The
Education Commission (1964-66)
Drawing on Nehru’s Mission and
articulating most of his key themes, the Kothari
Commission (1964-66) was set up
under the Chairmanship of Dr. D. S. Kothari
to formulate a coherent education
policy for India. The Commission was most
comprehensive in nature, it
reviewed almost all aspects of the education system
without limiting itself to any
one particular aspect, unlike the Commissions that
came before and after it.
Two of the unique features of the
Report are:
i) Its comprehensive approach to
educational reconstruction; and
ii) Its attempt to project a
blueprint of a national system of education for India.
According to the Commission,
education was intended to increase productivity,
develop social and national
unity, consolidate democracy, modernise the country
and develop social, moral and
spiritual values. The crucial role of education in
national development appears in
all its vividness throughout in the report,
appropriately titled “Education and National Development”.
The Commission identified the
three important facets that would bring about the
desired educational resolution,
they are:
· internal
transformation so as to relate it to the life needs and aspirations of
the Nation;
· qualitative
improvement so that the standards achieved are adequate and
become internationally
comparable; and
· expansion of
educational facilities broadly on the basis of manpower needs
with emphasis on equalisation of
education opportunities.
It suggested the restructuring of
education into a uniform pattern of 10+2+3. It
adopted a “manpower approach” to the enrolment issue and declared that the
principal purpose of higher
education was to cater to the needs of industrial and
other sectors, even as it
acknowledged its role in promoting social transformation.
The Commission sought to reorient
educational system to the masses to help
people come into their own. It
sought to end the dichotomy between work and
education to make the products
good workers as well as educated individuals.
It recommended a minimum of 10
years of common curriculum for building
citizenship in a democracy and
for linking the “work of knowledge” with the
“world of work”. In this
concept, diversifies courses would be introduced only at
the +2 stage.
Major recommendations of the
Commission included emphasis on Science and
Mathematics, introduction of work
experience as an integral part of school
curriculum, introduction of
common school system, educational structure with 12
years of schooling, free
text-books at primary stage, provision of mid-day-meals,
promotion of education of
handicapped and special measures for ensuring equality
of educational opportunities
(regional, tribal and gender imbalances to be
addressed), establishment of
school complexes, neighborhood school, three
language formula etc.
The Commission emphasized the
need of alternative channels of education to
eradicate illiteracy and provide
adult education. By laying more focus on
Mathematics and Science rather
than Social Science or Arts, the Commission
reinforced the notion that
India’s development needs are better met by scientists
than social scientists.
For improving the quality of
education, the Commission focused on institutional
planning for improving standards
nationwide, promotion of new work ethic,
improved teaching and learning
materials and methods of teaching and evaluation,
and selective development of
schools.
Teacher Status
The Commission emphasized that
the most urgent need was to upgrade the
remuneration of teachers
substantially, particularly at the school stages. It
recommended that the government
should lay down minimum scales of pay for
teachers and assist States and
Union territories to adopt equivalent or higher
scales.
Teacher
Education
The Commission urged that
professional preparation of teachers was the key for
qualitative improvement of
education and recommended measures like:
· qualitative
improvement in teacher education programmes;
· introduction of
new courses for headmasters/teacher educators and
educational administrators; and
· expansion of
teacher education institutions and recommendations of the training
facilities.
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