Acharya Ramamurthy Committee (1990)

Acharya Ramamurthy Committee (1990)

The Government constituted a review committee under the chairmanship of

Acharya Ramamurthy in 1989 to review the progress and effectiveness of NPE

1986. That Committee submitted  its report in December 1990  with 81 main points in it. The Report of Rammurthy Committee put up in 1990 was named  “Towards an Enlightened and Humane Society”. The Committee recommended that even the private schools should be converted into common schools to remove social, economic, regional and gender disparities. It suggested that there must be some concrete programmes for SCs, Tribes, Women and educationally backward minorities. It further suggested that there should be adequate funds to improve the basic structure and quality of primary education. Primary education must be in mother tongue and the aid to schools providing education in other medium should be stopped. The recommendation of the Committee provided a base to develop a new programme of action, the revised Programme of Action, 1992.

It suggested that the responsibility for planning,  implementing and internal monitoring of all school based programmes for  women's education should be handed over to the Educational Complexes in  the Panchayati Raj framework. At the institutional level, the Head of the  institution (Primary/Middle/Higher Secondary Schools) should be made fully  responsible for micro level planning and ensuring universalisation (not just enrolment) of girls' education and their access to high school or vocational  education, according to disaggregated strategies and timeframes. It was also  recommended that all school text books, both by NCERT/SCERTs and other publishers, be reviewed to eliminate the invisibility of women and gender stereotypes, and also for the proper incorporation of a women's perspective in the teaching of all subjects. This review should also cover all the  supplementary reading material and library books being recommended for schools, particularly those supplied by Operation Blackboard. It also emphasized that decentralized and participative mode of planning and management offers an effective basis for responding to the challenge of regional disparities in education, including girls' education. Diverse strategies and disaggregated time frames, worked out locally, constitute the twin instrumentalities to achieve the goal of universalisation. The approach of the Committee in reviewing the National Policy on Education, 1986 and its implementation has been guided by the following principal concerns:-

·        Equity and social justice.

·        Decentralisation of educational management at all levels.

·        Establishment of a participative educational order.

·        Inculcation of values indispensable for creation of an enlightened and humane society.

·        Empowerment for work

University Education Commission (1948-49)

University Education Commission (1948-49)

University Education Commission (1948-49) was the first Commission on education

after Independence. Its major emphasis was on higher education but it also

touched upon the issues related to school education. The Commission was

appointed under the chairmanship of Dr. S. Radhakrishan, a great visionary of

modern era.

The Radhakrishnan Commission on University Education defined the vital tasks

of higher education. The aims of university should be to produce able citizens who

can take up national responsibilities successfully in various fields. The university

has to produce able administrators and suitable workers in various occupations

and industries. It has to provide leadership in various walks of life in the best

interest of the nation.

The Commission recommended that the standard of admission to University courses

should correspond to that of the present intermediate examination, i.e., after 12

years of study at school and intermediate college. It remarked that “our secondary

education remains the weakest link in our educational machinery and needs urgent

reforms.”

The Commission stated that the function of school education is to provide good

general education, it further spelt out the elements of good education “which will

not only prepare pupil for university work, but at the same time prepare him for

practical work to earn his living if he did not proceed to a university.

The Commission suggested that the functions of a school and a university should

be different. The function of a school should be to provide suitable education to

those who join higher education and also to those who do not have the intention

of proceeding further. Education of both sets could be combined together, whereas

some schools could train students for work in agriculture industry and commerce.

The University Education Commission laid great stress on the introduction of

general education throughout school. The Commission clearly wanted that school

should diversify its outcomes in such a way that many could effectively participate

in real life by taking up jobs or self-employment and only very few would continue

study beyond school.

The Education Commission (1964-66)

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.