SECONDARY & SENIOR/HIGHER
 SECONDARY EDUCATION
 

The Provincial Education Ministers' Conference observed in its meeting held in August 1949 that:

(a)

"The medium of instruction and examination at the Junior Basic State must be the mother-tongue of the child and where the mother-tongue is different from the Regional or State language, arrangements must be made for instruction in the mother tongue by appointing at least one teacher, provided there are not less than 40 pupils speaking the language in the whole school or 10 such pupils in a class. The mother-tongue will be the language declared by the parent or guardian to be the mother-tongue".

(b)

" At the Secondary Stage, if the number of pupils, whose mother-tongue is a language other than the Regional or State language, is sufficient to justify a separate school in an area, the medium of instruction in such a school may be the mother tongue of the pupils. Such schools, if organised and established by private societies or agencies, will be entitled to recognition and grant-in-aid from Government according to the prescribed rules. The Government will also provide similar facilities in all Government, Municipal and District Board Schools where one-third of the total number of pupils of the school request for instruction in their mother-tongue."

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The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a memorandum of safeguards for linguistic minorities in 1956, in which both the above recommendations regarding the education at Secondary level through minority language were endorsed. The Ministerial Committee of the Southern Zonal Council in its meeting at Ootacamund in May, 1959 evolved a 15:60 Formula, which is as follows:

"For the purpose of providing facilities for instruction in the minority languages where such facilities do not exist, a minimum stength of 60 pupils in new Standard VIII to XI of the Higher Secondary course and 15 pupils in each standard will be necessary, provided that for the first four years after the commencement of provision of facilities, as strength of 15 in each standard in which the facilities are provided will be sufficient. This figure of 60 for all the standards and 15 for each standard shall be computed separately for each one of the diversified courses and for the academic course; and where different groups of optional subjects are provided in the academic course, separately for each such group of optional subjects".

Keeping in view the difficulties, the Urdu linguistic minority had been facing in teaching their wards through Urdu medium and recommendations made by different agencies on this issue, Gujral Committee made the following recommendations:

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"....As we have already taken ten percent of population to be the criterion in the case of primary education, we can further stipulate the provision of secondary and higher secondary education in the Urdu medium on a scale related to the number of primary school leavers. For classes VI to VIII where the constitutional directive envisages that all children should receive compulsory education, we will have to make a special provision for such instruction wherever education has been introduced compulsorily for these classes. On the basis of the estimates made, it may be presumed that two-thirds of the students leaving primary schools would be desirous of moving on the next stage of education. Urdu medium sections in the existing schools should be provided on this basis and Urdu knowing teachers appointed accordingly, in anticipation of students offering Urdu as a medium. We feel that the opening of such sections will give the Urdu speaking students an opportunity to mix freely in the school and on the playground with students whose mother tongue is not Urdu and will make for greater emotional integration. In our view the emphasis should be on such mixed schools. However, new Urdu medium schools should also be opened wherever necessary. In such Urdu medium schools also there would be provision for parallel sections with the regional language as the medium. As we have indicated in our separate recommendation for Uttar Pradesh, the opening of one Urdu medium higher secondary school for

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every group of eight to ten primary schools may provide a workable basis for determining the requirements of Urdu medium higher secondary schools in cities with concentration of Urdu speakers."

Andhra Pradesh

There are 191 Urdu medium Upper Primary Schools and 323 schools where Urdu parallel sections exist. There are 94 Urdu medium high schools and 266 schools with Urdu medium parallel classes.

Many representatives demanded the facilities of studying through Urdu medium in schools in areas where Urdu population was 10% as recommended by Gujral Committee and demanded by Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu. It was also demanded that there were many places where Urdu medium schools particularly for girls should be opened immediately.

Bihar

Bihar State Government did not furnish the statistical data regarding Urdu medium secondary and higher secondary schools. Office bearers of Urdu organisations and some Urdu representatives informed the Committee that there was a sizeable number of Urdu medium secondary and higher secondary schools in the state.

Gujral Committee mentioned in its report that "Most of the schools (of Bihar) imparting education through the Urdu medium in the secondary schools or having Urdu medium sections were run by

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the Linguistic Minority itself." The situation continues to be the same.

Delhi

There are five Urdu medium middle schools, 10 secondary and 12 senior secondary schools in Delhi. These schools are run by Municipal Corporation of Delhi. New Delhi Municipal Committee runs only Primary Schools.

Witnesses brought to the notice of the Committee that more secondary and senior secondary schools are needed. One of the witnesses told the Committee that there are 360 students studying in one Section of Class VI in Fatehpuri in Higher Secondary Schools.

Gujarat

In the entire State of Gujarat there are only two secondary Urdu medium schools that are located in Ahmeadbad. Urdu as a subject is being taught in quite a few secondary schools, but the exact number of schools were not made available to the Sub-Committee.

Haryana

There is no Urdu medium secondary or higher secondary school in the State. Urdu is being taught under Three Language Formula in 15 middle, 22 high and 2 senior secondary schools.

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Himachal Pradesh

There is not a single secondary or senior secondary Urdu medium school in the State.

Karnataka

The number of Urdu medium High Schools in the state is 97 with 29,680 students and 1,047 teachers. But this figure is incomplete as indicated in the officials meeting on August 1, 1990. This does not also include schools where parallel Urdu medium classes are existing.

Performance of Urdu medium students in 1,990 in SSLC Examination appears to be fair enough in languages but weak in Mathematics, Science and Social Sciences.

As compared to total passes in the state in percentage, Urdu medium students who pass is only 37.80% in Mathematics, 31.72% in Science and 51.12% in Social Sciences when the state percentage is 48.33, 48.23 and 73.37 respectively. The results in Mathematics and Sciences are poor in the state. Similar is the case with English where the Urdu medium students' pass percentage is 49.5 while the state percentage is 41.41.

Karnataka Rajya Urdu Teachers' Association, in its Memorandum, has complained that Urdu medium schools are not supplied with syllabus copies in Urdu.

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Maharashtra

There are 325 Urdu medium secondary schools in the State. In 129 schools Urdu medium parallel classes are being run.

Rajasthan

There is no Secondary or Higher Secondary Urdu medium school in Rajasthan. In 30 schools, Urdu is taught an optional subject. In 112 Secondary/Higher Secondary Schools (inclusive of 30 Senior Higher Secondary Schools) Urdu is taught as 3rd Language in classes IX and X.

Uttar Pradesh

Secondary Education in Uttar Pradesh covers classes VI to XII. The number of Junior Higher Schools is 18 and they are run by private organisations. Under the scheme of safeguards provided to the linguistic minorities in the country 15: 60 formula has been evolved.

Arising out of the discussions with the Government officials, it emerged that Uttar Pradesh Government does not provide facilities for instruction at the secondary stage of education through minority languages. The Spokesman told the Committee that the facilities for instruction through Urdu medium exist in the State from Classes VI to VIII, but the number of such schools was however, not provided.

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The Spokesman informed that though the facility of instruction through Urdu medium at the higher secondary stage does not exist, yet the students whose mother-tongue is Urdu are provided the facility to answer question papers at the High School and Intermediate Examinations in Urdu also.

Most of the witnesses pointed out that the State Government was not interested in providing facilities for teaching through medium other than Hindi inspite of the fact that there was a substantial number of students who were willing to study through Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu. One of the witnesses pointed out that the facilities to answer question papers at the Higher School and Intermediate examinations exist. But the Department of Education puts so many hinderances in the way of students that schools preferred to prepare their students to take the examinations through Hindi medium. It was also pointed out by the representatives of Urdu organisations that the Government has not issued any order to the schools to maintain advance registers. The result is that there is not a single school in the whole of the state where advance register is kept.

When the parents go to the Headmaster or the teachers concerned to get their ward admitted in the parallel Urdu medium classes, they are told that they can admit their wards only when there are a requisite number of students in the school. Naturally, it is not possible that 40-50 students come together to seek admission and in the absence of the Advance Register one can never know how many students are interested to get admission in Urdu medium parallel classes. It is not possible to assess

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objectively the demands for instruction through Urdu medium. It was precisely for this reason that Gujral Committee recommended that in the areas where the population of Urdu speakers is 10% or more of the total population, at least one Urdu medium primary school should be set up.

West Bengal

In Secondary education, classes from VI to X are covered. There are 68 Urdu medium Secondary schools in the state. There are atleast 20 English, Hindi and Bengali medium schools where Urdu is being taught as a subject.

It was demanded that Urdu medium High School for girls should be set up in Islampur and Murshidabad.

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