STUDENTS, THEIR ACTIVITIES AND WELFARE
I.-Introduction 1. Functions of a University. 2. Teaching Youth Most Important Task of University. 3. This Chapter Devoted to Welfare of Students.
II.-Selection of Students 4. Principles of Selection of Students. 5. Opportunity Should be Based on Ability, Character and Industry. 6. Communalism and Favouritism to be Banned. 7. Scholarships Will Equalize Opportunity.
III.-Scholarship Examinations 8. Scholarships for Meritorious Students.
IV.-Health 9. (a) Medical Care. 10. Medical Examination. 11. Each University Must have a Hospital. 12. Mofussil Colleges Could Bring Doctors from City for Physical Examinations. 13. Treatment of Students with Infectious Diseases. 14. Vaccinations and Inoculations Required. 15. Staff Members Should be Examined. 16. Medical History and Records of Students Should be Kept. 17. Treatment of Physical and Mental Defects. 18. Sanitation) 19. (b) Nutrition or Proper Food. 20. Dietary Deficiencies Must be Corrected. 21. Rigid Inspections Required of Lodgings, Dining Rooms and Kitchens. 22. Meals at Reasonable Cost Suggested for Certain Students. 23. Free Canteens at Mysore. 24. (c) Recreation and Physical- Education. 25. Deficiencies of Physical Education. 26. Suggestions for the Improvement of Physical Education and Games. 27. Degree Courses in Physical Education. 28. Dearth of Teachers of Physical Education. 29. Each University Should Appoint a Properly Qualified Director of Physical Education Who Should Have the Status and Pay of Other Heads of Departments. 30. Plans for a Central Institute of Physical Education. 31. Director of Physical Education Should have Postgraduate Degrees and Advanced Research. 32. There Must be provision for Adequate Gymnasia, Playgrounds and Physical Facilities. 33. There Must be Enlarged Staff. 34. Two Years of Physical Education Should be Required of All University Students Except the Physically Unfit and Those in the Cadet Corps. 35. A Suggested Organization of a Department of Physical Education. 36. (d) Personal Habits.
V.-National Cadet Corps 37. Value of Cadet Corps in an educated but imperfect society. 38. Statement of Minister of Defence. 39. The Aims of the Corps. 40. Success in the West. 41. Value in Peaceful Pursuits. 42. Organization of the Cadet Corps. 43. Composition of the Senior Division. 44. Conditions of Service. 45, Officers of the Senior Division. 46. Good Features of Present Plan. 47. Present Plan not Adequate to Produce Soldiers. 48. Steps Necessary to Make Corps Effective for National Defence.
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VI-Social Service 49. Activities of Social Cadets. 50. Reactions of the Villagers. 51. Service Must be Voluntary. 52. Needs That are Obvious Must be Assumed by Government. 53. No Exploitation of Youth: Self-Help for Poor Students.
VII.-Hostels and Residence 54. Importance of Living Conditions. 55. Deplorable Conditions. 56. Best Conditions of Living. 57. Importance of Dieticians. 58. Types of Dining Facilities and Basis of Admission to Hostels. 59. Impor- tance of Mingling of Staff with Students. 60. Development of Corpo- rate Life. 61. The Hostel is a Part of Education. 62. Residence off the Campus.
VIII.-University Unions 63. History of Unions. 64. Period of Stress. 65. Alms or the Best Type of Union.
IX.-Discipline 66. Discipline is Universal Problem. 67. Indiscipline Arises from World and Local Conditions. 68. Anarchical Elements Exploit Students. 69. Universities Should be Divorced from Party Politics. 70. Causes of Indiscipline are varied. 71. Constructive Approaches to the Solution of Disciplinary and Allied Problems. 72. (a) The Proctorial System. 73. (b) Proctorial System in which Students Participate. 74. (c) Student Government Recommended. 75. (d) Student Government Functions Well at College for Women. 76. (e) Advantages of Student Government. 77. (f) Other Measures for Promotion of Good Discipline. 78. The Problem of Discipline Requires Co-operative Effort. 79. Student Government Will Succeed if Persistently Applied.
X.-Student Welfare 80. Need of Corporate Life. 81. Functions of Office of Dean of Students. 82. Board of Student Welfare Recommended by Calcutta University Commission. 83. Organization of Office of Dean of Students and Board of Student Welfare. 84. Recommendations.
I.-Introduction 1. Functions of a University.-Education of the youth and the discovery of new truth are the principal functions of universities. The boys and girls of today are the matured citizens of tomorrow. An educated citizenry, according to Edmund Burke, are a greater defence to a democratic country than a vast standing army. The revelation of new knowledge by research not only enriches human life in the intellectual realm but is the chief arm of technical and economic development of a nation. Of the end-products of the university, the education of the individual should take priority. As knowledge increases, the mere task of transmitting the accumulations of the past to the on-coming generations becomes
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more difficult and important in spite of libraries, archives and museums. Ignorance is an enemy more formidable than Antaeus, the giant wrestler of old, who came up after each fall strengthened by mother Earth. Hercules could destroy him by strangulation in the air but ignorance is an implacable enemy to human freedom and happiness which is not so easily destroyed. It is an antagonist to all man's progress which perpetually returns as fast as it is conquered.
2. Teaching Youth Most Important Task of University. Uni- versities are conglomerations of human and physical elements but the student is the most precious of these Buildings and equipment are necessary, a competent staff more vital still, but these are means, the student properly equipped to live and take his place in a democra- tic society is the consummation most devoutly to be wished for. The emancipation of young minds, the awakening of the consciousness of personal dignity, and the consecration of fresh recruits to the cause of human progress and service,-here is the greatest task of the university. There is no more solemn duty on earth than the training and development of the human soul.
The student is not created for the university but the university exists for the student and, therefore, it must spare no effort and omit no devices which may promote the fullest and most complete realization of the students' possibilities on all planes, physical, intellectual and spiritual. Education in a university should be for a student a source of interest and enjoyment whatever be his speciality; every student should develop an intellectual habit, an attitude of mind, a temper of social behaviour.
3. This Chapter Devoted to Welfare of Students. In other chapters of this report we dealt with techniques and elements which are designed to promote scholarship and intellectual achievement. Elsewhere, we treat of the necessity of religious instruction. Here we shall stress those matters which relate particularly to the physical welfare of our young men and women in the colleges and the universities, the preservation and development of strong bodies, the formation and cultivation of correct habits, the exercise of wholesome corporate life, debating, recreation of both the mental and the physical being, and the maintenance of good conduct and the methods of self-discipline. The following suggestions may be considered for promoting health, physical education, military training, desirable living, corporate life, social service, good habits, discipline and the best welfare of students in all aspects.
II.-Selection of Students We have already made allusion to the numbers of students who are going to universities who do not have the ability to profit
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by such an opportunity, and we have pointed out the heavy mortality and great wastage which result. A word of caution is in place here. It should not be inferred that too large a part of those of college age are going to colleges and universities in our country quite the contrary. The percentage of the population receiving higher education here is lower considerably than in most countries in the West. For example, in 1946-47, there were 20,78,095 resident students in the colleges and universities of the United States out of a population of less than 15,00,00,000 while here there were 2,41,794 enrolled in our universities, including constituent and affiliating colleges, out of a population of 32,00,00,000 people. That is, in the U.S.A., there are more than eight times as many students enrolled in higher education than here, out of a population probably less than half of ours. Even this comparison is deceptive in that more than half the Indian university students are in the intermediate courses, which should be given in the high schools. The situation calls both for more educational opportunity and for better selection of students. There are many students in our universities who cannot or will not profit by the experience, but many more outside who should and would profit by the opportunity.
4. Principles of Selection of Students.-We are recommending elsewhere the use of Achievement Tests. The examination record cannot be regarded as a completely satisfactory criterion of a student's ability. We, therefore, recommend the adoption of these tests in an increasing measure. These tests have a guidance value which will enable us to make a better selection of students who apply for admission, and will help us to place them in the fields for which they have aptitudes. Further, general education courses in the high schools and at the admission stage of the university will have a diagnostic value as students can explore their abilities over the chief areas of knowledge before taking up a special subject for a degree. More of the unfit will be eliminated and the students will be better adjusted to their courses, thus reducing wastage.
5. Opportunity should be Based on Ability, Character and Indus- try. In broad outline, the policy of selection should be based upon the desirability of giving to each boy and girl who has the intellec- tual and physical powers, the character and habits and the industry to improve these, every possible opportunity to realize his or her other ambitions. Not only do individual success and happiness require this, but social welfare cannot otherwise be safeguarded in a democratic society.
6. Communalism and Favouritism to be Banned.-Elsewhere we have discussed the unfortunate effects of communalism, the system of quotas, and discriminatory practices in the admission of
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students to universities and colleges. It cannot be made too emphatic that we think all universities should be free and their advantages equally available to the deserving, and the disintegrating tendencies, of communalism and all forms of favouritism banished. Any other course is a denial, at least in part, of the conception of a university. The Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations last December has a clause "There shall be equal access to higher education on the basis of merit".
7. Scholarships will Equalize Opportunity-We have recommended a large number of scholarships which will make it possible for boys and girls, whose resources are so slender that they cannot afford the rather large expense of higher education, to enjoy the privilege without discrimination. A large number of those best qualified to benefit by education, who are not in the universities, or who have entered and have been compelled to drop out, are those who have been frustrated by financial difficulties.
In the first degree stage, every university should do its utmost to offer as wide a variety of courses as possible. The cost of living has become such that many students cannot afford education except at institutions located in the vicinity of their homes, and each uni- versity should endeavour to serve as many of these young people as its resources will permit. Students, well qualified to go elsewhere, should not be denied education because of accident of birth or loca- tion.
On the post-graduate, professional, and advanced research levels, where the expense becomes highest and the students are relatively few, there is need for specialization and correlation as between different institutions. At these levels there must be division of service among the universities and colleges and duplication of courses should be avoided.
III.-Scholarship Examinations 8. Scholarships for Meritorious Students.-It has been repre- sented to us that there are a number of brilliant but extremely poor students who cannot proceed to intermediate colleges and universities for want of adequate funds. Even when some of them manage to come up to the university, they have to take up private tuitions or other work to pay for their living and tuition fees at the university. This position is unfortunate and should not be allowed to continue. No really brilliant student should be prevented, on grounds of poverty alone, from pursuing his academic career, and it should be the duty of the State to provide for his education and maintenance, both at the intermediate college and at the university.
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It should be the task of the universities to discover and give oppor- tunity to the gifted members of the community. For this purpose we recommend the institution of scholarship examinations at which the poor but bright students should compete for scholarships. A kind of "scholarship ladder" should be provided to enable talented students to climb their way from the school to the end of their university career. These scholarship examinations should aim at selecting candidates mainly with a view to promise of future development and achievement, greater importance being attached to evidence of ability than to bulk of acquired material. These scholarships should not be of the value of Rs. 16 or Rs. 20 as at present, but should cover the student's fees as well as his cost of living at the university; their value should be about Rs. 60 at an intermediate college and Rs. 80 at the university. Merit alone should be the criterion for the award of those scholarships. A 'Means Test' should be applied only after the results of the examination are published. It is possible that some students who can well afford their education will also appear at these examinations; they should not be discouraged; but if they win these scholarships, they should be given a simple token award in recognition of their merit.
Admissions to the benefits of universities of people who have been hitherto excluded by their social position or income must no longer be denied. The social cleavages between the rich and the poor should not be emphasized by this procedure if awards are based upon merit. To subsidize poverty is to penalize it. These scholarShips are not intended to compensate poverty but to help real ability.
IV.-Health Health, both physical and mental, is basic and essential to all individual and social welfare. The oft-quoted precept of the Roman writer Juvenal, "Mens sana in Corpore sano" - "a sound mind in a sound body" may be thread-bare, but it is as true today as it was two milleniums ago. In a sense it is ture that the mental vigour and spirit of a people are conditioned by its state of physical health.
Good health is dependent on a multitude of factors, but the most important are :-
(a) Medical care, both preventive and remedial.
(b) Sufficient food of the right kinds.
(c) Recreation.
(d) Personal habits.
All of these are especially significant for young people who are still growing and who are forming their life habits. The health programme of a college or a university must emphasize these factors.
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9. (a) Medical Care-The problem of medical care on a campus derives in large degree from the status of the nation. This status may be best explained by an excerpt from the Report of the Health Survey and Development Committee concerning the incidence of diseases. This report says : "At least 100 million persons suffer from malaria every year, and the annual mortality for which the disease is responsible, either directly or indirectly, is about 2 millions. About 2.5 million active cases of tuberculosis exist in the country, and 500,000 deaths take place each year from this cause alone. The Common infectious diseases, namely cholera, smallpox and plague, are also responsible for a large amount of morbidity and mortality, the extent of which varies from year to year. Among the different countries of the world for which statistics are available, India ranks high as one of the largest reservoirs of infection in respect of all the three. These and the other two are all preventible diseases and their incidence should have been brought under effective control long ago. In addition, endemic diseases, such as leprosy, filariasis, guineaworm, and hook-worm diseases, are responsible for a considerable amount of morbidity in the country, although their contribution to mortality is relatively small." *1
The university and the college draw their student bodies from a cross-section of the population and, in the light of the above facts, it is little short of criminal to permit young people to mingle in the close contacts of college life without taking the steps which are necessary to promote health and check the spread of contagious diseases.
10. Medical Examination-Most universities and colleges visited by the Commission claimed to have some kind of physical check-up with preventive and corrective measures but it is fair to say that these programmes, with a few exceptions, exist largely on paper and the authorities frankly admit that the administration of them is a fiction.