EDUCATION AND NATIONAL OBJECTIVES
1.01 The destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms. This, We believe, is no mere rhetoric. In a world based on science and technology it is education that determines the level of prosperi- ty, welfare and security of the people. On the quality and number of persons coming out of our schools and colleges will depend our success in the great enterprise of national reconstruction the principal objective of which is to raise the standard of living of our people. in this context, it has become urgent
- to re-evaluate the role of education in the total pro- gramme of national development;
- to identify the changes needed in the existing system of education if it is to play its proper role, and to prepare a programme of educational development based on them; and
- to implement this programme with determination and vigour.
1.02 The task is neither unique nor quite new. But its magnitude, gravity and urgency have increased immensely and it has acquired a new meaning and importance since the attainment of independence and the adoption of the policy and techniques of planned development of the national economy. If the pace of national development is to be accelerated, there is need for a well'-defined, bold and imaginative educational policy and for determined and vigorous action to vitalize, improve and expand education.
1.03 The population of India is now about 500 million, and half of it is below the age of 18 years-India today is essentially a land of youth. Over the next 20 years, the population is likely to increase by 230 million. The total number of educational institutions in the country is over 500,000. The number of teachers exceeds two million. The total student population, which is now about 70 million, will be more than doubled in the next twenty years; and by 1985, it will become about 170 million or about equal to the total population of Europe. The size and complexity of these problems argue the need for rapid action in evolving an appropriate educational policy; given this, the numbers involved constitute a rich promise for education's contribution to national development.
1.04 This Report is concerned with a synoptic appraisal of the existing educational situation in the country and presentation of an
4 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 1.05
overall programme of educational development. But education cannot be considered in isolation or planned in a vacuum. It has to be used as a powerful instrument of social, economic and political change and will therefore, have to be related to the long-term national aspirations, the programmes of national development on which the country is engaged and the difficult short-term problems it is called upon to face.
SOME PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 1.05 Self-sufficiency in Food. The first and the most important of these is food. Mahatma Gandhi said: 'If God were to appear in India, He will have to take the form of a loaf of bread'. Even at its present level of population, the country is in short supply for food. Every five years, the addition to the population is greater than the entire population of the U.K. During the next two decades, there will be an addition of about 230 million persons (or 46 per cent of the population of 1966) even on the assumption that the existing birth- rate of 40 per thousand persons is reduced to half by 1986. If it is not, this increase may be 320 million or 65 per cent of the present population. On the basis of present trends, in another 10-15 years, no country is likely to have a surplus of food to export. Even if such surpluses existed, we would have no resources to import the huge quantities of food required, or even to import the fertilizers needed. Self-sufficiency in food thus becomes not merely a desirable goal but a condition for survival.
1.06 Economic Growth and Full Employment. Allied to this is the colossal poverty of the masses and the large incidence of underemploy- ment or unemployment among the people, particularly among the edu- cated. India is one of the poorest countries of the world. The national income per capita, which was practically stationary for some decades, rose from Rs. 256.5 in 1950-51 to Rs. 348.6 in 1964-65-an increase of 2.2 per cent per year (at 1960-61 prices). Both the rate of growth as well as the level of national income are unsatisfactory. What is worse, even this income is very unevenly distributed. It has been suggested that our immediate objective should be to assure a minimum consumption of Rs. 35 per month to every citizen, sufficient to cover the balanced diet recommended by the Nutrition Advisory Committee and leave a modest allowance for other essential items (at 1960-61 prices). This, by itself, is no high standard. But at present, only the top 20 per cent of the population can afford it. The lowest 30 per cent have a monthly income of less than Rs. 15 and the lowest ten per cent, of less than Rs. 10. If this minimum standard of Rs. 35 per month
1.08 NATIONAL OBJECTIVES 5
is to be reached by 1986, great effort will have to be made on three fronts. The first is to secure a rapid rate of economic growth, at not less than six per cent per year and if possible at about seven percent per year. The second is to distribute income more equitably so that the more deprived sections of the population could have a comparatively larger share in the total national income. The third is to control the growth of population so that the birth-rate is reduced at least by one-third and preferably by half. The least to be at- tempted would be to double the national income per capita (at constant prices) in the next twenty years. Similarly, steps will have to be taken to provide full employment to the people, especially to the educated.
1.07 Social and National Integration. Even more important is the role of education in achieving social and national integration. Indian society is hierarchical, stratified and deficient in vertical mobility. The social distance between the different classes, particularly between the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, is large and is tending to widen. Our people profess a number of different religions; and the picture becomes even more complicated because of caste, an undemocratic institution which is still powerful and which, strangely enough, seems to have extended its sphere of influence under the very democratic processes of the Constitution itself. The situation, complex as it was, has been made critical by recent developments which threaten both national unity and social progress. As education is not rooted in the traditions of the people, the educated persons tend to be alienated from their own culture. The growth of local, regional, linguistic and state loyalties tends to make the people forget 'India'. The old values, which held society together, are disappearing, and as there is no effective programme to replace them by a new sense of social responsibility, innumerable signs of social disorganization are. evident everywhere and are continually on the increase. These include strikes, increasing lawlessness and a disregard for public property, corruption in public life, and communal tensions and troubles. Student unrest, of which so much is written, is only one, and probably a minor one, of these symptoms. Against this background, the task to be attempted-the creation of an integrated and egalitarian society-is indeed extremely difficult and challenging.
1.08 Political Development. The political challenge has many aspects, but three stand out. The first is the need to strengthen democracy. In spite of all odds, Indian democracy has given a fairly good account of itself so far. But it will not be permanently viable unless its foundations are deepened by the creation of an educated electorate, and a
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dedicated and competent leadership, and the cultivation of essential values like self-control, tolerance, mutual goodwill and consideration for others, all of which make democracy not only a form of government, but a way of life. The second is related to the defence of the country's freedom. The overriding priority of this challenge is recognized, for one must live before one can grow. But it cannot be met only by maintaining a large and efficient army or training all able-bodied youth for military service. The defence of freedom is a national concern, to which every citizen contributes his best in order to achieve self-sufficiency in food and other essentials, to strength- en the country's economy, and to create a secular, united and strong democratic State. The third is the growing awakening among the masses who, suppressed for centuries, have now awakened to a sense of their rights and are demanding education, equality, higher standards of living and better civic amenities. This 'explosion of expectations' has also to be met through a planned programme of national develop- ment.
1.09 Internationally, the country is facing another equally significant and urgent challenge. The gap between the standards of living in India and those of industrialized nations is very large. The first scientific industrial revolution which developed in the West over the last 200 years almost passed us by. The agro-industrial revolution which is even more crucial for us has yet to begin in our country. The world is now at the beginning of the second scientific industrial revolution of automation and cybernetics, which is likely to be in full swing before the close of the century. It is difficult to visualize the changes it will make in man's life. One thing, however, is certain: unless proper steps are taken right from now, the gap between us and the industrialized countries following this second revolution may become too wide to be bridged.
1.10 There is still another aspect to the challenge. It is true that knowledge is international and that there can be no barriers, except those of our own creation, to its free import. But India cannot for ever remain at the receiving end of the pipeline. She must make her own contribution as an intellectual and cultural equal to the eternal human endeavour to extend the frontiers of knowledge. This demands a large-scale programme for the discovery and development of talent and the creation of centres of excellence in higher education which can compare favourably with the best of their kind in the world.
1.11 The difficulty of these problems is equalled only by the complexity of the situation, the gravity and urgency of the challenge, and the magnitude of the stakes involved. The Indian situation with its federal constitution (wherein several constituent States are larger than many European nations), its multi-party system of democratic government, its multi-religious and mixed society consisting of highly sophisti-
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cated groups who live side by side with primitive ones, its mixed economy which includes modern factories as well as traditional agriculture, and its multiplicity of languages, presents such a complex picture that it almost resembles a miniature world. In India's attempts at national development, the welfare of one-seventh of the world's population is at stake and the future of democracy and free societies is in the balance. She is heir to an ancient and great civilization which can make a contribution to human progress by striving to create what Acharya Vinobaji has described as the 'age of science and spirituality'. She has to raise herself from her present standards of living which are amongst the lowest in the world and to take her rightful place in the comity of nations as soon as possible-a task to be accomplished within a generation at the most. Obviously, the solution of these problems makes large demands on us, the Indian people of this generation-we need a clear focus, deeper understanding, collective discipline, hard and sustained work, and dedicated leadership. The solution of these problems also needs the cooperation and assistance of the richer industrialized nations which share India's faith in democratic socialism and sympathize with her struggle to create a new social order.
EDUCATION: THE MAIN INSTRUMENT OF CHANGE 1.12 Development of Human Resources. These difficult, complex, significant and urgent problems are all interdependent, and the shortest and most effective way to their solution is obviously to make a simultaneous attack on all fronts. This will have to be attempted through two main programmes:
(1) The development of physical resources through the modernization of agriculture and rapid industrialization. This requires the adoption of a science-based technology, heavy capital formation and investment, and the provision of the essential infrastructure of transport, credit, marketing and other institutions; and
(2) The development of human resources through a properly organized programme of education.
It is the latter programme, namely, the development of human resources through education, which is the more crucial of the two. While the development of physical resources is a means to an end, that of human resources is an end in itself; and without it, even the adequate development of physical resources is not possible.
1.13 The reason for this is clear. The realization of the country's aspirations involves changes in the knowledge, skills, interests and values of the people as a whole. This is basic to every programme of social and economic betterment of which India stands in need.
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For instance, there can be no hope of making the country self- sufficient in food unless the farmer himself is moved out of his age- long conservatism through a science-based education, becomes interested in experimentation, and is ready to adopt techniques that increase yields. The same is true of industry. The skilled manpower needed for the relevant research and its systematic application to agriculture, industry and other sectors of life can only come from a development of scientific and technological education. Similarly, economic growth is not merely a matter of physical resources or of training skilled workers; it needs the education of the whole popula- tion in new ways of life, thought and work. Robert Heilbroner de- scribes the journey to economic development undertaken by a tradition- al society as 'the great ascent' and points out that the essential condition for its success is human 'change on a grand scale'. He observes: 'The mere lay-in of a core of capital equipment, indispens- able as that is for further economic expansion, does not yet catalyse a tradition-bound society into a modern one. For that catalysis to take place, nothing short of a pervasive social transformation will suffice; a wholesale metamorphosis of habits, a wrenching reorienta- tion of values concerning time, status, money, work; and an unweaving and reweaving of the fabric of daily existence itself.'*1 These obser- vations are applicable to advances on the social, political and cul- tural fronts as well.
1.14 Education as Instrument of Change. If this 'change, on a grand scale' is to be achieved without violent revolution (and even for that it would be necessary) there is one instrument, and one instrument only, that can be used: EDUCATION. Other agencies may help, and can indeed sometimes have a more apparent impact. But the national system of education is the only instrument that can reach all the people. It is not, however, a magic wand to wave wishes into existence. it is a difficult instrument, whose effective use requires strength of Will, dedicated work and sacrifice. But it is a sure and tried instrument, which has served other countries well in their struggle for development. It can, given the will and the skill, do so for India.
1.15 This emphasis on the social purposes of education, on the need to use it as a tool for the realization of national aspirations or for meeting national challenges, does not imply any underestimation of values for the individual. In a democracy, the individual is an end in himself and the primary purpose of education is to provide him with the widest opportunity to develop his potentialities to the full. But the path to this goal lies through social reorganization and emphasis on social perspectives. In fact, one of the important principles to be
1Robert Heilbroner, The Great Ascent, Harper and Row, Inc., New York, 1963, p. 66.
1.17 NATIONAL OBJECTIVES 9
emphasized in the socialistic pattern of society, which the nation desires to create, is that individual fulfilment will come, not through selfish and narrow loyalties to personal or group interests, but through the dedication of all to the wider loyalties of national development in all its parameters.