THE TEACHER AND SOCIETY, REPORT OF NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TEACHERS-I

 INTRODUCTION

In recognition of the importance of teachers and their role in developing the nation's human and material resources, the Government of India appointed two National Commissions on Teachers, one for the school stage and the other for higher education (including technical education) in February 1983.

This is by no means the first occasion when there has been national recognition of the role and work of teachers. Every important Commission1 on Education since Independence has emphasized their vital role in national development and the urgent need for according them proper status and improved working conditions in order to enable them to reach higher levels of performance and effectiveness.

Apart from restressing the crucial nature of the teacher's role in education and development, the appointment of the present two Commissions also serves to underline the essential similarity of educational and teacher-related issues, and the inter-dependence of education at the school and university levels. The basic issues underlining the 12 terms of reference of the two Commissions are three:

(1) Measures to give to the teacher the status he needs and deserves to help him do his duties at the highest possible level of performance, which implies a suitable salary that, in the prevailing economic conditions, will not only meet his economic needs but be commensurate with his professional status and powerful enough to attract and retain 'talent' in the profession;

(2) The evolution of a system of teacher preparation that would help the teacher develop skills and values so as to make his teaching and efforts at. character development effective; and go far; and

(3) To indicate the board Parameters of a code of conduct which would motivate and help the teacher give of his best in the performance of his duties; and to point out other conditions that are necessary for such a code's effective enforcement.

The need to recognise the inter-dependence of school and higher education can hardly be exaggerated. A common complaint from the university teachers is that the poor quality of higher education derives, in no small measure, from poor preparation at school, and that the situation will not change unless there is a perceptible upgrading of instructional standards in schools. On the other hand, those concerned primarily with the quality and relevance of school education take the view, with some justification, that as most secondary school teachers are drawn from university graduates, it would be unrealistic to expect any measurable improvement in school standards unless there is a substantial improvement in the quality of higher education in the country. As for elementary education, one has again to recognise that most of the teacher educators, educational administrators and research workers at this level are products of universities, which means that standards of elementary education are also determined, in no mean degree, by the standards of higher education. This interdependence of school and university education not withstanding, we must accept that the university, being at the apex of the educational system, is expected both by tradition and common consent to provide the system with its academic and moral leadership. If the university falters in this key function, there is little that can be done to save the school system from the deleterious effects of its dysfunctionality.

General Observations

Our tours of duty took us to many state capitals where we had many meaningful exchanges with state officials and officers of Education Department. teachers and representatives of teachers' organisations, and with many other distinguished educationists and citizens. We cannot thank them enough for the very warm and enthusiastic cooperation we received from them. It gives us great pleasure to record our heart- (vii)

1 See for instance

- Radha Krishnan commission Report (1948-49), Chapter-III-Teaching Staff (pp. 68-82).

- Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar Commission Report (1952-53), Chapter XII- Improvement of the teaching Personnel (pp. 155-176).

- Kothari Commission Report (1964-66), chapter-III, Teacher Status (pp. 46-66) and chapter-IV, Teacher Education (pp. 67-88).

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felt appreciation of their interest and the help we received from the discussions.

Presented below are some of the findings and highlights of our interactions :

(1) Wherever we went, we were told that the country was in dire need of a National Education Policy, and that in the absence of such a policy, the development of the educational services in the country would lack both in purpose and direction. There were frequent references to the Education Policy of 1968, and there was consensus that effort had been made towards its determined and purposeful implementation.

(2) Much anxiety and concern was expressed about the growing inadequacy of financial allocations for education from Plan to Plan. In several of our discussions and in the memoranda received from teachers' organisations our attention was drawn sharply to the fact that while in the first Five Year Plan education received 7.2% of the total outlay, in the VI Plan this proportion had come down steeply to 2.6%. This was a reminder that the major findings of the recent "rate of return", "cost benefit" and other relevant research studies in the economics of education notwithstanding, the dominant perception of education in many decision making circles was still in terms of 'consumption' rather than 'investment.

(3) In many places we saw good educational institutions and programmes. Sometimes we came across outstanding work by unknown but dedicated teachers under the most difficult and trying conditions. Such experience filled our hearts with hope and optimism. It is significant that many of these outstanding programmes that we saw came from the private sector.

(4) Most of our witnesses in different places shared our knowledge and perception that there are hundreds and thousands of good teachers all over the country who continue to teach and discharge their professional obligations admir- ably, sometimes under the severest of limitations. Some of them come to the nation's notice only when they, will a national or a State award for outstanding work: but there are many others who carry on their work selflessly and without much public attention or fanfare. Also widely shared was our understanding that a vast silent majority of our teachers who are not performing so well at present are only waiting for the working conditions and climate to change and become a little more favourable to perform at a much higher level of competence.

(5) First hand contacts revealed the economic hard. ships and deprivations experienced by teachers in spite of the raise in salary, received from time to time, as these had been more than neutralised by inflation. This has given rise to frustration and dissatisfaction among the teaching fraternity.

(6) Our enquiries often revealed utter disillusionment of the public with teacher performance. This was due to two factors, as pointed out to us.

(i) the pre-occupation of teachers with private tuitions and income-generating activities rather than with efficient classroom teaching, and

(ii) increasing politicisation of educational ins- titutions and teachers' organisations, with teachers politicking and having no qualms in joining bands with the forces of disruption and indiscipline on the campuses.

"Where is the teachers 'accountability' and 'duty- mindedness'?" was the embarrassing question we were asked.

(7) The more we met and discussed we recognised pointers to the need for a new policy of 'decentralisation' in educational administration. While increasing state control over non-Government institutions through the grant-in-aid device had definitely seemed to give a sense of greater security to the teachers, paradoxically it had also vitiated the climate of aided institutions to such an extent that their teachers were no longer inclined to take their work seriously. As for Government institutions we bad many occasions to wonder whether something could not be done urgently to rescue them from the stranglehold of bureaucratic control by giving them a greater autonomy and by making them answerable to a properly constituted managing committee.

(8) We saw unmistakable signs that a major flaw in our educational planning and practice in the past had been that the school, almost by design, was kept away from the community. One result of such a policy of developing edu- cation is 'isolation'. as it were, had been that the vast human and material resources of the community, which every school could make

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use of for its proper development. have remained untapped. On the other band, the community has also deprived itself, unnecessarily we felt, of the many educational and education- related services which schools are otherwise in a position to provide. We are clear in our minds that any new education policy to suit the present and future needs of this country, particularly in the rural and backward regions, must be based on the principle of maximising community participation and' involvement.

(9) On several occasions we came across unusual nostalgia on the part of some educators and institutions to cling to the past and to solve contemporary problems and issues by means of obsolete ideas and traditions. We saw this as a reminder that our goal of a brighter and better future will never be realised until we place science and technology at the centre of things. We were given to understand: that science and environmental education was woefully inadequate at the elementary stage. In the secondary schools we were informed that science and mathematics teachers were in short supply. While science and technology, by themselves, may not be sufficient to meet all the cultural and educational needs of a modern society, they are absolutely necessary.

(10) And finally, wherever we went we found new expectations arising from the position of 'concurrency' that education now occupies. Listening to pleas for Central legislation in favour of a national system of education, was a frequent experience. Enthusiasm for concurrency was particularly strong among teachers and teachers' organisations. Whether the enthusiasm arose primarily from the view that concurrency represented a breach into the State governments' hold over education, or from a realisation that concurrency offered unlimited opportunities for closer collaboration. between the Centre and the States, it has not been easy to fathom. Our view has been that even if it is not entirely the latter, it is largely so.

While some of the issues highlighted above fall outside the scope of our terms of reference, some are very much part of the main concerns that guided our deliberations. Before moving on to these. we take this opportunity to thank sincerely the many State governments who gave us their unstinted cooperation. We also thank the respondents of our questionnaire whose interest and cooperation made it possible for us to study our terms of reference realistically against the background of their reactions.

We have pleasure in recording our appreciation of the help and support we received from the Directors and staff of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (New Delhi). and National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (New Delhi), who not only made their physical and library facilities available to our drafting team but also arranged for the preparation, by their specialist faculty members of a number of statistical and other papers for our consideration. We also thank the Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan for placing the services of one of his Assistant Education Officers at the disposal of the Commission.

A Research Cell headed by Dr. S. B. Adaval functioned at Allahabad to assist the Commission in the analysis of the questionnaire responses and memoranda received by it, and commissioned a number of papers by specialists on different aspects of the Commission's mandate. We offer our thanks to the staff of the Research Cell for their work and support. We also take this opportunity to express our appreciation of the valuable contribution made by the authors of the papers commissioned by the Cell. (see Appendix IX).

At its meeting held on 29th November, 1984 the Commission appointed a drafting Committee consisting of Shri Veda Prakasha, Miss. Ahalya Chad, Fr. T. V. Kunnunkal and Commodore Sat Bir to supervise the preparation of the final report. We express our gratitude to the Committee for the hard work it had to put in to organise the report in its present shape.

Our thanks are also due to our Member-Secretary Shri Kireet Joshi who extended every help, administrative as well as professional, in the execution of our task. We are equally appreciative of the administrative, and secretarial support received from the officers and staff of the Commission's secretariat.

We record our deep sense of sorrow and anguish at the assasination of our beloved Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31st October, 1984. She had been gracious enough to meet the members of the two Commissions on 26th March, 1983, and to exchange with them her ideas on the education and personality development of the Indian child. We were looking forward to the opportunity of submitting out reports to her Government but that was not to be.