PART - III CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES FOR GOLDEN JUBILEE
Department of Education
Department of Education - A Bird's Eye View On 29th August, 1947, the Department of Education became the Ministry of Education under a Cabinet Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. The Department of Education, which was created in 1910, acquired its new role after Independence. In the Post-Independence period, the Ministry of Education has undergone some metamorphosis both in its nomenclature and responsibilities. The Ministry of Education created 1947 continued until April, 1957, when for the First time two subjects "Education" and "Scientific Research" were brought under one Ministry named the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research.
A new Ministry of Education and Scientific Research was organised into three Departments, viz., Department of Education, Department of Scientific Research & Technical Education and Department of Culture Activities & Physical Education. In 1958, the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research was bifurcated into the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs. The new Ministry of Education took over all the functions of erstwhile Department of Education in the erstwhile Ministry of Education and Scientific Research and the Subject of Physical Education from the Department of Culture.
In 1963 these two Ministries were unified with two departments, viz., Department of Education and Department of Science. These two departments were however abolished in March, 1964 and the Ministry was reorganised in five Bureaus. In 1969, the Ministry of Education was renamed as the Ministry of Education and Youth Services mainly with the objective of paying greater attention on the development of youth, especially those who were outside the educational institutions. In 1971, the Ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare. In 1979, the Department of Social Welfare became independent and the new Ministry of Education and Culture was born. Subsequently in 1984 the Department of Culture was separated from Education.
The present Ministry of Human Resource Development was created on 26th September, 1985 by clubbing five departments, VIZ., Department of Education, Department of Culture, Department of Arts, Department of Youth Affairs & Sports and Department of Women's Welfare. Thus, hitherto Ministry of Education now became a constituent Department under the new dispensation.
Organisation Structure The Department of education is under the overall charge of the Minister of Human Resource Development. He is assisted by one Minister of State. The Secretariat of the Department is
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headed by the Secretary, who is assisted by an Additional Secretary and Joint Secretaries/joint Educational Advisors. The Department is organised into Bureaus, Divisions, Branches, Desks, Sections and Units. Each Bureau is under the charge of a Joint Secretary/joint Educational Advisor assisted by Divisional Heads.
Functions Education is a concurrent subject. Concurrency implies a meaningful partnership between the Union Government and the States.
* Education Department deals with all stages of general and technical education, i.e. school and university.
* In addition it also deals with:
Language development
Book promotion and copyright
* Department of Education is the nodal department for two major UN Organisations.
* Department operates most of the programmes through:
(a) Subordinate offices; and
(b) State Government organisations.
Non-governmental Voluntary Organisations are involved in a large measure in Elementary Education (Non-formal Education), Adult Education and Language development besides to a lesser extent in handicapped education, minorities' education, etc.
The most important advisory body, which helps for federal consideration, is the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE). Minister of Human Resource Development is the Chairman of this Board. All State Education Ministers, elected members of Parliament and nominated academics are members of the Board.
Elementary Education 1. Amendment of Constitution of India to make the right to free and compulsory education from 6-14 years a Fundamental Right and Fundamental Duty. The Constitution 83rd Amendment Bill has been introduced in Rajya Sabha on 28.7.97.
2. Establishment of National Elementary Education Mission (NEEM) to achieve goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education WEE) before we enter into 21st Century.
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3. Launching of National Media & Advocacy Campaign for achieving UEE.
4. Initiating pilot project in collaboration with M/s Sulabh International, Govts. of Bihar and Haryana for construction of toilet for girls in rural areas.
Adult Education All the States/UTs have been advised to organise activities right from the village to the State level on Independence Day, 1997 to activate the literacy campaign. These activities include Kala jathas and Literacy-cum-cultural processions at the village level; essay competitions, painting competitions, district administration organised processions and rallies etc. at the district level and literacy rallies presided over by the Chief Minister and Education Minister; Sammelans, Seminars etc. at the State level.
CD ROM Project The CD ROM will be released around August 15th. It will contain 150 important documents running to 42,000 pages on various sectors of education. The important documents include the proceedings of CABE, Reports of Commissions/Committees like Kothari Commission, Ramamurthy Commission, Janardhan Reddy Committee, Five Year Plan documents, Education Surveys and Statistics, etc.
Special Programmes On the occasion of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of India's Independence, an allocation of Rs.200 crore has been provided in the budget grant of Department of Education, out of which Rs.50 crore is earmarked to the Department of Science &Technology. For the remaining amount, the Department. of Education is planning a series of activities to strengthen large number of scientific, technical, and educational institutions as well as specific activities synchronising the observance of the Golden Jubilee of India's Independence. A special package of Rs.9 crore for-Jammu & Kashmir and Rs. 7 crore for the North-East has already been approved in this respect.
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University Grants Commission The University Grants Commission (UGC) was established in 1956 by all Act of Parliament. Section 12 of the UGC Act provides that it shall be general duty of the Commission to take, in consultation with the universities or other bodies concerned, all such steps as It may think fit, for the promotion and coordination of university education and for the determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in universities. For the purpose of performing its functions under the Act, the Commission may inquire into the financial needs of universities and allocate and disburse grants to them for the development and/or maintenance of such universities or for any other general or specified purpose. At present, UGC provides financial assistance to Central Universities both for maintenance and development purposes; development grants to 103 eligible State Universities; and development or maintenance grants, as the case may be, to the eligible Deemed Universities. UGC also provides development grants to 4,730 eligible colleges.
At present, there are 166 Central/State Universities, 37 Deemed Universities and 9,278 colleges, out of which only 4,730 colleges are eligible to receive grants from the Commission. The students enrolment in institutions of higher education is estimated to be approximately 64.26 lakh students. The teaching staff strength in universities and affiliated colleges stood at 3.10 lakh at the end of 1995-96.
Major Programmes A crucial element in the development of higher education is the promotion of research. UGC provides financial assistance on a selective basis, to such of the Departments which have credentials for undertaking quality research or are reputed centres of instruction and learning. Under the Special Assistance Programme, assistance is provided to the selected University Departments at three levels, namely:
1. Centres of Advanced Study (CAS)
2. Department of Special Assistance (DSA)
3. Departmental Research Support (DRS)
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Activities All the Central Universities have been requested to organise a meeting on the mid -night of 14th August, 1997, as a part of the celebration of 50th Anniversary of India's Independence. Universitywise programmes are listed below:
Name of the University Action Taken
Indira Gandhi National Open Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU has constituted a High Level
University Committee under his own leadership to draw up an Action
Plan to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of India's Independence.
Pondicherry University The University proposes to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of
India's Independence in a befitting manner by organising a
mid night meeting starting at 11.00 P.M. The University
also proposes to organise two seminars by the School of
International Studies.
University of Delhi The University has appointed a Committee under the
Chairmanship of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor to chalk out the
detailed Action Plan. The University also proposes to have a
seminary and lecture series in the University and some cultural
programmes in the Colleges of University.
Nagaland University The University has constituted a Committee to chalk out
Action Plan in connection with the commemoration of the
50" Anniversary of India's Independence.
Jawaharlal Nehru University The University has assigned the task of organising the events
in connection with 50" Anniversary of Independence.
Regarding midnight celebrations on 14th August all the three
segments of the University community are being involved
and it will include activities like meetings in the Auditorium,
Prabhat pheri, rallies etc.
North Eastern Hill University NEHU has appointed Mrs. B. Bareh, Deputy Registrar as
nodal officer for celebration of 50th Anniversary of Indian
Independence.
University Grants Establishment of three rotational Chairs for research in
Commission higher education for which an amount of Rs. 1.50 crores is
proposed.
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Indian Institute of Science (IIS), Bangalore The institute is basically a Post-Graduate and Research Oriented Institute and acts as a National Resource Centre. The Institute was established in 1909. It has close research links with Space and Defence Departments. It plays an important role in planning and execution of projects related to Power Sector, Civil Constructions, Communication and Environmental Planning. The Institute has several continuing education programmes that benefit a large section of students, teachers and scientists in the country. The Institute offers various Courses and programmes in all major disciplines of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology including those in emerging areas of engineering and technology. During 1995-96,1,537 students were getting training in various Scientific and Engineering disciplines in the Institute. Admission was offered to 447 students - 176 in research, 21 students in Integrated Ph.D., 193 Students in M.E./M.Tech., 57 students in M.E. (integrated).
Super Computer Education and Research Centre The Cabinet has approved during 1992-93, the installation of distributing Super Computer Facility and incurring an expenditure of up to Rs. 18.50 crore (Rs. 7.5 crore in Indian Rupees and Rs. 11.00 crore in foreign exchange) towards Capital expenses (in addition to Rs.30.60 crore already released for creation of infrastructure and purchase of two support Computer Systems). The distributing Super Computer Facility consists of parallel computing, special purpose parallel computers, Numeric Vector and graphic Computer etc. The significant achievements are as under:
1. Creation of functionally distributed super computing environment;
2. High end super computing graphics;
3. Campus wide high speed fibre; optic network at fast access;
4. This facility is used by several scientists from other institutes;
5. Providing national and international trainings;
6. Undertaken sponsored and consultancy research ; and
7. Manpower training for Government and Industry personnel etc.
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Activities On 2nd March, 1997 the Super Computer Education and Research Centre was dedicated to the nation by the then Prime Minister. The Programme was dedicated as part of Golden Jubilee Celebrations of India's Independence.
Symposium on Research at IISC-Current Status and Future Directions on 15th August, 1992 at Bangalore.
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National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) was set up by the Government of India in 1961 as an autonomous Organisation for providing academic support to the school education system in the country.
The NCERT functions as an academic adviser to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The main objectives of the NCERT are to assist and advise the Ministry of Human Resource Development, in implementing policies and major programmes in the field of school education. In the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes as well, the Ministry draws upon the expertise of the NCERT to a considerable extent. The Council is fully financed by the Government of India.
To bring about qualitative improvement in school education, the NCERT, has five Regional Institutes and Field offices in major States all over the country, and through them, the Council;
* conducts, aids, promotes and coordinates research in all branches of school education and teacher education;
* organises pre-service and in-service training of teachers, mainly at the advanced level;
* organises extension services for institutions, organisations and agencies engaged in educational reconstruction;
* develops and experiments with improved educational techniques, practices and innovations;
* collects, compiles, processes and disseminates educational information;
* assists the State/UT Governments and State/UT-level institutions, organisations and agencies in developing and implementing programmes for qualitative improvement of school education;
* collaborates with international organisations like UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA and with national-level educational institutions of other countries;
* extends facilities for training and study to educational personnel from other countries;
* serves as the academic secretariat of the National Development Group (NDG) for the Asia and the Pacific Programme of Educational innovation for Development (APEID), UNESCO, Bangkok; and
* develops, prints and distributes textbooks.
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Activities NCERT proposes undertaking the following programmes as a part of the celebration of the Golden jubilee of India's Independence.
1. National Seminar on 50 Years of Indian Educational Development: The seminar will seek to bring together scholars to make research presentations on, and to critically discuss the development in every major area of school education, including teacher education, during the past 50 years.
2. Publications for Students and Teachers: A series of publications dealing with the Indian experience during the past 50 years, in the field of polity, economy, culture, science and technology. The publication varying in size from 64 to 80 pages, would seek to enhance teachers' and students' understanding of various dimensions of contemporary India.
3. Study of Students' Perception of Freedom and India's struggle for freedom: A study, based on an appropriate sample would be undertaken to assess students knowledge and understanding of the freedom struggle and its heritage, their perception of its relevance to contemporary India and their vision of the future development of independent India.