Appendix 1

Some Important Recommendations of National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 on Science and Related Aspects with Modifications Undertaken in 1992

The National Policy on Education (NPE) was adopted by Parliament in May 1986. A committee was set up under the chairmanship of Acharya Ramamurti in May 1990 to review NPE and to make recommendations for its modifications. The Committee submitted its report in December 1990. At the request of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), a committee was set up in July 1991 under the chairmanship of Shri N. Janardhana Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, to consider modifications in NPE taking into consideration the report of the Ramamurti Committee and other relevant developments having a bearing on the Policy, and to make recommendations regarding modifications to be made in the NPE. The Committee submitted its report in January 1992. The report of the Committee was considered by the CABE in its meeting held on 5–6 May 1992. While broadly endorsing the NPE, CABE has recommended a few changes in the Policy.

THE ESSENCE AND ROLE OF EDUCATION

• In our national perception, education is essential for all. This is fundamental to our all round development, material and spiritual.
• Education has an acculturating role. It refines sensitivities and perceptions that contribute to national cohesion, a scientific temper and independence of mind and spirit—thus furthering the goals of socialism, secularism and democracy enshrined in Indian Constitution.
• Education develops manpower for different levels of the economy. It is also the substrate on which research and development flourish, being the ultimate guarantee of national self-reliance.
• In sum, education is a unique investment in the present and the future. This cardinal principle is the key to the NPE.

NATIONAL SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

• The Constitution embodies the principles on which the National System of Education is conceived of.
• The concept of a National System of Education implies that, up to a given level, all students, irrespective of caste, creed, location or sex, have access to education of a comparable quality. To achieve this, the Government will initiate appropriately funded programmes. Effective measures will be taken in the direction of the Common School System recommended in the 1968 Policy.
• The National System of Education will be based on a national curricular framework which contains a common core along with other components that are flexible. The common core will include the history of India's freedom movement, the constitutional obligations and other content essential to nurture national identity. These elements will cut across subject areas and will be designed to promote values such as India's common cultural heritage, egalitarianism, democracy and secularism, equality of the sexes, protection of the environment, removal of social barriers and observance of the small family norm and inculcation of the scientific temper. All educational programmes will be carried on in strict conformity with secular values.
• In the areas of research and development and education in science and technology, special measures will be taken to establish network arrangements between different institutions in the country to pool their resources and participate in projects of national importance.
• The nation as a whole will assume the responsibility of providing resource support for implementing programmes of educational transformation, reducing disparities, universalization of elementary education, adult literacy, scientific and technological researches, etc.

CHILD-CENTRED APPROACH

A warm, welcoming and encouraging approach, in which all concerned share solicitude for the needs of the child, is the best motivation for the child to attend school and learn. A child-centred and activity-based process of learning should be adopted at the primary stage. First-generation learners should be allowed to set their own pace and be given supplementary remedial instruction. As the child grows, the component of cognitive learning will be increased and skills organized through practice. The policy of non-detention at the primary stage will be retained, making evaluation as disaggregated as feasible. Corporal punishment will be firmly excluded from the educational system and school timings as well as vacations adjusted to the convenience of children.

TECHNICAL AND MANAGEMENT EDUCATIONS

Although the two streams of technical and management educations are functioning separately, it is essential to look at them together, in view of their close relationship and complementary concerns. The reorganization of technical and management educations should take into account the anticipated scenario by the turn of the century, with specific reference to the likely changes in the economy, social environment, production and management processes, the rapid expansion of knowledge and the great advances in science and technology.

The infrastructure and services sectors as well as the unorganized rural sector also need a greater induction of improved technologies and a supply of technical and managerial manpower. This will be attended to by the Government.

In order to improve the situation regarding manpower information, the recently setup Technical Manpower Information System will be further developed and strengthened.

As computers have become important and ubiquitous tools, a minimal exposure to computers and a training in their use will form part of professional education. Programmes of computer literacy will be organized on wide scale from the school stage.

In view of the present rigid entry requirements to formal courses restricting the access of a large segment of people to technical and managerial educations, programmes through a distance learning process, including the use of the mass media will be offered. Technical and management education programmes, including education in polytechnics, will also be on a flexible modular pattern based on credits, with provision for multi-point entry. A strong guidance and counselling service will be provided.

In order to increase the relevance of management education, particularly in the non-corporate and under-managed sectors, the management education system will study and document the Indian experience and create a body of knowledge and specific educational programmes suited to these sectors.

Appropriate formal and non-formal programmes of technical education will be devised for the benefit of women, the economically and socially weaker sections and the physically handicapped.

The emphasis of vocational education and its expansion will need a large number of teachers and professionals in vocational education, educational technology, curriculum development, etc. Programmes will be started to meet this demand.

In order to meet the continuing needs of updating curriculum, renewal should systematically phase out obsolescence and introduce new technologies of disciplines.

BOOKS AND LIBRARIES

The availability of books at low prices is indispensable for people's education. Effort will be made to secure easy accessibility to books for all segments of the population. Measures will be taken to improve the quality of books, promote the reading habit and encourage creative writing.

Authors' interests will be protected. Good translations of foreign books into Indian languages will be supported. Special attention will be paid to the production of quality of books for children, including text books and work books.

Together with the development of books, a nation-wide movement for the improvement of existing libraries and the establishment of new ones will be taken up. Provision will be made in all educational institutions for library facilities and the status of librarians improved.

MEDIA AND EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Modern communication technologies have the potential to bypass several stages and sequences in the process of development encountered in earlier decades. Both the constraints of time and distance at once become manageable. In order to avoid structural dualism, modern educational technology must reach out to the most distant areas and the most deprived sections of beneficiaries simultaneously with the areas of comparative affluence and ready availability.

Educational technology will be employed in the spread of useful information, the training and re-training of teachers, to improve quality, sharpen awareness of art and culture, inculcate abiding values, etc., in both the formal and the non-formal sectors. Maximum use will be made of the available infrastructure. In villages without electricity, batteries or solar packs will be used to run the programme.

The generation of relevant and culturally compatible educational programmes will form an important component of educational technology, and all available resources in the country will be utilized for this purpose.

The media have a profound influence on the minds of children as well as adults; some of them tend to encourage consumerism, violence, etc. and have a deleterious effect, radio and T.V. programmes, which clearly militate against proper educational objectives, will be prevented. Steps will be taken to discourage such trends in films and other media also. An active movement will be started to promote the production of children's films of high quality and usefulness.

EDUCATION AND ENVIRONMENT

There is a paramount need to create a consciousness of the environment. It must permeate all ages and all sections of society, beginning with the child. Environmental consciousness should inform teaching in schools and colleges. This aspect will be integrated in the entire educational process.

MATHEMATICS TEACHING

Mathematics should be visualized as the vehicle to train a child to think, reason, analyse and to articulate logically. Apart from being a specific subject, it should be treated as a concomitant to any subject involving analysis and reasoning. With the recent introduction of computers in schools, educational computing and the emergence of learning through the understanding of cause-effect relationships and the interplay of variables, the teaching of mathematics will be suitably redesigned to bring it in line with modern technological devices.

SCIENCE EDUCATION

Science education will be strengthened so as to develop in the child's well-defined abilities and values such as the spirit of inquiry, creativity, objectivity, the courage to question and an aesthetic sensibility.

Science education programmes will be designed to enable the learner to acquire problem solving and decision-making skills and to discover the relationship of science with health, agriculture, industry and other aspects of daily life. Every effort will be made to extend science education to the vast numbers who have remained outside the pale of formal education.

THE EVALUATION PROCESS AND EXAMINATION REFORM

Assessment of performance is an integral part of any process of learning and teaching. As part of sound educational strategy, examinations should be employed to bring about qualitative improvements in education.

The objective will be to re-cast the examination system so as to ensure a method of assessment that is a valid and reliable measure of student development and a powerful instrument for improving teaching and learning; in functional terms, this would mean:

1. The elimination of excessive element of chance and subjectivity;
2. The de-emphasis of memorization;
3. Continuous and comprehensive evaluation that incorporates both scholastic and non-scholastic aspects of education, spread over the total span of instructional time;
4. Effective use of the evaluation process by teachers, students and parents;
5. Improvement in the conduct of examination;
6. The introduction of concomitant changes in instructional materials and methodology;
7. Instruction of the semester system from the secondary stage in a phased manner and
8. The use of grades in place of marks.

The above goals are relevant for both external examinations and evaluations within educational institutions. Evaluation at the institutional level will be streamlined and the predominance of external examinations reduced. A National Examination Reform Framework would be prepared to serve as a set of guidelines to the examining bodies, which would have the freedom to innovate and adapt the framework to suit the specific situations.

THE TEACHER

The status of the teacher reflects the socio-cultural ethos of a society; it is said that no people can rise above the level of its teachers. The Government and the community should endeavour to create conditions, which will help motivate and inspire teachers on constructive and creative lines. Teachers should have the freedom to innovate and to devise appropriate methods of communication and activities relevant to the needs and capabilities of and the concerns of the community.

The methods of recruiting teachers will be reorganized to ensure merit, objectivity and conformity with spatial and functional requirements. The pay and service conditions of teachers have to be commensurate with their social and professional responsibilities and with the need to attract talent to the profession. Efforts will be made to reach the desirable objective of uniform emoluments, service conditions and grievance-removal mechanisms for teachers throughout India. Guidelines will be formulated to ensure objectivity in the postings and transfers of teachers. A system of teachers' evaluation—open, participative and data-based—will be created and reasonable opportunities of promotion to higher grades provided. Norms of accountability will be laid down with incentives for good performance and disincentives for non-performance. Teachers will continue to play a crucial role in the formulation and implementation of educational programmes.

Teachers' associations must play a significant role in upholding professional integrity, enhancing the dignity of the teacher and in curbing professional misconduct. National-level associations of teachers could prepare a Code of Professional Ethics for Teachers and see to its observance.

TEACHER EDUCATION

Teacher education is a continuous process and its pre-service and in-service components are inseparable. As the first step, the system of teacher education will be overhauled.

The new programmes of teacher education will emphasize continuing education and the need for teachers to meet the thrusts envisaged in this policy.

District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) will be established with the capability to organize pre-service and in-service courses for elementary school teachers and for the personnel working in non-formal and adult educations. As DIETs get established, sub-standard institutions will be phased out. Selected Secondary Teacher Training Colleges will be upgraded to complement the work of State Councils of Educational Research and Training. The National Council of Teacher Education will be provided the necessary resources and capability to accredit institutions of teacher education and provide guidance regarding curricula and methods. Networking arrangements will be created between institutions of teacher education and university departments of education.