NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION : REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
The Committee of Members* of Parliament on Education was constituted by the Government of India on 5th April, 1967, with the following terms of reference:
(i) To consider the Report of the Education Commission;
(ii) To prepare the draft of a statement on the Nation Policy on Education for the consideration of Government of India; and
(iii) To identify a programme for immediate action.
The Committee scrutinized only the major recommendations the Education Commission along with the comments of the State Governments and others thereon.
The Committee's general approach to the problem differed from that of the Commission in three important ways. First, the Committee did not accept the recommendations of the Commission for the creation of five or six 'major' universities or for upgrading per cent of the institutions at all levels to optimum standards. The Committee believed that better results could be obtained if effort were made to maintain at least the minimum standards in all institutions and offer special additional assistance, on the basis of prop criteria, to those institutions which show high level of performance and promise. Secondly, the Committee placed a greater emphasise on expansion of facilities than the Commission had done, especial at the school stage. The Committee therefore, did not agree to the Commission's proposal that a system of selective admission should be adopted at the higher' secondary and undergraduate stages. The Committee suggested methods, for diverting a large proportion
* The Committee consisted of Sarvashri R. K. Amin, Bhagwat Jha Aza K. Anbazhagan, Anup Singh, A. E. T. Barrow; R. D. Bhanda A. K. Chanda, T. Chengalvaroyan, V. M. Chordia, Dinkar Desai, Digvi Nath; R.R. Diwakar; S.N. Dwivedy; S.M. Joshi; Kamla Kumari; CM. K. aria; M.R. Krishna; Hiren Mukherjee; Bal Raj Madhok; Tarkeshwar Pan ;Dahyabhai V. Patel; Sadiq Ali; Anant Tripathi Sarma; D.C. Sharma; M ho Ram Sharma; Sher Singh; avitri Shyam; Ganga Sharn Singh; Trigu Sen; S.K. Vaishampayen.
60
61
students into different walks of life at the end of the higher secondary stage which will necessarily reduce pressures on access to higher education. But the Committee desired that every effort should be made to provide admission to institutions of higher education to all eligible students who desire to study further. Thirdly, the Committee did not favour several recommendations of the Commission whose main objective was to create certain new administrative structures or changes in the existing ones. In the opinion of the Committee, such programmes will lead to increasing bureaucratisation and increase in unproductive expenditure.
Subject to the above observations, the Committee accepted several of the major recommendations of the Commission, some with modifications or changes in priority. The Committee also added new recommendations in certain areas where the ground was not fully covered by the Report of the Commission.
The Committee's decisions have been incorporated in a Statement on the National Policy on Education together with a programme for immediate action. Nine members have however accepted the Statement subject to their Minutes of Dissent' particularly on the language issue. neighbourhood. schools, lack of provision for religious education, co-education and concessions, to "Nav Boudhas" (neo- Buddhists). The following is the summary of the "Statement."
A. National Policy on Education Education is a powerful instrument of national development social, economic and cultural. The highest priority should therefore be accorded to the development of a national system of education which will-
-accelerate the transformation of the existing social system into a new one based on the principles of justice, equality. liberty and dignity of the individual. enshrined in the Constitution of India;
-provide adequate and equal opportunity to every child and help him to develop his personality to its fullest;
-make the rising generation conscious of the fundamental unity of the country in the midst of her cultural heritage and confident of her great future: and
-emphasize science and. technology and the cultivation of moral social and spiritual values.
* For Excerpts from the Minutes of Dissent, see Appendix III. 830(E)LS-5.
62
(A) TRANSFORMATION OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM From this point of view, the most important and urgent reform needed is to transform the existing system of education in order to strengthen national unity, promote social integration, accelerate economic growth and generate moral, social and spiritual values.
Strengthening National Unity Education should deepen national consciousness, promote proper understanding and appreciation of our cultural heritage and inspire a faith and confidence in the great future which we can forge for ourselves. These objectives should be achieved by carefully planned study of Indian languages, literature, philosophy and history and by introducing students to India's achievements in the positive sciences, architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance and drama.
All students should be given a appropriate courses in citizenship These should include a study of the Freedom Struggle, the Consti- tution, the principles enshrined in its Preamble and the problems and programmes of national development.
National and social services, including participation in meaning- ful and challenging programmes of community services or national reconstruction, should be made an integral part of education at all stages; and suitable projects for this purpose should be designed and carried out in the context of local conditions and available resources.
Efforts should be made to promote greater knowledge understanding and appreciation of the different regions of India by including their study in the curricula; by the exchange of students and teachers and by giving them opportunities and facilities for educational and study. tours; and by the maintenance of all-India institutions which bring together students from different regions.
Curricular and co-curricular programmes should include the study of humanism based on mutual appreciation of international cultural values and the growing solidarity of mankind.
The Neighbourhood School
To strengthen social unity and to provide equality of opportunity to the less advanced sections of the society, the unhealthy social segregation should be ended and the primary schools should be made the common schools of the nation by making it obligatory on all children, irrespective of caste, creed, community religion,
63
economic condition or social status, to attend the primary school in their neighbourhood. In implementing the programme, the rights of linguistic minorities should not be adversely affected, and the transition to the new pattern should be carefully planned and implemented with a view to improving amenities and standards of all schools.
The development of a proper language policy can greatly assist in strengthening national unity. The key programme win be to develop all Indian languages and to adopt them as media of education at all stages. Unless this is done, the creative energies of the people will not be released, standards of education will not improve, knowledge will not spread to the people, and the gulf between the intelligentsia and the masses will continue to widen. This changeover should be brought about in five years. In implementing this reform, the following important points will have to be kept in view:
(a) All-India institutions (i.e., those which admit students from all regions of the country) should use Hindi and English as media of education, having regard to the needs of students. Admission to these institutions should be so planned that students educated through any Indian language are not at any disadvantage.
(b) The work of devising scientific and technical terminology should be expeditiously completed. This terminology should be adopt/adapted in all Indian languages.
(c) Steps should be taken side by side to ensure that students who have been educated through the medium of Indian languages are not deprived of opportunities of good employment. These would include the adoption of Indian languages for all administrative 'purposes in the States and their use in the UPSC examinations.
(d) Adequate safeguards should be provided for linguistic minorities.
(e) A large-scale programme for the production of necessary literatures in all Indian languages should be developed. This should be implemented mainly through the universities but should be centrally planned, coordinated and financed. The objective should be to produce, within
64
five years, most of the textbooks required for this programme in all subjects and at all levels.
For the teaching of languages, the following principles should. be kept in view:
Classes I-X: The parent has a right to claim primary education in the mother tongue of his child. Every effort should be made to meet this demand. At the secondary stage, the regional language should ordinarily be the medium of education.
Only one language, viz., the medium of education, should ordi- narily be studied in the first sub-stage of school education covering four or five years. Facilities should be provided, on an optional basis, for the study of regional language when it does not happen to be medium of education. A second language should be introduced, on a compulsory basis, ordinarily at the beginning of the next substages This may preferably be a language included in Schedule VIII, of the Constitution, or English or any other language; the study of this language should be continued till the end of Class X. A pupil may begin the study, at his option, of any third language, ordinarily from Class VIII provided that a pupil who has not studied either Hindi or English in the earlier classes shall be under an obligation to study one of these two languages at this sub-stage. However, it is desirable that pupil should, before he completes his school education, acquire some knowledge of three languages-regional language/mother tongue, Hindi, and English or any other language.
Classes XI-XII: At this sub-stage, a pupil shall study at least one language of his choice in addition to the medium of education.
University Stage: While facilities to study languages, on an optional basis, should be adequately provided at the university stage, the study of no language should be made compulsory unless such study is an essential part of a prescribed course.
In practice, Hindi is already largely in use a link language for the country. The educational system should contribute to the accele- ration of this process in order to facilitate the movement of students and teachers and to strengthen national unity. The special emphasis on the study of Hindi is also justified on account of the fact that it will become the sole official language in the future when the non-
65
Hindi areas accept it as such. It is also recognized as one of the official languages of UNESCO, signifying its importance as one of the major languages of wide dissemination in the world.
Facilities for teaching of Sanskrit at the school should be provided on a liberal scale and its study encouraged. Its wide study at the collegiate stage should also be ensured. The traditional system of Sanskrit learning should be encouraged.
With a view to accelerating economic growth, science education and research should be developed on a priority basis. Science and mathematics should be an integral part of general education till the end of Class X; the quality of science teaching should be improved at all stages and scientific research should be promoted, particularly in the universities, and related closely to the development of agri- culture and industry. In order that the Government of India should have competent, impartial and objective advice on science research policy, the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet should include, not only the heads of major agencies concerned with scienti- fic research, but also economists, social scientists, industrialists and distinguished persons from public life including social workers. The Committee should carry out, from time to time, objective studies of the investments made in scientific research and the results obtained.
Great emphasis should be placed on the development of education for agriculture and industry. In each State there should be at least one agricultural university which will develop integrated programmes of research, extension and training, and where necessary, strong agricultural faculties should be established in other universities. Agricultural polytechnics providing different courses needed for agricultural or agro-industrial development should be established.
In technical education, programmes of qualitative improvement Should be stressed. Practical training in industry should form an integral part of the various courses. The existing institutions for the education of engineers should be consolidated and strengthened with special emphasis on the provision of project work to be done by the students who should also be initiated into the methodology of research by diversifying the courses and offering suitable electives. Both technical education and research should be related close-
66
ly to industry, encouraging the flow of personnel both ways and continuous cooperation in the provision, design and periodical review of training programmes and facilities. Government should give all encouragement and assistance to industry for starting research and training programmes within the industry.
The formation of character should receive due emphasis in the total process of education which must contribute significantly to the moulding of the outlook and values of the youth and the strengthening of its moral fibre.
(B) EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
The provision of good and effective primary education, on a free and compulsory basis, should be given the highest priority and im- plemented in two stages. In the first stage, universal education should be provided for all children till they reach the age of eleven years: and in the second. this age-limit should be raised to fourteen
Primary education should be made immediately free in all parts of the country and facilities, for it should be universalized within five years, i.e. a primary school should be available within a walking distance from the home of every child. Intensive efforts should be made to enrol girls and children from the weaker sections of the community through parental education and incentives. Strenuous efforts should be made to reduce wastage and stagnation and to ensure that every child enrolled in schools passes regularly from class to class and remains in school till he completes the primary course.
At the State level, special assistance should be made available to under-developed areas for the expansion and improvement of Primary education and the Government of India should make special assistance available to the less advanced States.
It will be advantageous to have a broadly uniform educational structure in all parts of the country. The first step is to create the
Ten-year School Providing a common pattern of general education for all children. The standard to be reached at the end of this stage should be broadly similar to that which is now reached at the secon- dary school-leaving certificate examination. The division of this stage into sub-stages-lower primary, higher Primary and lower
67
secondary-should not be rigid and should allow for variation neces- sitated by local conditions.
There should be a common course of general education for all students at this stage. This will include language(s), science and mathematics, social studies (which at later stages will be studied as separate disciplines of geography, history and civics), work experi- ence, social or national service, physical and health education and education in moral and social values. There need also be no essential differentiation between the curricula for boys and girls.
The national policy should be ultimately to make this period of ten years free and compulsory for all children. This will be achieved in stages, beginning with making lower secondary education tution-free and providing facilities for it in all areas. For those who leave school at the end of the primary stage and desire to learn some vocational skills, suitable course of varying durations from one to three years-should be provided, both on full-time and part-time basis.
The duration of the academic course at the higher secondary star (or the pre-university) stage should be uniformly raised to two years in all parts of the country under a phased plan. The curriculum should include two langauges, three subjects selected from a prescribed list, work-experience and social service, physical and health education, and education in moral and social values. The academic control of this stage should be entrusted to a single autho- rity in each State on which the universities should have adequate representation.
The duration of the vocational courses at this stage should vary according to their objectives (1-3 years). They should cover a larger number of fields such as agriculture, industry, trade and commerce, medicine and public health, home management, arts and crafts, education, secretariat training, etc.
Education at this stage should be largely terminal so that a majority of students who complete class XII enter walks of life. From this point of view, the recruitment to the lower administrative services and posts should ultimately be made from amongst those who have completed the higher secondary stage and recruitment of graduates to these posts should be discouraged by prescribing a lower age for appointment.
88
The duration of the courses for the first degree in arts, commerce and science should be three years after the higher secondary stage.
Immediate and effective steps should be taken to reorganize courses and to revise and upgrade curricula at the university stage. The link between the subjects taken at the school stage and those at the first degree should be less rigid and combinations of subjects permissible for the first and the second degrees should be more elas- tic than in generally the case at present. Special efforts are also needed to promote inter-disciplinary studies.
The universities should define the conditions for eligibility for admission to different courses at the undergraduate stage, ineligible students being allowed to re-appear at the relevant examination to earn eligibility. Similarly, the number of full-time students to be admitted to each college or department of a university should be determined with reference to teachers and facilities available. Ade- quate resources should however be provided to ensure that all eligible students who desire to study further get admission to higher education; and in order to secure social justice, some allowances should be made for the environmental handicaps of students from rural areas, from urban slums and from the weaker sections of the community.
Part-time and own-time education should be developed on a large scale at every stage and in all sectors and given the same status as full-time education.
As the liquidation of mass illiteracy is essential, for quickening the tempo of national development in general, plans to accelerate the spread of literacy should therefore be prepared and intensively implemented on several fronts. With a view to reducing new additions to the ranks of adult illiterates, part-time literacy classes should be organized for grown-up children (age-group 11-17) who did not attend school or have lapsed into illiteracy. All employees in large commercial, industrial and other concerns should be made functionally literate within a prescribed period of their employment and a lead in this direction should be given by the industrial plants in public sector. Similarly, teachers, students and educational institutions should be actively involved in literacy campaigns, especial-
69
ly as a part of the social or national service programme. The achievement of literacy should be sustained by the provision of attractive reading materials and library services to the new literates.
Adult or continuing education should be developed through fact- lities for part-time or own-time education and through the expansion and Improvement of library services, educational broadcasting and television.
The education of girls should receive special emphasis and the funds required for its advancement should be provided on a priority basis. Suitable measures for speedy implementation should be devised particularly taking into account the needs of the rural areas. The appointment of women teachers should be encouraged at all stage and especially primary stage.
It is necessary to expand and extend the existing special educa- tional facilities and concessions to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes including Nav Bouddhas converted from the scheduled castes whose social and economic conditions and position continue to remain unchanged. Special efforts in affording,financial relief and some reference for admission to good institutions at all levels will be necessary.
The education of the tribal people also needs more intensive efforts. Special measures are necessary, emphasis being placed on Ashram schools, the development of carefully trained cadres of workers for tribal areas, ultimately derived from the tribals themselves and simultaneous development of programmes for their economic improvement.
'Backwardness' should be defined in socio-economic terms and not on the basis of birth. Educational concessions and assistance, similar to those now offered to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes should be extended to all socially and economically handicapped persons.
The facilities for the education of the physically and mentally handicapped children should be expanded; and at least one good institution for the education of the blind and deaf children should be established in each district.
70
(c) PROGRAMMES OF QUALITATIVE IMPROVEMENT
A sustained effort should be made to attract to the teaching pro- fession a significant proportion of talented young men and women who leave the schools and universities every year and to retain them as dedicated, enthusiastic and contended teachers. From this point of view, the following inter alia are some of the important programmes to be developed:
(1) There should be minimum national scales of pay for university, college and school teachers. The existing wide gap between the salary scales for school and university (or college) teachers should be reduced.
(2) The conditions of work and service of teachers should be unproved and should be uniform for teachers under different managements. Steps should be taken to ensure security of tenure to teachers in non-government service. Adequate residential facilities should be provided to teachers at all stages.
(3) Teachers orgnisations should be encouraged and recognized. In each State, there should be an advisory council consisting of the representatives of the organizations of teachers, voluntary agencies conducting educational institutions and officers of the Education Department.
(4) The training of school teachers should be brought within the broad stream of university life and the isolation of training institutions from the schools should be ended Schools of education should be established in universities. Each State, should prepare and implement, on a priority basis, a plan for the expansion and improvement of teacher education at all stages.
(5) The academic freedom of teachers to pursue ad publish their studies and researches and to speak and write about significant national and international issues should be protected, Teachers should be also free to exercise all civil rights including the right to participate in elections; and when doing so, they should be entitled to and take leave of absence from their substantive posts.
71
There is an urgent need to upgrade and improve school curricula, to increase their knowledge content and to provide adequately for the development of skills and the inculcation of right interests, atti- tudes and values. Similar steps are also needed at the university stage.
The quality of textbooks should be kept at the highest level by attracting the best talent available through a liberal policy of re- muneration and by giving special encouragement to outstanding teachers. The Government of India should take immediate steps for the production of high-quality textbooks which may be adopted/ adapted in the States. The State Governments should set up autonomous corporations, functioning on commercial lines for the production of textbooks.
It is essential that an increasing number of common books should be read by all school students in the country. For this purpose, the Government of India should undertake, sponsor or promote the pro- duction of a series of books written and translated by the most com- petent persons in the field on different topics of national interest.
Attention should be concentrated on three major areas: reduction of the dominance of external examinations; the introduction of reforms which would make them more valid, and realistic measures of educational achievement; and the adoption of a good system of internal evaluation.
At the school stage, there should be only two public examinations the first at the end of class X and the second at the end of class XII (or class XI in the transitional period). Each State should have a Board of School Education (with sub-boards, where needed) to conduct these examinations and to define the standards to be reached. The examination certificate should give the candidate's performance in different subjects for which he has appeared but should not declare him to have passed or failed in the examination as a whole; and his eligibility for admission to courses at the next stage should be dependent upon his performance with reference to the requirements prescribed for the course he desires to study. It should be open to a candidate to appear again for these examinations, either in part or as a whole, in order to improve his performance.
It is necessary to coordinate, at the national level, the standards prescribed for attainment by the State boards of education at these
72
examinations. This should be done by a National Board of School education, to be established by the Government of India, which should indicate the 'national standards' below which no State should ordinarily fall.
The public examinations, both at the school and university stages, be improved by employing the latest methods and techniques. The time-lag between the holding of the examination and the declaration of results should be reduced and in no case should be longer than about eight weeks.
A comprehensive system of internal assessment covering all aspects of a student's growth should be introduced in all educational institutions and should be used for improvement as well as for certi- fying the achievement of the student.
A nation-wide programme for raising standards in all educational institutions should be developed. Each institution should be treated as a unit by itself and helped to grow at its pace by preparing and implementing its Own developmental plan.
In the universities, a concentration of resources-both human and material-is essential for raising standards. Each university should therefore strive to develop some centres of excellence within itself which could ultimately be raised to the status of a centre advanced study. In addition, the University Grants Commission should strive, where the necessary potential is available, to create clusters of centres of 'advanced study in related discipline which strengthen and support one another.
Special steps should be taken to improve educational institutions in rural areas and to reduce the wide gap in standards that now exists between urban and rural institutions.
It is desirable to develop programmes of student services and welfare at all stages. At-the Primary stage, provision should be made for free supply of textbooks to all students, and in secondary schools, textbook libraries should be established. At the university stage, textbook libraries should be established in all colleges and university departments and provision should be made for low-cost or Subsidized cafetarias and essential health services.
In order to create a sense of responsibility and to provide civic training, students should be associated with the management of their
73
institutions in a manner suited to their age and maturity. At the school stage, pupil-self-government should be an integral part of the instruction in every institution. Joint committees of teachers and students should be established in each university department and in every college to serve as a forum for the discussion and where possible, for the solution of common problems and difficulties Students' associations should also be developed on proper line.
The incidents of student unrest can be remedied considerably if the educational system is transformed, strengthened and made more effective on the broad lines as indicated.
Both in secondary and higher education, the scholarships prog- ramme should be expanded and the amount of scholarships increased. broadly to cover all costs. Other forms of student- aid which need attention are. provision of transport facilities where necessary and feasible. grants for books and examination fees and creation of facilities to earn and learn. There is also need for loan scholarships at the university stage. In order to encourage good students to join the teaching profession however, a person who has received a loan scholarship should be entitled to a remission of one- tenth of the loan for each year of service as a teacher.
At present, most scholarships are awarded on the basis of marks obtained in some public examination;. and as these tend to favour students from the well-to-do homes or good urban schools, potentially talented students, whose preparation has remained inadequate through no fault of theirs are often left out. There is thus urgent need to evolve a more equitable and egalitarian basis for the award of scholarships and grant of admissions to important institutions of higher education.
(d) ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The universities should develop themselves into autonomous communities of teachers and students who are untiringly and devotedly engaged in the pursuit of learning and excellence.
Among the measures needed to safeguard the University autonomy, the most important is to appoint the right persons as vice-chancellors who should be distinguished educationists or eminent scholars in any of the disciplines or professions with high standing in their fields and adequate administrative experience. An exception may only be made in the case of very outstanding persons whose association with the universities would be desirable.
74
Adequate provision should also be made for the financial needs of universities and to devise a suitable system of grant-in-aid, prefer- ably a rolling system of block-grants to be revised every three to five years.
It is necessary to amend and modernize most University Acts in India. The Ministry of Education, Government of India, in collaboration with the University Grants Commission, should initiate discussions with the State Governments concerned and complete the whole programme, in the next two or three years. A convention should also be developed whereby State Governments discuss their proposals for new or amending legislation in respect of universities with the Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission before they are introduced in the legislatures.
The principle of autonomy should be extended within the university system itself. The administration of universities should be so organized that it becomes a service agency for the promotion of academic life.
It should be an objective of educational policy to encourage and to make full use of all assistance that can come through the voluntary efforts of the people.
The policy of the Government towards schools conducted by voluntary organizations should be selective rather than uniform. The system of grant-in-aid should be revised, simplified and made more liberal. All recognized schools should be eligible for grant-in-aid on some egalitarian basis which will help them to maintain proper standards in addition, there should be provision for penal cuts for gross failure or special grants for good and outstanding work.
The administration of the Centre and in the States should not only respect the rights of minorities but help to promote their educational interests.
It is desirable to bring the school and the community together in a programme of mutual service and support. The immediate plan to be adopted in all parts of the country is to associate the village panchayats and municipalities with the primary schools in their areas through the creation of local school committees. There committees should consist of the representatives of the local autho-
75
rities in the area and about an equal number of persons interested in education.
Local authorities associated with the administration of education should levy an education cess. A minimum cess should be Obligatory and in order to stimulate the raising of funds, grant-in-aid should be given to match all levies above the minimum The other grants-in-aid to local authorities should be so designed as to secure equalization.
The Government of India should, provide stimulating national leadership in educational development. For this purpose, it should promote educational research, especially in the universities. Financial assistance from the Centre should also be available, both to State Governments and voluntary organisations, for pilot projects or other experimental work of national significance.Professional organizations in the different fields, and especially national organisations of teachers striving for improvement of education in different areas, should receive encouragement and Central assistance. The Government of India should formulate the National Policy on Education and revise it from time to time. This will provide the broad guidelines for educational development in the States and form the basis of Central grants for education.
The Government of India should provide financial assistance for educational development and increase the Central investment in education very considerably and channel it into three programmes namely:
(i) to expand the Central sector to a very great extent for the expansion of national scholarships, development of agricultural, engineering and medical education, promotion of educational research and Sanskrit studies, establishment of institutions specializing in social sciences and humanities and increasing the allocations to the University Grants Commission for centres, of advanced study, schools of education, post-graduate education and research, maintenance grants to State universities, qualitative improvement of higher education and provision of student services and amenities;
(ii) to supplement the Central sector by providing ear- marked Central grants to State Governments for the development of selected schemes of high priority; and
76
(iii) to share in some agreed proportion the total expenditure incurred on the salaries and allowances of teachers by the Centre and the States. This will enable the Centre to give effect to a national policy regulating the remuneration of teachers which is so crucial to the quality of education.
States should provide a statutory basis for education by enacting comprehensive Education Acts which will repplace all the miscellaneous laws and executive orders (e.g., grant-in-aid code) which now exist.
Departments of Education in the States should be strengthened considerably. The administrative structure and procedures should be reformed to emphasize variety and elasticity rather than rigidity and uniformity.
It is desirable to adopt the district as the principal unit for educational planning, administration and development in States. The district education officer should be given adequate status and delegation of authority, the main responsibility of the State-level Directorate being general coordination and policy.
(E) A PROGRAMME FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION
The following programme for immediate action for educational development and Planning is suggested:
(1) The Indian languages should be adopted as media of education at all stages and in all subjects in five years.
(2) The neighbourhood school system should be universalized at the primary stage. Primary education (classes I-VII or VIII) should be made free immediately and free books should be provided to all pupils. An intesive programme should be launched for reduction of wastage and stagnation. Good and effective primary education of at least five years' duration should be provided for every child in all parts of the country as early as possible and at any rate within a period of ten years.
(3) The ten year school, with a common curriculum of general education, should be adopted in all part of the
77
country. The new educational structure should be adopt- ed as early as possible in all areas where the total duration of school and college education leading to tie first degree in arts, commerce and science is 15 years or more. Where addition of a year of schooling is involved, a phased programme should be drawn up for the implementation of the proposal.
(4) Teachers' status should be improved and the remuneration of all teachers, particularly at the school stage should be upgraded. Programmes of teacher education should be improved and expanded.
(5) Agricultural research and education at all levels should be developed on a priority basis. Both technical education and technological research should be taken closer to the industry; and a better status in society and industry should be given to the technician and his training improved.
(6) Work experience and national and social service should be introduced as an integral part of all education, A beginning may be made in about five per cent of the institutions immediately and the' programme should be universalized in a period of about ten years.
(7) Science education should be emphasized and scientific research should be promoted. In a phased programme spread over about ten years, science and mathematics should be made an integral part of general education till the end of Class X.
(8) Emphasis should be laid on the development of essential student services e.g., development of programmes of sports and games; building up of textbook libraries in secondary schools, colleges and universities, and appointment of joint committees of teachers and students in colleges and universities to deal with day-to-day problems
(9) Post graduate education and research should be improved and expanded. The programme of the centres of advanced study should be developed further and clusters of centres in related disciplines should be created wherever possible.
78
(10) The provision of facilities for part time and own time education should be expanded generously at all stages.
(11) The programmes for spreading education among girls and the weaker sections of the community should be expanded.
(12) Intensive efforts should be made to spread literacy, particularly in the age-group 15-25.
(13) The recruitment policies of government should be revised to reduce the pressures on higher secondary stage of education should be vocationalized to divert young persons into different walks of life.
(14) In admissions to higher education, some allowance should be made for the enviornmental handicaps of students coming from rural areas, urban slums and weaker sections of the community, and a more equitable and egalitarian basis should be evolved for the award of scholarships or grant of admissions to important institutions of higher education.
(15) Programmes which need planning, organisation, and human effort rather than money, e.g., promoting national consciousness, character-formation, intensive utilisation of existing facilities, reorganisation of courses, improvement of curricula, adoption of dynamic methods of teaching, examination reform and improvement of text-books should be developed in a big way on a priority basis.
(16) Emphasis should be placed on the improvement of educational administration and especially on the adoption of the district as the principal unit for planning, administration and development of education, the system of school groups, the modernization of the system of school supervision, and the organisation of a nation-wide programme of improvement of educational institutions through preparation and implementation of individual plans.