that students should be admitted to the university after the completion of twelve years of study, and that the first degree course should be of three years' duration. According to the Committee on Emotional Integration (1962), the eleven-year period of school education was inadequate preparation for entrance to the university, and the lengthening of the course by one year was deemed necessary. At the conference of the State Education Ministers held in 1964, it was resolved that 'a twelve-year course of schooling before admission to the degree course was the goal towards which the country must work'. We are in full agreement with these recommendations.

2.13 Reorganization of the Educational Structure. The kind of reorganization suggested above, which involves a lengthening of the duration of school education, cannot obviously be effected within a short period. The vastness of the country and the variety of its edu- cational patterns make the task a formidable one, and the pressure of more urgent claims on the limited educational resources adds to the complexity of the problem. We recommend that the reorganization should be carried out through a phased programme spread over at least twenty years. The first step in this direction would be the abandon- ing of the present higher secondary pattern in which specialization begins in class IX, and the institution of a new higher secondary course beginning in class Xi. Along with this measure, which should be completed by the end of the Fourth Plan period, a systematic attempt should be made to transfer the pre-university course at present located in universities and affiliated colleges, where it tends to depress standards of higher education, to secondary schools, where it rightly belongs. The next step would be to lengthen the total duration by adding a year to the higher secondary course. All these measures are discussed in detail in a later section of this chapter.

2.14 We visualize a flexible educational structure covering

- a pre-school stage of one to three years; - a primary stage of seven or eight years divided into two sub-stages-a lower primary stage of four or five years and a higher Primary stage of three years

- a lower secondary or high school stage of three or two years in general education or of one to three years in voca- tional education;

- a higher secondary stage of two years of general education or one to three years of vocational education; - a higher education stage having a course of three years or more for the first degree, followed by courses of varying durations for the second or research degrees.

54 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2.15

The organization of pre-primary education is dealt with separately in Chapter VII. We shall now deal with details of the reorganization at the school and the higher education stages.

REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL EDUCATION

2.15 The First Ten Years. The primary and secondary schools will be of various types. The largest single group amongst them will consist of lower primary schools. A smaller number-about one in three-will provide education up to the end of the higher primary stage and these would necessarily include the lower classes. When the present higher secondary pattern is abandoned, most of the secondary schools-about three-fourths-would provide education up to class X and may begin at any convenient point lower down; and the remaining one- fourth will be higher secondary schools providing education up to university entrance. The existing position, however, is quite different from this and shows considerable variations in the structure of the school system until the public examination at the end of the lower secondary stage is reached. A reference to chart on page 55 shows that this external examination, which is known by different names but which we shall call the high school examination, comes after ten to twelve years: two States (Assam and Nagaland) have the examination after twelve years; six States (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Madras, Maharashtra and Orissa) have it after eleven years; and the remaining eight States (Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pra- desh,17 Mysore, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) have it after ten years. No systematic study has yet been made for comparing the standards of attainment of the candidates at the exami- nations held in the different regions. But these are broadly compara- ble and, for administrative purposes, all these examinations are regarded as equivalent.

2.16 It will be seen from the chart that in Assam and Nagaland, the first two classes are called A and B, and it is the next ten classes that are numbered consecutively as classes I to X. Since the Governments of the two States themselves seem to treat classes A and B as Infant classes and separate them from the other ten classes, the school stage leading to the high school examination in these States may be regarded as covering a period of ten years. In the six States which have an eleven-year school course, it is more appropriate to regard class I as a pre-primary class, particularly where the age of admission is less than six years. We believe that this pre-primary class is an advantage which

17 This examination is not held at present in Madhya Pradesh where all the schools are of the higher secondary status. But it is proposed to reintroduce it in 1967.

55

56 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2.17

these States possess. We recommend that they should try to retain it as such, organize the learning experiences therein on the play-way pattern rather than on the formal pattern, and extend it downwards, wherever possible, to cover a period of two years. We also suggest that the other eight States may try to provide pre-primary education of one year or more below class I to the extent possible, subject to the availability of financial resources.

2.17 As we visualize, (1) the first ten years of schooling, covering a. primary stage of seven or eight years and a lower secondary stage of three or two years, will provide a course of general education without any specialization;

(2) the primary stage will be Preceded, wherever possible, by pre-primary education of one to three years;

(3) the age of admission to class I will ordinarily be not less than 6+;

(4) at the end of the primary stage, a proportion of students will step off the school system and enter working life (about 20 per cent); some more will step out off the stream of general education into different vocational courses whose duration may range from one to three years (about 20 per cent); and those remaining will continue further in the stream of general education (about 60 per cent);

(5) the ten years of school education will be followed by all external examination;

(6) the standard at the end of the ten years will be broadly comparable in respect of curriculum and level of attainment to the national standard laid down for the end of this stage; (7) at the end of the ten years of school education, a proportion of students will step off the school system and enter working life (about 40 per cent); some more will step out off the stream of general education and enter vocational courses =duration will be one to three years (about 30 per cent); and those remaining will continue further in the stream of general education whose duration will be one, and ultimately two years (about 30 per cent).

2.18 Modifications of the Higher Secondary Pattern. We attach great significance to changes that have to be made in the existing higher secondary pattern in the light of the proposals for reorganization made above.

(1) As has already been stated, the system of 'streaming' in schools of general education, which now begins in class IX, should be given up and no attempt at specialization should be made till after class X. This will need a considerable reorganization of the existing curricula of the higher secondary schools.

2.19 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM : STRUCTURE AND STANDARDS 57

(2) The idea that every secondary school should be raised to the higher secondary status should also be abandoned. It has been possible to upgrade all the high schools in Delhi because it is a metropolitan area. Such wholesale conversion of schools has also been carried out in Madhya Pradesh; but the cost has been very heavy in terms of deterioration of standards as well as of financial outlays. In a country where rural areas predominate, it is unwise to try to raise every high school to the higher secondary status. We visualize, as a permanent feature of the educational system, secondary schools of two types: high schools providing the ten-year course described above, and higher secondary schools which in due course will offer a twelve- year course of education. With a view to concentrating resources and raising standards effectively, it is only the bigger and better type of high school that should be upgraded. If one-fourth of the total number of high schools were raised to the higher secondary status, they would meet all the needs of the situation, even on the assumption that there would be no pre-university courses in the colleges in the future. An essential requirement is that the institutions should be large, centrally located and equitably distributed between the urban and the rural areas. It would also be desirable to review the status of all existing higher secondary schools, and where these are too small and uneconomic or of very poor quality, they may be reconverted into high schools.

(3) There should be, as a rule, no integrated course of studies beginning with class IX. Classes IX and X will now form part of the first ten years of general education, and classes XI and XII (and during the transitional period, class XI only), which will provide for specialized studies in different subjects at the higher secondary stage, will become an independent, self-contained unit like the Sixth Form in England.

(4) There will be an external examination at the end of class X to mark the termination of the first ten years of general education. Therefore, a student studying in a ten-year high school will have to appear for two external examinations at the end of classes X and XI-at the interval of one year. This handicap will be removed with the extension of the higher secondary course to two years.

(5) Existing higher secondary schools with a well-organized integrated course in classes IX to XI may be permitted to carry on, if they so desire, with such a course until they add class XII. It will not be obligatory for the students of such schools to appear for an examination at the end of class X. They may take one final examination at the end of class XI or take it in two parts at the end of classes X and XI.

2.19 Vocational Courses at the End of the Primary Stage. It has been stated above that about 20 per cent of the students will

58 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2.20

leave the educational system and join working life at the end of the primary stage and that about an equal proportion will step off from the stream of general education and join vocational courses. It will be necessary to provide adequate facilities for suitable forms of vocational education, either on a part-time or on a full-time basis, for these students. This problem will be discussed in greater detail elsewhere.18

2.20 Courses Corresponding to the Higher Secondary Stage. The name, duration, location and control of courses corresponding to the higher secondary stage vary from State to State. In Uttar Pradesh, the course is designated as 'Intermediate' and the duration is two years. It is located either in the top classes of secondary schools or in the bottom classes of degree colleges. and its academic control is vested in the Board of High School and Intermediate Examinations. In Kerala,, the course is provided in institutions called 'Junior Colleges', which are sometimes independent and sometimes attached to affiliated colleges, and its control vests with the university. In Madhya Pradesh, where all secondary schools have been raised to the higher secondary pattern, there is no course at this stage outside the higher secondary schools. In States where the higher secondary pattern is adopted but all high schools have not been raised to the higher secondary status, the stage is provided as class XI in the higher secondary schools and pre-university courses in colleges. All other States provide a pre-university course exclusively located in colleges and controlled by the universities.

2.21 In discussing the proposed reorganization of the educational structure, we pointed out that two main reforms were needed at this stage:

- the transfer of the pre-university courses from the universities and the colleges to the schools; and - the lengthening of the duration of the courses of general education uniformly to two years.

In our view, the simpler and more efficient way of carrying out these reforms would be to take up their implementation in two successive stages. In the first stage, the pre-university, intermediate or junior college courses should be transferred from higher education to school education in a period of ten years (1966-75); in the second, their duration should be lengthened, in situ as it were, in a fifteen- year period beginning with the Fifth Plan (1971-85).

2.22 Transfer of the Pre-University Course. We attach great significance to the location, exclusively in the schools, of all the courses that form part of higher secondary education. When the higher

18 Chapter VII

2.23 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM : STRUCTURE AND STANDARDS 59

secondary pattern was first recommended, the pre-university course was introduced only as a transitional measure. Unfortunately, the transition threatens to become permanent, and even today about 40 per cent of the total enrolment in the universities and affiliated colleges is in the intermediate or pre-university courses. This is a great evil from all points of view. It is bad for the universities and colleges as their resources and energies are being improperly utilized and even wasted in doing what is essentially the work of secondary schools. It is bad for the secondary schools because they are weakened by being deprived of a stage which could give them good teachers and facilities, with the result that they are obliged to do a good deal of work which ought to have been done at the primary stage. It is bad for the students because they are now required to enter universities at too early an age, and compelled to learn through methods of higher education which are beyond their capacity and more suited to maturer students. We, therefore, strongly recommend that the pre-university course, irrespective of its duration, should first be transferred to the school on a high priority basis-this transfer to be completed by the end of the Fifth Five Year Plan at the latest.

2.23 The following measures may be adopted to bring about this transfer:

(1) The responsibility for transferring all pre-university or intermediate work from the universities and affiliated colleges should be placed on the University Grants Commission, which should be asked to prepare a phased programme, to be spread over not more than ten years, for the purpose. A beginning should be made with the universities and the postgraduate colleges which should be required to shed this work as soon as practicable. This policy should then be extended to degree colleges, where the enrolments at this stage should be frozen at a certain time, after which the colleges would be required to taper them off as their enrolments at the undergraduate stage begin to grow. Beyond the Fourth Plan, the opening of new pre-university or inter- mediate classes in the universities and affiliated colleges should not be permitted. The University Grants Commission and the State Governments should be requested to reduce gradually their allotment of funds earmarked for this stage of education and to stop them completely by the end of the Fifth Plan.

(2) While these steps are being taken, arrangements should be made to start the higher secondary class or classes in selected schools. The responsibility for making these arrangements should be placed on the State Education Departments, which should work out a proper programme for the purpose in consultation with the