INTRODUCTORY
I
PREAMBLE, TERMS OF REFERENCE AND WORK OF THE COMMISSION
Appointment of the Commission The Secondary Education Commission appointed by the Government of India in terms of their Resolution No. F. 9-5/52-B-1, dated 23rd September 1952, (Appendix 1), having completed its labours, presents the following Report based on its deliberations.
The Government of India, their communique quoted above, referred to the recommendation of the Central Advisory Board of Education made at its 14th meeting held in January 1948, that a Commission be appointed to examine the prevailing system of Secondary Education in the country and suggest measures for its re-organization and improvement. The Board reiterated its recommendation in January 1951. The Government of India had also other considerations in mind when appointing this Commission, such as the desirability of changing over from the prevailing system of secondary education which is unilateral and predominantly academic in nature to one
which will cater at the secondary stage for different aptitudes and interests. The Commission appointed by the Government of India con- sisted of the following :
1. DR. A. LAKSHMANSWAMI MUDALIAR Vice-Chancellor, Madras University, (Chairman)
2. PRINCIPAL JOHN CHRISTIE
Jesus College, Oxford
3 . DR. KENNETH RAST WILLIAMS
Associate Director, Southern Regional Education Board,
Atlanta (U.S.A.)
4. MRS. HANSA MEHTA
Vice-Chancellor, Baroda University
5. SHRI J. A. TARAPOREWALA Director of Technical
Education Government of Bombay
6. DR. K. L. SHRIMALI
Principal, Vidya Bhavan Teachers' Training College, Udaipur
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7. SHRI M. T. Vyas
Bombay
8. SHRI K. G. SAIYDAIN
Joint Secretary to the Government of India Ministry of Education (Ex-officio Member)
9. PRINCIPAL A. N. BASU
Central Institute of Education
Delhi (Member-Secretary)
Dr. S. M. S. Chari, Education Officer, Ministry of Education acted ,as Assistant Secretary to the Commission.
Terms of Reference Under the terms of reference, the Commission was asked
"(a) to enquire into and report on the present position of Secondary Education in India in all its aspects ; and
(b) suggest measures for its reorganization and improvement with particular reference to-
(i) the aims, organization and content of Secondary Education ;
(ii) its relationship to Primary, Basic and Higher Education ;
(iii) the inter-relation of Secondary Schools of different types; and
(iv) other allied problems.
so that a sound and reasonably uniform system of Secondary Education suited to our needs and resources may be provided for the whole country."
Inauguration of the Commission The Commission was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Minister of Edu- cation, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, on the 6th October, 1952 in New Delhi. It immediately proceeded to consider its programme of work. Prior to the first meeting of the Commission, the Chairman and the Member-Secretary discussed the issue of a suitable questionnaire. They had the advice of some headmasters and others interested in education and, keeping in view the main functions which the Commission had to discharge. sent out a detailed questionnaire, a copy of which is given in Appendix II. The questionnaire was sent to a large number of educationists, administrators and leaders of public opinion interested in the sphere of education. Replies were received from many of them. The Commission acknowledges its thanks to all those who -have sent ,,their replies to the questionnaire.
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Itinerary Soon after its inauguration, the Commission met in New Delhi, and considered the scope of its functions with reference to the terms under which it was appointed, the manner in which it was to discharge its responsibilities and the extent to which it would be necessary for the Commission to elicit public opinion from educationists and other citizens all over the country. It drew up a detailed tour programme to enable the members to visit various States. A copy of the tour programme is appended (vide Appendix 111). The Commission regrets that within the limited time at its disposal it could not accept invitations to visit other places but it feels that he ground covered has given it a reasonable opportunity to understand and appreciate the many problems of Secondary Education in the various States of the Indian Union.
Co-opted Members In most of the States which the Commission visited, the Govern- ment of the State concerned nominated a member of the Education Department or a prominent educationist of the State as a co-opted member during the Commission's tour in the particular State. The following persons were co-opted as members of the Commission for the States mentioned :
Shri C. L. Kapoor, Secretary,
Education Department, Punjab
Shri A. A. Kazmi, Director of Education,
Jammu and Kashmir
Shri S. N. Sahay, Vice-Chancellor,
Bihar University, Patna
and
Shri J. C. Mathur, Secretary,
Education Department, Bihar
Shri S. C. Rajkhowa, Inspector of Schools, Assam
Shri A. K. Chanda, Chairman,
Secondary Education Board, West Bengal
Dr. B. Prasad, Director of Public Instruction, Orissa
Shri S. Govindarajulu Naidu,
Director of Public Instruction, Madras
Shri V. Sundararaja Naidu,
Director of Public Instruction, Travancore-Cochin,
Shri J. B. Mallaradhya,
Director of Public Instruction, Mysore
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Dr. D. Shendarkar,
Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Hyderabad
Dr. V. S. Jha, Secretary,
Education Department, Madhya Pradesh
Shri D. C. Pavate,
Director of Education, Bombay
Shri Nanabhai Bhatt, M. P., Gram Dakshina Murti,
Saurashtra
Shri S. N. Chaturvedi, Director of Education,
Madhya Bharat
Shri R. G. Gupta, Assistant Director of Education,
Rajasthan
Dr. A. N. Banerjee, Director of Education, Delhi
The Commission wishes to express its sincere thanks to the co- opted members who gave valuable advice and materially helped the Commission by arranging for visits to educational institutions and for interviews. The Commission had largely to leave it to the Directors of Public Instruction and to the co-opted members in these States to decide on the representatives who were to be interviewed. Besides the co-opted members, certain of the State Governments appointed also liaison Officers whose duty it was to help in arranging for the meetings of the Commission, for the interviews, and for visits to educational institutions and generally to make the work of the Commission profitable and pleasant. The Commission wishes to express its thanks to these officers for the very efficient help that they gave, enabling it to discharge its duties satisfactorily. The Commission had the advantage ,of interviewing a large number of distinguished educationists, members of Universities, representatives of teachers' organizations, representatives of managements, high officials of the Departments of Education and associated professions, Ministers of the States and Centre and leading representatives of the public. A list of such persons is given in Appendix IV. To all these persons the Commission is greatly indebted for the opportunity of a free and frank exchange of ideas on all important subjects connected with secondary education.
The Commission was gratified to note that in all the States that were visited, great interest and enthusiasm were evinced in problems of secondary education. In several States, Committees had already been .appointed to enquire into and report on the working of Secondary Education in these States. The Commission wishes to add that it is particularly grateful to the State Governments, to the Ministers of Education and other Ministers of the States, to the Directors of Public Instruction and to the Ministry of Education at the Centre for their ready willingness to assist the Commission, and for the manner 3in which every possible co-operation was extended in the work that it had undertaken.
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II
RAISON D'ETRE OF THE COMMISSION In the course of our interviews the question arose as to the necessity for the Central Government to appoint an All-India Commission on Secondary Education since, under the Constitution, education is a responsibility of the State Governments. This is an important issue and we consider it necessary to state clearly the raison d'etre of such a Commission. We recognise that secondary education is mainly the concern of the States but, in view of its impact on the life of the country as a whole, both in the field of culture and technical efficiency, the Central Government cannot divest itself of the responsibility to improve its standards and to relate it intelligently to the larger problems of national life. The aim of secondary education is to train the youth of the country to be good citizens, who will be competent to play their part effectively in the social reconstruction and economic development of their country. The Central Government is, therefore, naturally concerned about the type of education to be given to the youth of the country. It must make sure that secondary education will prepare young men for the various vocations that are open to them. Moreover, it is directly charged with the responsibility of maintaining proper standards in higher education. This cannot be done, unless careful consideration is given to the level of efficiency attained at the secondary stage.
All-India Problems There are several other fields in which it is desirable that a clear policy should be laid down on an all-India basis. One of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution is the right of every citizen of the Union to free and compulsory education up to the age of 14. For the proper functioning of democracy, the Centre must see that every individual is equipped with the necessary knowledge, skill, and aptitudes to discharge his duties as a responsible and co- operative citizen. What James Madison said about his country, the United States, many years ago, holds good today in our country also. "A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce of tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and the people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." We should, however like to add that it is not only knowledge that is required, but also the right kind of social training and the inculcation of right ideals without which knowledge by itself may be sterile or worse. Training for democracy postulates a balanced education in which social virtues, intellectual development and prac- tical skill all receive due consideration and the pattern of such an education must be envisaged on an all-India basis.
Another important question with which we were faced everywhere was the place of the different languages more particularly of Hindi and English in the scheme of secondary education. There is a great deal
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of confused thinking as well as wide difference of opinion on this subject. If educational progress is to be well planned and confusion is to be avoided, the tendency to adopt divergent and even conflicting policies in this matter has to be resisted. And it is not only in the matter of linguistic policy that this tendency to separatism has been in evidence. There has been an accentuation in recent years of certain undesirable tendencies of provincialism, regionalism, and other sectional differences. This situation is fraught with serious consequences and it is as much the duty of statesmen as of educationalists to take steps to reorient people's mind in the right direction. if education fails to play its part effectively in checking these tendencies, if it does not strengthen the forces of national cohesion and solidarity, we are afraid that our freedom, our national unity as well as our future progress will be seriously imperilled. We feel that in the entire planning of education and to some extent, in the matter of its financial responsibility, there should be the closest co-operation and co-operation between the Centre and the States. In some fields. of secondary education, the Central Government should assume greater responsibility, e.g., in the training of teachers, the formulation of educational and vocational tests, the production and selection of better textbooks, and the training of technicians. The Centre has also a special obligation with regard to the physical welfare of the pupils. it has already organized a National Cadet Corps for schools. Consistently, therefore. with the recognition of the role of the States in formulating educational programmes and implementing them, we have no doubt whatever that, in view of the crucial importance of education for the whole future and progress of the country in every sphere-economic, industrial, social and cultural-the Central Government should view education from an overall national angle and assume the duties of educational guidance and leadership. While there is everything to be said for local and State autonomy in education, it should not be interpreted to justify differences in basic educational policies and objectives.
Previous Education Commissions A number of Commissions has been appointed in the past to survey Indian Education-the Indian Education Commission of 1882, the Commission of 1902, the Sadler Commission of 1917 and the recent Radhakrishnan Commission, all of which dealt incidentally with certain aspects of Secondary Education. But no Commission has so far been appointed to survey the problems of secondary education as a whole. We have been entrusted with this responsibility and, in discharging it, we found that we had also to give some consideration to primary as well as higher education. This in fact was enjoined on us by our terms of reference since they are both intimately linked up with Secondary Education and their standards and efficiency depend largely on the proper organization of secondary education. Reference has, therefore, been made from time to time to these two stages. In dis- cussing the new pattern of secondary education organization we have indicated how it is to be linked up at one end with Primary Education and at the other with University Education and how the total duration of education in these three stages will be distributed.
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We have the feeling that the appointment of the Commission has been made very opportunely because, in our tour, we found clear evi- dence of serious interest in this problem all over the country. Not only is this interest apparent amongst educational authorities and teachers but State Governments have also taken steps to have the whole problem of Secondary Education surveyed and examined by competent committees appointed for the purpose. In some States their reports have already been submitted, while in others the matter is under active consideration. We have studied with interest and profit such reports as have been published and we have had the advantage of an exchange of views with some of the members of these committees. Because of this general awakening, there is reason to hope that the States and the Centre would take active steps to implement as far as possible, the approved recommendations made by this Commission and the various State Committees.
It was also pointed out that this Commission should have preceded the University Commission established in 1948. This is obviously not a matter for us to discuss. Actually it has been a great advantage for us to know exactly what the University Commission had to say. In fact every Commission on education has had necessarily to deal with Secondary Education to a very large extent. It cannot be otherwise. The Indian Education Commission of 1882, the Commission of 1902 with its more restricted terms of reference, the Commission of 1917, more popularly known as the, Sadler Commission and the latest University Education Commission of which Dr. Radhakrishnan was the Chairman have all dealt with some aspects of secondary education. Their reports have all been studied by us with interest and profit.
Implementation of Recommendations Many recommendations of previous Commissions have not been implemented. Many responsible people have therefore questioned the likelihood of any steps being taken to examine and implement the recommendations of this Commission. In reply we would point out that India's needs today are different from what they were in the past. India is now free and independent. The educational needs of a free country are different and ought to be different from what, they were under foreign domination. The implementation of a report in the days of foreign rule was the responsibility of an alien government and if nothing was done that Government was to blame. Today, however, in a self-governing democracy, the responsibility for implementing a sound educational policy rests with the people themselves and their chosen representatives. If public opinion, therefore, proclaims clearly that a new educational policy is needed, the report which we are representing, if approved, will be preliminary to action, and not, as reports have too often been in the past, an alternative to action. We are not inclined to take a pessimistic view of the matter and, although we are aware of the conditions under which State and Central Governments will have to examine this report, we believe that the States and