THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM STRUCTURE AND STANDARDS
2.01 In this chapter we shall deal mainly with the structure or the pattern of the educational course, the duration of the total course and of its different stages, better utilization of time and other educational facilities, the necessity of continually raising standards at all stages and the provision of all the three channels of education-full-time, part time and own-time'-on an adequate scale.
2.02 To begin with, we would like to state our approach to the problems of structure and standards. The standards in any given system of education at a given time depend upon four elements: (1) the structure or the division of the educational pyramid into different levels or stages and their interrelationships; (2) the duration or total period covered by the different stages; (3) the extent and quality of essential inputs such as teachers, curricula, methods of teaching and evaluation, equipment and buildings; and (4) the utilization of available facilities. All these elements are interrelated, but they are not of equal significance. For instance, the structure, which may be regarded as the skeleton of the educational system, is of the least importance. The duration or total period of education plays a more significant role; but it becomes crucial only when the available facilities are utilized to the full and no further improvement can be expected without the addition of time. The quality of different inputs is even more important, and with an improvement in these, it is possible to raise the standards considerably without affecting the structure or increasing the duration. But the utilization of available facilities is probably the most significant of all the elements on which standards depend. For any self-accelerating process of development, it is essential in the first place to improve efficiency at the level of the existing inputs and to add more inputs only if they are crucial to the process. An increase of inputs assumes significance only at a later stage.
2.03 In this context, it may be interesting to note that until recently, the general tendency everywhere has been to overrate the importance of the duration of the school course. There is a reason for this. When the quantum of knowledge covered in the school was not very large, the pace of school work was leisurely, and when one learnt more outside school than within school, it was natural to suppose that the longer
46 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2.04
one stayed at school the better one gained in knowledge and maturity. All this has changed now. The knowledge explosion has imposed an altogether new pressure on schools and colleges. Formal education now plays a much greater part than it did previously at any time in histo- ry and the efficiency of the educational system has become a very important factor. Machlup, in his monumental study on the Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States (The Princeton University Press, 1962) has observed that the learning process in school in the United States could and ought to be accelerated. He has vigorously argued that the educational objectives now attained in 12 years of schooling could be achieved in 9 or 10 years. This would mean a saving every year of tens of billions of dollars. Besides, it will save the precious time of students and teachers. This 'time- saving' is becoming increasingly important as there is so much more to learn in a fast knowledge-expanding world. The compression of the school course would also help in the development of satisfactory working habits and powers of concentration and application. Machlup says that reducing the school duration from the present 12 to 9 or 10 years does not Mean that the school course is to be cut down. 'Noth- ing is to be cut out; on the contrary, more is to be put 'into the curriculum. But the students have to get a faster start and a contin- uous stretch of their minds. 'We are informed that some schools in New York City are experimenting on the reduction of the school dura- tion.
2.04 The observations of Jerome B. Weisner, former Science Advis- er to the President of the USA, are pertinent in this context. He says 14:
Many people are impressed by the fact that the Soviet Union's ten-year cycle of primary and secondary education requires that all students must take five years of physics, six years of mathematics, three years of biology, and four years of chemistry, with the course content of the work during the last two years being comparable to that of the usual introductory courses in these subjects offered in our liberal arts colleges. By contrast our corresponding school period contains twelve rather than ten years but provides on the average only one-fifth as much training in mathematics and the sciences. There is insufficient evidence to show that the intensity of early Soviet scientific training is either necessary or desirable, particularly if it involves sacrifices of some emphasis on the humanities, but it is evident that the standard programme in our schools is far from optimum.
2.05 It has also to be noted that the broad pattern of education in our country, which was imported from abroad, is still in the nature of an exotic plant. There is hesitation and reluctance, and sometimes
14 Daedalus, 1965, p. 534.
2.08 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM : STRUCTURE AND STANDARDS 47
even fear, about making any radical changes unless these are on the model of what is happening abroad. We have to outgrow this attitude and to begin regarding the educational pattern as our own; and we should introduce changes in it on the basis of our own indigenous thinking, after taking into account what is happening outside but without being dominated by it.
2.06 It is in the light of these fundamental principles that the proposals made in this chapter should be viewed.
STRUCTURE AND DURATION 2.07 The questions on structure and duration were those on which the Commission received perhaps the largest volume of advice and suggestions. They are questions to which previous commissions and committees dealing with the problems of education on a national scale have devoted considerable attention. There are two principal reasons for this widespread and continuous concern about the structure of the educational system. One is the general desire that the present somewhat confusing variety of patterns of school and higher education should be ended. The other is the popular belief that the total period of the educational course and the duration of its different stages have a direct bearing on the quality of the education imparted. We have been repeatedly told that, if there is a uniformity in the educational pattern and an extension in the total period of schooling, it will be possible to bring about a general rise in the standards of attainment. These contentions are of considerable importance and merit close examination.
2.08 The Higher Secondary Pattern. It may be instructive in this connection to look briefly at the results of one serious effort made since Independence to carry out a plan for the reorganization of the educational structure. As a result of the Report of the Secondary Education Commission, a decision was taken to develop a national pattern of school classes covering eleven years-five years of lower primary, three years of upper primary and three years of higher secondary classes. This was to be followed by a three-year course for the first degree in arts and science and a further two-year course for the second degree. The upgrading of high schools in accordance with what is popularly known as the higher secondary pattern and the introduction of the three-year degree course in universities have been significant changes in the educational structure over the last ten years. But while the three-year degree course has been introduced everywhere except in the State of Uttar Pradesh 15 and the University of Bombay,
15 Excluding Central Universities.
48 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2.09
the same success has not attended the efforts to convert high schools into higher secondary schools. In spite of the offer of Central assistance, only five States have implemented the proposal so far, while the others have either not accepted it at all, or having decided to accept it in the first instance, have gone back on their earlier decision. Only about 25 per cent of the total number of secondary schools in the country were converted to the higher secondary pattern by the end of the third plan. Many of these conversions are purely notional in the sense that the necessary facilities in terms of teachers, libraries and laboratories have not yet been provided. What is particularly relevant to our discussion here is that no uniform pattern of school and college classes has emerged as a result of the reorganization and there is almost as great a variety of patterns today as there was when the scheme of reorganization was first launched. This will be seen from the data given in Table 2.1 and in the two charts on pages 50 and 51.
TABLE 2.1. PATTERN OF SCHOOL AND COLLEGE CLASSES IN DIFFERENT
STATES (1965-66)
Duration of stage in years
Lower Higher Higher First
State primary primary Secondary PUC secondary degree Total
Andhra Pradesh 5 3 3 1 4 3 15
Assam & Nagaland 5 3 4 1 5 3 16
Bihar, Gujarat &
Maharashtra 7(a) 4 1 3(b) 15
Jammu & Kashmir,
Punjab, Rajasthan
& West Bengal 5 3 2 1 3 3 14
Kerala 4 3 3 2 3 15
Madhya Pradesh 5 3 3 3 14
Madras 5 3 3 1 3 15
Mysore 4 3 3 1 4 3 14
Orissa 5 2 4 1 3 15
Uttar Pradesh 5 3 2 2(c) 2 14
(a) Integrated primary course, there being no separate middle schools. (b) In the University of Bombay there is a two-year intermediate course followed by a two-year degree course.
(c) Refers to Intermediate colleges.
N.B. (1) In totalling up the duration of each stage, please include (i) Secondary and PUC or (ii) Higher Secondary, but not both.
(2) Among the Union Territories, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands have adopted the higher secondary pattern. The other Union Territories usually follow the pattern of the State with whose Secondary Board or Universities they coordinate their educational programmes (e.g., Himachal Pradesh follows Punjab).
2.09 Some witnesses who gave evidence before the Commission were of the view that the higher secondary pattern had not been given a fair trial. They believed that frequent changes of policy with regard
2.10 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM : STRUCTURE AND STANDARDS 49
to the educational structure were undesirable and that, instead of experimenting further with new patterns, it would be better to implement the higher secondary scheme itself more effectively all over the country. But a large majority were extremely critical of the scheme for the following reasons, among others:
(1) Specialization, which should not be introduced till after class X or the age of 16, begins too early in the pattern (after class IX or at the age of 13 or 14).
(2) The three-year integrated course in the higher secondary classes leads to a good deal of unnecessary and increase in expenditure, as a child, who might otherwise have stepped off into the world of work or a vocational course at the end of class V, is now forced to go up to class XI.
(3) The expectations that standards would improve as a result of the reorganization have not been generally realized. Qualified teachers are unwilling to work in higher secondary classes because of lower salaries, and even where salaries are equal, because of lower status. Moreover, for reasons other than educational, a number of high schools have been upgraded to the higher secondary pattern without any appreciable improvement in their accommodation and equipment or in the qualifications of their staff.
(4) The experiment which is costly in itself has led in certain areas to an increase in expenditure in other directions. For instance, it was found almost impossible in practice to downgrade an intermediate college to a higher secondary school, so that intermediate college had to be raised to the costlier degree Similarly, the decision to convert, over a period of time, all high schools to the higher secondary pattern created pressures. Even small rural high schools, which under the previous system would have been more efficient and economical as ten-class institutions, were upgraded to the higher secondary status and became both costly and less efficient.
2.10 Uniformity of Pattern. A number of different proposals for the reorganization of the educational structure were placed before the Commission. Most of these recommended a uniform pattern of school and college classes in all parts of the country. It may be pointed out in this connection that the Committee on Emotional Integration stated in their Report (1962) as follows:
We consider that in the overall interest of our student population there should be a common pattern of education in the country which will minimize confusion and coordinate and maintain standards. 4
50
51
52 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2.11
This view has been gaining considerable ground in recent years. The concept of a national system of education has been increasingly linked with the adoption of a uniform educational pattern, and a belief has grown that such uniformity is essential for raising standards.
2.11 We have recommended elsewhere16 certain steps that should be taken for the coordination of educational standards at the school stage in the different States. But we do not believe that it is necessary or desirable to impose a uniform pattern of school and college classes in all parts of the country. There are several characteristic features of the Indian situation, such as the vastness of the country and the immense diversity of local conditions and traditions, that demand a certain element of flexibility in the educational structure. We are aware of other national systems of education which have a variety of educational patterns. Even in a country of small size such as the United Kingdom, for example, the pattern in England (generally thirteen years of school education followed by a three-year course for the first degree) is different from that in Scotland (twelve years of school education followed by a four-year course for the first degree). In our country, where the different States are at unequal levels of development, a uniform pattern might be above the resources and real needs of the backward areas and below the capacity and requirements of the advanced areas and might operate to the disadvantage of both.
2.12 Lengthening the Duration of Schooling. A second popular demand that has been stressed in proposals for structural reorga- nization received by the Commission, is related to lengthening the total duration of school and higher education. This demand, it may be pointed out, is not related to the professional degrees such as engineering or medicine, the total duration of the study for which is not less than 16 years and is about the same as in most of the educa- tionally advanced countries. This demand 'only refers to the first degrees in arts and science, which are now taken four years after the matriculation or an equivalent examination (or three years after the higher secondary course of eleven years), and the contention put forward is that this duration should be lengthened to not less than five years after the matriculation (or four years after the higher secondary). This view, it must be pointed Out, accords with the thinking of several expert bodies on the subject. As far back as in 1919, the Calcutta University Commission proposed that the dividing line between the university and the secondary school should be drawn at the intermediate examination, which came after twelve years of education. Similarly, the University Education Commission (1948) recommended
16 Chapter X.
2.14 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM : STRUCTURE AND STANDARDS 53