examination Reform

49. Attention should be concentrated on three major areas: reduction of the dominance of external examinations; the introduction of reforms which would make them more valid, and realistic measures of educational achievement; and the adoption of a good system of internal evaluation.

50. At the school stage, there should be only two public examinations the first at the end of class X and the second at the end of class XII (or class XI in the transitional period). Each State should have a Board of School' Education (with sub-boards, where needed) to conduct these examinations and to define the standards to be reached. The examination certificate should give the candidate's performance in different subjects for which he has appeared but should not declare him to have passed or failed in the examination as a whole; and his eligibility for admission to courses at the next stage should be dependent upon his performance with reference to the requirements prescribed for the course he desires to study. It should be open to a candidate to appear again for these examinations, either in part or as a whole, in order to improve his performance.

51. It is necessary to coordinate, at the national level, the standards prescribed for attainment by the State boards of education at these examinations. This should be done by a National Board of School Education, to be established by the Government of India, which should indicate the

national standards' below which no State should ordinarily fan. The National Board should also make arrangements to evaluate the standards actually attained on a school, district, State and national basis.

52. The public examinations, both at the school and university, stages, should be improved by employing the latest methods and techniques. The time-lag between the holding of the examination and the declaration of results should be reduced and in no case should be longer than about eight weeks. The final examinations of schools and colleges should be completed and their results declared within a given time each year so that the students seeking admission to all-India and other important institutions do not lose a year as often happens at present.

53. A comprehensive system of internal assessment covering all aspects of a student's growth should be introduced in all educational institutions and should be used for improvement as well as for certifying the achievement of the student. These results should be kept separate and shown side by side in the final certificate issued after external examinations. Every year, a careful review should be made of the correlation between internal and external assessment separately for each institution and action should be taken against those which tend to over-assess their students.

A Nation-wide Programme of Institutional Improvement

54. A nation-wide programme for raising standards in all educational institutions should be developed. Each institution should be treated as a unit by itself and helped to grow at its pace by preparing and implementing its own developmental plan.

55. Minimum requirements should be prescribed for each category of institutions and an attempt should be made to provide these through the assistance of local communities and an adequate system of maintenance grants. In addition, special encouragement grants should be available to, institutions on the basis of their performance and promise.

56. These attempts at institutional improvement at the school stage can be strengthened by creating 'school-groups, for purposes of planning and development. Each school-group should consist of a secondary school with . some higher primary schools within its immediate neighbourhood, each higher primary school being, in its turn, the centre for some lower primary schools near it. The immediate responsibilities entrusted to a school-group should include the sharing of facilities in common and the preparation and implementation of plans of educational development, additional powers and responsibilities being given on the basis of competence and performance. Wherever possible, colleges should be linked to secondary schools for similar programmes and the universities should be. encouraged and assisted to participate in the improvement of schools.

57. In the universities, a concentration of resources-both human and material-is essential for raising standards. Each university should therefore strive to develop some centres of excellence within itself which could Ultimately be raised to the status of a centre of advanced study. In addition, the University Grants Commission should strive, where the necessary potential is available, to create clusters of centres of advanced study in related disciplines which strengthen and support one another.

58. Special steps should be taken to improve educational institutions in rural areas and to reduce the wide gap in standards that now exists between urban and rural institutions.

Student Services, Welfare and Discipline

59. It is desirable to develop programmes of student services and welfare at all stages. At the primary stage, provision should be made for free supply of textbooks to all students, and in secondary schools, textbook libraries should be established. Simple uniforms should be prescribed, subsidies being available to poor and needy students. School meals and health services should be provided to the extent funds permit. School buildings should be utilized, before and after school hours, as day-study centres for children who do not have such facilities at home.

60. At the university stage, textbook libraries should be established in all colleges and university departments and provision should be made for low-cost or subsidized cafeterias and essential health services. Day-study centres and hostels should be provided on a liberal scale. Hostel costs should be kept down to the minimum and students should be required to participate in the management and to practise self-help.

61. At both school and university stages, private tuitions should be discouraged and institutional arrangements should be made to assist retarded or under-achieving students by entrusting the responsibility to teachers who should be suitably remunerated for the purpose or by devising plans in which the more advanced students would help the backward ones.

62. In order to create a sense of responsibility and to provide civic training, students should be associated with the management of their institutions in a manner suited to their age and maturity. At the school stage, pupil-self-government should be an integral part of the instruction in every institution. This assumes an even greater importance at the university stage where the students have to be treated as adults and increasingly associated with the maintenance of discipline. Joint committees of teachers and students should be established in each university department and in every college to serve as a forum for the discussion and, where possible, for the solution of common problems and difficulties. Students' associations should also be developed on proper lines.

63. It is a matter for serious concern that incidents of student unrest have shown a tendency to greater frequency and violence in recent years. The causes of this malaise are complex and deep-seated and an effective cure goes beyond the educational system. But the situation can be remedied considerably if the educational system is transformed, strengthened and made more effective on the broad lines indicated here. The programmes of developing national consciousness and of involving students in challenging and worthwhile projects of national reconstruction and the appointment of joint committees of teachers and students will also be of great help. It is however essential to emphasize that violence has no place in any civilized society and especially in an academic community. If its members find it necessary to assert their democratic rights, it should be done in a peaceful, orderly and dignified manner.

Scholarships : Discovery and Development of Talent

64. Both in secondary and higher education, the scholarships programme should be expanded and the amount of scholarships increased, broadly to cover all costs. Other forms of student-aid which need attention are: provision of transport facilities where necessary and feasible, grants for books and examination fees and creation of facilities to earn and learn. There is also need for loan scholarships at the University stage. In order to encourage good students to join the teaching profession however, a person who has received a loan scholarship should be entitled to a remission of one- tenth of the loan for each year of service as a teacher.

65. The administrative procedures for the award of scholarships should be streamlined and payments should be arranged promptly, preferably from month to month.

66. At present, most scholarships are awarded on the basis of marks obtained in some public examination; and as these tend to favour students from the well-to-do homes or good urban schools, potentially talented students whose preparation has remained inadequate through no fault of theirs are often left out. There is thus urgent need to evolve a more equitable and egalitarian basis for the award of scholarships and grant of admissions to important institutions of higher education.

67. Scientific techniques should be developed, especially at the secondary stage, to discover and develop talent of all kinds. The universities can play a useful role in this. In view of the importance of the subject and our own great traditions, special emphasis need to be placed on the nurturing of mathematical talent. In the case of exceptionally gifted children, the State should assume total responsibility for their full education. The rules and regulations regarding courses, duration of studies, admission qualifications, etc. will also have to be suitably relaxed.