The Commission was set up by the Government of India on 14 July 1964 under the chairmanship of Daulat Singh Kothari, the then chairman of the University Grants Commission. The Commission's aimed at examining all aspects of the educational sector across the country. Among other objectives behind setting up of this Commission also included evolution of a general pattern of education. The commission, under the chairmanship of D. S. Kothari, submitted its Report on 29 June 1966; its recommendations were accommodated in India's first National Policy on Education in 1968.
Education
and National Objectives:
The recommendations of
the Commission cover almost all aspects
and all stages of education. The commission suggested for urgent reforms needed
in education to transform it, to endeavour to relate it to the life, needs and
aspirations of the people and thereby to make it a powerful tool of social, economic
and cultural transformation necessary for realisation of our national goals.
For this purpose, education
should be developed as to increase productivity, achieve social and national
integration, accelerate the pace of modernisation and to strive to build
character by cultivating social, moral and spiritual value
These
are popularly four-fold tasks of reformation in education.
(a) Increasing
Productivity:
The link between education and productivity can be created through
the development of the following programmes:
(i) Science Education:
Every primary school should have a science comer to keep
specimens, models and charts with necessary storage facilities. Every higher
primary school should be provided with one laboratory-cum-lecture room.
Science education must
become an integral part of the school education and ultimately study of science
should become a part of all courses in the humanities and social science at the
university stage. Science and mathematics should be taught on a compulsory basis
to all pupils as a part of general education during the first ten years of
schooling.
(ii) Work-Experience:
Work-experience should be introduced as an integral part
of all education; general and vocational. Work experience means participation
in productive work in the school, at home, in work shop, in a factory or in any
other productive situations.
(iii) Application of Science to Productive
Process:
Every effort should be made to link programmes
realistically to technology, industrialization, and the application of science
to productive processes including agriculture.
(iv)
Vocationalisation:
Secondary education should be largely vocationalised and
in higher education, a great emphasis should be placed on agriculture and
technical education.
(b) Achieving
Social and National Integration:
The following are the recommendations of the commission for
achieving unity and solidarity of the nation:
(i)
Common School System:
In the words of commission, “If the educational system is to become
a powerful instrument of national development in general, and social and
national integration in particular, we must move towards the goal of a common
school system of public education—which will be open to all children
irrespective of caste, creed, community, religion, economic conditions or
social status”.
Therefore, a common school system of public education
should be introduced in a phased manner spread over twenty years.
(ii)
Social and National Service:
In order to remove the gulf
between the educated and uneducated or between the intelligentsia and masses,
some form of social and national service should be made obligatory for all
students at all stages of education. This can become an instrument to build
character, improve discipline, inculcate a faith in the dignity of manual
labour and to develop a social responsibility.
For making it a success, the commission suggested two forms:
(i) Encouraging and enabling
students to participate in community living on the school or college compounds.
(ii)
Providing opportunities of participation in programmes of community development
and national service.
(iii)
Development of an Appropriate Language policy:
Suitable arrangement should
be made for teaching mother-tongue, Hindi and other modern Indian languages.
The study of English should be promoted right from the school stage. Efforts to
be made to spread Hindi in non-Hindi speaking areas, as it are the official
language of the union and the lingua-franca of the people.
(iv) Promotion of National Consciousness
It should be an important
objective of this school education system. This should be attempted through the
promotion of understanding and re-evaluation of our cultural heritage and the
creation of a strong driving faith in the future.
(c) Accelerating the pace of Modernisation:
In a modern society
knowledge increases at a terrific pace and social change is very rapid.
In order that India should keep
pace with modernisation, driven by science based technology, the commission
suggests the following:
(i) Education should be
concerned with awakening of curiosity, the development of proper interests,
attitudes, and values and the building up essential skills as independent study
and capacity to think and judge for one self.
(ii) Education must try to
create an intelligentsia of adequate size and competence, which comes from all
strata of society and whose loyalties and aspirations are rooted in the Indian
soil.
(d) Cultivating Social, Moral and Spiritual Values:
Conscious and organised
efforts are needed for imparting education in social, moral and spiritual
values with the help, whenever possible, of the ethical teaching of great
religions. Towards making these values as integral part of school programme,
some period should set apart in the time-table.
A syllabus giving well
chosen information about each of the major religion should be included. The
central and state governments should adopt measures to introduce education in
moral, social and spiritual values in all the institutions under their direct
control.
2. Equalisation of Educational Opportunity:
The commission says, “One of
the important social objectives of education is to equalize opportunity
enabling the backward or under-privileged classes and individuals to use
education as a lever for the improvement of their condition…………. It
observes, ‘ The education of the backward
classes in general and of the tribal people in particular is a major programme
of equalisation and of social and national integration. No expenditure is too
great for the purpose”.
It recommended that common school or neighbourhood
schools should be set up which should be open to all living in one
neighbourhood. Common school is a powerful step towards equalisation of
educational opportunity.
3.
Educational Structure:
The commission proposed the
following:
1. The structure consists of:
(i) One to three years of
pre-school education.
(ii) A Primary Stage of 7 to
8 years dividing into lower primary (4 to 5 years) and higher primary stage (3
or 2 years).
(iii) A lower secondary
stage of 3 or 2 years.
(iv) A higher secondary of 2
years of general education or one to three years of vocational education.
(v) A higher education stage
having a course of 3 years or more for the first degree and followed by a
course for second degree of varying durations.
2. Age of admission to class
I not to be less than 6 years.
3. First public examination
to come at the end of first ten years of schooling.
4. The streaming system to
be made beyond class X in case of general education.
5. Two types of secondary
schools—high schools providing a ten year course and higher secondary schools
providing a course of 11 or 12 years.
6. Bigger and more efficient
schools about 1/4th of the total number to be upgraded and attempts to upgrade
every secondary school to the higher secondary to be abandoned.
7. New higher secondary
course at class XI to be instituted and class XI and XII to provide specialised
studies in different subjects; existing higher secondary schools with
integrated courses in classes IX, X, XI running satisfactorily to be continued
until class XII is added.
8. Transfer of the PU course
from the universities and affiliated colleges to secondary schools by 1975-76
and the duration of the course to be lengthened to two years by 1985-86; UGC
would be responsible for the transfer of the above course.
9. Starting of higher
secondary class or classes in selected schools by state education departments
as self-contained units and assisted with adequate recurring grants.
10. Reconstituting Boards of
Secondary Education to accept the onus for the higher secondary stage also.
11. Vocationalisation at the
secondary stage at the end of class VII or VIII and of the end of class X and
provision to be made for the introduction of different types of vocational
courses at the lower and higher secondary stage, the duration of these courses
varied from one to three years which would prepare young person’s for
employment.
12. Ten years of schooling
should cover a primary stage of 7 or 8 years and a lower secondary stage of 3
or 2 years providing a course of general education without any specialisation.
13. Classes XI and XII
should provide for specialised studies in different subjects at the higher
secondary stage.
14. The higher secondary
stage should be extended to cover a period of 2 years and to be located
exclusively in schools.
Steps should be taken to
implement these through a phased programme spread over the next 20 years
(1965-85).
4. Curricular Improvement:
Broad Areas of curricular studies at secondary stage as
recommended by the Kothari commission are meant for two stages:
1. Lower secondary stage (class VIII to X):
(a) Three languages: In Hindi speaking areas,
(i) The mother-tongue or the regional language,
(ii) English or Hindi (if English has already been taken
as the mother-tongue)and
(iii) A modern Indian language other than Hindi.
In non-Hindi speaking areas:
(i) The mother tongue or the regional language.
(ii) Hindi at a higher or lower level.
(iii) English at a higher or lower levels.
A classical language may be studied on an optional basis besides
the above three:
(b) Mathematics;
(c) Science;
(d) History, Geography and Civics;
(e) Art,
(f) Work experience and social service,
(g) Physical education and
(h) Education in moral and spiritual values.
2. Higher Secondary stage:
(i) Any
two languages including any MIL, modern foreign language and any classical
language.
(ii) Any three subjects from the following:
(a) History,
(b) Geography,
(c) Economics,
(d) Logic,
(e) Psychology,
(f) Sociology,
(g) Art,
(h) Physics,
(i) Chemistry,
(j) Mathematics,
(k) Biology,
(l) Geology, and
(m) Home Science.
(iii) Work
Experience and Social service
(iv) Physical
Education,
(v) Art
or Craft
(vi) Education
in moral and spiritual values.
As a part of reform in
curriculum, the commission suggested the following:
In view of the explosion of
knowledge in various fields, school curriculum should be upgraded through
research in curriculum development undertaken by university department of
Education, Training Colleges, State Institutes of Education and Boards of
School Education. Research is needed in the preparation of text books and
teaching learning materials.
Teachers should be oriented
to the revised curricula through in-service education. Schools should be given
freedom to devise and experiment with new curricula suited to their needs.
State Board of Education should prepare advanced curricula in all subjects and
introduce them in a phased manner in the schools. Science and mathematics
should be compulsory in the first ten years of schooling.
An effective programme of
social studies is essential for the development of good citizenship and
emotional integration. Work experience, social service programmes, physical
education and education in moral and spiritual values, co-curricular activities
etc. should form integral parts of the school curriculum.
The three-language formula
after due modifications should be included:
(a) The mother tongue or the
Regional Language,
(b) The official language of
the union so long as it exists, and
(c) Modern Indian or
European language not covered order (a) and (b) and other than that used as a
medium of instruction.
Further, the principles of
basic education, viz. productive activity, correlation, contact with local
community etc. should guide and shape the educational system at all levels and
this is the essence of the proposals made in the report.
5.
Improvement in the Methods of Teaching:
The commission viewed that
the main factors responsible for the dull, monotonous and uninspiring school
teaching are the rigidity of the education system, poor competency of the
teacher, lack of research on teaching methods and failure of administrative
machinery to diffuse new and dynamic methods of teaching.
Therefore, the commission
suggested that elasticity and dynamism in the educational system will help the
institutions and teachers to proceed along different levels of development.
The educational
administration can hasten diffusion of new teaching methods for bringing out
elasticity by combining permissiveness and persuasion, approaching new methods
according to the ability of schools, giving necessary in-service training to
teachers through workshops, seminars, refresher courses, demonstrations etc.
and providing revised guide materials.
Besides, lists of minimum
teaching aids and equipment needed by each category of schools should be
prepared. Teachers should be helped and trained to use in-expensive and local
available improvised teaching aids. Teaching aids and equipment will be
prepared through workshop.
The commission recommended sharing
of costly equipment’s with neighbouring schools. Research should be undertaken
in the problems and techniques of multiple-class teaching
Above all, it was suggested that there should be the
co-ordination between Education Department and All India Radio for maximisation
of teaching and optimisation of learning.
6.
Quality of Text Book:
The commission fell that in
order to raise standards of education, quality text books should je written by
a qualified and competent specialist in the subject and produced with due care
as for as printing quality and general get up and illustrations are concerned.
At the national level, it is
essential that the best talent available in the country should be mobilised to
produce the text books and other literature needed both at the school and at
the university stage. The Ministry of Education should take steps to establish,
in the public sector, an autonomous organization functioning on commercial lines
for the production of text books.
The ministry should set up a
small committee to work out the modalities for the preparation of text books.
At the state level, the
following are the chief recommendations:
(i) The effort at the
national level should be augmented by the state efforts.
(ii) The preparation, try
out and evaluation of text books should be the responsibility of State
Education Department.
(iii) The sale and
distribution of text books are better to be left to student co-operatives.
(iv) The production of text
books and teaching aids should be entrusted to an autonomous agency functioning
in close alliance with the Education Department.
(v) There should be
continuous revision and up-to-date of text-books.
(vi) Provision of multiple
choice of text books even for a given class and even if, there is a common
syllabus for all the schools.
(vii) There should be the
adoption of liberal policies for remuneration for attracting the best talents
to write books.
(viii) The entire
organisation of state production of text books should run on a no-profit or
no-loss basis.
(ix) Manuscripts should be
invited, evaluated and approved by a high level committee of professional
persons.
(x) Special encouragement
should be given to teachers to write text-books.
(xi) Text-books should be
supplemented by teacher’s guides and other instructional materials.
(xii) The programme of
text-book production should consist of three aspects—academic, production and
distribution. Academic aspect includes the preparation of text books, try out
and evaluation by State Education Department.
Every institution should
establish student co-operatives for the storage and sale of text books.
7.
Teacher Education:
The commission
remarked, “A sound programme of
professional education of teachers is essential for the qualitative improvement
of education”. For streamlining teacher education, the
commission recommended that there should be removal of isolation of teacher
education from university life, from schools and among the institutions.
For the qualitative improvement of teacher education, there should be
reorientation of subject knowledge both independently and in collaboration with
university departments, and where necessary, with the arts and science colleges
doing post-graduate work. There should be two years duration of the programme
for the primary teachers and one year duration for the secondary teachers.
Vitalisation of professional studies should be done to purge its off
inadequacy.
There should be the
necessity of improving methods of teaching and evaluation in training
institutions. Individual library work, preparation of review report, case
studies, project work, discussions and seminars should form an integral part of
the work of training institutions. The examination system needs continuous
reform. There must be a comprehensive programme of internship instead of block
teaching.
The pupil teacher should be
given opportunities to observe good teaching. There should be continuous
practice teaching for a period of at least eight weeks under actual school
conditions.
Special courses for teacher
educators of primary and secondary training institutes should also be developed
and untrained graduate teachers, who are being employed in the schools, need to
be oriented in special courses. Further, curriculum should be revised at all
levels of teacher education keeping in view the emerging needs of the society.
8.
Status of Teachers:
The commission emphasised
that necessary efforts should be taken to raise the economic social and
professional status of teachers and to feed back talented youth into the
profession Therefore, there is the urgent need of reform to upgrade the scale
of pay of teachers. At the school stage, the Govt. of India should lay down the
minimum scales of pay for school teachers.
The states and Union
Territories should then adopt equivalent or higher scales to pay to suit their
local conditions. There should be parity in the pay scales irrespective of
difference in management Liberal central assistance should be given to state
governments for improving the salaries of school teachers.
For the promotion, trained
graduate teachers having outstanding work should be promote to the next posts
carrying salaries of teachers with post graduate qualification. Advance
increment may be given to such teachers.
The UGC should give grants
to such teachers to do research in various fields. Normal retirement age for
teachers should be 60 years and there should be the provision for extension up
to 65 years provided the person is physically fit and mentally alert to
discharge his/her duties efficiently.
Retirement benefits should
be extended to all the teachers in the service of the State Governments. There
should be encouragement of women teachers at a stages of education and teachers
working in tribal areas should be given special training and allowance,
assistance for the education of their children and residential accommodation.
9.
Better School Buildings:
The commission realised that the provision of school
buildings is extremely unsatisfactory at present and felt that it is necessary
to take steps to clear the backlog of unconstructed school buildings as well as
to provide additional buildings for new involvement. The commission suggests
earmarking of funds in the budget of centre and states, mobilising community
resources, encouraging loans and grants-in-aid for construction of building and
on the formation of educational buildings development groups.
10.
Establishment of School Complexes:
Each primary school should
be integrally related to ten lower primary schools that exist in the
neighbourhood so that they form one complex of educational facilities. The
headmaster of the higher primary school should provide extension service to the
lower primary schools in this system.
The second tier would be a
committee under the chairmanship of headmaster of the secondary school which
will plan the work and give guidance to all the schools in the area.
11. Development of Talent:
The search for talent must
be a continuous process which should be pursued at all stages. A variety of
extra-mural programmes should be organised for the talented boys and girls such
as summer schools, visit to place of educational interest, provision of hostels
and day centres for those whose home environment is not conducive for study.
12. Guidance and Counselling:
Guidance and counseling
should be regarded as an integral part of education, meant for all students and
aimed at assisting the individual to make decision and adjustments from time to
time it should help in the identification and development of the abilities and
interests of adolescent pupils.
The ultimate objective
should be to introduce adequate guidance services in all secondary schools with
a trained counselor in charge of the programme.
13. Identification of Gifted Students:
Steps should be taken
immediately to devise suitable techniques for identifying talent at this stage.
Each state should organise a testing service at the end of the primary stage
(class VII or VIII) and also at the end of lower secondary stage and make the
assistance available to all the schools.
14. Evaluation System:
According to Kothari
Commission, evaluation is a continuous process, forms an integral part of the
total system of education, and is intimately related to educational objectives.
It exercises a great influence upon the pupil’s study habits and the teacher’s
method of teaching.
Thus, it helps t only to
measure educational achievement but also to improve it. There is the necessity
of improving written examinations and other methods such as observation
techniques, oral tests and practical examinations for assessing the student’s
performance.
The commission made the following
suggestions with regards to evaluation at different stage education:
(a) At lower primary stage:
1. It would be desirable to
treat the lower primary stage covering class I to IV as an ungraded unit,
because this would help the children coming from different backgrounds to
advance at their own pace.
2. Teachers should be
appropriately trained for the ungraded system through regular training courses
and orientation programmes.
3. Observation techniques
should be used by the teachers in a planned and systematic manner.
(b) At the higher primary
stage:
1. In addition to written
examinations weightage should be given to oral tests, which should form a part
of internal assessment.
2. Introduction of simple
cumulative record card in a phased manner for indicating of pupil’s growth and
development, his/her academic and emotional problems, his/her difficulties in
adjustment, etc.
3. There should be external
examination at the end of primary stage.
4. By .making use of the
standardized or refined test material, the district educational authorities may
arrange for a common examination at the end of the primary stage for schools in
the district.
5. There should be provision
for giving certificate along with cumulative record card at the end of the
primary class.
6. Special tests may be
conducted for the award of scholarships or certificates of merit and for
identification of talent.
(c) At the secondary stage:
1. External examinations
should be improved by raising the technical competence of paper-setters,
objective-based question papers, adoption of scientific scoring procedure,
mechanizing the scoring of scripts and the processing of results.
2. The certificates issued
by the State Board should give the candidate’s performance in different
subjects and there should be no remark or the effect that he/she has passed or
failed in the whole examination. Permission should also be given for
re-appearance or improvement in subjects.
3. A few selected schools
should be given freedom of assessing their students themselves and holding
their own final examinations at the end of class X, which will be considered as
equivalent to the external examination of the State Board.
4. Internal assessment by
schools should be comprehensive and should evaluate all aspects of student
growth including personality traits, interests, attitudes which cannot be
assessed by the external examination system. It should be descriptive as well
as quantitative.
The use of standardized
achievement test is strongly recommended. There is need for developing tools
for internal assessment such as interest inventories, aptitude tests and rating
scales. The internal assessment should be shown separately in the mark-sheets
and certificates.
5. The commission
recommended that the first external examination should be held at the end of
class X and the second after class XII which will be end of the higher
secondary stage.
6. For the evaluation
machinery at the state level, the present secondary boards of school education
will be earn its sobriquet ‘State Boards of School Education’ with enhanced
powers and functions. At the centre, there will be a National Board of School
Education which will deal with evaluation programmes at the central level.
15. Administration and Supervision:
The commission emphasised an
imaginative system of administration and supervision which would be essential
for accelerating education reform. For this, it has suggested the common school
system of public education, a nation-wide programme of school improvement,
re-organisation of the education department and revitalizing the system of
supervision.
16. Adult Education:
There should be streamlining
of adult education to liquidate illiteracy in the country.
As such, the Commission
recommended the following:
(i) There should be a
nationwide, coherent and sustained literacy campaign with the involvement of
central, state, and local governments, all governmental agencies, all voluntary
agencies and private organisations and industries, all educational institutions
from universities to primary schools and above all educated men and women n the
country.
(ii) The programme should be
very carefully planned and that all necessary preparations should be made well
ahead in time.
(iii) Early efforts should
be taken to liquidate illiteracy within a time-frame. Two-fold strategy should
be taken to combat illiteracy.
(1) Under selective
approach, programmes should be adopted for specific groups of adults which
could be easily identified, controlled and motivated for intensive literacy
work.
(2) Under mass approach, all
available educated men and women should be mobilised for raising a force to
combat illiteracy. The commission recommended that the students from all
educational strata should be required to teach the adults as a part of
compulsory national service programme. Teachers should be required to teach and
participate in the campaign.
(iv)In order to promote
literacy among women, condensed courses for women sponsored by the central
social welfare board should be adopted. Appointment of village teachers should
be encouraged to teach the village women.
(v) The mass media of
communication should be effectively used for liquidating illiteracy.
(vi) In order to retain the
literacy achieved, literacy campaigns must have adequate follow-up.
(vii)All types of
educational institutions should be encouraged and helped to open their doors
outside the regular working hours to provide such course of instruction to the
people desirous of receiving education.
(viii) Ad-hoc courses should
be organised by the leading institutions to help people understand and solve
their problems; and acquire wider knowledge and experience.
(ix) Special institutions as
run by the central social welfare board for adult women should be set up to
spread education among the illiterate people.
(x) The universities should
assume responsibilities for educating the adults by resorting to a heap of
programmes and they should be adequately financed for establishing department
of adult education and Board of Adult education.
17. Correspondence Courses:
Kothari commission strongly recommended that distance education
through correspondence courses should be organised in a big way to provide
education to the millions:
(i) In order to bring
education to those who are unable to attend even part time courses, wide-spread
organisation of correspondence courses should be organised.
(ii) Students pursuing
courses through correspondence mode should be provided opportunities to meet
the teachers occasionally.
(iii) These courses should
be supported by well coordinated radio and television programmes.
(iv) These courses should
not be confined to preparing students for the university degree but also
provide agricultural, industrial and other workers such special courses of
instruction as would help them to improve production,
(v) Correspondence courses
should be made available for those who desire to enrich their lives by studying
subjects of cultural and aesthetic value,
(vi) These courses should be
developed for the teachers in schools to keep them abreast with new knowledge
and new methods of teaching,
(vii) The Ministry of
Education in collaboration with other Ministries should establish National
Council of Home Studies,
(viii) Opportunity to take
examination conducted by Education Board and Universities in the country should
be made available to those who wish to work on their own without any
assistance.
18. Education of the
Handicapped:
It should be possible to
have at least one good institution for the education of handicapped children in
each district. The NCERT should have a cell for the study of the handicapped.
19. Pre-primary Education:
The commission said that
pre-primary education is of great significance to the physical, emotional and
intellectual development of children, especially those with unsatisfactory home
background.
(i) The target to be set as
an enrolment of 5% in the age groups 3 to 5 and 50% in the age group 5 to 6 in
pre-school classes will be a reasonable target by 1986.
(ii) For the development of
pre-primary education during the next twenty years, it was suggested that
pre-primary education development centres should be set up one in each of state
institutes of education and one in each district for the development,
supervision and guidance of pre-primary education in the area.
Private enterprise should be
made largely responsible for setting up and running pre-primary centres.
Encouragement should be given to experimentation in devising less expensive
methods of expanding pre-primary education. Children’s play centres should be
attached to as many primary schools as possible.
The state should maintain at
state and district level play centres, train pre-primary teachers, conduct
research, assist in the preparation and development of material and literature,
provide supervision and guidance to pre-primary schools and training
institutes, assist private agencies with liberal grant-in-aid and run model
pre-primary schools.
The programme should be
flexible and consist of various types of play, manual and learning activities
having sensory experiences. Proper co-ordination should be maintained among
different agencies that work in the field of pre-primary education.
20. The Indian Education
Service:
The creation of the Indian
Education service is a step in the right direction and if organised on a proper
lines, such a service would help the progress of education.
21. Instructional Days in
Institutions:
The number of instructional
days in a year should be increased to about 234 (or 39 weeks) for schools and
216 for colleges and pre-primary schools.
22. Academic Year to Begin on
the Same Day:
It is desirable to begin the
academic year on the same day throughout India. The report of the commission is
a milestone in the annals of development of education in post-independence
phase in India which is revolutionary in nature and original in its character.
The report is truly called the ‘magna-carta’ of education in India.
Conclusion: The
recommendations are uniqe and draw our attention to the development of
education at all stages and in all aspect in order to give a national pattern
on education using it as a weapon for the
progress of the Nation.
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