SCHOOL EDUCATION : ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION
10.01 In this chapter on school education, we deal with problems of super-vision and administration, especially from the point of view of improving standards. A sympathetic and imaginative system of supervision and administration can initiate and accelerate educational reform. On the other hand, a rigid bureaucratic approach can stifle all experimentation and creativity and make any educational reconstruction almost impossible.
10.02 Essential Reforms. If the administration and supervision of school education is to be improved, a number of far- reaching reforms will have to be carried out. Among these, the following may be mentioned:
- A common school system of public education should be evolved in place of the present system which divides the management of schools between a large number of agencies whose functioning is inadequately coordinated.
- A nation-wide programme of school improvement should be organized with three objectives: (a) to raise all schools at least to a minimum prescribed level; (b) to assist every school to rise to the highest level of which it is capable; and (c) during the next ten years, to raise at least ten per cent of the institutions to an optimum standard.
- The offices of the District Educational Officers should be strengthened and the existing techniques of supervision should be replaced by new methods which emphasize guidance, objective evaluation and provision of extension services.
-The State Institutes of Education should be strengthened.
- State Boards of School Education and State Evaluation Organizations should be established at the State level- accompanied by the creation of a corresponding machinery at the national level-to stimulate a continuous improvement in standards and to assess them periodically.
- The Central Government should develop a large programme in the Centrally sponsored sector to assist in the improvement of standards at the school stage.
We shall discuss these major reforms in the order given above.
10.04 SCHOOL EDUCATION : ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION 447
THE COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 10.03 The Present Position. At present, schools are managed by three agencies: government, local authorities and voluntary organizations. The latest available statistics regarding these are for the year 1960-61 and are given in Table 10.1.
TABLE 10.1 SCHOOLS IN INDIA, BY TYPE OF MANAGEMENTS (1960-61)
Number of Institutions
Type of Schools
Government Local Privately Total
managed authority managed
managed
1. Pre-primary Schools 308 247 1,354 1,909
(16.2) (12.9) (70.9) (100.0)
2. Lower Primary Schools 72,380 184,825 73,194 330,399
(21.9) (55.9) (22.2) (100.0)
3. Higher Primary Schools 9,695 26,481 13,486 49,662
(19.5) (53.4) (27.1) (100.0)
4. Secondary Schools 3,239 2,066 11,952 17,257
(18.8) (12.0) (69.2) (100.0)
5. Vocational Schools 1,729 39 2,377 4,145
(41.7) (0.9) (57.4) (100.0)
6. Special Schools 8,766 5,307 53,011 67,084
(13.1) (7.9) (79.0) (100.0)
TOTAL 96,117 218,965 155,374 470,456
(20.5) (46.5) (33.0) (100.0)
Source. Ministry of Education, Form A.
N.B. The figures in parentheses indicate percentages to total.
It will be seen that government institutions form only one-fifth of the total. The institutions conducted by the local authorities are the largest in number a little less than half of the total-and most of them are primary schools. The institutions run by private enterprise form about one-third of the total, and dominate pre-primary and post- primary education.
10.04 In so far as finances are concerned, the State supports not only its own institutions but also those of local authorities and voluntary organizations to a substantial extent. In fact, it may be said that the bulk of the expenditure on school education comes from State funds and fees, and that only a small and relatively less significant contribution is made by local authorities or private sources.
It will be seen from, Table 10.2 that most of the expenditure on
448 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 10.05
TABLE 10.2 EXPENDITURE ON SCHOOLS IN INDIA, BY MANAGEMENTS AND BY
SOURCES (1960-61)
Percentage of Total Expenditure Met from the Source
Concerned on Schools Conducted by
Source
Government Local Private Total
authority bodies
Government funds 94.3 68.1 48.2 67.5
Local Board funds 0.1 26.0 1.7 9.7
Fees 5.1 4.2 36.7 16.9
Other sources 0.5 1.7 13.4 5.9
TOTAL 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Source. Ministry of Education,Form A.
government institutions in 1960-61 was met from government funds (94.3 per cent) and fees (5.1 per cent). The local authorities received 68.1 per cent of their expenditure from government funds and their own contribution was only 26.0 per cent. Fees formed a minor source of their revenue (4.2 per cent) because most of their schools were primary. In private institutions, government grants accounted for 48.2 per cent and fees 36.6 per cent of the total expenditure.*104 Voluntary organizations contributed only a little more than one-eight of the total expenditure of the private institutions.
10.05 The Creation of the Common School System of Public Education. The main problem before the country is to evolve a common school system of public education which will cover all parts of the country and all stages of school education and Strive to provide equality of access to all children. This System will include all schools conducted by government and local authorities and all recognized and aided private schools. It should be maintained at an adequate level of quality and efficiency so that no parent would ordinarily feel any need to send his child to the institutions outside the system, such as independent or unrecognized schools. This is the goal which the country should strive to reach, and a number of steps will have to be taken for its early realization.
(1) The first is to ensure that the undesirable discrimination that now exists between teachers working under different managements- government, local authority and private organizations-should be
104* A large proportion of the fee receipts in private institutions is indirectly paid by the State itself through reimbursement in lieu of fee concessions and scholarships.
10.06 SCHOOL EDUCATION : ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION 449
done away with. This has been discussed more fully elsewhere;*105 and
we have recommended that
- all teachers should have equality of privileges irrespective of the different managements under whom they serve;
- teachers with similar qualifications and responsibilities should have a similar system of remuneration;
- there should be a uniform system of retirement benefits for all teachers;
- the conditions of work and service under the different types of managements should be similar; and
- the methods of recruitment of teachers in institutions of different categories should also be essentially similar.
2) The ultimate goal should be to provide tuition-free education at the school stage From this point of view, tuition fees will have to be abolished in a phased programme-fees at the primary stage being abolished by the end of the Fourth Plan and those at the lower secondary stage by the end of the Fifth Plan. This has been discussed more fully elsewhere. *106
(3) The roles of local bodies and private organizations in school education should be properly integrated with those of the State Governments to ensure that the minimum conditions necessary for the successful working of educational institutions are provided in every institution within the common system of public education irrespective of its management. For instance, every such institution should be intimately involved with its local community. Each should be regarded as an individuality and given adequate freedom. A continuous attempt should be made to develop each school to the best extent possible in accordance with a plan to be prepared and implemented jointly by the management, parents, teachers and students, and the Department; and every institution should be assured of adequate financial support to discharge its responsibilities to its student body.
(4) The neighbourhood school plan should be adopted as a step towards eliminating the segregation that now takes place between the schools for the poor and the underprivileged classes and those for the rich and the privileged ones.
it is these last two aspects that we shall now discuss in some detail.
10.06 Establishment of District School Boards. We attach great significance to the association of the local community with the development of education. We have, therefore, recommended elsewhere *107
105 Chapter III.
106 Chapter VI.
107 Chapter XVIII.
450 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 10.07
that a statutory local authority, to be called the District School Board, should be established in each district and that it should be in charge of all education below the university level in the district. This Board will have, under its direct control, all schools now conducted by government as well as by local authorities. In addition, it will also give grant-in-aid to private and aided schools within the district, on the recommendation of the District Educational Officer in whom is vested the authority to supervise and inspect schools. The School Board will be responsible for the planning and development of all school education in accordance with the directive given by the State Government from time to time. We have shown earlier *108 that there are immense differences in educational development between one district and another. We believe that the creation of such a statutory authority for each district would greatly assist in reducing these differences. Each State Government should prepare plans for creating this machinery in accordance with its own local conditions and traditions.
10.07 Government and Local Authority Schools. Some problems of schools under the management of government and local authorities deserve notice. Government institutions, for instance, have certain advantages, such as good financial support, good system of remuneration and retirement benefits and security of tenure for their teachers, and a fairly adequate provision of other physical facilities. In spite of all these assets, however, most government schools show, an average performance; and though some of them rise above the average, very few qualify for the top places in the school system. This is so because of several reasons. The average government school is isolated from its community, and sometimes even indifferent to it. The over-security of service creates an atmosphere of complacency and lethargy, especially because the conduct and discipline rules are such that it is difficult to reward merit, and even more so, to punish slackness. The teachers are recruited, not to individual institutions, but to a cadre and are frequently transferred from one institution to another. Consequently, they do not ordinarily develop loyalty to any individual institution. They also have the minimum academic freedom and are hampered by rules and regulations at every step. The local authority schools also suffer from all these disadvantages. They have one compensating asset, namely, that they are more closely involved with their community. In practice, however, this generally proves to be not an asset, but a disadvantage, because their teachers are often harassed through postings and transfers and become involved in local politics and factions. A programme is, therefore, needed to overcome these weaknesses of
108 Chapter VI.
10.08 SCHOOL EDUCATION : ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION 451
government and local authority schools, so that the country can get an adequate return for the comparatively large investment it makes in these schools.
10.08 For this purpose we make the following recommendations:
(1) There should be a School Committee to look after every government or local authority school (or all the government and local authority schools in given area, such as a village panchayat or a town municipality). Such a committee will bring these schools closer to their local communities. Half the members of these committees should be elected by the local authority in charge of the area-village panchayat or municipality-and the remaining should be persons interested in education, nominated by the District School Boards. The functions of these committees will include, among other things, the following:
(a) Responsibility for securing proper accommodation and construction and maintenance of school buildings, school gardens, children's parks and playgrounds;
(b) Provision of equipment;
(c) Distribution of books and writing materials to children;
(d) Grant of uniforms, scholarships and prizes;
(e) Enforcement of compulsory education within the area; Assisting in the organization of extra-curricular activities and in building up a close relationship between the schools and the community;
(g) Provision of midday meals;
(h) Securing residential accommodation for teachers; and
(i) Generally taking all such measures as will help in improving school education within the area.
Each school committee should have a fund of its own for the proper discharge of its responsibilities. This fund, which may be designated as the School Fund, will consist of (a) amounts placed at its disposal by the municipality or the village panchayat in the area; (b) donations and contributions voluntarily made by the parents and local community from time to time; and (c) a grant-in-aid given by the District School Board to stimulate local collections under (a) and (b) on some basis of equalization, i.e. a larger grant-in-aid being given to the poor areas while the richer ones may get a smaller one or none.
The entire proceeds of the fund should be locally available for the development of such services in the schools as would supplement the effort made by the District School Board.
It is evident that all school committees will not be equally efficient. The system to be designed should, therefore, be elastic. School committees that are functioning well should be given more powers and
452 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 10.09
more funds. The powers of those which are not working efficiently may be curtailed.
If properly developed, this programme would make the local communities vie with one another in improving their schools, and their efforts should be a good supplement to those of the District School Board itself.