FINANCE
Financial Aid to Secondary Education The question has often been asked whether finances will be avai- lable to implement the recommendations that the Commission may make. It has been pointed out that the recommendations of the previous Commissions have not been given effect to, largely because the necessary financial resources could not be made available either by the States or by the Centre. While some of the recommendations that we have made may possibly be implemented without undue strain on the financial resources of the States or the Centre, the most important of our recommendations do require substantial financial help if they are to be worked out successfully.
Responsibilities of Centre and State We have been told that under the Constitution, Secondary edu- cation is a responsibility of the States. We have already expressed the view that the Centre is not absolved of all responsibility in regard to Secondary education, particularly those aspects which have a bearing on the general economic development of the country and the training for citizenship. Moreover the fundamental rights guarantee to every citizen free and compulsory education up to the age of 14; this implies that responsibility in this behalf is shared both by the States as well as the Centre. It seems obvious, therefore, that in all matters connected with the improvement of Secondary education there should be fullest cooperation between the States and the Centre both in regard to the lines on which education should develop as well as the manger in which the recommendations should be implemented.
In this respect we wish to draw attention to the analogy of the United States where, although education is the responsibility of indi- vidual States which can carry out their own experiments in education independently, there is an over-all pattern of education for all American youths, which has the approval and support of the Federal Government. The Federal Government has found it necessary to guarantee through legislation substantial financial aid for educational development. The recommendations to which we attach great importance relate to the implementation of Vocational education as a part of Secondary education and its expansion to all parts of the country as early as possible and the improvement of the status and conditions of service of the teachers. No progress in Secondary education is possible unless the teaching profession attracts the right type of people and proper conditions of service, including salary, are guaranteed at the different levels of education.
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Sources of Revenue At present, the sources of revenue for educational purposes at the State level are: (1) State Government grants; (2) Grants made by Municipal and other local bodies directly or through an educational cess; (3) Private benefactions and grants made by private managements; and (4) School fees.
An educational cess can be imposed by local bodies under permis- sive power given to them by State Governments. It is levied on land revenue, or as part of the profession tax or on property tax in urban areas. The rate of cess varies and although the local bodies can levy the maximum educational cess permissible under the Act in many cases this has not been done.
State Grants The grants given for education vary from State to State. Educa- tional institutions under private managements are given grant-in-aid to assist them in the expansion and improvement of their educational facilities. These grants given may be for any of the following purposes:
(1) Payment of stipends to teachers under training;
(2) Payment of medical officers for medical inspection;
(3) Maintenance In boarding homes of orphans;
(4) Construction and extension of school buildings and hostels;
(5) Furniture, apparatus, chemicals and books for library;
(6) For acquisition of lands for school buildings, hostels or playgrounds;
(7) For crafts or industrial education;
(8) Maintenance grant.
But grants for all these purposes are not given by all States, and the grant-in-aid code would seem to need revision in the light of the new proposals for educational reform.
Vocational Education in the U.S.A. The way in which Vocational education has been implemented in the United States of America and the reasons which led to its rapid development in that country deserve notice.
In the United States schools are controlled entirely and supported to a very large degree by the different States. However, the Federal Government has had considerable influence in educational matters and, in recent years, it has increased its grant-in-aid to the States for part of their educational progress. In 1862, an Act called the Morall Act was passed which made a notable change in the educational policy pursued by the Federal Government. It was laid down that the principal objective of such aid should be, without excluding either scientific and classical students, to teach branches of learning as are related to
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agriculture and the mechanical arts in such a manner as the legislatures of the State may prescribe, in order to afford the industrial classes, a liberal and practical education in their various pursuits. This policy has been steadily kept in view. A further impetus to Vocational education was given by the passing of the National Vocational Education Act of 1915 commonly called the Smith Hughes Act (Appendix X). This Act is intended to provide for the promotion of Vocational education, for cooperation with the States in the promotion of education, agriculture, trades and industries and in the preparation of teachers of vocational subjects and to appropriate money and regulate its expenditure. The detailed provisions of the Act deal with grants to assist the States in paying the salaries of teachers, supervisors and directors of agricultural subjects and teachers of trade, industrial and home economics subjects.
To enable the objectives to be attained, a Federal Board of Voca- tional Education was created consisting of the Secretaries of Agricul- ture, Commerce and Labour, the U. S. Commissioner of Education and three citizens of the United States to be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Board was given the power to cooperate with the State Boards in carrying out the provisions of this Act, and it was the duty of the Federal Board to make or cause to have made, State investigations and reports dealing with the establishment of vocational schools and classes and the giving of instruction in Agriculture, Trades and Industries, Commerce and Home Economics. The funds made available to the Federal Board. of vocational education could also be utilised for printing and binding of books of reference and periodicals. A series of supplementary acts for the same purposes followed, the most significant being the George Barden Act of 1946, which authorised an additional sum of 28,500,000 dollars to be distributed to the States for Vocational education. In order to receive the federal funds mentioned in the Smith-Hughes Act, the various States and territories were required to match from States, territorial or local funds or both, 100% of the federal money i.e. grants were made on a dollar to dollar basis paid by the Federal and State Government respectively. It was, however, found that the States and territories actually exceeded their share of the contribution.
As a result of the Smith Hughes Act and later the George Barden Act, Vocational education received a stimulus which has resulted in a very large increase of trained personnel and much greater industrial prosperity in the United States. We understand that-similar Acts have been passed in some other countries also, notably in Canada.
We have referred to this Act in some detail, because, if our country is to make any progress in Vocational education and help agriculture, industry, trade and commerce, it can only be done by passing an Act of Legislature of similar nature, guaranteeing Central funds for the different States for the organization and promotion of Vocational education. At the Centre, different Departments under several Ministries
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are now expending considerable sums of money for special educational purposes. So far as Secondary education is concerned, the Centre has not given any substantial aid except to those institutions for whose maintenance it has a direct responsibility. We, therefore, recommend that a suitable Act on somewhat similar basis should be passed which will enable the different Ministries concerned to pool their resources in the field of Secondary education and to establish a central Organisation to supervise the development of Vocational education in the different States. It should be able to assist in their proper organization, equipment and maintenance and in providing properly trained teaching personnel who may be paid adequate salaries. As in the Acts quoted above, the matching of such Central grants with grants from State funds should be laid down as a condition.
The Federal Board for Vocational Education We recommend that a Board should be constituted at the Centre to be called the Federal Board of Vocational Education The funds for this board should be contributed by the different Ministries, more particularly the Ministries of Education, Railways and Communication, Food and Agriculture, Industries, Trade and Commerce. The Board should consist of representatives of the different Ministries men- tioned above, together with representatives of the Ministries of Finance land Defence. To represent the general public, the President of the Republic may nominate three distinguished persons to it. The Chairman of the Board should be the Minister of Education at the Centre and Secretary of the Ministry of Education shall be its Secretary. The Board should have power to cooperate with the State Boards in carrying out the provisions of the Act and it should have generally the same functions as the United States Federal Board. The funds at the disposal of the Federal Board shall be distributed to the State concerned taking into consideration the percentage contribution of each State which should be fixed at a definite percentage of the whole grant or with reference to the particular purpose for which the grant is given and the size of the school going population of each State. These provisions may be incorporated in the Act to guide the Board in its work.
Our Possible Sources of Finance (i) Technical Education Cess: We have mentioned in an earlier chapter that the spread of Technical education would directly benefit industry trade, commerce, transport, etc., and therefore, it is reasonable to expect that industry to contribute towards, the training of well qualified technical personnel. The evidence tendered made us feel that industry would welcome this cess if it is taken into full confidence and given a, voice in shaping the policy of Technical and Industrial education. At present. a, special cess is levied on certain industries to promote development and research in them. While this is of great value. it cannot be denied that the employment of well-trained qualified technicians in all grades of industry will result in much greater improvement and this would depend largely on the reorientation of the Secondary education as envisaged by us. Among the industries that will largely benefit from
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employment of such trained personnel, there are the textile industry, steel, ship building, motor cars, railways and transport, mining, machine tools and other engineering industries etc. We therefore recommend that a cess called the Industrial Education Cess be levied, the determination of its exact rate and methods of the collection being left to an Expert Committee to assess with reference to each industry concerned. This cess should be utilised solely for the furtherance of Technical and Vocational education at the Secondary stage taking into consideration the needs of each industry. Representatives of industry, trade and commerce should be associated with the programme of Technical education. In regard to nationalised industries or concerns such as Railways and Communications, Posts and Telegraphs a certain percentage of the net revenue from these undertakings might be made available for the promotion of Technical education. They should really take the lead in encouraging Technical education in all fields in order to improve the quality of the work turned out in their workshops or elsewhere.
(ii) Public Philanthropy: Public Philanthropy has played a nota- ble part in the development of every kind of education in our country but in recent years its scope is becoming more and more limited, so that the extent of the aid expected from this source has greatly dimi- nished. We do not want to go into the detailed causes of this change. Many educational institutions owed their inception and continued exi- stence to a class that is fast disappearing. It seems to us that certain special incentives are required to attract philanthropic aid for educational purposes. Taking note of this, the Central Government has already passed certain rules under which contributions made to certain institutions like universities and research institutes are up to a limit of Rs. 25,000 for Secondary education and up to a limit of Rs. 50,000 for Technical education may be exempted from operation of the Income tax Act.
(iii) Religious and Charitable Endowments: We believe that, in certain States, provision has been made by an Act of the Legislature for some of the income of religious and charitable institutions being used for educational purposes. We consider that it would be a fair utilisation of these funds, if after meeting the necessary charges pertaining to the administration of these trusts, diversion of some of the surplus funds is made to education including secondary education. We trust that similar provisions will be made in other States where such legislation is not already in force.
(iv) Estate Duties: We would also recommend that amounts be- queathed to public institutions for general educational purposes in the will of a deceased person should not be subject to any duty by the Centre and that the whole of this amount should be appropriated to the educational purposes for which they are meant.
Other Measures to Relieve the Cost of Secondary Education (i) Exemption from Local Taxes an Educational Buildings: We have been told that certain local bodies levy property tax on educational institutions and on their grounds which seriously affects their
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finances and restricts the scope of their improvement. If education is a national responsibility, it is not desirable that their buildings and. grounds should be taxed and we recommend that whether they are situated in urban or rural areas, in Municipalities or in Corporations, they should be exempted from the levy of this tax. In many countries this is an accepted principle and instead of levying such charges, Municipalities and Corporations have established educational institutions of all grades out of their funds. The importance of educational institutions having adequate playgrounds and open spaces have been stressed by us elsewhere. We recommend, therefore, that State Governments and the Centre should, wherever possible, allot lands to schools for playgrounds, buildings, agricultural farms and other similar purposes, without charging for them. Such allotment is made in the U.S.A. under the land grants scheme.
(ii) Exemption of Books and Scientific Apparatus from Customs Duty: Till such time as the necessary scientific apparatus and appliances cannot be manufactured in the country, we recommend that educational institutions which have to obtain scientific apparatus and workshop appliances from abroad should be exempted from customs duty. We realise that this involves some dificulties but, with strict control and the provision of necessary information by the schools to the satisfaction of the Department of Education, it should not be impossible to implement this proposal. We likewise recommend that books for school libraries may be similarly exempted from duty.
Central Aid to Secondary Education We are of the opinion that in view of the larger interest involved, financial aid from the Centre is necessary and may reasonably be expected. This scheme of vocational education and the introduction of vocational subjects in the school as recommended cannot possibly be implemented in a satisfactory manner unless central aid is forthcoming. We have referred to some of the methods of augmenting the financial resources needed for Secondary education of diversified types. We feel that so far as the Centre is concerned, certain direct responsibilities may be taken in the field of Secondary education. The Centre may give financial aid for such purposes as the following:
(1) The starting of Secondary schools providing diversified courses, more particularly in the rural areas.
(2) The, production of better books for children and teachers.
(3) The establishment of institutions for training teachers in technical subjects.
(4) The establishment of centres for encouraging research in important problems of Secondary education such as:
(a) Curricula of studies; (b) Vocational guidance;
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(c) Physical and health education
(d) Methods of teaching
(e) Book production research;
(f) Technique of examination.
(5) Organisation of refresher courses, seminars and conferences of headmasters and teachers.
(6) Production of suitable educational films and audio-visual aids; and
(7) Encouragement of approved experimental schools.
We feel that the active cooperation of the Centre with the States is essential to promote education in the country, to improve its quality and to carry on the necessary research in the different fields of education which may ultimately be incorporated in the educational system.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 1. In matters connected with reorganisation and improvement of Secondary education there should be close cooperation between the Centre and States.
2. In order to promote Vocational education a Board of vocational Education should be constituted at the Centre consisting of the representatives of concerned Ministries and other interests.