PRIMARY EDUCATION
The State shall endeavour to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of the Constitution, free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years.
Thus reads Article 45 of the Constitution. This directive in the Constitution has not been fulfilled and the reasons thereof are well- known. The Third Five Year Plan makes the following statement in this regard:
In view of the magnitude of the task, it was agreed early in the Second Plan that as a first step facilities should be created for education of all children in the age group 6-11. This is one of the central aims of the Third Plan, to be followed by extension of education of the entire age group 11-14 during the Fourth and Fifth Plans.*
2. The proposal of universal primary education in the Third Plan envisaged the completion of this programme by March 1966. It is necessary to assess the progress made in the achievement of this target in various parts of the country. The programme of universal compulsory primary education envisages, first, universal provision of educational facilities, then universal enrolment and ultimately universal retention and satisfactory progress of pupils in the schools. The present Survey attempts to provide data relating to :
i) provision of schooling facilities to indicate the extent to which the facilities at the primary stage have been made universal;
ii) enrolment at primary stage; and
iii) size of primary sections.
SCHOOLING FACILITIES AT THE
PRIMARY STAGE 3. Universal provision of schooling facilities at the primary stage means that primary schools should be available for all children. It implies the provision of primary schools within easy walking distance from the home of every child according to certain guiding principles. These principles may change from time to time depending on the availability of funds for opening
*Third Five Year Plan. Government of India, Planning Commission. Page 578.
schools and for providing staff, clear roads, transport, hostels and so on.
4. The criteria adopted for planning the location of schools under the First Survey envisaged a separate primary school for a habitation with population of 500 or more. Habitations with populations between 300 and 499 were considered for separate primary schools only in cases where they did not have primary schools (existing or proposed) within a walking distance of half a mile. Habitations with a population of less than 300 were attached to existing or proposed schools up to a distance of one mile (with some exceptions) or else they were grouped in such a manner that the total population of these habitations within an approximate distance of one mile around the proposed school was at least 300. The analysis of the data of the present Survey is based on the consideration that one mile is a convenient walking distance, as in the First Survey. This has been done mainly with a view to understanding the present position in the context of what was suggested in the First Survey, and not to affect any criteria that might in future be adopted by the State Governments in planning school areas according to the conditions obtaining in every case.
5. In the First All-India Educational Survey, schools at the primary stage were classified into the following three categories:
i) Independent schools-By an independent school was meant a school which served only that habitation in which it was located.
ii) Group schools-A school which served more than one habitation was classified as a group school.
iii) Peripatetic teacher schools-A school which was functioning in two habitations with the same teacher working at both places was called a peripatetic teacher school. The Indian Year Book of Education, 1964 (Elementary Education) while reviewing the implementation of the
18 SECOND ALL-INDIA EDUCATIONAL SURVEY
First Survey contained this note regarding peripatetic teacher schools :
In one respect, the Survey has proved ineffectual, namely, in its proposal for the establishment of peripatetic schools. In no State have they been established anew; and even in the State of Bombay, on whose experience they had been recom- mended, their popularity has waned and their number has gone down. This, however, makes only a marginal difference in the result of the survey because they served only 13,602 habita- tions (1.6% of the total) with a total population of 1.7 million (or 0.6% of the total).
In the present Survey the idea of the peripatetic teacher schools has been dropped and primary sections have not been classified as independent or group schools. 6. For the convenience of discussion, two terms are introduced here. The first is 'habitations or popula- tion served by primary sections'. A habitation is taken to be served by a primary section if it has a primary section either in it or within a walking distance of one mile, irrespective of its population. The second term is 'index of primary education facilities', abbreviated in this report as PER The index of primary education facilities for a State means the percentage of rural population in the State which have primary educational facilities in their own habitations or within a walking distance of one mile.
Findings of the First Survey 7. According to the First All-India Educational Survey, 59.75 per cent of the population in rural areas had primary sections in their own habitations on 31 March, 1957, while 83.09 per cent of the population had primary sections either in their own habitations or nearby. By 'nearby' was meant a walking distance of one mile except in certain areas where the limit had been fixed at 1.5 miles. It was envisaged that after the implementation of the recommendations of the First Survey, 99.30 per cent of the population would be served by primary sections either in their own habitations or nearby (Tables 11 A and 11 B).
Findings of the Second All-India Educational Survey 8. Out of 9,82,251 habitations, 3,73,086 i.e. 37.98 per cent have primary sections in them. Taking together, the habitations with schooling facilities in them and those where the facilities are available within a walking distance of one mile, 8,56,816, i.e. 87.23 per cent of the habitations are served by primary sections. At present 1,25,435 habitations i.e. 12.77 per cent are not served by primary sections. Considered in terms of population, 71.48 per cent of the population have primary sections in their own habitations, 94.96 per cent have primary sections either in their own habitations or within a walking distance of one mile, and 5.04 per cent of the population are not served at present.
STATEMENT 3
HABITATIONS AND POPULATION ACCORDING TO PRIMARY SCHOOLING
FACILITIES AVAILABLE AT VARYING DISTANCES IN RURAL AREAS
Habitations having Population having primary
primary sections at sections at varying distances
Distance varying distances
Number Percentage Population Percentage
1 2 3 4 5
Within the
habitation 3,73,086 37.98 28,34,81,088 71.48
0.1 to 0.5 mile 3,00,557 30.60 5,88,80,288 14.85
0.6 to 1.0 mile 1,83,173 18.65 3,42,10,690 8.63
Within the habita-
tion or 1.0 mile 8,56,816 87.23 37,65,72,066 94.96
1.1. to 1.5 mile 48,937 4.98 85,14,026 2.15
1.6 to 2.0 miles 38,833 3.95 64,12,800 1.62
Beyond 2 miles 37,665 3.83 50,81,231 1.28
Total 9,82,251 100.00 39,65,80,123 100.00
9. Out of 2,000, 1,994 habitations, i.e. 99.70 per cent in the population slab '5000 and above' are served by primary sections. In the population slabs '2000-4999' and '1000-1999' also, the percentages of habitations served at present are more than 99. In the population slabs '500-999' and '300-499', however, the percentages of habitations served vary between 91 and 98 while in slabs 'below 300' the percentages are below 90.
STATEMENT 4
HABITATIONS AND POPULATION IN VARIOUS POPULATION SLABS SERVED BY
PRIMARY SECTIONS IN THEM OR WITHIN A WALKING DISTANCE OF ONE MILE IN
RURAL AREAS
Population Total number Habitations served Percentage
slab of habitations of population
Number Percentage served
1 2 3 4 5
5000 and above 2,000 1,994 99.70 99.71
2000-4999 20,738 20,577 99.23 99.27
1000- 1999 63,987 63,384 99.06 99.09
500- 999 1,45,001 1,41,258 97.42 97.60
400- 499 64,125 60,679 94.63 94.75
300- 399 93,745 85,697 91.42 91.56
200- 299 1,37,113 1,20,329 87.76 87.92
100- 199 2,14,530 1,78,800 83.34 83.48
Below 100 2,41,012 1,84,098 76.39 78.49
Total 9,82,251 8,56,816 87.23 94.96
PRIMARY EDUCATION 19
10. To raise the percentage of population served by primary sections becomes a very difficult task after a certain limit. It has been seen that 23.59 per cent of the habitations have a population of '500 or above' each, but they account for 65 per cent of the population. If primary schools were established in each of these 23.59 per cent habitations, 65 per cent of the population are served by primary sections in their own habitations plus the population of the habitations within one mile of these habitations. For any subsequent gain in the percentage of population, efforts for expansion of schooling facilities will have to be directed to smaller and smaller habitations. A small increase in the percentage envisages a large number of smaller habitations to be covered. To that extent, the number of primary sections to be provided will gradually increase.
Habitations and Population not served at present 11. The remaining 5.04 per cent of the population not served by primary sections at present are spread out in 1,25,435 habitations, which constitute 12.77 per cent of the total number of habitations. Of these, only 4,513 have populations of '500 or above' each. The remaining have populations of 'below 500' each. There are 11,494 habitations in the slab '300 to 499' while 1,09,428 have a population of 'below 300' each.
STATEMENT 5
HABITATIONS NOT SERVED BY PRIMARY SECTIONS EITHER IN THEM OR WITHIN
A WALKING DISTANCE OF ONE MILE IN RURAL AREAS
Number Habita- Col. 3 as percentage of the
of tations in habitations
Population habita- the slab
slab tations not served In the Not served In rural
in the by primary slab by primary areas in
slab sections in sections the
them or in them or country
within within
1 mile 1 mile
1 2 3 4 5 6
5000 and
above 2,000 6 0.30 0.005 0.0006
2000-4999 20,738 161 0.77 0.13 0.016
1000-1999 63,987 603 0.94 0.48 0.06
500- 999 1,45,001 3,743 2.58 2.98 0.38
400- 499 64,125 3,446 5.37 2.75 0.35
300- 399 93,745 8,048 8.58 6.42 0.82
200- 299 1,37,113 16,784 12.24 13.38 1.71
100- 199 2,14,530 35,730 16.662 8.48 3.64
Below 100 2,41,012 56,914 23.61 45.37 5.79
Total 9,82,251 1,25,435 12.77 100.00 12.77
STATEMENT 6
POPULATION NOT SERVED BY PRIMARY SECTIONS EITHER IN THEIR OWN
HABITATIONS OR WITHIN A WALKING DISTANCE OF ONE MILE IN RURAL AREAS
Population Population Col.3 as percentage of
of in the the population
Population habitations slab not
slab in the served by In the Not served In rural
slab primary slab by areas in
sections primary the
sections in country
them or
within
1 mile
1 2 3 4 5 6
5000 and
above 1,34,83,551 38,990 0.29 0.19 0.01
2000-4999 5,79,46,622 4,25,965 0.73 2.13 0.11
1000-1999 8,59,91,887 7,91,349 0.92 3.96 0.20
500-999 10,03,62,771 24,08,812 2.40 12.04 0.61
400-499 2,85,62,310 15,01,604 5.26 7.50 0.38
300-399 3,21,45,732 27,14,815 8.44 13.57 0.68
200-299 3,33,69,369 40,32,592 12.08 20.15 1.01
100-199 3,05,83,201 50,52,807 16.52 25.25 1.27
Below 100 1,41,34,680 30,41,123 21.51 15.20 0.77
Total 39,65,80,123 2,00,08,057 5.04 100.00 5.04
12. Six habitations with a population of '500 or above' each do not have primary sections even within a walking distance of one mile. Similarly, there are more habitations in other population slabs with a population of '300 or above' each, which do not have primary sections even within a walking distance of one mile. It cannot be stated definitely without further examination whether all these habitations are entitled to a primary section in them but have remained without one so far. it is possible that there might be some genuine reasons or peculiar characteristics of the individual habitations because of which primary schools could not be provided in or near some of them. For example, there is a habitation named Kuda-Agar in Block Dhrangadhra in Surendra Nagar district in Gujarat State, which has a population of 4,000 but does not have a primary section even within a walking distance of two miles. On enquiry it has been found that the village Kuda-Agar is in the salt-producing area in Gujarat State and the population in this village is scattered over a relatively big area. There are no house clusters as such in it. The population consists mostly of adults who work as labourers.
13. There are also habitations with a population of
20 SECOND ALL-INDIA EDUCATIONAL SURVEY
`below 300' each which could be grouped together into school areas, thus having a population of 'more than 300' in every group which have not yet been provided with schooling facilities. It is difficult to say exactly how many habitations which could be provided with schools in either way are still without schools. This information will be available when the planning of the location of schools on the basis of the records of the present Survey is completed in the various States and Union Territories.
14. Of the habitations not served at present, 87.23 per cent are in the slabs 'below 300', including 45.37 per cent in the slab 'below 100'. Considering the backlog in terms of population, however, 18.32 per cent of the population not served are in habitations with popula- tions of '500 or above', 21.07 per cent are in the slab '300-499' and the remaining 60.60 per cent in the slab 'below 300'. Thus, the programme of expanding education at the primary stage in future will have to be centred mainly around providing schooling facilities for habitations with populations of 'below 300' each.
Inter-State comparisons 15. Considering the schooling facilities separately among the various States and Union Territories, it is found that in many States and Union Territories a situation of nearly universal provision of schooling facilities has been obtained, especially in Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madras and Bihar where more than 97 per cent of the rural population are served by primary sections at present. Gujarat with IPEF of 97.70 tops the list among the States. Assam which abounds in hilly areas and difficult terrain has a fairly high IPEF of 93.33. Considering the demographic pattern and the nature of terrain in Jammu & Kashmir, the IPEF of 87.06 appears to be an appreciable achievement. Among the Union Territories, the IPEF is very high in all the areas except in Himachal Pradesh. In the subsequent paragraphs we shall discuss the position in every State separately (Tables 9 and 10).
16. Andhra Pradesh