NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION (1968) IMPLEMENTATION
4.01 We shall now turn to the discussion of the manner in which the National Policy on Education (1968) was implemented over the next ten years (1968-78). In particular, we shall try to find out what difference. if any, the existence of the National Policy on Education (1968) made to the development of education between 1968 and 1978. We shall also try to ascertain what lessons for the future can be drawn from this valuable experience.
General Background 4.02 The developmental perspective, on which the educational per- spective will ultimately depend, showed some interesting developments in the early years of this period. Smt. Indira Gandhi began to emphasize the socialist perspective very early in this period e.g. her legislation on bank nationalisation. This is why one finds a pointed reference to the socialistic pattern of society in the Preamble to the National Policy on Education (1968). She developed the idea further when, in the elections of 1971, she gave the slogan of Garibi Hatao. Because of this and because her stature had risen tremendously after the victory in the Bangladesh War, she literally swept the elections in 1971 and 1972. But when it came to the implementation of these promises, it was soon discovered that she began to retract from them rather than go ahead with them. When the situation deteriorated, she rather chose to adopt coercive and fascist policies, as the declaration of emergency proved, rather than adopt a socialist perspective; and this conclusion is not affected even by the attempt to amend the Preamble to the Constitution by introducing the concept of socialism. On the whole, therefore, one gets the impression that all the talk of socialism branded about in this period was merely a stick to beat the opponents and not a programme of action. The earlier reformist, evolutionary and capitalist framework continued, therefore, to dominate the scene; and if anything, the developmental prospects became even more dim on account of the deterioration in the political and economic situation.
4.03 Consequently, the perspective for educational development also deteriorated during this period. The political situation between 1947 and 1965 was dominated by the personality of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru;
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and as we saw, his over-riding interest in higher education and scientific research gave them a priority in all our plans of educational development just as his lack of interest in elementary and adult education led to their comparative neglect. Between 1966 and 1978, the political situation was similarly dominated by the personality of Smt. Indira Gandhi. But as she had no deep interest in any aspect of education, it got a much lower priority in our plans than at any time in the past. Moreover, this was on the whole a period of great economic and financial difficulties; and as usually happens on such occasions, the axe of retrenchment fell first and fell heavily on education. This becomes very obvious from the trends in plan expenditure on education between 1950-51 to 1965-66 and 1966-67 to 1977-78. The relevant data are given in the following table:-
Table No. 4.1
Plan Expenditure on Education (1950-51 to 1977-78)
Sl. First Three Fourth Fifth sixth
No. Three Annual Plan Plan Plan
Plans Plans 1969-70 1974-75 1978-79
(1950-51 (1966-67 to to to
to to 1973-74 1977-78 1982-83
1965-66) (1968-69) (Provisional)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. Elementary Education
(including Teacher 3810 750 2390 3170 9000
Education) (38) (23) (30) (35) (46)
2. Secondary Education 1740 520 1400 1560 3000
(17) (16) (18) (17) (15)
3. University Education 1490 780 1950 2050 2650
(15) (24) (25) (22) (14)
4. Adult Education 110 20 50 90 2000
(1) (1) (1) (1) (10)
5. Other Programme 960 300 900 900 900
(9) (9) (11) (10) (5)
6. Cultural Programmes 100 40 120 280 500
(1) (1) (2) (3) (3)
7. Total General
Education 8210 2410 6810 8050 18050
(81) (75) (87) (88) (93)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8. Technical Education 1947 800 1050 1070 1500
(19) (25) (13) (12) (7)
9. Total Education 10150 3210 7860 9120 19550
(100) (100) (100) (100) (100)
10. Percentage to Total
Plan Outlay 6.7 4.8 5.2 3.3 2.8
Source: Planning Commission.
It will be noticed that, throughout the period under review, education received a smaller proportion of plan funds than between 1950 and 1965. It is true that, in absolute figures, education received Rs. 20,190 million or nearly twice the amount invested in education between 1950 and 1965. But this was a period of considerable inflation and if allowance is made for the rise in prices, there was not much increase in the outlay on education in real terms.
4.04 Against this general background, no radical reorientation of educational development was possible even if we had a national policy on education which proposed radical changes. But as was pointed out earlier, the National Policy on Education (1968) was not a radical document at all. Consequently, it is hardly a matter for surprise if the policies of the earlier period were generally continued between 1965-66 and 1977-78 also with some minor modifications.
Universal Elementary Education 4.05 We may now begin the de tailed discussion of the implementa- tion of the 17 programmes included in the National Policy on Education (1968) although not in the same order. The first of these naturally referred to the provision of universal elementary education or the fulfilment of the Directive contained in Art. 45 of the Constitution.
4.06 It was shown in Chapter II that, by 1965-66, an elementary school had not been provided within easy access from the home of every child, the enrolment in classes I-V was only 76.4 per cent of the age- group 6-11 and that in classes VI-VIII was only 36.7 per cent of the age-group 11-14, and wastage and stagnation still continued to be high. We had failed to provide universal elementary education by 1960-61 and that. even in 1965-66, there was no revised plan to show when and how we would
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reach the goal. Against this dark background, the National Policy on Education (1968) had given only two directives : (1) Strenous efforts should be made for the early (a much abused word in educational parlance which may mean anything from five to a hundred year) realisation of the goal of universal elementary education and (2) suitable programmes should be developed for the reduction or elimination of wastage and stagnation.
4.07 Let us see what our main achievements were in the field of elementaru education between 1965-66 and 1977-78.
(1) Investment: It must be poined out that the priority accorded to elementary education during this period was even lower than that between 1950 and 1965. In the first three plans, elementary education received Rs. 3810 million or 38 per cent of the total plan expenditure on education. Between 1966-68, it received only Rs. 750 million or 23 per cent of the total plan expenditure on education and the corresponding figures for the fourth plan (1969-74) were Rs. 2390 million or 30 per cent, and for the truncated fifth plan (1974-78), Rs. 3170 million or 35 per cent. Consequently, the situation in elementary education deteriorated between 1965-66 and 1977-78 rather than improved.
(2) Schools : Between 1950-51 and 1965-66, an average of 12,093 new primary schools and 4,147 new middle schools were opened every year. Between 1965-66 and 1977-78, the corresponding figures were 7,164 primary schools and 2,803 middle schools. The tempo of opening new schools had obviously slackened.
(3) Enrolments: The increase in enrolments has also slowed down as the data given below will show.
Table No. 4.2
Enrolments in Elementary Education (1965-66 to 1977-78)
(in millions)
Year Enrolments in Classes I-V Enrolments in Classes VI-VIII
Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
1965-66 32.178 18.293 50.471 7.686 2.846 10.532
(96.3) (56.5) (76.4) (44.2) (17.0) (30.8)
1970-71 30.739 21.306 57.045 9.426 3.889 13.315
(95.5) (60.5) (78.6) (46.3) (19.9) (33.4)
1975-76 40.649 25.011 65.660 18.990 5.034 16.024
(100.4) (68.1) (83.8) (43.6) (23.9) (36.7)
1977-78 43.200 26.950 70.150 12.030 5.740 17.770
(99.3) (65.4) (82.8) (49.7) (25.3) (37.9)
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Between 1950-65, the average annual increase in enrolments was 2,087 thousands in classes I-V and 494 thousands in classes VI-VIII. Between 1965-66 and 1977-78, these rates stood at 1640 thousands in classes I-V and 603 thousands in classes VI-VIII. On the whole therefore the growth of enrolments also declined, rather than increased. It may also be pointed out that in 1965-66, the total population of children in the agegroup 6-14 was 99.491 million out of whom 61.003 million were attending schools and 38.488 million were not attending. In 1977-78, the total population of children in the age- group 6-14 was 131.518 million of whom 87.920 million were attending and 43.598 million were not attending. In other words, the number of non-attending children actually increased between 1965-66 and 1977-78 by more than five million !
(4) Wastage and Stagnation : The Policy Statement did not suggest any specific reforms for the reduction of wastage and stagnation, but merely directed that 'suitable' measures should be adopted to reduce (or eliminate) wastage and stagnation. The Education Commission had recommended the large scale development of non-formal education programmes for this purpose. These were left out from the Policy Statement and were not readily accepted either in the academic or in the administrative circles. But Professor S. Nurul Hasan took keen personal interest in them and tried to spread the concept through the Central Advisory Board of Education. It was due mainly to his efforts that the concept has now come to be universally accepted and it is hoped that non-formal education programmes would be adopted in a big way in the Sixth Plan. That however is for the future. in so far as the period under review is concerned, nonformal education programmes were still at the conceptual stage and no other suitable programmes had been developed to reduce wastage and stagnation. Consequently, both these evils continued undiminished throughout the period under review. This will be evident from the data given in the following table:
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Table No. 4.3
Wastage and Stagnation (1950-51 to 1970-71)
At Primary Stage At Middle Stage
Year Enrol- Enrolment % age of Wastage Enrol- % age of Wastage
ment in in Class Col 3 to Percen- ment in Col.6 to Percen-
Class I V (4 year Col. 2 tage Class to Col.2 tage
(000's) later) (Retention VIII (in (Reten-
(000's) Rate) the 8th tion
year) Rate)
(000's)
1950-51 69.48 22,99 33.1 66.9 13.13 18.9 81.1
1951-52 70.25 24,03 34.2 65.8 14,39 20.5 79.5
1952-53 73.95 24,35 35.6 64.4 15.33 20.7 79.3
1953-54 80.87 27,43 33.9 66.1 17.58 21.7 78.3
1954-55 91.12 30,59 33.6 66.4 20.20 22.2 78.8
1955-56 99.58 33,40 33.6 66.4 22.26 22.4 77.6
1956-57 102.83 36,11 35.1 64.9 25.45 24.8 75.2
1957-58 111.08 38,91 35.0 65.0 26.53 23.9 76.1
1958-59 119.99 42,43 35.8 64.2 28.83 24.0 76.0
1959-60 126.93 45,73 36.0 64.0 36.46 24.0 76.0
1960-61 133.91 49,64 37.0 63.0 32.45 24.2 75.8
1961-62 157.46 53,81 34.2 65.8 34.59 22.0 78.0
1962-63 164.04 57,10 34.8 65.2 36.17 22.0 78.0
1963-64 169.06 59,21 35.0 65.0 37.44 22.2 77.8
1964-65 182.41 60,42 33.1 66.9 38.36 21.0 79.0
1965-66 188.90 62,49 33.1 66.9 39.56 20.9 79.1
1966-67 195.33 64,55 33.1 66.9 40.27 20.6 79.4
1967-68 197.51 66,24 33.5 66.5 42.15 21.3 78.7
1968-69 198.36 69,50 35.0 65.0 43.68 22.0 78.0
1969-70 199.42 71,50 35.9 64.1 Data not available
1970-71 204.39 75,15 36.8 63.2 Data not available
N.B. : Although data beyond the cohorts of 1970-71 are not available, there is no reason to assume that there has been any improvement in the situation.
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(5) Expenditure : Between 1965-66 and 1975-76, the cost per student in elementary schools increased by nearly three times, due mainly to the rise in teachers' salaries -
Average Teacher Pupil Ratio Average Annual cost per
Primary Middle pupil in
Schools Schools Primary Middle
Schools Schools
Rs. Rs.
1950-51 34 24 19.9 37.1
1960-61 36 31 27.6 40.5
1965-66 39 32 34.5 50.4
1975-76 38 30 95.5 144.2
This inevitably led to an enormous increase in the total expenditure on elementary education.
Total Expenditure in Rs. (million) on
Primary schools Middle schools
1965-66 1,287,230 842,827
(20.7) (13.6)
1975-76 4,463,148 3,409,672
(21.2) (16.2)
N.B.-Figures in paranthesis denote percentage to total educational expenditure.
This very large increase in expenditure created a situation, for the first time since independence, when the proportion of the expenditure on elementary education to total educational expenditure rose, instead of failing. It was shown above that, during this period, the expansion of elementary education was slower than that between 1950 and 1965. Moreover, the quality of elementary education also deteriorated rather than improved. Consequently, there is little reason for us to congratulate ourselves on the increase in the proportion of the total educational expenditure devoted to elementary education which was due mainly to the increases in the salaries of teachers (a large part of which was also negatived by inflation).
4.08 It may therefore be concluded that, between 1965-66 and 1977-78, the earlier policies of the widest possible expansion or facilities
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within the available resources were continued. There were no 'strenuous efforts' for the 'early' fulfilment of the directive contained in Art. 45 of the Constitution or for reduction of wastage and stagnation. In short, the directives of the National Policy on Education (1968) remained largely unimplemented. This was mainly due to the fact that there was no strong public demand for elementary education and no adequate political support for it, especially at the State level. The enunciation of National policy on Education (1968) did not, therefore, make any meaningful difference to the development of elementary education during the period under review.
Adult Education 4.09 What about the progress of adult education ? Prof. V.K.R.V. Rao, who succeeded Dr. Triguna Sen as Education Minister, was extremely keen that a massive programme of adult education should be organised. He had proposed an allocation of Rs. 690 million for the purpose and he wanted it to be included 'in the Centrally-sponsored sector which the National Policy on Education (1968) had agreed to expand. In fact, there could have been no better case for expanding the centrally-sponsored sector than to provide support to this important but neglected programme. But the States opposed the proposal and neither the Government of India nor the Planning Commission thought it worthwhile to fight the battle. The programme was therefore included in the State sector and received an allocation of only Rs. 50 million or less than one per cent of the total plan expenditure on education. The net result was that it did not get off the ground at all.
4.10 The data about adult education centres during this period is given below :
1965-66 1975-76
1. No. of adult education centres 217,912 17,774
2. Enrolments in above 1,637,541 439,034
As stated in Chapter II, the statistics of 1965-66 contain the data of the Gram Shikshan Mohim in Maharashtra Since this movement died out before 1977-78, there is a sharp decline in the number of adult education classes and their enrolment during the period under review. But even if the data of the Gram Shikshan Mohim is excluded from the figures of 1965-66, one finds that adult education continued to be as neglected between 1965-66 and 1977-78 as it was between 1950 and 1965. It may also be recalled that the National Policy on Education (1968) bad suggested