KOTHARI COMMISSION

KOTHARI EDUCATION COMMISSION INTRODUCTION

In this unit, we will discuss about Kothari Education Commission, 1964-66, which was the sixth commission in the history of commission in India. The Five Years Plan, started after independence helped the growth of the country in many areas. However, the execution of these plans expresses the inherent weakness due to which the expected success was not being achieved. Education appeared to be one of areas which indicated many problems that needed our efforts for immediate solutions. The government was fully aware of the situation. To improve the educational set up the government constituted two commissions after independence. We have already discussed about the two commissions, i.e. Radhakrishnan Commission in unit 2 , which deals with university education and Secondary Education Commission in unit 3, confined to secondary education only. The recommendations of these two commissions could not be succeeded in its full implementations. Consequently, the defects in the area of education persisted. In order to remove theses defects, the government had to appoint a new education commission to advise the government on national pattern of education along with general principles and policies for the development of education at all stages. This unit deals with the recommendations of the Kothari Education Commission in different aspects of education.

APPOINTMENT OF THE COMMISSION

The Commission was appointed under provision of a resolution of the Government of India, dated 14th July, 1964. The Commission included eminent educationists in diverse fields from India and abroad. It consisted of total 17 members, where 14 members, 1 member - secretary, 1 Associate - Secretary and Dr. D.S. Kothari, chairman of the U.G.C. was appointed as the chairman of the commission. Therefore, it is also known as the Kothari Commission. Among the members of the commission 5 educationists were from England, America, France, Japan and Russia. J.P. Naik was appointed as number secretary of the commission and J.F McDougall as associated secretary. LET US KNOW Prof. D.S. Kothari, Chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi was appointed as the Chairman of the Commission. The commission consisted of 17 members.

Unique Feature of the Commission

It is important for us to know the features that have made this commission a unique commission from other earlier commissions. The unique features of the Education Commission (1964-66) were: i) All the five earlier commissions did not deal with education as a whole but focussed attention on different levels of education. But this commission was not to limit its enquiry to specific sectors or aspects of education, but to have a comprehensive review of the Entire Educational System. ii) Another unique feature of the Commission was its conviction that education is the most powerful instrument of the national development. The crucial role of education in national development appears in all its vividness on every page of the report. Never before education was given such a niche of national honour, and never before was it conceived as a pivot of national honour, and never before was it conceived as a pivot of nation’s progress and the prosperity as revealed in the pages of the Commission’s Report. iii) The international composition of the commission is also significant. Education in India must necessarily emerge from Indian experience, through, culture and local conditions. But as education remains the common quest of mankind, it was found profitable to draw upon the experience and thinking of educationists and scientists from other countries and to take advantage of the latest developments in the educationally advanced countries. As such the commission included 7 Indian members and 5 others; 1 each from Japan, France, U.K., U.S.A. and USSR. besides, 20 consultants from different countries of the world were available. Terms of Reference The Commission will advice the Govt. on national pattern of education and on the general principles and policies for the development of education at all stages and in all its aspects. It need not, however, examine the problems of medical or legal education, but such aspects of these problems as are necessary for its comprehensive enquiry may be looked into. Making of the Report The commission started its work on the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. It constituted 12 task forces and 7 working groups for studying the various problems of education in the country. It interviewed about 9000 men and women distinguished in public life, educators, scientists, industrialists and scholars in different fields and others interested in education. The Commission spent about hundred days in visiting universities, colleges and schools and held discussions with teachers, educationists, administrators and students. It received and scrutinized 2,400 Memorandum and notes. The commission worked for 21 months and submitted it report on June, 1966. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION The report of the commission is an excellent document on education. In its report the commission expressed its form belief that education is the most powerful instrument of national development. The report of the commission has been appropriately entitled as ‘education and national development’. The report is divided into four sections – Section I : deal with general Problems. Section II : deal with Education at different stages and in different sectors. Section III : deals with implementation of the various recommendations and programmes suggested by the commission. Section IV : consists of supplementary papers. The programmes of educational reconstructions proposed in this Report fall into three broad categories — 1) Internal transformation of the educational system so as to relate it to the life, needs and aspirations of the nation. 2) Qualitative improvement of education so that the standards achieved are adequate, keeping continually rising and, at least in a few sectors become internationally comparable; and, 3) Expansion of educational facilities broadly on the basis of man - power needs and with an accent on equalization of educational opportunities. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE KOTHARI EDUCATION COMMISSION Let us discuss the recommendations of the commission. Our discussion will confined to two major aspects of the recommendations, i.e., education and national objectives and educational structure only. Education and National Objectives - Education has a very extensive role to play in changing the men and society. It has to be entirely reformed and related to the life, needs and aspirations of the people so that it may serve as a powerful tool of social, economic and cultural transformation. In order to relate education, the commission recommended the following objectives- 1. Increase in Productivity. 2. Promoting social and National Integration 3. Education and Modernization 4. Developing social, moral and spiritual values. 1. Increase in Productivity - The Commission suggested that education must be related to productivity to increase national income. In order to link education and productivity the Indian Education Commission made the following recommendations. i) Science is the basic component of education and culture ; so it should be made an integral part of school education. ii) To inculcate the value of manual work the commission recommended the introduction of work experience in school education. iii) To meet the increasing needs of technical personnel in Industry, agriculture and trade the IEC recommended to introduce vocational subjects in school curriculum. It also opined that the vocationalisation will bring education into closer relationship with productivity. 2. Promoting social and National Integration – National and social integration is the precondition for the progress and development of a country. According to the commission, Social and National Integration is an important objective of a national system of education. The commission made the following recommendations for strengthening social and national integration through education. i) To make education a powerful instrument of national development, common school system of public education should be adopted. ii) Bridge the gulf between the educated and the uneducated, intellectuals and masses, social and national service should be made an integral part of school education. iii) A language is a firm adhesive for social and national integration, suitable provisions should be made for teaching mother tongue, Hindi and other Modern Indian languages in schools. 3. Education and Modernisation - The present society is the science - based society. The present century has made tremendous advancement in scientific and technical knowledge as a result of explosion of knowledge. In such a situation one of the main functions of education is to keep pace with this advancement of knowledge. Another feature of modern society is the rapid social change. In the situation of change, the school must always be alert if it is to keep abreast of significant changes. An education system which does not renovate itself continuously, becomes out-dated and puts hindrance to progress. To keep pace with modernisation the IEC is of the opinion that “greater emphasis must be placed on vocational subjects, science education and research.” 4. Social, moral and spiritual values - The national system of education should emphasis on the cultivation of social, moral and spiritual values among students. For this purpose the commission made the following recommendations- i) The Central and State governments should adopt measures to introduce education in moral, social and spiritual values in all institutions under their direct control on the lines recommended by the University Education Commission on religious and moral instruction. ii) In order to develop social, moral and religious values, some periods should be provided in the time table. Instruction of this type should be given by general teachers. iii) The University departments should be specially concerned with the ways in which these values can be taught wisely and effectively and should undertake preparation of the special literature for use by students and teacher. Educational Structure The Commission recommended a new structural pattern of education. The new educational structure should be as follows: One to three years of pre-school education. A primary stage of 7 to 8 years divided into a lower primary stage of 4 or 5 years and a higher primary stage of 3 or 2 years. A lower secondary stage of 3 or 2 years of general education or 1 to 3 years of vocational education. A higher secondary stage of 2 years of general education or 1 to 3 years of vocational education, 50% of the total would be under vocational education, A higher education stage of 3 years or more for the first degree course followed by courses of varying durations for the second or research degrees. The structural pattern thus recommended by the commission is commonly known as 10+2+3. Let us know the structural pattern of education. Pre-school education from 1 to 3 years should also be given. General education should last for a period of 10 years - 4 years of lower primary, 3 years of higher primary 3 years of lower secondary education. Higher secondary education should be fixed for 2 years. Degree course should be of 3 years. The age of admission to class I should not be less than 6+. The first public external examination should come at the end of the first 10 years of schooling. Secondary schools should be of two types : higher schools providing a 10 years’ course and higher secondary schools providing a course of 11 or 12 years. A new higher secondary course consisting of classes XI and XII should be introduced. The pre-university courses should be transferred from Universities and added to the secondary schools. The Commission has been suggested the reorganisation of the university stage. At this stage, the three year degree has been favoured by the Commission.