PREFACE
It is a sad fact that about 70 per cent of the Indian people remain virtually untouched by the present system of education. The result is that the education which is being imparted in the country at enormous public cost increases the cultural gap between the educated elite and the uneducated masses. A movement for educational transformation must, therefore, be an essential part of the larger egalitarian movement for social transformation which is implicit in the ideal of total revolution sponsored by Jayaprakash Narayan.
Educational transformation of this type requires, on the one hand, that the prevailing system of education should be altered both in form and content so as to make it more meaningful to the bulk of the people in villages and towns. It is necessary, on the other hand, to develop an egalitarian mass movement which will aim, among other things, at generating among the people a proper appreciation of the value of education and a keen desire to have it for themselves and their children.
The document published in this booklet seeks to present a policy frame of educational reform which may serve the needs of such a movement.
Jayaprakash Narayan approved the idea of preparing such a document and resolution sanctioning a cash contribution for the project was passed by the Trustees of the J.P. Institute of Human Rights in a meeting held in Bombay on 21st June 1977 under J.P.'s chairmanship. It was there decided that a framework for educational reform should be prepared under the auspices of the Citizens For Democracy and that I should approach Dr. J.P. Naik, Member-Secretary of the Indian Council of Social Science Research, for heading a panel for preparing the frame work. The proposal was later approved in a meeting of the National Executive Council of the Citizens For Democracy held on 13th August 1977.
Dr. J.P. Naik undertook the work with characteristic enthusiasm and prepared a tentative policy frame for educational reform by the end of September 1977. The document was then discussed in several
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group meetings attended by 15 to 20 educationists at a time. More than 250 educationists in the country participated in the discussions in several group meetings. The document was re-drafted so as to incorporate the positive suggestions made during these discussions. The document so amended is now being published. It has been endorsed by more than 40 eminent educationalists and social leaders in the country.
The object of this document is not to add to the number of reports on educational reform which were prepared and presented by various Committees and Commissions appointed by the Government. This document is the product of a purely non-official effort, and it is submitted to the people at large and only indirectly to the Governments at the Centre and in the States. It is proposed that the document will be further discussed in a large number of seminars held in all parts of the country at different levels. It is hoped that as a result of these discussions, not only the policy frame will be further improved but the necessary atmosphere will be created for promoting a peoples' movement for education as a part of a wider movement for total revolution.
I am very grateful indeed to Dr. J.P. Naik for his work in preparing this document. I hope that it will make a modest but significant contribution to the peoples' movement for educational and social reform.
V.M. TARKUNDE
New Delhi Gen. Secretary
31st March 1978 Citizens For Democracy
Contents
Page
Foreword by Jayaprakash Narayan iii
Preface by Justice V.M. Tarkunde vii
Summary of the Main Findings and Recommendations 1
1. Introduction 8
2. Simultaneous Social and Educational Transformation 9-17
Indian Society 9
Indian Education 10
Education and Society 14
3. A New Concept and Structure of Education 18-23
Value System 18
An Integrated, Participatory System of Formal
and Non-Formal Education 18
Relevance and Transformation of Content 19
Standards 21
Flexibility, Diversity, and Dynamism 22
4. Programmes 24-66
Adult Education 24
Out-of-School Youth (Age-Group 15-21) 29
Universal Elementary Education 30
Post-Elementary Education: Access, Fees,
Selective Admissions, and Expansion 38
Secondary Education: Improvement of Standards
& Vocationalization 47
Higher Education and Research 51
A National Language Policy 58
Administration and Finance 61
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5. Implementation 67-77
Some Wrong or Inadequate Answers 67
The Basic Issues 70
A New Approach 71
The Change Agents 74
Conditions Essential for Success 74