SUPPLY AND RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS (4 & 9)
6.01 In any national setting, the demand for school teachers during a given period of time is commonly determined by the number of pupils and the accepted norms for pupil-teacher ratio, that is, the average size of the class. The number of pupils depends partly on the demographic characteristics of the population, the social demand for education compulsory schooling and school leaving age, the number of teaching hours offered to the pupils every day, number of optional subjects in the curriculum, and the teachers school duties. Our interest in the present enquiry was limited to having a look at the demand and supply position of elementary and secondary teachers against the background of the growth.and functioning of existing teacher training institutions in different parts of the country. Our study uncovered a picture which can be broadly summed up in six fairly simple propositions.
Proposition I 6.02 The overall training capacity of the elementary and secondary teacher training institutions is fairly adequate and has enough built-in elasticity to respond to the need for additional teachers as well as to meet the rising pressure for poste-elementary education.
Proposition II 6.03 But this statement must not conceal the fact that there are considerable regional variations in the number and standard of teacher training facilities.
Proposition III 6.04 Except in certain typical metropolitan situations such as Delhi. there is a chronic shortage of teachers. (Particularly women), in physics, chemistry and mathematics. Occasionally one also comes across regional shortages of other categories such as teachers of Geography and English. This and the widespread reluctance of teachers, particularly women, to work in rural areas, and the lack of geographical mobility amongst a section of qualified teachers, makes the national scene paradoxically a mixed one of surpluses and shortages at the same time.
Proposition IV 6.05 The academic background of persons wanting to train as teachers is generally poor.
Proposition V 6.06 Much of the training in training institutions is ineffective and shows little awareness and understanding of the actual classroom situation of the larger national and educational goals.
Proposition VI 6.07 Inherent in the emphasis on non-formal education as an alternative for those who cannot participate in formal schooling is, a new challenge and opportunity to teacher education. The training of teachers for non-formal education might well prove to be the first major break-through in improving the national training system. The least it could do is to assist in weeding out much of the deadwood in the existing training curriculum.
Proposition. 1: Concerning the adequacy and elasticity of the
training system 6.08 To take up the first proposition first. it is apparent that in any expanding system of school education, the supply of teachers must keep pace with the demand. When this is not so, the country has either to slow down the pace of expansion or depend upon expatriate teachers which generally makes the running costs exorbitantly high. Fortunately, the teacher training system in India has shown sufficient elasticity to respond to the post-Independence pressures for expansion of school facilities. This is fully borne out by the reasonably high proportion of trained teachers now as against the situation at the time of Independence or soon thereafter.
34
SUPPLY AND RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS 35
Proportion of trained teachers in India
1949-50 1982-83
Primary 58.32% 86.0%
Middle 52.6% 89.5%
Secondary 53.59% 89.3%
6.09 In order to have some idea of the extent to which the training capacity of our institutions and the annual additional requirements of teachers match we looked into the statistics of Primary, middle and secondary teachers for the last 13 years 1970-71 to 1389356 in 1982-83. The number of middle school found that the number of primary teachers made a not increase of 31.1% rising from 1059950 in 1970-71 to 1389356 in 1982-83. The number of middle school teachers increased from 637569 to 856389 in 1982-83, registering an increase of 34.3%. The number of secondary teachers during these 12 years rose from 629200 to 993115, showing an increase of 57.8%.
6.10 The number of teachers in the three categories in different years is given in the table below
TABLE II
Showing All India numbers of Primary, Middle and Secondary Teachers 1970-71 to 1982-83
1970-71 10,59,950 6,37,569 6,29,200 23,26,719
1971-72 10,97,995 6,65,597 6,57,946 24,21,538
1972-73 11,50,805 6,92,263 6,84,865 25,27,933
1973-74 11,68,363 7,04,573 6,48,049 25,20,985
1974-75 12,31,622 7,58,210 7,39,641 27,29,473
1975-76 12,47,553 7,77,928 7,58,561 27,84,042
1976-77 12,58,578 7,93,395 7,74,060 28,26,033
1977-78 12,67,193 8,06,233 7,98,110 28,71,536
1978-79 12,96,639 8,25,146 8,18,507 29,40,292
1979-80 13,28,700 8,35,608 8,69,842 30,34,150
1980-81 13,45,376 8,30,649 9,01,329 30,77,854
1981-82 13,65,431 8,46,772 9,41,824 31,54,027
1982-83 13,89,356 8,56,389 9,93,115 32,38,860
Working out the annual rate of growth (compound)' of the increase of these three categories of teachers we get the following picture.
TABLE III
Showing All India Annual Rate of Growth (compound) of Teachers 1970-71 to 1982-83
1976-77 to 1982-83 1.66 1.28 4.2 1.52 2.30
1970-71 to 1982-83 2.28 2.49 3.88 2.36 2.79
6.11 Two trends are clearly discernible in the data presented above.
1The compound growth rates have been calculated by the following formula :
n (root) r = Pn / Po - (minus) 1
or r = [Anti log (----------)- 1] x 100
Where Pn is the number of teachers in the last year that is, 1982-83 Po is the base year that is 1970-71
n is the number of intermediatory year before Po and Pn which n this study comes to 12 years.
(1) The rate of growth for primary teachers slows down from 2.90 % to 1.66 % from the first to the second half of period in question. The same goes for the rate of growth for middle school teachers which comes down from 3.71% to 1.28%. This deceleration is in all likelihood due to the fact that as enrolment ratios for the age group 6-10 rise above the 80% mark further increases tend to become more and more difficult. However, the decrease in the case of middle school teachers was not anticipated and is possibly a consequence of the decline at the 6-10 level.
(2) In the case of secondary teachers the high growth rate of the first half has become even higher in the second half, rising from 3.51% to 4.2%. This is entirely to be expected, as for a long time to come, the expansion of secondary education is expected to grow at a faster pace.
6.12 However, our main interest in the present exercise was to estimate the additional number of teachers for each of the 12 years of the period in question. Assuming that the annual replacement ratio of teachers at the primary, middle and secondary
36 THE TEACHER AND SOCIETY
levels is 2%, the picture that emerged from this study of the data is presented in the table below.
TABLE IV
Estimated All-India Net Additional Number of Teachers For 1970-71 to
1982-83 1
Pri- Middle Secon- P+ M P+ M+
mary dary (S)
(P) (M) (S)
1970-71 .. .. .. .. ..
1971-72 59,244 40,779 41,330 1,00,023 1,41,353
1972-73 74,770 39,978 40,078 1,14,748 1,54,826
1973-74 40,574 26,155 23,119 66,729 43,611
1974-75 86,626 67,728 1,04,553 1,54,354 2,58,908
1975-76 40,563 34,882 33,713 75,445 1,09,158
1976-77 35,976 31,026 30,670 67,002 97,672
1977-78 33,787 28,706 39,531 62,493 1,02,024
1978-79 54,790 35,038 36,359 89,828 1,26,187
1979-80 57,994 26,965 67,705 84,959 1,52,664
1980-81 43,250 11,753 48,884 55,003 1,03,887
1981-82 46,963 32,736 58,522 79,699 1,38,220
1982-83 51,234 26,552 70,127 79,786 1,47,914
Annual Average 52,147 33,524 45,696 85,671 1,31,367
6.13 The figures show that at the rates of expansion that were witnessed during the seventies, the country needs every year around 50,000 additional primary teachers, some 30,000 teachers for the middle stage and some 45,000 secondary teachers.
6.14 Let us now set these demand estimates against the output of trained teachers in 1979-80 2. in that year there were 945 training schools with a total enrolment of 87382; and there were 338 3 training colleges with a total enrolment of 56339. Assuming that the bulk of teachers at the middle school stage also consist of those who have received training at elementary training schools, the annual demand of some 80,000 teachers squares reasonably well with the enrolment figure 87382. Happily the supply position is even more comfortable in the case of secondary teachers against an estimated demand of some 45,000 teachers the training capacity is adequate for training 56339 trainees. Actually the supply exceeds demand in the case of secondary teachers by some 25% which over a period of time could easily result in teacher unemployment. This, in fact, has happened already. As can be seen from the statistics in Appendix XIII, there were on the live register (Employment Exchange) of this country on 31st December, 1983 more than 1,80,000 secondary teachers. The register also showed a little more than 2 lakhs primary and middle school teachers4 looking for jobs.
6.15 But it might be argued that the supply of teachers depends not only on the capacity of the training institutions but also on the supply of school and college graduates. True, but in so far as that is concerned it is well known that the Indian economy, including the profession of teaching, has been chronically incapable of absorbing the annual supply of school and college leavers, and that on that account educated unemployment continues from pre-Independence days to be a major problem facing the economic planners of this country. At the school stage today nearly 2 million students pass the high school examination, nearly 5 lakhs the higher secondary examination and another 3.5 to 4 lakhs the intermediate or +2 examination. This takes the number of qualified school leavers alone to nearly 3 million. At the college level nearly 8.5 lakhs receive their degree in general education (including Arts and Science) while, 1.5 lakhs do so in professional subjects like Engineering, Medicine, Nursing, Agriculture, etc. These figures relate to the year 1978. There need be little question that the annual number of degree holders and those with post-graduate certificates exceeds the one million mark. Even under the most favourable circumstances that is with the fastest rates of educational expansion the school system will hardly succeed in absorbing say more than 5% of the available supply. Our supply problem, as we shall have occasion to comment on presently, is not one of quantity but of quality.
6.16 One remaining question that needs to be addressed is: if we are to reach the Constitutional directive of universal elementary education by 1990, as announced by the Government some time ago, will it be realistic to accept the existing training system to step up its output sufficiently to meet the new teacher demand? Since it is not certain whether such a high target can be reached within the next five years, we suggest in response to this question that teacher implications of the target may be worked out under the following four assumptions:-
(a) 100% target projection.
1 for details of method of estimation see Appendix XII (v).
2 Despite our best efforts we were unable to get teacher training data for a more recent year.
3 Our latest information at the time of writing this report is that there are 494 secondary training institutions in the country today.
4 Due to factors that are not easily controllable the EMI statistics tend to be somewhat inaccurate and undependable. As such we need not worry too much about the fact that in the unemployment statistics reported in Appenteachers is smaller and not larger than the number of dix XII(xiv) the number of unemployed secondary unemployed Primary and middle school teachers, as one would have expected.
SUPPLY AND RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS 37
(b) High level projection at 75% of the target.
(c) Medium level projection at 50% of the target.
(d) Low level projection at 25% of the target.
(a)100 % target projection
(in lakhs)
Formal Channel Non-Formal Total
Channel
Addl. Addl. Addl. Addl. Addl. Addl.
Enrol- Teach- Enrol- Teach- Enrol- Teach-
ment ers1 ment ers ment ers
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Primary 233.00 5.80 78.00 2.60 311.00 8.40
Middle 288.00 8.20 32.00 1.60 320.00 9.80
Total 521.00 14.00 110.00 4.20 631.00 18.20
(b) High level projection (75 %)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Primary 174.75 4.35 58.50 1.95 233.25 6.30
Middle 216.00 6.15 24.00 1.20 240.00 7.35
Total 390.35 10.50 82.50 3.15 473.25 13.65
(c) Medium level projection (50%)
(in lakhs)
Formal Channel Non-Formal Total
Channel
Addl. Addl. Addl. Addl. Addl. Addl.
Enrol- Teach- Enrol- Teach- Enrol- Teach-
ment ers1 ment ers ment ers
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Primary 116.50 2.90 39.00 1.301 55.50 4.20
Middle 144.00 4.10 16.00 0.801 60.00 4.90
Total 260.50 7.00 55.00 2.103 15.50 9.10
(d) Low level projection (25 %)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Primary 58.25 1.45 19.50 0.65 77.75 2.10
Middle 72.00 2.05 8.00 0.40 80.00 2.45
Total 130.25 3.50 27.50 1.05 157.75 4.55
1. The exercise is based on the following pupil-teacher ratio :
Channel Primary stage Middle stage
Formal 1:40 1:35
Non-Formal 1:30 1:20
6.17 As against the projected demand of 18.20 lakh additional teachers during 1985-90 under assumption (a) of 13.65 lakh teachers under assumption (b), 9.10 lakh under (c), and 4.55 lakh under (d), the total output of the existing elementary teacher training institutions is not likely to exceed 4 lakhs.
6.18 Even if special steps are taken to enlarge their capacity and to reactivise the institutions which had been closed down by their State governments some years ago and which in many cases are now functioning merely as in-service institutions, the total supply is not likely to exceed 7.5 lakhs. This leaves a deficit of about ten lakh teachers formal and non-formal under assumption (a). it is apparent that without launching a big crash programme it will be well-nigh impossible to meet the demand for additional teachers under any of the three assumptions, (a), (b) and (c).
6.19 The extreme difficulty of reaching the target of UEE (under assumption) (a) will also become clear if we look at the data of our own study which was presented in Table IV on p. 95. These are presented graphically in the following representation.
6.20 Two inferences can be drawn straightway from the behaviour of the three curves and the straight lines fitted to them by the Least Squares Method. First, the number of primary and middle school teachers (P+M) as well as the total number of school teachers (P+M+S) might start declining perceptibly unless there is a very great and determined effort to expand elementary education during the next 5 or 10 years.
6.21 What do we mean by a very great and determined effort? As indicated earlier in Chapter III. we have four types of programmes in mind : (1) programmes to curb effectively the high dropout rates, particularly at the primary stage; (2) social and economic programmes to neutralise the prejudice against schooling of girls ; (3) improved planning of elementary education at the local grassroots level; and (4) installation of an effective system of implementation including continuous monitoring and remedial action. These may not be simple or easy measures but they are absolutely critical for the universalisation of elementary education. They are, also a test of the political will of the nation if it means business.
6.22 The second inference which one, of the graphs suggests that the national requirements for the secondary teacher are on the increase. In future the increases might even become sharper.
Proposition II : Regional Variation 6.23 This reassuring picture of teacher supply must not be allowed to conceal two related, problems. one
38
SUPPLY AND RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS 39
of these concerns the varying proportion of trained teachers in different states and the other their varying capacity to train. The data concerning the proportion of trained teachers among primary, middle and secondary teachers is available in Appendix XIII(ii).
6.24 It is gratifying that the overall proportion of trained primary teachers for the country as a whole is high (86.9%), and that there are at least 10 States' where the proportion has either reached 100 or is very close to it. The States are : Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chandigarh. Delhi and Pondicherry. Another fact which stands out clearly is the lowest proportion of trained teachers in the States of the north- eastern region (Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram).
6.25 At the middle school stage the overall trained proportion for the country is 89.5 per cent and as many as 16 States exceed that proportion, Andhra Pradesh. Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Goa Daman Diu, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry.
6.26 Once again most of the States that come out poorly are from the north-eastern region (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram).
6.27 At the high school stage the all-India percentage of trained teachers is 89.3 and the States above this mark are: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu. Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Lakshdweep and Pondicherry.
6.28, Most of the States with a poor showing again come from the north-eastern region Assam (32.1%), Manipur (27.0%), Meghalaya (30.0%), Nagaland (33.0%). Sikkim (44.1%), Tripura (55.3%), West Bengal (65.0%), Arunachal Pradesh (54.2%) and Mizoram (46.5 %).
6.29 At the Higher Secondary Stage (Old Scheme). the overall proportion is 89.6% and all the seven concerned states (Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chandigarh) have high percentages, The only exception is Assam which again has a very low percentage of 26.5%
6.30 For the Higher Secondary Stage (10+2), the country's percentage of trained teachers is 89.6% and many States exceed or approximate that point. There are some others below the all India proportion, but among these we recognise once again Assam (35.5%), Sikkim (41.5%) and West Bengal (64.5%).
6.31 This short survey suggests that the problem of the untrained teacher is really acute in the States of the north-eastern region and that appropriate measures should be taken. We shall revert to this matter presently.
6.32 Coming to the variation in the teacher training capacity of the States, we thought that one good way to make inter-State comparisons would be to work out the number of elementary and secondary teacher trainees per million of population.2
6.33 The results of this exercises are presented in Appendix XII (xi).
6.34 The number of elementary trainees per million of population of India is 127.78. The States exceeding this, capacity in the descending order are Goa, Daman and Diu (576.85), Karnataka (455.88), J&K (272.74), Orissa (255.53), Maharashtra (245.5), Kerala (221.10), Bihar (196.63), Assam (157.26), Punjab (142.35) and Delhi (136.29).
6.35 The States where the provision of training facilities is lower than the All India figures are: Madhya Pradesh (85.65), Rajasthan (73.20), West Bengal (71.86), Uttar Pradesh (57.48), Meghalaya (57.14), Tamil Nadu (46.14), Andhra Pradesh (37.65) and Haryana (3.11).
6.36 It is interesting that West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh which have had the advantage of some of the oldest traditions of elementary teacher training in the country feature below the all-India standard.
6.37 Coming to the variations in the standard of secondary teacher training, the number of trainees per million of population varies from 0.97 (Tripura) to 241.52 (Haryana). The all-India number of trainees comes to 82.38.
6.38 11 States have a higher standard of facilities than the all- India average. These are : Haryana (418.52), Punjab (253.14), Meghalaya (175.93), Goa, Daman and Diu (142.59), Rajasthan (135.50), Gujarat (134.83), Maharashtra (128.09), Kerala (107.48). Karnataka (106.91), Jammu and Kashmir (100.06) and West Bengal (86.41). The States below
1 The term States as used in this presentation includes Union Territories
2 States with a population of less than 0.5 million are excluded from this analysis.
40 THE TEACHER AND SOCIETY
the all-India average are : Tamil Nadu (67.59),Orissa (62.31), Delhi (60.48), Assam (58.82), Andhra Pradesh (52.30), Madhya- Pradesh (44.57), Bihar (33.44), Uttar Pradesh (21.44), Himachal Pradesh (12.73) and Tripura (0.97).
6.39 Why do the States of the north-eastern region rank low on most of the indicators that we considered? Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that in these States teacher preparation from the very beginning has been practically a tightly government controlled affair, official policy throughout being to reserve most of the training seats in training institutions for the untrained teachers in government service. As : there is virtually absence of any voluntary effort in teacher training in this part of the country, the government holds for all practical purposes, a complete monopoly of teacher education and the States do not seem to have shown any great anxiety to clear the continuing backlog of untrained teachers. Also perhaps for reasons of poor geographical mobility, these States have not been able to attract trained teachers from the surplus parts of the country.
6.40 Our assessment is that the clearing of the backlog of untrained teachers in the north-eastern region is an entirely soluble problem, and that it is high time the concerned state governments considered taking some serious and determined interest in the matter. If appropriate measures are taken to increase suitably the capacity of the training institution wherever feasible and to develop, special training programmes to reorient untrained teachers. and also to attract teachers in shortage categories from the surplus states, there is no good reason why the proportion of trained teachers in this part of the country should not start comparing favourably with the rest of the country in a reasonably short period of time.
6.41 The first practical step to be taken is to plan a survey of the region to identify the present nature of its teacher training problems. We recommend that the initiative for such an investigation might as well come jointly from the Eastern Zonal Council (Bihar, Orissa, Sikkim and West Bengal) and the North Eastern Council (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram). The collaboration of NCERT in making such a survey and in preparing a suitable plan of action, could be useful. in our judgement, it should be possible to complete the survey and the suggested plan of follow-up action with the cooperation, among others. of the teachers training institutions in the, regions within 4 to 6 months on the outside.
Proposition III : Persisting shortages and surpluses 6.42 Two kinds of shortages were brought to our attention : (a) shortage of teachers of certain important subjects like science and mathematics (b) shortage of teachers particularly, women willing to work in the remote and sparsely populated areas. For either category we were unable to find any firm data indicating the extent of these shortages.
6.43 Indian Universities turn out more than a lakh science graduates every year. Even if a third of these were available to take up teaching, the shortages of teachers of science and mathematics would cease in a short period of time. Perhaps, the main difficulty here is that career prospects offered to young scientists in other occupations, particularly in industry, are so much more attractive that very few good science graduates are willing to take up teaching. And those who do, treat teaching more as a staging post than anything else. It would not be very practicable to suggest a special scale of pay to attract science and mathematics teachers in our particular conditions, and yet this category is of such crucial importance to the future of education and development that some incentive schemes must be initiated atleast to mitigate the severity of the problem.
6.44 It is pertinent to mention that in the past there has been a practice in some parts of the developed world to offer contract appointments on highly attractive terms to young scientists and engineers, for a stipulated period of time, say for 5 years. Such a strategy is credited with some success in attracting a number of teachers who are not otherwise prepared to commit themselves permanently to this profession. Apart from considering this suggestion in places where conditions are favourable, school authorities should also explore the possibility of utilising to the utmost extent on a part-time or over-time basis, whatever qualified manpower is available locally, fur teaching science and mathematics.
6.45 Like the world wide shortage of teachers of science and mathematics, the general shortage of teachers in the rural and backward areas is also of a chronic nature. We have been aware of the interest taken in many parts of the country to overcome the problem by building residential quarters for women teachers and by offering special allowances to those who are willing to work in difficult places. We recognise that what has been done is significant, but it is tar from being adequate.
6.46 our approach to the problem posed by teacher shortages all along the line seem to have been piece-
SUPPLY AND RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS 41
meal and ad hoc. What we need instead, is a carefully worked out strategy to tackle the root causes of the problem. The first step would be to plan and mount a nation wide survey to determine the extent of the shortages and to identify their root causes. Only then would we be in a position to plan appropriate action on a big enough scale. We would be happy if the initiative for such a survey, to be followed by a timebound programme of action came from the Central Ministry of Education. In our view, the NCERT, which is adequately equipped to carry out national surveys in education is eminently suited to undertake such a job.
6.47 The other problem we wish to comment upon is that of teacher unemployment. The reliability of the statistics in appendices XII (xiv) and XII (xv) can be questioned on two counts : (a) not every unemployed teacher makes it a point to register and (b) not every teacher who is registered is necessarily without work. It is likely that the EMI statistics somewhat overestimate the extent of prevailing unemployment among teachers. It is well known, for instance, that some teachers looking for work, register their names at a number of exchanges simultaneously. For instance, in Delhi many teachers from the neighbouring states are known to register themselves with the Delhi Exchange as the employment opportunities in the capital are supposedly better and more attractive. Again many teachers in Delhi, particularly women, who are looking for work, are not prepared to go out of Delhi to work in the rural areas. It seems to us that in a free market economy like ours, some unemployment among the educated including teachers is unavoidable whatever the policy measures to balance supply and demand of educated manpower. But it is important that the educated unemployment does not become a serious social problem.
Recruitment before training 6.48 Alternatively we have to think of some less drastic measure, which over a period of time is able to restore the supply and demand of teachers to be a reasonable balance. One that was suggested to us was that in future teacher training should be limited only to teachers who have been recruited already or selected for recruitment. We understand that such a procedure is in vogue in a number of countries with no problem of unemployed teachers on their hands. There is every possibility that with an assured career the quality of die average recruits to the profession will also improve.Our survey revealed a very great support to the idea from our respondents favouring it were as follows-
Primary School Teachers 100%
Secondary School Teachers 99.58%
Prominent People and Educationists 100%
Educational Administrators 99.65%
Teacher Educators 98.45%
Students 100%
Teachers Organisations 89.75%
6.49 With such great popular support the idea should be of a particular interest to States where supply and demand continue to be much out of step.
Women Teachers 6.50 There has been a steady increase in girls' education over the last four decades. Naturally enough the demand for women teachers has also been increasing as also the number of women teachers actually employed. In 1949-50 there were 79339 women teachers in the primary schools, forming 15.3% of the total teacher force in these schools. In 1982-83 the number stood at 354362 forming 25.5% of the total and representing more than a fourfold increase. In 1949-50 there were 12078 women teachers in Middle schools forming 15.31% of the total number. By 1982-83 the number had risen to 267141, representing 31.2% of the total strength and registering a more than 22 fold increase. As for high and higher secondary schools including post-basic institutions, the total number of teachers in 1949-50 was 116157 of which 18656 (16.060%.) were women. In 1982-83, the number of women teachers stood at 219112 which found 28.19 % of the total number of teachers (777215). The increase is more than 11 fold.
6.51 Despite this spectacular increase in the number of women teachers, the supply is not commensurate with the demand. There is still need for mote women teachers particularly in rural areas. This is heightened also by the Government's recent decision to give free education to girls up to the senior secondary level.
6.52 Women make good teachers and are, in fact, preferred to men specially in the primary grades where they have a natural way with children. The number of mixed schools is also growing and there is need for some women teachers in them. At the pre-primary level, in Anganwadis, and Balwadis, and for looking after the creches, women are ideally suited. As provision for education increases with the universalisation of elementary education the need for women teachers will be felt more keenly.
6.53 In the last two or three decades women have become much more aware of opportunities: open to them, and old prejudices and inhibitions have worn away or are diminishing. Attitudinal changes in urban society in enabling women to prove their merit in various vocations have been marked in roles such as;
42 THE TEACHER AND SOCIETY
secretaries, receptionists, air-hostesses, beauticians, caterers, sales women, nurses, shop assistants, telephone operators etc.-roles which were unthinkable some three decades ago. At another level the Indian academic women is seen increasingly to hold her own in universities, in journalism, in civil service, in politics, in social service and in management. We are told that the pattern of enrolment in teachers' college is steadily changing, in favour of women, suggesting that it is probably the first preference of women in the urban areas.
6.54 But her difficulties have to be appreciated. Without proper housing and medical facilities in rural and remote areas she cannot opt for a rural teachers's job. Without built-in provision for long periods of leave to tend to home needs specially after childbearing, she hesitates to opt for a career in preference to care of the home. Much wider acceptance of the need for creches would relieve her of other burdens and if she can bring her baby to a creche she is a happier person. Many women would volunteer to teach even under very difficult circumstances if they could do so part-time. If we need to attract more women to the teaching profession, these obstacles. must be removed.
6.55 We make two concrete suggestions to attract more women to take up teaching in the rural areas. State governments should institute scholarships for women who have had seven or eight years of schooling and are willing to teach in the rural schools. We feel that the provision of a monetary incentive will assist materially in attracting rural women to teach in our rural elementary schools.
6.56 The second suggestion we would like to make is that in the Seventh Plan there should be a provision for the construction of one lakh quarters for women teachers in the rural areas. In our opinion it should be possible to construct a modest residential unit at a a cost of Rs. 25,000.1 If central subsidy is necessary to go ahead with this programme, we recommend that the centre should offer needed assistance to the State governments for this purpose. As for the distribution of these quarters between different States, it is a matter that should be settled by the Ministry of Education and the Planning Commission in consultation with the State governments.
Proposition IV: Low Academic Profile of Teachers 6.57 In purely "certification" terms there has been some improvement over the years in the academic background of the school teacher. If matriculation is considered to be the minimum academic background for a competent primary school teacher, according to the Third All-India Survey2 67.6 per cent of the primary teachers in the country meet that criterion. But considering the low standards of school education today that is perhaps not saying very much. The stark fact that must be faced is that the teacher today is much less motivated and academically much less well equipped than his counterpart with similar qualifications some thirty years ago.
6.58 We wish to stress categorically that this issue of standards is of crucial importance, and that unless, we take some drastic steps to upgrade school and university standards, the average teacher's competence and commitment will remain illusory. We would be failing in our duty if we did not share our conviction that in the development of, education in this country, a stage has long been reached when priority must decidely shift from growth to improvement of quality. Teacher training, howsoever well-planned and organised, will never compensate for the deficiencies of general education, and will contribute but little towards professional preparation, if it is not backed up by an effective high standard school curriculum. Whatever the programmes or whatever the educational level under consideration, the country can ill-afford to compromise on quality. Certainly, this is not an easy task and will need many hard decisions to bring the situation under control. But the moral is clear. If we do not raise the standards, of school education and if its quality continues to decline the way it has for many years now, any investment in the professional training and equipment of our teachers will be largely a wasted effort.
6.59 The Central issue here, as we see it, is whether something can be done to raise the standards of education without entailing prohibitive costs. Our understanding is that something is definitely possible. Illustrative of what we have in mind are the following three measures:
(a) Development of school complexes to improve, inter-alia, the equipment and competence of teachers through local in- service programmes;
(b) Restoration of the objectivity of the examination by ensuring its proper conduct and impartiality; and
(c) Improvement of text-books and instructional materials.
1 For Financial estimates see para 10.77 of Chapter X.
2 Data Process and Educational Survey Unit, NCERT, New Delhi 1978.
THE TEACHER AND SOCIETY 43
(a) The school Complex Idea 1 6.60 In a rural area having a radius of about 5 to 10 miles, on an average, there are expected to be one or two high/higher secondary schools, six or seven middle schools and 30 to 35 primary schools. Together these can be organised into a compact school complex with potential for in-service guidance of teachers, particularly primary school teachers, as there will be atleast 8 to 10 trained graduates in the central school. By providing a few basic aids such as a projector, a reasonably good library and a good science laboratory at the central institutions, and by making them functionally available to all the schools in the area, the teachers and children of all the schools will have available to them the facilities and services of a small but functional resource centre. Our detailed observations on the in-service implications of the school complex idea will be presented in Chapter VIII.
(b) Examination Reform 6.61 Reform in education can begin at any point of the educational continuum, at the initial stage of setting the curricular objectives, or at the stage of teaching process or the evaluation and follow-up stage. Much criticism has been levelled against the present degree of stress on examinations and even more so, at the way they are conducted. As a result, in many places public examinations have lost credibility, for the most part, whether at the school or university stage. Research studies on public examinations, conducted both in India and elsewhere, have exposed many ugly skeletons in the cupboard. However, in the absence of a suitable alternative, public examinations continue to be the sole criteria for judging the merit of the students for admission to a higher stage of education or for employment, and thus maintain a sanctity of their own. It is, therefore, of the highest importance that immediate practical steps be taken to restore and maintain the credibility and objectivity of the public examinations.
6.62 We had suggested earlier that at each stage, the determination of standards be arrived at by defining exactly the number of competencies of various types that the student is expected to acquire and that evaluation be concerned with testing how far the students have been able to master these. In this context, we had suggested that a National Testing Service would be an appropriate agency to develop and administer standardised tests so as to accurately assess standards and to help institutions to make selection of students for different courses.
6.63 We realise that those who teach are the best judges to evaluate the effectiveness of learning. This is true at all levels of education. It is unfortunate that past efforts at providing greater scope and weightage to internal assessment ran into difficulties because of several unfair practices and inflation of marks. The solution, we feel, does not lie in discarding the internal assessment. In line with our strong plea for a decentralised approach to administration of education, and once selective use is made of the tests developed by the proposed National Testing Service, greater balance can be restored between internal and external assessment. Needless to add that the teachers will require special orientation to do justice to the responsibility placed on them through internal assessment.
(c) Improvement of Textbooks and Instructional Materials 6.64 Inspite of the criticism that we have become familiar with and the movement to replace the textbook by a more flexible approach to instructional materials, we believe that in our particular circumstances and with our limited resources, the influence of the textbook which is considerable, will continue to be so far a long time to come. Any effort to improve the quality and the relevance of textbooks will therefore, go a long way in raising educational standards. We invite attention in this context to the good work done by the NCERT in developing new textbooks in different school subjects. A particular mention should be made of the books in Science and Mathematics, and Geography. We anticipate a considerable impact of this programme on the improvement of textbooks in the regional languages of the country.
Proposition V : Irrelevance and Ineffectiveness of the Existing
Training Curricula 6.65 Our observations on the unsatisfactory quality of teacher preparation for elementary and secondary teachers and our suggestions as to how teacher training could be made more effective and relevant to the learning needs of our children will be presented in Chapter VII. At this stage we only wish to invite attention to the fact that the unsatisfactory teacher preparation is a problem of longstanding and that the country has shown a very lackadaisical attitude towards it. To, quote2 Radhakrishnan "Our main criticism of the existing courses (but we repeat that it does not apply to them all) is that too little time is given to school practice, too little weight is given to practice
1 See also paras 4.29 of Chapter IV, 6.71 of Chapter VI, 8.22 of Chapter VIII and 10.03 10.03 of Chapter X.
2 Report of the University Education Commission, 1970, Government of India, p. 213.
44 SUPPLY AND RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS
in assessing the student's performance, and conditions of school practice are often unsatisfactory, sometimes quite, grossly unsatisfactory. In some places a student is required to give only five lessons during the whole of his course! We ascertained that in fact students were never failed on their practical test, and we en- quired what happened if his five lessons were not deemed satisfactory. We were told that in that case the student gave another lesson, or even another, till he gave one that passed muster It is not surprising that under these conditions the schools do not regard the possession of the B.T. Degree as the slightest real guarantee that is holder can either teach or control a class". This was good 35 years ago! The situation has hardly undergone any change since.
6.66 The basic problem with teacher education not only in our own country but the world over, has been that it is not backed up by any systematic field research to validate the training curriculum. The choice of the contents of the theory part of the course everywhere continues to be determined primarily by tradition, background of teacher educators themselves and by arm-chair thinking. There has never been any serious effort to relate the contents directly to teacher competencies and pupil learning. The same goes for the practicum. Whatever little experience a teacher trainee is given during his professional preparation is so unplanned, and organised under such unsatisfactory conditions of class room work and supervision, that the contribution it makes to a teacher's ability to teach effectively, is minimal. To cap it all there has never been any serious effort in the teacher training colleges or in our university departments of education to go into the field to ascertain under reasonably controlled conditions the exact contribution which practice teaching. organised in a particular way, makes to the teaching ability of the trainees. We feel that no serious effort has been made to validate the training curriculum as a whole and in respect of its different components by relating them to the teacher's performance and the children's learning gains in real class room situations, Admittedly the evaluation and comparative examination of different models of teacher training is going to be an exceedingly complex affairs, but there is no reason why with all our resources and experience the challenge cannot be met. In our opinion, as an area for study, investigation and research, teacher training deserves priority and it is high time the training organisations got over their deeprooted shyness to look within, as it were unless this is done and some success achieved in developing after proper field testing more effective and better curricula, there will be no answer to the widespread scepticism of its usefulness, and the nagging doubt that perhaps the only true determinants of a teacher's ability to teach are his proficiency in the subject and his application; and that teacher training as such is entirely dispensable. We sincerely hope that this aspect of the matter will receive due consideration from our national and State organisations concerned directly with the preparation of primary and secondary teachers.
Proposition VI: The Challenge of Training for Non-formal
Education 6.67 To begin with we should concentrate on developing training models which can train men and women of the locality into effective teachers of elementary education. Once we have developed such models these can be replicated or adapted to suit a variety of circumstances. We shall also be in a better position then to quantify the nation's teacher requirements for non-formal education and decide on strategies for meeting them.
6.68 If we succeed in evolving training programmes that are sensitive to the needs of non-formal learners, this is bound to make a real and lasting contribution to the existing system of teacher education. Among other things, as suggested already, these could be expected to help materially in weeding out much of the dead-wood in our training curricula. To elaborate the point further, let us first give some factual information and also make a few comments on the present status of Non-formal Education in the country.
6.69 The experimental project of Non-formal Education for children in the age group 9 to 14 was announced by the Central Ministry of Education in June. 1980. The programme was aimed at intensifying national effort to universalise elementary education by responding particularly to the needs of three overlapping groups of children:
(a) Children belonging to the weaker sections of the society including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, slum dwellers etc.;
(b) Girls; and
(c) Children who engaged in household work and other economic activities.
6.70 The present number of Non-formal Education centres is estimated to be in the neighbourhood of 1.60,000 having a total enrolment of around 59 lakhs children. In most of these centres an attempts made through course condensation to cover the normal 5 year primary school curriculum in two years, Nonformal education also places a good deal of emphasis on decentralisatiou of curriculum development and
SUPPLY OF RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS 45
preparation of local specific-need-based materials in and around divergent environmental situations of the children living in various climatic and social settings. The basic criteria being followed to guide the preparation of materials are four-
- The materials should be related to the life style and life experiences of the people.
- They should be based on the local needs and problems of the people.
- Instructional materials should be supported by supplementary materials aimed at developing reading habits and interests in children.
- The materials should help children in appearing at the examinations held for formal school children.
6.71 It should be mentioned that in the Ministry's original scheme of Non-formal Education there was provision for block and village level resource centres to provide educational facilities and guidance to the local cluster of non formal centres. Not much serious attention seems to have been given to the development of such centres. We feel the matter should receive serious attention and that if necessary the development of Non-formal Education resource centres could be entrusted to the school complexes,' recommended for the UEE.
6.72 In most places the central motive which prompts parents and children to participate in Non-formal Education programmes, is the desire for formal certificates. Largely in recognition of this in States like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh the syllabus and content of Non-formal Education at primary and middle stages are similar to those of the formal schools. After completing the course at the primary level, a child in Assam, is allowed to join the next higher class at a regular school. In West Bengal the heads of institutions issue certificates to the students on the basis of their attainments at the Non-formal Education centres. In Madhya Pradesh the achievement of the learner is evaluated after completion of each unit: and those who complete all the units are permitted to appear at the class V examination meant for children of the formal school. One thing is clear. A lot of the learners at the Non-formal Education centres seem to be highly motivated. This, is amply borne out by the performance of children in attendance at Nonformal Education centres of Uttar Pradesh run by the, NCERT. Out of a total of 42,789 children who appeared at the class V examination, in 1982, 37,766 made the grade, giving a pass percentage of 88.3.
6.73 Coming to the requirement of Non-formal Education teachers, the policy varies from State to State. For example, in Madhya Pradesh teachers of primary schools are engaged at the Non-formal Education centres, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh seem to prefer local youths, while Bihar and Delhi have gone in for the services of unemployed teachers.
6.74 A survey of the educational qualifications of Non-formal Education teachers by the NCERT revealed that these range from non- matriculation to a postgraduate degree and that their age spread is also very wide, from 18-20 to 61-70. An overall assessment of the teacher situation at Non-formal Education centres in different parts of the country suggests that, other things being equal, a good-Non- formal Education teacher is a local person' and that he is between 20 and, 30. We feel, however, that even when untrained, his academic qualifications should not be below matriculation. In the case of women, however, this could be relaxed to a class VIII pass. The minimum training programme for Non-formal Education teachers should be a month's orientation in the beginning, to be followed by a six day refresher programme every six months.
Recruitment Procedures-An Appraisal 6.75 A quick survey of the recruitment machinery and procedures at present in vogue in different parts of the country revealed broadly the following picture:
(i) Recruitment to senior positions at the secondary level such as headmasters2, principals, Inspectors of Schools is normally made by the State Public Service Commissions. In some States Teachers Service Commissions have also been set up to recruit secondary teachers for private institutions on the grant-in-aid, list.
(ii) Recruitment of elementary school teachers, is generally made by Selection Committees constituted on an ad hoc basis or for a specified period of time at the State, District (Zilla Parishad) and lower (Panchayat Samiti) levels. These Committees, consist generally of Education Officers, experienced headmasters and one or two experts from outside and in the cave of private aided institutions commonly include the head of the institution and a representative of the management.
6.76 In most of the selections names of candidates are usually sought from the Employment Exchange or
1 See also paras 4.29 of Chapter VI. 6.60 of this Chapter, 8.22 of Chapter VIII 10.03 of Chapter X.
2 See also paras 6.85 of this Chapter, 10.15 to 10.21 and 10.28 of Chapter X.
46 THE TEACHER AND SOCIETY
sometimes by advertisement or both depending upon the need and the Government rules on the subject. Reservations are made for scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and backward class candidates as per statutory regulations.
6.77 While following any one of the above modes of recruitment, in several States the candidates are required to appear for a written test. Usually the weightage given to the written test is more than 50%. The weightage given to qualifications, experience, and achieve- ment in the written test in some cases is fixed at 800% with 20% of the marks reserved for interview. Where there is no provision for a written test. it is not uncommon to prescribe a marking scheme for evaluating the qualifications of candidates on the basis of their performance in different public examinations, and for determining the weightage to be riven to interview,
6.78 Our feeling is that in the absence of reliable tests, of general ability and aptitude for teaching, in most places there has been a tendency to go primarily by the qualifications of the candidates as recorded in their certificates. Since examinations and instructional standards all over the country have been falling steeply for many years now, and as these have ceased to be comparable from one part of the country to another, this is altogether a very uncertain basis on which to judge the suitability of candidates. Apart from general ability and physical fitness, in our opinion. a suitable candidate must also possess high proficiency and competence in the subject of teaching, good linguistic ability and communication skills good human relations and love for children.
6.79 We realise that, except in the armed forces, there has not been in this country any sustained and systematic research to develop reliable tools to assist in a proper assessment of the teacher's personality. But that is not surprising, considering that we did not see during our tours of duty much evidence of a clear awareness or understanding of priorities in education and psychological research in progress in different parts of the country. There are a number of institutions at the centre and in the States, meant to promote research and disseminate research findings in education. Some of these institutions have also done some work in the measurement of intelligence and other personality traits but the record is scrappy, and it has not made much of an impression on the existing practices of selection and training of teachers. Our research programmes need to be better informed and guided by a much clearer perception of this nation's needs in practical and applied research. We recommend that this matter should be high on the agenda for these organisations, and that they must receive every encouragement and support so that within a short period of time of 5 years or so at least the basic tools of general ability and aptitude for teaching and related variables become available for use in Hindi, English and the regional languages. in the meantime there should be a series of planned central and regional conferences of psychologists, mental measurement specialists and educationists to work out a set of practical guidelines to help the Teacher Selection Committees to do their selection jobs more objec- tively and scientifically.
6.80 In view of the enormous importance of selecting the right type of teachers we are of the view, as in fact was indicated earlier on page 34 that a beginning could be made, wherever it is possible, to recruit a teacher first, after completion of the twelfth class or graduation as the case may be, and then send him for training to a training institution or College of Education. Our hope is that with a job assured some talented youths may feel drawn to join the profession.
Towards Decentralisation 1 of Recruitment 6.81 There is hardly any need to comment individually on the merits and demerits of different recruitment procedures in use in different States. Depending upon tradition, political circumstance and administrative need, these are bound to vary from one part of the country to another. And so long as the procedures do not militate against the time-honoured principles of fair play, impartiality and objectivity, we welcome such variety and have nothing to say against it. But we do wish to raise an issue here which in our opinion, goes to the very heart of the matter. The question is who will select the teacher ?
6.82 Many teachers and teachers' organisations have been adamant that the recruitment of teachers in the private schools should be taken out of the hands of their managements and entrusted directly to the government. In fact, this is what has been happening already in some places. But nowhere in the States where this has, been arranged already, did we come across any evidence that, apart from giving a greater security of service to the teachers, this had also served to improve or help education. On the other hand, we saw many a situation where direct government management and centralisation bad only served to increase bureaucratic control, causing endless delays in decision making. We came across many situations where vacancies in schools had remained unfilled for months on end, and as far as we could make out, no one seemed to have worried too much about it. With the advent of centralisation in the recruitment of teachers, regrettably enough, teachers have become so
1 See also paras 10.10 and 10.24 and 10.25 of Chapter X.
SUPPLY AND RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS 47
"secure" that they sometimes give an impression of being "about the law" with hardly any interest left in their teaching work. The condition of 'transferability' which centralisation invariably brings in its wake, makes political interference a matter of daily occur- rence. What we are really witnessing in our schools today is an open clash between the 'momentary' service interests of teachers and the long-term educational interests of children in whose name the nation maintains and runs its educational system.
6.83 We are aware of the many good government schools working in different States. In one State our attention was drawn to a good Public School run by the government. However, we are convinced that the performance of the average government school is far from satisfactory. Perfunctory teacher supervision and indifferent teacher performance have become very common. We have, in fact, reached a stage where the whole issue of school control and management needs to be looked at de-novo. Our very clear impression in many places we had occasion to visit was, that if we want to give good education to our children of which they will be proud when they grow up, and if 'excel- lence' and 'quality' are not to remain mere words or pious expressions, it should be the endeavour of government from now onwards to shift the control and management of government schools to a more direct administration by their heads and local communities. It must be recognised that voluntary effort and private, management' have been some of the greatest traditions of education, formal as well as non- formal in this country, and even today most of our outstanding ins- titutions operate under non-Government managements.
6.84 We have seriously considered whether voicing such an unconventional view will not possibly give rise to a sharp controversy, but then when we realised that what was at stake was nothing less than the education and future of our children, we had no difficulty in deciding that this was a risk worth taking. In our judgement there should be planned effort at decentralisation of recruitment of teachers in our schools, the ultimate goal being the making of the headmaster fully responsible for the appointment of his staff. Gandhiji 2 had seen the issue more clearly than anyone else, but he was too far ahead of his times to have been appreciated and taken seriously by the generation of educational planners and decision makers that followed.
6.85 If we want to improve education, the first thing we have to do is to strengthen the position of the headmaster. In many institutions, public and private, the headmaster is no longer the guide, the planner, the builder of bridges between the school and the community, and the leader he ought to be; he is a mere spectator with the role of a clerk, pushing papers with hardly any share in decision making. He has no authority to appoint a good teacher, or to send home a bad one; he is a hirling, a mere cog in the wheel. If we are not prepared to strengthen his position with sufficient authority and financial powers, it matters little how many new schools we open every year, or how much more money we put into our institutional and departmental budgets, for our children will continue to be denied the right to good education. All this only serves to underline the critical importance of appointing only such persons to posts of headmaster who have the right character, learning, ability and commitment. Our views on how such appointments should be made and our concrete recommendations on the least that needs to be done immediately to strengthen the position and authority of the headmaster will be presented in the last chapter.
1 See also para 10.10 of Chapter X.
2 "Self-government means continuous effort to be independent of government control, whether it is foreign ment or national government".
3 Sea also paras 6.75 of this Chapter, 10.15 to 10.21 and 10.28 of Chapter X.