 WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

Making of a teacher differs significantly from making, say, of an advocate or a surgeon. The teacher is more than a mere skilled performer in a branch of his profession. Of course, he must have the best of skill in accustoming the pupil to the austere joy of mastering a difficult theme, be it quadratic equation or the, equation E-MC 2 or any other theme. But, in the end, when the frontiers of knowledge change, the importance and even the validity of what is learnt may not survive. What survives is the discipline of learning and the values acquired in the process. Whatever be the topic a teacher teaches, the ultimate values of his professional endeavour bear on the habits,of living and thinking and enjoying life, -the art of life-on what the pupil loves. and, cares for. Thus the teacher fashions the life of the pupil-which is the one single theme of all of education. Skills in teaching are, no doubt important, but they do not take the teacher far. An otherwise unashamedly dissolute teacher may teach effectively ; he also influences lives of the pupils no less, but sadly. Contact with great and good teachers as also with great ideas is the founda- tion of moral and spiritual education. The most effective weapon of a teacher is the silent power of example; it matters in the end and always. It is, therefore, necessary that teacher education should aim not at merely cultivation of professional skills but in making of man, -a man of high character and noble vision. This consideration brings to teacher-education a very different purpose and responsibility which are not equally relevant to other professional education.

It is this concern which influences us in suggesting a unique type of organisation which will necessarily perform functions analoguous to those of the professional bodies such as the Indian Council of Medical Education and Bar Council, but which, in addition, will be vested with responsibility of stimulating and organising thinking on the fundamental problems relating to philosophy and practice of education and their bearing on the problems of human values as well as those of national development and international solidarity.

We are not unaware of the magnitude of the problem of teacher education; the large number of teachers that need training of different kinds and different levels (including the university level) and at different periods in their career. The entire process has to be viewed as a whole in a well conceived and integrated. fashion and with sensitiveness to the intellectual and human values which we have emphasised in this report.

The National Council for Teachers' Education, which was established under Resolution of the Ministry of Education dated the 21st May, 1973, was an important item in the direction of promoting a systematic reflection and action in regard to all matters concerning teacher education. But the role of this Council has been only advisory in nature. Thus the results have not been very effective. The reports of the four regional study teams appointed by this Council in February, 1978, have revealed several glaring deficiencies in the functioning of teacher education institutions at both elementary and secondary levels, and they reinforce the necessity of evolving a mere effective machinery or agency.

Most of the teacher education institutions suffer from lack of adequate facilities, and they do not adhere to the norms regarding physical facilities or provision of adequate staff. Colleges of education are generally either under-staffed or the staff are under- qualified. There are serious curricular deficiencies, and evaluation in teacher education is far from satisfactory. There is no uniformity in the duration of teacher education. This is particularly so in the case of teacher education related to the elementary level. In some States, there is only one-year programme while in others it is of two years' duration. Moreover, due to various reasons, academic sessions for B.Ed. are delayed, and in some cases, effective teaching lasts only for three to six months, although the number of working days in a teacher education institution is expected to be at least 220 in a year.

Many private colleges have sprung up and in a number of degree colleges, teacher education courses have been instituted without ensuring the availability of suitable facilities and qualified staff. Even capitation fees are being charged, thereby commercialising teacher education.

In this context it would be pertinent to refer to the reports of the enormous corruption not only in seeking admission to teacher training institutions but also in passing the examination with inadequate or even proper training. The teachers who have gone through this polluting mill and profited by it can hardly be expected to stand for high principles of rectitude and correct behaviour.

In about 15 universities, correspondence courses leading to the award of B.Ed. and M.Ed. degrees have been started. But serious questions are being raised as to whether such correspondence courses are really relevant in a field where a personal contact between the trainer and the trainee is extremely important, and where the major objective is making of the man in the teacher and not merely a technician. These questions require an urgent answer in view of the fact that the number of students both in regular colleges and in correspondence courses has considerably increased.

There is in our country a backing of untrained teachers in several States. And since there is no manpower planning in teaching profession, it is difficult to suggest any rational policy which States can follow in regard to the intake of fresh student-teachers.

It seems obvious that urgent measures need to be taken to :

(a) introduce effective changes in the teacher education curriculum, particularly with a view to providing a powerful orientation towards value- education, which has been the main subject of our present report;

(b) suggest a rational duration for pre-service and in-service teacher training programmes;

(d) suggest measures for the maintenance of standards of teacher education and to meet various deficiencies and avoid evils which are prevalent in the field of teacher education.

In the preceding chapter, we have already made recommendations which are relevant to some of these issues.

But a major proposal that we now wish to make is that the Central Government should create a National Organisation which would have adequate powers and functions to ensure that the teachers who would be incharge of the care of the children, adolescents and youths of our country are not only well-trained in professional skills related to their subjects of specialisation but will also have effective personality and character capable of providing the needed guidance and inspiration to the growing minds and hearts of the young, as also a wide vision of our country and the world serving as a sure basis for patrio-

tism, international understanding and voluntary optimism for a peaceful, progressive and glorious future.

The need for such a national organisation arises from three important considerations. Firstly, the National Council for Teacher Education which is already a national organisation, has expressed the view that it lacks authority to implement its resolutions and that it should be reconstituted as an autonomous statutory body for accredit- ing of teachers' training institutions at all levels in the country and to function effectively in this regard with the universities and State Governments. Secondly, there is a need in the country to estab- lish and/or to support certain pace-setting value-oriented institu- tions for teacher education, atleast one in each State and Union Territory which would serve as models and which would ensure State- level research and experimentation in teacher education. These pio- neering and pace-setting value-oriented institutions should be ration- al in character and they should embody national policies in regard to teacher education. There should thus be a national body charged with functions and powers to establish and conduct these pace-setting value-oriented institutions. Thirdly, the evaluation of teacher- trainees, which needs a radical change, can be effectively handled, if the proposed national organisation is empowered to hold National Public Examinations which would reflect high and competent standards.

In practical terms, we recommend establishment of a National Council of Teacher Education-very different in scope and, purpose from the existing one.

The aims of the proposed Council should be :

i) To keep under review the institutions and programmes of teacher education in the country at all levels and to maintain high standard of teaching, research and examinations in the field of teacher education with a view to developing attitudes, skills and personality which would reflect the image of the teacher embodied in this report.

ii) To establish and to maintain

(a) Institutes of Teacher Education - designed especially to educate the staff of the colleges of teacher education in India ; and

(b) pace-setting model institutions of teacher education, preferably one in each State which should be utilised as centres for radiating new ideas and values in the region on the lines recommended in this Report.

iii) To provide aid, financial, material and human, and advice necessary for coordination and maintenance of high standards of teaching, examination and research and to stimulate thinking on problems of teacher-education.

iv) To function as an accrediting authority with powers ton recognise or derecognise teacher training institutions and degrees awarded by them.

v) to conceive of and implement programmes of strategies for bringing the existing teacher education institutions to conform to the aims and objects laid down by the Council.

vi) to organise preparation of variety of resource material including material for audio-visual aids and use of educational technology necessary for promoting high standards of work in teacher training institutions.

vii) to perform such other functions as may be conducive to the realisation of the aims and objectives of teacher education visualised by the Council on the lines recommended in this report.

(viii) to organise or support seminars, conferences, symposia as also to set up committees and penals for the promotion of the objectives, functions and activities of the Council.

We recommend the Government of India should undertake legislation under its powers of concurrency to create the proposed organisation. The proposed national organisation should be fully financed, by the Central Government to enable it to discharge its functions and to provide financial aid to teacher education institutions.

In addition to the present composition which consists of the Union Minister for Education as the President and 40 other members representing State Governments, University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education, Planning Commission, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Ministry of Education, Central Advisory Board of Education, 13 experts and a Member- Secretary, there should be an executive body consisting of a full-time Chairman and five full-time members, all appointed by the Central Government, and it should have the power to appoint standing commit- tees and other committees for carrying out various functions and responsibilities. The Member-Secretary of the Council will also be Member-Secretary of the executive body. The Chairman and Members should be eminent educationists, teachers and educational administra- tors.

The proposed national organisation should be in charge of implementing the valueoriented programmes of teachers' training. The first step in implementation will be to prepare the educators of teacher-educators. For this purpose, selection should be made from among those candidates who are willing and competent to undertake a special programme of training. The trained educators should have the possiblility of being appointed in the pace-setting value-oriented institutions as also in other institutions of teachers' education.

The value-oriented programmes that we have suggested in this Report should be fully implemented in the pace-setting value-oriented institutes which, we envisage, will be established by the proposed national organisation. In these institutions, we recommend two streams. In the first stream, there will be admitted those candidates who are willing to pursue the value-oriented teachers' training programme in its fullness over a period of five years leading to master's degree, after plus two stage of the 10 plus 2 Plus 3 structure. In the second stream, there will be those who wish to have two-year specialised training at these pioneering institutions after successful completion of their three-year degree course or after completion of Master's degree course in any discipline, or after having qualified themselves for admission in an entrance examination conducted by the proposed national organisation. We also recommend that some facilities should be provided as far as possible in other teacher training institutions also.

We further recommend that the two year teacher education programme may be provided on an optional basis in such a way that candidate has a possibility of completing the course in two phases, the first of one year duration in the institution and the second year's course may be completed over a maximum period of five years through several summer or other short courses to be organised specially for this purpose by the institution concerned. The teachers who complete the first year's course may be permitted to teach in a secondary school as probationary teachers and will be confirmed only on completion of the second year's course.

As far as the curriculum for the two-year teacher education course is concerned, we have already given detailed programme of studies related to value-education in earlier chapters. However, implementation of this curriculum in the existing one-year teacher education courses may take some time. So as an interim measure, we recommend that the teachers' training institutions introduce three special papers in their present teachers training

programme. These three papers will be related respectively to (i) & (ii) philosophy and psychology of value-oriented education; and (iii) India and Indian values. These three papers will be proposed to all the teacher trainees as optional papers in place of any other three papers which are at present prescribed for the teachers' training programme. In addition, teachers' training institutions may be recommended to incorporate in their total programme of teacher's education as many elements as possible from amongst all the various suggestions that we have made in regard to value-orientation in our Report. We emphasise that this will be only as a temporary measure, till the full programme as recommended by us earlier is implemented, which we hope will not be delayed unduly. We feel that this temporary measure should not be difficult and that ready means will be found to incorporate our suggestions/recommendations in the papers connected with philosophical and psychological foundations of education and philosophical and sociological study of education and emerging society. We wish further to underline that the new papers that we have suggested should be conducted in the manner and in the atmoshpere that we have suggested in earlier chapters by people who are competent to do so, and that care should, be taken to provide to the teacher trainees not only theoretical knowledge but also practical experience. Finally, we urge that all teachers' training institutions in our country should progressively adopt value-oriented education in its fullness.

The proposed pace-setting value-oriented institutes may not only offer teacher training courses for secondary level but also offer teacher training facilities for teaching at the elementary school level. The duration of this teacher education programme (for teaching at the elementary school level) should be two years after the senior secondary (+2), The curriculum for teacher education at the elementary level besides enriching and upgrading the knowledge of the teacher- trainee in the school subjects, should also impart necessary pedagogic training. We recommend that the pedagogical aspects of teacher education at the elementary level will be similar to those outlined in earlier chapter for secondary teacher education, except that the same basic principal will have to be presented in simpler language so that the teacher trainees may comprehend.

We also recommend that value-orientation should be treated as a central thrust not only of our teachers' training programmes but also for our schools and colleges meant for the children, adolescents and youths. The aspirations of the value-oriented teachers can be ful- filled only if increasing number of schools and colleges in our country beign to provide value-oriented education.

We further recommend that the proposed national organisation should undertake appropriate programmes for educating parents in the ideas and ideals of value-oriented education.

Before concluding our report, we would like to emphasise the need to provide inservice training in value-oriented education to all the teachers who are at present engaged in teaching. We recommend that the national organisation may frame as soon as possible a suitable scheme in this regard. We would also like to underline the need to propose that the teachers in colleges and universities should also pursue a programme of value-oriented education and undergo training in this regard.

We are convinced that teachers are destined to play a major role in the shaping of the destiny of mankind. In view of the fact that this destiny stands today in a balance, fraught with dangerous possibilities of upheavels, catastrophies and cataclysms, we must pay central attention to the task of building up a large number of men and women into teachers who can stand in the coming days as hero-warriors and as leaders and pioneers dedicated to the highest values the promotion of which alone can ensure the survival and fulfilment of the human race. In this task, programmes of value-oriented education are indispensable. We, there-

fore, recommend to the Government to take urgent steps to implement the recommendations that we have made in this Report.