A LOOK AHEAD
 

5.01 In the preceding four Chapters, we have reviewed the evolution of the role of the Government of India in education between 1833 and 1978 and the development of education in the country since the attainment of independence, and especially the formulation and implementation of the National Policy on Education (1968). In this concluding Chapter, we shall attempt to highlight the lessons which this valuable experience has for the future development of education in the country, say, between 1981 and 2000.

5.02 For a proper development of education, we need three sets of documents :

- A Statement on the National Policy on Education

- A detailed Plan of Action based on a fairly long- term perspective and

- Short-term annual and quinquennial plans.

The last set of documents becomes available in the ordinary course of administration. But special efforts are needed for the first two sets; and it is the issues relating to these two alone that we propose to discuss.

A National Policy on Education

5.03 In a vast and plural country like India which is committed to a participative democracy as a way of life, the national system of education will have to be:

- highly decentralized with the involvement of the Central and State Governments, local authorities at District levels and local communities,

- highly deconcentrated by making due provision for the autonomy of universities (which should share it with the Departments and Colleges) and for adequate freedom to schools and teachers to experiment and innovate, and

- highly diversified and elastic to suit the immense variations between the different parts of the country and the specific needs of different social groups.

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Such a system cannot function unless there is a common thread which runs through it and gives it an identity and an essential unity of purpose. In other words, in education, as in Indian life as a whole, we have to continually search for the discovery and effective realization of a unity in diversity. The need and significance of a National Policy on Education thus becomes obvious. It alone can provide the fundamental unity in terms of a basic structure, objectives and major programmes of the education system which would give it a national identity and a specific direction and purpose in the best interests of the country, even while permitting (and even encouraging) the utmost diversity possible to suit the specific needs of different regions and social groups. That is why the practice of issuing periodical statements on national policies in education has been well-established in our educational history and is as old as the Central Government itself. Experience has also shown that such statements on National Policy do serve the useful purpose of educating public opinion and providing guidance to State Governments, local authorities, voluntary associations, educational institutions, teachers, students, educational administrators and all such individuals and organizations who have to cooperate and collaborate in the immense effort to create a national system of education. We therefore welcome the decision of the Government of India to keep up this practice of issuing periodical statements on the National Policy on Education (which was revived in 1933 after 55 years).

5.04 There are three specific issues that deserve a closer examination in this context. The first relates to the nature of these statements on National Policy on Education. As explained in Chapter III, they should take a national, long-term, coordinated and integrated view of education. They should be brief and confine themselves only to principles and broad outlines of the programmes so that a unity of perspective, direction and purpose is maintained without putting undue constraints on the wide diversity in matters of detail that is equally essential.

5.05 The second issue relates to the wide publicity which must be given to all statements on the National Policy on Education and which was not really given to the National Policy on Education (1968) much to its disadvantage. Let us not forget that a statement on the National Policy on Education should be looked upon as a sheet anchor of a nationwide movement for educational and socioeconomic transformation. It is "national", not because it is formulated by the Central Government, but because it represents a national concensus on what is to be done, how

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and in what time and because it is symbolic of the nation's dedication and commitment to strive its best for the implementation of its programmes and the realization of its goals. It is therefore essential to give the widest possible publicity to the statements on the National Policy on Education. From this point of view, the following suggestions can be put forward:

(1) All the State Legislatures should be requested to discuss these statements and to adopt them with such changes to suit local conditions as may be found necessary. After all, the most effective agencies to implement the National Policy are the State Governments; and we must make them conscious of the issues involved and commit them to the broad solutions proposed. it is mainly the commitment at the State levels that will ensure the implementation of the proposals.

(2) The statements should be translated and published in all the regional languages. The debate on these issues must be taken to the people through their own languages. So long as the debate is confined to those who know English, it would be next to impossible to take the hard decisions needed on many of our complex problems.

(3) The statements should get into the training programmes of all educational administrators and teachers. Adequate steps should be taken to bring it to the notice of all educational institutions, teachers and students.

The need for such wide and sustained publicity compaigns to secure a nations's commitment to the proposed policies and its help, to implement them better is obvious.

5.06 The third issue relates to the National and State Education Acts. The Education Commission (1964-66) recommended that the possibility of passing a National Education Act should be explored.

It is possible to do so now because Education is in the concurrent list. There are only a few basic educational issues that can be solved through legislation while others, which need an essentially dynamic treatment would even be harmed by legislation which would tend to make things immobile. All the same, there are a few issues like academic freedom of teachers which would gain substantially by being given a statutory basis. We therefore recommend that the Ministry of Education should set up a high-level committee to examine this issue in all its aspects and to bring forward, at an early date, a comprehensive National Education Bill.

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Before submitting it to Parliament, it should be widely publicized for eliciting public opinion.

5.07 The Education Commission (1964-66) also recommended that each State should have a comprehensive law to give statutory basis to education most of which is now administered in an ad hoc fashion and under executive orders. This is a very important recommendation that has remained unimplemented so far. We recommend that it should be vigorously pursued now and such laws on education should be placed on the Statute books of all States before the end of the sixth plan.

5.08 The Government of India has a crucial role to play in the formulation and implementation of a national policy on education, and in the creation of a national system of education, if the changes visualized in the educational or socio-economic transformation are to be brought about in a peaceful manner. It can provide the essential focal point to the movement, the bulk of the resources needed, and the necessary dynamic leadership, both on the political and bureaucratic fronts. It can pressurize, and where necessary, assist the State Governments to do their best in their own areas so that they, in their turn, can also play a similar role in respect of the local bodies and communities. It alone can monitor the progress of the movement from time to time, assess its strengths and weaknesses and thus lay the foundation for timely remedial actions. This is no small responsibility by any standards; and this is why education must always be a serious and continuing national concern, while it may or may not be in the concurrent list.

5.09 We are happy to note that the Government of India has published the draft of a new National Policy on Education (1979). We hope that this will be widely publicized as indicated above and eventually finalized as the Policy Statement to cover the next two decades (1981-2000).

A Long-term Perspective Plan of Educational Development

5.10 While a National Policy on Education is necessary, it is not sufficient to create a national system of education. We will have to supplement the statement on the National Policy on Education with a long-term perspective plan of educational development which will show how the objectives and broad programmes given in the national policy are to be translated in actual practice. As things stand now, all our long-term perspective plans have almost run out or become dated: the Post-war Plan

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of Educational Development (1944-84) and the Perspective of Long-term Educational Development prepared by the Education Commission (1966- 86). It is therefore extremely desirable that we should now prepare another long-term perspective of educational development to cover the next two decades. Such a measure is fully justified by past experience. For instance, between 1947 and 1965, we did not have either a Policy Statement or a long-term perspective on educational development. We, therefore, worked only on the basis of five-year and annual plans and our review has shown that our over-all achievements during this period were adversely affected by the absence of a Policy Statement as well as of a long-term perspective. Between 1967 and 1978, we had the National Policy on Education (1968) as well as a long-term perspective of educational development (1966-86) prepared by the Education Commission. Our educational performance did not however show any improvement because, as shown earlier, there were several weaknesses in the National Policy on Education (1968) and because the major recommendations of the Education Commission which could have made an impact on the over-all situation were totally disregarded. For proper educational development over the next two decades, therefore, we need a bold and radical statement on the national policy on education, and also a detailed, comprehensive and radical plan of action to cover the period 1981-2000. The steps for the preparation of the first of these documents have already been initiated. We strongly urge that steps for the preparation of the second document also should be initiated at an early date.

The Developmental Perspective

5.11 In the Report of the University Education Commission (1948- 49), a view was taken that it is the responsibility of the education system to complete and consolidate the changes which the political system has decided upon with regard to the future of the country. The Commission therefore took considerable pains (Chapter II) to discuss how university education should help in creating the new society referred to in the Preamble to the Constitution. The Education Commission (1964-66), on the other hand, took a different view. It said that we should bring about an educational revolution first which, in its turn, will trigger off the socioeconomic revolution we need. The experience of the last ten years in implementing the recommendations of the Education Commission has shown that we cannot create the educational revolution we need without making at least simultaneous and corresponding changes within the social

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system itself. This became very evident in relation to programmes of educational transformation which the Education Commission had recommended and to which it had given the highest priority (i.e. the common school system): they could not be implemented or we could not have the best out of them within the existing social structure. A major lesson of all this experience is that we cannot plan education in a vacuum and that a perspective of educational development over the next two decades can only be drawn up against the backdrop of an over- all developmental perspective for the same period.

5.12 Our review of the educational developments during the last three decades (Chapter II & III) highlights the point that our developmental perspective has been, on the whole, unsatisfactory. Inspite of all the talk of socialism on the one hand and the Gandhian way of life on the other, we have pursued an evolutionary and reformist policy in the over-all context of a mixed economy. The pace of development has been slow; and while the upper and middle classes have received considerable benefits, development has generally bypassed the masses of people who continue to be deprived of most good things of life. The creation of a national system of education Suited to the life, needs and aspirations of the people is probably not possible within the constraints of this over-all developmental perspective. It is also a matter for regret that no adequate steps were taken even to exploit all the available space within this perspective.

5.13 The best thing we can therefore do is to abandon the gradual, reformist and essentially capitalist perspective we have adopted in development during the last 30 years and undertake more radical direct efforts to create an egalitarian or a socialist society. This will greatly help to effect corresponding changes within the national system of education. If a radical change of this type were not feasible at the moment, we should at least strive to exploit all the possibilities within the existing system to ensure a better and juster deal to the poor. This will, at the very least, imply a reduction in the consumption levels of the haves and a simultaneous effort to improve the standards of living of the poor.

5.14 Perhaps one can see the best exposition of (1) the relationship between educational and social transformation, (2) of the need of pursuing them together, and (3) of the types of programmes that need to be developed in this national movement for simultaneous educational and social transformation, in the following passage from Education for Our People

"2.11 What is the precise relationship between educational and social transformation ? The most commonly accepted view

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romanticizes the relationship and argues that we must begin with a radical transformation in education which, in its turn, will bring about a radical transformation in society. On the other hand, there is also a view that the social Structure will always be reflected within the education system which it dominates so that no worth-while educational reform is possible unless a social revolution is first brought about. The truth is probably neither so simple nor so direct. The educational system has a duty to make a critical analysis of the social system, to focus attention on its internal contradictions and on the gap between slogans and practice, and to highlight the need for structural changes, where necessary, including those needed within the educational system itself. Education can thus play a useful role in promoting the desire for a radical social change and also help in deciding the nature of such change as well as the manner of bringing it about. Similarly, education is essential to complete and consolidate a social change decided and implemented through political means, whether by bullets or by ballot. The education system can also remedy social deficiencies which are due to educational factors. But it can have little effect on social deficiencies elsewhere, say, in the economic or political sub- systems. We must also remember that while it is comparatively easy to introduce educational reforms that support the existing social structure, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to implement redical educational reforms which threaten the existing social structure or run counter to its imperatives. All things considered, it appears that, if we desire to get out of this vicious circle wherein an inegalitarian society creates an inegalitarian educational system and vice- versa, we must mount a big offensive on both social and educational fronts.

2.12 The major implications of this proposal, for both social and educational reforms, can be briefly indicated-

(1) In society, the basic minimum change required is to narrow down the existing wide gap between the life-styles and standards of living of the upper and middle classes a and the common people by,

- eliminating or at least minimising all direct and indirect forms of exploitation ;

- imposing limits and curbs on the consumption of the rich and the well-to-do through a modification of the existing arbitrary and inegalitarian wage-structure and other allied measures ;

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- ensuring a basic minimum standard of living to the people through (a) an emphasis on increased production of goods and services needed by the common man, (b) a guarantee of employment at a reasonable wage to all able-bodied persons who are willing to work, and (c) the organisation of an efficient and nation-wide public distribution. system of food-stuffs and other essential commodities.

An important implication of this policy will be to reduce the wide gulf between urban and rural areas and to improve the standards of living of the rural people, especially of agricultural labour and small and marginal farmers.

(2) In education, the corresponding basic minimum change required is to make common people, rather than the upper and middle classes, the principal beneficiaries of the educational system. This will imply among other things,