 PRINCIPAL RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
 EDUCATION COMMISSION

A. Education and National Objectives

Education and National Development: The most important and urgent reform needed in education is. to relate it to the life, needs and aspirations of the people and thereby make it a powerful instrument of social, economic and cultural transformation necessary for realisation of the national goal. For this purpose the following fivefold programme has been suggested:

(a) Relating education to productivity;

(b) Strengthening social and national integration through educational programmes;

(d) Development of social, moral and spriritual values; and

(e) Modernisation of society through awakening of curiosity, development of attitudes and values and building up certain essential skills.

(a) Education and Productivity: The following programmes are needed to relate productivity to education:

(i) Science education should be an integral part of school education and ultimately become a part of all courses at University stage;

(ii) Work experience to become an integral part of all education;

(iii) Every effort should be made to orient work experience to, technology and industrialisation and the application of science to productive processes, including agriculture; and

(iv) Vocationalisation of secondary education and agricultural and technical education to be emphasized.

(b) Social and National Integration: The following steps have been suggested to strengthen national consciousness and unity:

(i) Adoption of a common school system of public education as the national goal and its effective implementation in a phased programme spread over 20 years;

(ii) Organisation of social and national service programmes concurrently with academic studies in schools and colleges and to make them obligatory for all students at all stages;

(iii) Participation in programmes of community development and national reconstruction should be an integral part of all education from the primary to the undergraduate stage;

(iv) Continuance of N.C.C. on its present basis till the end of the Fourth Five Year Plan;

(v) Development of an appropriate language policy for the education system;

(vi) Adoption of regional language as the medium of instructions;

(vii) Energetic action for production of books and literature, particularly scientific and technical, in regional languages This should be the responsibility of universities-assisted by U. G. C.

(viii) Continuance of the use of English as the medium of instructions in the All-India institutions. The eventual adoption of Hindi to be considered in due course subject to certain safeguards;

(ix) Regional languages to be made language of administration for the regions concerned at the earliest possible time;

(x) Continuation of the promotion of the teaching and study of English right from-the school stage. Special attention to be given to the study of Russian;

(xi) English language to serve as a link-language in higher education for academic work and intellectual inter-communication. Hindi to serve as the link language of the majority of our people and also adoption of all measures for the spread of Hindi in non-Hindi areas;

(xii) Combining two modern Indian languages at the B.A. and M.A. level; and EDUCATION ABSTRACTS SECTION

(xiii) Promotion of national consciousness through the promotion of understanding and re-valuation of our cultural heritage and the creation of a strong driving faith in the future towards which we aspire.

(i) Provision of free and compulsory education of good quality for all children upto the age of 14 years as envisaged in Art. 45 of the Constitution;

(ii) Promotion of programmes of adult education aiming not only at liquidation of illiteracy, but also at raising the civic and vocational efficiency and general cultural level of the citizens;

(iii) Training of efficient leadership at all levels by expanding secondary and higher education and providing equal opportunities for all children of merit and promise, irrespective of economic status, caste, religion, sex or place of residence; and

(iv) Development of a scientific mind and outlook, tolerance, concern for public interest and public service, self-discipline, self reliance, initiative, and a positive attitude to work.

(d) Social, Moral and Spiritual Values: The education system should emphasise the development of fundamental, social, moral and spiritual values. From this point of view the Centre and State Governments should adopt measures to introduce education in moral, social and spiritual values in all institutions under their (or local authority) control on the lines recommended by the University Education Commission and the Committees on Religious and Moral Instruction.

(e) Education and Modernisation: The following has been sug- gested in this regard:

(i) Awakening of curiosity, the development of proper interest, attittudes and values and the building up of such essential skills as independent study and capacity to think and judge for oneself; and

(ii) Creation of an intelligentsia of adequate size and compentence. *1

1* Report of the Education, Commission. op. cit pp. 6-21.

B. The Educational System: Structure and Standard

(1) Stages in Education and their Inter-relationship: In this regard the following has been suggested:

(i) The new educational system should consist of (a) one to three years of pre-schools education; (b) a primary stage of 7 to 8 years divided into lower primary stage of 4 to 5 years and a higher primary stage of 3 or 2 years; (c) a lower secondary stage of 3 or 2 years; (d) a higher secondary stage of two years of general education or one to 3 years of vocational education; (e) a higher education stage having a course of 3 years or more for the first degree and followed by course for the second or research degree of varying durations;

(ii) Age of admission to Class I ordinary not to be less than 6;

(iii) First public examination to come at the end of 10 years of schooling;

(iv) Secondary schools should be of two types-high schools providing a ten-year course and higher secondary schools providing a course of 11 to 12 years;

(v) New Higher Secondary course beginning in Class XI and XII to provide specialised subjects; and

(vi) Transfer of the Pre-University Course from the Universities and affiliated colleges to-secondary schools by 1975-76 and the duration of the course to be lengthened to two years by 1985-86. The University Grants Commission should be responsible for effecting the transfer of all pre-university or intermediate work from university and affilitated colleges to schools.

(2) Reorganisation of the University Stage: The following has been recommended in this respect:

(i) Duration of the first degree should not be less than three years and the duration of the second degree to be 2 or 3 years;

(ii) Some universities should start graduate schools with 3 year Master Degree courses in certain subjects; and

(iii) Three-year special courses for the first degree which begin at the end of the first year of the present 3-year degree

courses should be started in selected subjects and in selected institutions.

(3) Utilisation of Facilities: The following methods have been suggested to make full utilisation of available facilities:

(i) Instructional days in the year to be increased to about 39 weeks for schools and 36 weeks for colleges and pre-primary schools; and

(ii) Standard calendar to be worked out by the Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission in consultation with the State Governments and Universities respectively. Other holidays to be cut down to 10 in a year. *2

C. Teacher Status

The Commission has emphasised that the most urgent need was to upgrade the remuneration of teachers substantially, particularly at the school stage, and recommended that the Government of India should lay down. for the school stage, minimum scales of pay for teachers and assist the States and Union Territories to adopt equivalent or higher scales to suit their conditions. Scales of pay of school teachers belonging to the same category but working under different managements such as government, local bodies -- private managements should be the same. *3

D. Teacher Education

The professional preparedness of teachers being crucial for the qualitative improvement of education, the Commission has urged hat this should be treated as a key-area in educational development and adequate financial provision should be made for it. It further recommended:

(i) In order to make the professional preparation of teachers effective, teacher education must 'be brought into the mainstream of the academic life of the Universities, on the one hand, and of the school life and educational development, on the other;

2 Ibid pp. 23-45.

3 Ibid PP. 46-66.

The Commission proposed certain scales of Pay for teachers to be implemented in a phased programme over a period of five years.

(ii) The quality of the programme of teacher education should be improved:

(iii) New professional courses should be developed to orientate headmasters teachers educators and educational administrators to their special field of work;

(iv) The post-graduate courses in education should be flexible and be planned to promote an academic and scientific study of education and to prepare personnel for special fields of education requiring special knowledge and initiation; and

(v) Improvement of teacher education institutions and expansion of training facilities should be undertaken. *4

E. Towards Equalisation of Educational Opportunity

Observing that every attempt should be made to equalise edu- cational opportunities or at least to reduce some of the most glaring inequalities which now exist the Commission has stressed the need for the following programmes:

(i) The development of a common school system of public education in which no fees would be charged, where access to good schools will be open to all children on the basis of merit, and where the standard maintained would be high enough to make the average parent feel no need to send his child to an independent institution;

(ii) The development of adequate programmes of student- Service at all stages which will include free supply of books and writing materials at the primary stage. the provision of book banks and text-books libraries in all institutions of secondary and higher education, the provision of transport. day-study centres or hostels, and the institution of guidance facilities and health services;

(iii) The development of a large programme of scholarships at all stages and in all sectors combined with a programme of placement and maintenance of quality institutions, to ensure that the brighter children at least will have access to good education and that their further education will not be handicapped on economic grounds;

4 Ibid., pp. 67-89.

(iv) Special encouragement to the education of girls and the backward classes;

(v) The reduction of imbalances in educational development between the different parts of the country- districts and States; and

(vi) The development of a comparatively small but effective programme for the education of the handicapped children.*5

F. School Education Curriculum

(1) Essentials of Curricular Improvement For the improvement and upgrading of school curricula, the following measures have been suggested:

(1). Essentials of Curricular Improvement: For the improvement taken by university Departments of Education, training, colleges, State Institutes of Education and Boards of School Education; (b) Revision of curricula should be based on such research; (c) Basic to the success of any attempt at curriculum improvement is the preparation of text-books and teaching-learning materials; and (d) The orientation of teachers to the revised curricula through in-service be achieved through seminars and refresher courses.

(ii) Schools should be given the freedom to devise and experiment with new curricula suited to their needs. A lead should be given in the matter of training colleges and universities through their experimental schools;

(iii) Advanced curricula should be prepared by State Boards of School Education in all subjects and introduced in a phased manner in schools which fulfil certain conditions of staff and facilities;

(iv) The formation of Subject Teachers' Associations for the different school subjects will help to stimulate experimentation and in upgrading of curricula.

(2) Study of Languages: The following has been suggested for the study of languages at school stage:

(i) The language study at the school stage needs review and a new policy requires to be formulated particularly in view of the fact that English has been mostly used as an associated official language of the country for an indefinite period:

(ii) The modification of the language formula should be guided by the following principles:

(a) Hindi as the official language of the Union enjoys an importance next only to that of the mother tongue.

(b) A workable knowledge of English will continue to be an asset to student.

(c) The proficiency gained in a language depends as much upon the types of teachers and facilities as upon the length of time in which it is learnt.

(d) The most suitable stage for learning these languages is the lower secondary (Classes VIII-X).

(e) The introduction of two additional languages should be staggered.

(f) Hindi or English should be introduced at a point where there is greatest motivation and need.

(g) At no stage should the learning of four languages be made compulsory.

(3) Three Language Formula : The modified Three-Language Formula should include the following:

(i) The mother-tongue or the regional language;

(ii) The official language of the Union or the associate official language of the Union so long as it exists; and

(iii) A modern Indian or Foreign Language not covered under (a) and (b) and other than that used as the medium of instruction. *6

G. Educational Administration and Supervision

A sympathetic and imaginatve system of superivsion and admi- nistration is essential for initiating and accelerating educational reform. Educational administration should, therefore, be improved and strengthened through programmes like the following: