 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

CHAPTER I-APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER II-NATIONAL GOALS AND THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER

National Goals

1. There are four national goals having critical urgency for the well-being of the Indian people. The goals are (a) A United Secular India, (b) A Modern Nation, (c) A Productive People, and (d) A Humane and Caring Society. Education can have no greater concern today than to promote these (2.3)*.

CHAPTER III-TOWARDS A NEW DESIGN OF EDUCATION

2. The existing system of education does not serve the educational needs of our people. Hence the need to search for a new design keeping in view the following criteria :

(a) it should provide education to the majority of the people;

(b) it should be truly developmental enabling the student to discover, develop and discipline his abilities;

(d) it should have planned linkages with real job opportunities;

(e) it should function as a fully articulated system permitting vertical and lateral mobility for purposes of further education or training; and

(f) it should effectively contribute to national development.(3.02).

3. The existing system of 10+2+3 has provided a uniform national structure and should continue. (3.03)

National Core Curriculum

4. We must recognise the urgent need for a national core curriculum. At the primary stage, there should not be more than two text books for classes I & II, one for language and the other for mathematics.

* The number in bracket indicates the number of relevant paragraph in the concerned Chapter.

Formal teaching should not start before the age of 5. No home work should be assigned at the primary stage. (3.06).

5. At the secondary stage national core curriculum should form 70% of the total syllabus leaving 30% for local and regional needs. Curricular objectives should be translated and concretised into, measurable and specific learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes and values. (3.07)

6. At the middle stage, children should be helped to develop study skills, thinking skills, intellectual curiosity, culture of the mind and discipline of the intellect. Further mastery of at least one language is absolutely essential for the quality of education and quality of life. Social Science, General Science, Arithmetic and elementary craftsmanship are equally important.

7. At the secondary stage, SUPW should add a third dimension to education giving it greater context. meaning, depth and reality. (3.13)

Vocationalisation

8. Millions of educated unemployed youths is a pointer that vocationalisation of secondary education must receive priority. The objective of vocationalisation is to provide adequate training, orientation and cultivation of appropriate attitudes in students so as to generate a sufficient number of middle level skilled manpower, for the organised as well as the unorganised sectors and, to the extent possible, also for self employment. (3.14)

9. It is also necessary that the graduates of the vocational courses should have the facility of upward and lateral movement in the professional courses. (3.15)

10. The present educational system must give way to a more open and flexible system. This means that we move definitely towards a credit system. (3.16)

11. The new system must be 'sold' to all sections of the society through a wide and systematic campaign using mass media imaginatively, and a new climate created to foster national values, (3.18)

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12. A National Testing Service should be establishEd and one of its priorities should be to develop suitable competency-based and standardised test. (3.18)

13. Suitable bridge courses should be provided to make up the partial deficiency when passing from one stage to another. (3.18)

14. In the new system the teacher has to assume his role as a facilitator and guide. The inspiration, motivation and support provided by him will result in improving the quality of education. (3.18)

CHAPTER IV-SOCIAL JUSTICE: UNIVERSALISATION OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Strategies for UEE

15. Macro-Planning in UEE, must give way to micro-planning and top-to-bottom planning model must be replaced by planning from the local grass roots level. (4.12)

16. The basic instrument for reaching the UEE target should be the school complex or better still the educational complex. (4.17)

17. A complex should consist of all the primary schools in the area, which in turn would be supported by all the middle schools of the area, both of which will have the support and supervision of the secondary and senior secondary schools, and all three assisted and aided by a college or institution of higher learning, if it exists, as well as by other institutions which can provide educational support to the complex. When forming a school/educational complex, care must be taken that it is neither too small, nor too big or unwieldy. The other necessary steps in this direction are :

(a) A suitable person of proven competence and commitment should be appointed as head of the complex.

(b) The first task fop a school complex will be to conduct a local survey to collect information such as the following :

(i) Children attending school;

(ii) Drop-outs;

(iii) Children of school-going age who have never been to school;

(iv) Socio-economic difficulties of the non-enrolled and drop-outs; (v) Particulars of teachers and other staff working in the schools of the complex.

(c) Preparation of individual institutional plans by the schools giving targets and strategies for carrying them out in a time bound manner,

(d) Recruitment of women teachers in largest possible numbers.

(e) Use of folk and modern media to stimulate community motivation and participation.

(f) Systematic monitoring to identify bottlenecks and programme deficiencies and to take remedial measures.

(g) Appointment of a local Advisory Committee to further the UEE programme. (4.17)

18. The teacher can play a direct and active role in the universalisation of elementary education by establishing a paternal relation between the student and himself, by establishing communication with parents and helping them to see the value of educa- tion, by providing remedial help and above all by making his own teaching interesting, relevant and effective. Similar help can be rendered by him in the programme of non-formal education. (4.25)

19. A meeting of the Central Advisory Board or Education be convened to consider the school complex-based strategy. (4.31)

20. The kind of academic support and other assistance required by the State should be provided by the Centre in accordance with the development plans approved by the Central Advisory Board of Education. (4.30)

21. Early childhood education can play a supporting role to UEE. Norms should be prescribed for minimum space and accommodation as also the kind of equipment needed for a Nursery school. (4.35)

22. The nursery school teacher should be brought into the main stream of education and their emoluments, service conditions, etc. should be at par with primary school teacher in the state. (4.37)

23. At present Special Education facilities exist only for 5% of the blind and deaf and 0.5% of the mentally retarded children. These must be expanded. (4.38)

24. We recommend that all education programmes for the handicapped and the disabled form an integral part of the educational system and be dealt with by the Department of Education. Education of disabled children should no longer be treated as a welfare measure. (4.42)

25. As a corollary, grants to special schools should be given on the same basis as to regular schools with adequate provision to, meet special needs of disabled children, (4.42)

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26. Special educators should be given the same scales as prescribed for ordinary teachers in primary and secondary schools. A special pay or advance increments should be allowed for specialised qualifications. (4.42)

27. Other benefits allowed to ordinary teachers in Government or aided schools should. be extended to special educators. (4.42)

28. Teachers of special education should form part of the States cadre of teachers. (4.42)

29. More universities should be persuaded to initiate degree and diploma courses for special education. Courses in special education should also be started at the Master's degree level. (4.42)

30. Central and State Governments as well as Universities should initiate refresher courses for the inservice orientation of teacher,. of special education. (4.42)

31. Curriculum development for teacher preparation in special education should be kept constantly under review. (4.42)

32. Growing use should be made in special education, wherever necessary, of modem educational technology. (4.42)

CHAPTER V-THE STATUS, WORKING CONDITIONS AND WELFARE OF THE TEACHER

33. We endorse the UNESCO recommendation that teacher salaries should :

(a) reflect the importance to society of the teaching function and hence the importance of teachers as well as the responsibilities of all kinds which fall upon them from the time of their entry into the service;

(b) compare favourably with salaries paid in other occupations requiring similar or equivalent qualifications;

(c) provide teachers with the means to ensure a reasonable standard of living for themselves and their families as well as, to invest in further education or in the pursuit of cultural activities thus enhancing their professional qualifications;

(d) take account of the fact that certain posts require high qualifications and experience and carry greater responsibilities. (5.20)

34. As a first step towards a composite national pay scale for all categories of teachers and educational administrators, the Central and the state governments should explore seriously the possibility of replacing the plethora of salary scales in each State by a single running pay scale. (5.22)

35. Each state should carefully work out a single running scale as has been suggested in the illustrative model (page 27 as early as possible and implement the same. (5.23)

36. As a result of the new pay fixation policy advocated by us, we expect that on an average each secondary teacher in a State will get a benefit of not less than Rs. 100 per month while in the case of primary teacher the benefit will not be less than Rs. 150 per month. (5.28)

37. The illustrative model of a composite running scale on page 74, provides for an Efficiency Bar after 5 years from an entry point, and every 10 years thereafter. This has been done to link salary to performance. We recommend that every point where an Efficiency Bar occurs should be seen by the head of the institution as an occasion to review the performance of the concerned teacher in the preceding years. In order that such an assessment is made objectively, we further recommend that whenever necessary, the head of another institution or an Inspector with a reputation for honesty, and impartiality may be associated with such a review. (5.26)

38. The number of senior positions in primary as well as secondary schools should be substantially increased by creating additional posts of Vice-Principal/first teachers. The number of posts at different levels should broadly conform to the distribution: assistant teacher (60%), senior teacher (25%), Vice-Principal (10%) and Principal/Headmaster (5%). (5.29)

39. The Central Government should, if necessary, make good the deficit of a State Government during the first five years of the implementation of its composite running scale. (5.23)

40. Review of teachers' salary and salary scales should be made every 5 years to bring them in line with the prevailing economic realities and cost of living index. (5.33)

41. There should be no discrimination in the matter of salary and other conditions of work against teacher of physical education, Indian Languages, music, drawing etc. (5.32)

42. The following professional benefits should also be allowed to teachers:

(a) facilities for further study through correspondence courses;

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(b) permission to appear at university examinations as private candidate;

(d) Research Fellowships for doing research,

(e) Travel concessions in addition to leave travel concession for attending professional programmes. (5.34 to 5.36)

43. We recommend the following measures of family welfare for teachers;

(a) Free education to teachers' wards at all levels;

(b) Educational scholarships to children of teachers particularly those working in remote areas.

(d) Employment to their wards on death or incapacitation. (5.37)

44. The following measures should also be initiated:

(a) Creation of a Housing Fund for teachers to facilities easy and soft loans for house building.

(b) Promoting house building societies for teachers.

(d) Medical allowance at the rate 7.5% of the basic pay, and reimbursement of the entire cost of treatment and medical expenses in maternity and serious illness.

(e) Provision of first aid facilities in the school. (5.38 & 5.39)

45. Retirement benefits such as pension gratuity, family pension, commutation benefits, group insurance. provident funds etc. should be allowed to teachers of both government and private schools on the same pattern as allowed to other government servants. (5.40)

46. Retirement age for all government and private school teachers including educational administrators should not be less than 60. (5.40)

47. Facilities for health and medical care should continue to be available to teachers and their family members after retirement. (5.40)

National Foundation for Teacher's Welfare

48. The rules for the National Foundation for teachers welfare should be liberalised by raising the income limits from Rs. 8000 to Rs. 15,000 p.a. Similarly the limit for lumpsum awards should be increased from Rs. 1500 to Rs. 3000 and that of the monthly awards from Rs. 100 to Rs. 200. (5.42)

49. The activities of National Foundation for Teachers Welfare should be diversified to include schemes for housing, medical assistance, publication of books. education loans, teachers guest houses etc. (5.42)

50. The functioning of the National Foundation should be decentralized. (5.42)

51. Do-nations to the Foundation should be exempt from income tax. (5.42)

52. The number of national awards for teachers should be increased substantially to cover a larger number of teachers of different categories. (5.43)

53. The following measures should be taken to refurbish the image of the teacher:

(a) Inviting teachers to important public functions and according them a higher precedence on such occasions;

(b) associating teachers and teachers' organisations with policy formulation;

(c) Associating teachers and teachers' organisations with the planning and execution of local and community development programmes. (5.44)

CHAPTER VI-SUPPLY AND RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS

54. As compared to the other States, those of the North-Eastern region have suffered chronically from a low proportion of trained teachers. We recommend that the Eastern Zonal Council and the North Eastern Council should take initiative to plan a survey of the region to identify its teacher training problems. The collaboration of NCERT in conducting such a survey could be useful. It should be possible to complete such a study and to prepare a suitable plan of followup action within 4-6 months. (6.41)

55. The school authorities should explore every possibility of utilizing to the maximum extent the existing qualified man power for the teaching of science and mathematics on a part time or overtime basis. (6.44)

56. The Central Ministry of Education in collaboration with NCERT should arrange a detailed survey to determine the nature and extent of teacher shortages in the rural and backward areas and develop suitable programmes of remedial action. (6.46)

57. The idea that a teacher should first be recruited and then trained, should be of particular interest to states where unemployment among trained teachers is considerable. It has the added advantage that with an assured career, the quality of the average recruit to the profession will in all likelihood improve. (6.48)

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