CHAPTER II GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TEACHER EDUCATION IN INDIA 2.1. Introduction: Indian society, from the time immemorial, has regarded knowledge as the highest virtue of man. Since the dawn of civilization, great saints and seers have shown to the entire world the path of enlightenment leading to the ultimate truth. During the Vedic and Upanishad periods, India was bestowed with some prominent institutions of higher learning which attracted scholars from distant places and from different parts of the world came to India in pursuit of knowledge. It is well known fact that Nalanda Vallabhi, Vikramshila, Taxila Ujjain and Kanchi were often quoted as the centers of learning in India and also featured as having good libraries too. The past was a glorious era that made the process of learning and teaching a noble profession. Due to foreign invasion and colonial rule till the middle of 20th Century the state of higher education in India shows a much deflected situation except from mid-19th Century as British rulers made some efforts to start colleges and universities. 2.2. Higher Education in India: The higher education in India began with the establishment of three Universities at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras in 1857. Since their genesis from that period to the present times, the system has undergone distinct changes significantly in its entirety with a broad vision to new emerging India after the independence evolving a distinct,
structure,
objectives
and
goals
to
achieved
renewed
accomplishments.
28
The universities in India were started as mere degree awarding institutions. Today they have been turned into major centers of learning, engaged in the production and dissemination of knowledge. Even at that point of time the object of higher education was to cater to the partial economic needs viz., to produce a generation of white collared subordinate workers. The social mission behind providing an access to education was taken up by missionaries, nobles and industrial houses that came forward with sizeable numbers to set up institutions of learning. More or less, education was under the private institutions. 2.2.1. Education in the Pre and Post-independent India The western higher
education
in
India began
with
the
establishment of Hindu College at Calcutta (1817) by Raja Rammohun Roy and his friend David Hare with the objective of providing a channel by which real knowledge might be transferred from European sources to the intellect of Hindustan. The East India Company founded a Sanskrit College at Calcutta (1825), which was protested by Raja Rammohun Roy who felt that Indians should also receive education in western science and in European languages. By this time, the Christian missionaries had started establishing colleges at other places with the objective of spreading Christianity through the teaching of English and western science. The colleges and universities started in pre-independence India in 19th Century are presented in the Table 2.1. It was in 1854 that the establishment of modern universities in
as a consequence, three universities in the presidency towns of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras were set up in 1857. The main function of these universities was to conduct examinations and award degrees while teaching work was done in the affiliated colleges. This was, in fact, an adoption of the London University model. With the
29
rapid rise in enrolment after the establishment of these three universities, two more were started, one in Lahore, another in Allahabad. By 1902, five more universities and 191 affiliated colleges were established with a total enrolment of 17,650 students. In
the
mean
time, the National Freedom Movement had gathered momentum and the enlightened Indians took a keen interest in the education of their fellow natives. Consequently, six new universities came into existence between 1913 and 1921. The Universities started in the 20th Century before independence was listed in the Table 2.2. Table 2.1: Establishment of Modern Universities in India
Name of the College/University
Place
Year Estd.
Hindu College
Calcutta
1817
Sanskrit College
Calcutta
1825
Elphinstone College
Bombay
1834
Madras Christian College
Madras
1837
Bombay University
Bombay
1857
Calcutta University
Calcutta
1857
Madras University
Madras
1857
Punjab University
Lahore
1882
Allahabad University
Allahabad
1887
Three more colleges on similar line were started in Masulipattanam (1841), Nagpur (1844) and Agra (1853) and total numbers of Colleges by the end of 19th Century were 25. This sudden spurt in the number of universities was due to the favourable recommendations of Calcutta University Commission (1917-l9). Most of these universities were teaching type universities. However, during the period 1929-47, the official effort to develop higher education was slow due to some political problems related to the freedom struggle and the break out of the Second World War in
30
1939. As a result only three universities could be set up during this period and they are: Kerala (1937), Utkal (1943) and Sagar (1946). In this way, the number of universities established before independence rose to 19. Table 2.2: Universities started before Independence. Name of the University
Place
Year Estd.
Banares Hindu University
Banares
1916
University of Mysore
Mysore
1916
Patna University
Patna
1917
Osmania University
Hyderabad
1918
Lucknow University
Lucknow
1920
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh
1920
Delhi University
Delhi
1922
Nagpur University
Nagpur
1923
Agra University
Agra
1927
Annamalai University
Annamalainagar
1929
University of Kerala
Tiruvanantapuram
1937
Utkal University
Bhubneshwar
1943
Sagar University
1946
When India achieved its freedom in 1947, the Department of Education, which was created in 1945, was converted into a fullfledged Ministry of Education. Higher education was the first sector of education to attract the attention of the Union Government. As a first step, the University Education Commission (1948-49) was appointed, which recommended a rapid expansion of higher education in India on a
priority
basis.
The
commission
also
made
several
other
recommendations which had a significant bearing on the future development of higher education in the country. During the period of three years from 1947 to 1950, seven new universities were created taking total number to 27 with 695 affiliated colleges. The total enrolment in these institutions of higher education also rose to 1,
31
74,000 in 1950-51. The total number of teachers working in these institutions was a little more than 21,000. From this point onwards ion in our country began. The teacher education has also been part of this development, as far as Graduate teacher education programmes like Bachelor of Education was part of higher education sector and was offered colleges and universities in the country. So a brief profile of growth and development of teacher education is given here without going further with higher education. 2.3. Growth and Development of Teachers Education Colleges in India: 2.3.1. A Look at the Pre-Independence Era: The teacher education system formally began in India during British rule. In order to train the primary teachers, British rulers established many training centers in the country known as Normal Schools. In 1802, the Danish Mission established a formal training centre at Serampur (West Bengal). It is known to be the first step in formal training of teachers in India. After this, some teacher training institutes were established at Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, Pune and Surat. With the increase in number of primary schools, to meet the demand for teachers, normal schools were established for training of teachers at Agra (1852), Meerut (1856), and Varanasi (1857). Woods Despatch
of
1854
recommended
establishing
teacher-training
institutions and adopting teacher training system of England, to suit the Indian conditions. This led to the creation of teacher training schools in all presidencies of the nation. To improve the quality of
After the development of training facilities for primary teachers, need was felt to prepare secondary teachers. To achieve these objectives, classes were added to Govt. Normal School, Madras and Central Training School, Lahore (Now in Pakistan). In the beginning, 32
classes were added to the existing normal schools, but later on separate colleges were also created to train secondary teachers. To prepare secondary teachers, first training college was set up at Saidapet in Madras in 1886, followed by the opening of a secondary department in Nagpur Training School in 1889. In 1904, Lord Curzon emphasized on the need to educate
on Education Policy provided that a teacher shall not be allowed to teach unless he has a certificate that he has qualified for it. As a result of this, the number of teacher training colleges was increased in the institutions, having no concern with universities. The University
Training College in Bombay was founded in 1906 and prepared secondary teachers for its own diploma, known as Secondary Training College Diploma (S.T.C.D.), until it was affiliated to the University in
recommendations of Hartog Committee of 1929, education system was revised and a new degree of B.Ed. was started by Andhra University in
degree in education. 2.3.2. Post-independence Scenario: Arora and Panda give a narrative account of Teacher Education in Post-independent India (Arora & Panda). After independence, Government of India appointed two important commissions
the
University Education Commission in 1948 and the Secondary Education Commission in 1952. The two commissions were headed by eminent
educationists,
Dr.
S.
Radhakrishan
and
Dr.
A.
Lakshmanswami Mudaliar. The University Education Commission pointed out lacunas and different aspects of teacher education. It suggested to increase the number of professional colleges in the country and also recommended 33
to make B.Ed. course adaptable to local conditions. The Secondary Education Commission on the other hand suggested improvements in secondary education. In order to design new syllabus for secondary teacher training, Pires Committee was appointed in 1956. Both of the aforesaid commissions and committees made many recommendations to raise the standard of teacher training. The Kothari Education Commission (1966) considered teacher education as the most crucial
programme of professional education of teachers is essential for the
having agencies, both at centre and state levels in order to maintain high standards in teacher education. While suggesting for other facilities in good libraries and one of the important facilities supporting teaching, learning and practice. 2.4. Establishment of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT): The National
Council
of
Educational
Research
and
Training (NCERT) New Delhi was established in 1961 to do research and create support facilities like production of textbooks school education. It is also intended to assist and advise the central and state governments on academic matters related to school education. Among its many objectives it also emphasised on Production of teaching-learning experience and Improvement in teacher education. The NCERT is conducting All India survey in which it also looks into the need for teacher education and library facilities and also appointment of Librarians. The work of NCERT was more on academic and research matters in school education and therefore there was need for a special body to look after the Teacher education and this was accomplished with the establishment of National Council on Teacher Education in 1973.
34
2.5. Establishment of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE): The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) came into existence in 1973 as an advisory body to the Centre and State Governments on all matters concerning teacher education. The National Education Policy 1986 provided to give NCTE a statutory status. In pursuance to the recommendation of National Policy on Education, 1986, The National Council for Teacher Education Act, came into effect in 1993, and the NCTE became a statutory body on 17 August 1995. It lays down the Norms and Standards for teacher training institutions in order to ensure quality education. Each college of education in India is required to get recognition from NCTE to run teacher education programmes. 2.5.1. Objectives of NCTE: The main objective of the NCTE is to achieve planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country, the regulation and proper maintenance of Norms and Standards in the teacher education system and for matters connected therewith. The mandate given to the NCTE is very broad and covers the whole gamut of teacher education programmes including research and training of persons for equipping them to teach at pre primary, primary, secondary and senior secondary stages in schools, and nonformal education, part-time education, adult education and distance (correspondence) education courses. 2.5.2. Organisational Structure of NCTE: NCTE has
headquarter at New Delhi and four Regional
Committees at Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar and Jaipur to look after its statutory responsibilities. In order to enable the NCTE to perform the assigned functions including planned and co-ordinated development and initiating innovations in teacher education, the
35
NCTE in Delhi as well as its four Reginal Committees have administrative and academic wings to deal respectively with finance, establishment and legal matters and with research, policy planning, monitoring,
curriculum,
innovations,
co-ordination,
library
and
documentation, in-service programmes. The NCTE Headquarters is headed by the Chairperson, while each Regional Committee is headed by a Regional Director. 2.6. Education and Teachers Education in Karnataka: As it is well known the state of Karnataka before reorganisation in 1956 was in part attached to; Bombay, Madras and Hyderabad provincial rules. The Mysore and some neighbouring districts like Bangalore were the part of the Princely state. The beginning of school education is profiled for these areas under different provincial rules. The beginning of modern education in Karnataka could be traced to the establishment of Free English School at Mysore in 1833. The two Marathi Vernacular schools were started at Dharwad and Hubli in 1826 in the Bombay region. The schools in Mangalore, Udupi and Bellary started in 1838, and the Darul Uloom at Gulbarga in 1853 by Sir Salaarjung; the two Anglo-Vernacular Schools at Madikeri and Virajpet and a Kannada School at Ponnampet by the Government in 1834. Christian Missionaries played a major role in starting schools and imparting English education during the 19th century. After Independence and after state reorganisation the status of education in the state like in other parts of the country also changed significantly. Let us now begin with the Teacher education in Karnataka. 2.6.1. Teachers Education in Karnataka: Teacher Education has a long history in Karnataka. The first training college was started in Dharwad in the year 1857, in order to
36
train school teachers. In the erstwhile State of Mysore, steps were initiated as early as 1860 for the training of teachers with the establishment of a training school at Mysore. A normal school was also started at Darwad in 1867 which later became a post-matric training college. With the introduction of Hobli School System in the erstwhile Mysore State, these institutions were at that time shifted from place to place after completion of training of teachers of that place. These institutions were later converted into Vernacular Normal schools. Two Normal Schools were opened in 1897 at Kolar and Tumkur,
followed
by
three
more
at
Bangalore,
Hassan
and
Chitradurga. The Wesleyan Mission started a private school at
Urdu Teachers was begun at Mysore in 1916. The first course for training Middle School men teachers was started in Mysore in 1913
Women Training College. By 1931-32 there were eleven training institutions in the state of which nine were government ones, one aided and the other unaided. Of these 8 were for men and three for women. These institutions imparted four kinds of training courses; i) Upper Graduate training course ii) Upper Secondary Training course iii) Lower Secondary Training Course (all three of one year duration) and the revised iv) Vernacular Training Course of two years duration. The last three courses were revised in 1933 and a single course of Vernacular training extending over a period of three years was begun. It was reduced to two years duration in 1950 and was renamed
as
Teachers
Certificate
Lower
Course
(T.C.L.).
The
Nomenclature of Under-graduate training course was changed to
37
Both TCL for teachers with Class 8 qualification and TCH for teachers with SSLC qualification with one year duration - courses were existing prior to the reorganization of states in 1956. The duration of TCH course was increased to 2 years and curriculum was revised in 1966. P U C (XII class) qualification was made a pre requisite qualification for the entrance for TCH course in the year 1987 - 1988. Before 1914, there was no provision in the state for the training
Saidapet, Madras for L.T. course. A training course for graduate teachers was started in the Normal School, Mysore in 1914. The Mysore University which was started in 1916 introduced the B.T.
was started by the Government in Mysore. The faculty of education was begun in the University of Mysore in 1952 and in 1956 M.Ed. course was also introduced. By the time of re-organisation of the state (1956) there were seven colleges of education in the state, one each at Mangalore and Mysore. 2.6.2. Growth of Teacher Training Institutions in Karnataka: The Year wise growth of these teacher training institutions is reproduced here: Table 2.3: Year wise growth of Teacher Training Institutions in India Year Nos.
1890 1952 03
1911 1961 04
1912 1962 06
1921 1971 06
1922 1972 17
1931 1981 39
1932 1982 58
1941 1991 77
1942 1992 134
1951 2000 134
The Government lifted the ban on establishment of new training institutions in 2003 - 04. This led to the establishment of a large number of new institutions in the subsequent years. The importance for secondary education and the relatively to the teacher education was achieved with the establishment of a separate
38
Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) on the lines of NCERT at the Centre. The profile of DSERT with some indications on its objectives of teacher education is presented below. 2.7. Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT): The Department of State Educational Research and Training, (DSERT) is the academic wing of the Department of Public Instruction. It aims at providing academic leadership in school education as well as improving the quality of education provided in primary and secondary schools in the state. The DSERT was formed as a small academic unit of the Department of Public Instruction. It was then known as the State Institute of Education (SIE), and it originally started functioning from the northern district town of Dharwar in 1964. This unit was later shifted to Bangalore and the other academic units of the department of public instruction
State Institute of Science (SIS), State
Educational Evaluation Unit (SEEU) and Educational Vocational Guidance Bureau (EVGB), were merged in 1975 to form a single monolithic Department of State Educational Research and Training. The Directorate of Text Books was attached to DSERT in 1983. Later the Teacher Education administrative Unit was detached from the office of the Commissioner of Public Instruction and attached to DSERT. The National Policy of Education 1986 gave special importance to teacher education with special emphasis on giving quality training to primary teachers. In 1993 eight District Institutes of Education and Training (known as DIETs) were set up in the state. Subsequently DIETs were set up in all the 20 revenue districts of the state. In 2006 seven more DIETs started functioning in the state.
39
Similarly to improve the quality of secondary teacher education, 6 Government Colleges of Education in the state were upgraded to the status of Colleges of Teacher Education (CTE) to provide both pre service and in service education in the secondary education sector. In 2006, the CTE at Gulbarga was upgraded as Institute for Advanced Studies in Education (IASE). In the private teacher education sector, Bangalore was upgraded to the status of Institute for Advanced Studies in Education (IASE) with a mandate to provide adequate and qualitative resource support to teacher educators and train teacher educators to take up education rese
College, Chikkamagalore) were also upgraded as Colleges of teacher Education. 2.7.1. Objectives of DSERT The objectives of the department are: 1. To provide academic leadership in school education in the state. 2. To achieve qualitative improvement in school education through teacher training; 3. To promote Action Research in order to facilitate teacher development; 4. To undertake academic reforms in the light of policy changes by the state,; 5. To co ordinate at the state level, schemes of various state, central and international agencies
NCERT, NIEPA, UNICEF,
SSA, RIE, IISC, etc.,
40
6. To undertake various projects in the field of education in collaboration with various agencies working in the field of education including NGOs. 7. To administer teacher education in the state, 8. To act as a nodal agency in providing in - service training of both primary and secondary teachers; 9. materials for use of students and teachers. 2.7.2. Organisational Structure of DSERT: 1. Teacher Education Unit (TEU) 2. State Education Evaluation Unit (SEEU): 3. State Institute of Science (SIS) 4. Education Technology Cell (ETC) 5. SSA Training Cell: 6. Adolescent Education Cell. 7. National Social Service (NSS) 2.7.3. Important Activities of DSERT Important activities of DSERT include: 1. Maintaining and improving quality of education in primary and secondary schools in the state; 2. Management of teacher education in the state (both pre service and in service education) both at the elementary education and secondary education levels; 3. Management of Government Colleges of teacher education, District
Institutes of
Education
and Training
and
other
Government teacher training institutions. 41
4. Preparation and revision of curriculum for various courses coming under school education; 5. Books, resource materials, training manuals for; 6. Diploma in Education Course, 7. Special Courses like Music, Dance, Drama, Drawing & Painting, Sanskrit, Commerce, etc., 8. Promoting Science Education in the state. 9. Procurement and supply of Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) and resource books to schools, Designing and implementing in service teacher training courses in content, pedagogy, innovative methods like theatre in education, use of low cost and no cost teaching learning materials in schools, etc., 10. Procurement and supply of colour TVs, Audio and Video cassettes,
Computers,
CD
ROMs,
laboratory
and
library
materials, maps, charts and models to schools, Conduct of training
programs
through
teleconferencing
and
video
conferencing, Reaching the students and teachers through direct TV broad casts, 2.8. Academic Libraries: Role of Commissions/ Committees: It has been already noted in the beginning that Libraries were part and parcel of Academic institutions in India as elsewhere. The libraries of Nalanda, Taxila and Vikramashila are the good examples in this regard. In the 19th and 20th Century several education commissions were constituted by the Governments then and now which are emphasized the importance of academic libraries and some of these recommendations and focused mention on academic libraries are described briefly below.
42
Several committees and commissions, appointed between 1880 and 1930, had expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the academic libraries in India. The Hunter Education Commission (1882) described the condition of academ
Raleigh Commission(1902) appointed by Lord Curzon, to investigate
used by graduates and hardly at all by students of the present
recommendations were embodied in the Universities Act of 1904. The Act empowered universities to insist on good libraries in colleges for grant of affiliation. 2.8.1. Sadler Commission (1917) Calcutta University Commission, appointed in 1917, under the chairmanship of Dr. Michael Sadler, produced a ten-volume report
libraries and suggested suitable remedial measures. The report under a university has not fulfilled one of the most important of its very purely intellectual functions unless it has made its students feel at home and happy in a library of books, knowing how to use it. From this point of view one of the major weaknesses of the existing system is extraordinarily unimportant part which is played by the library. The libraries were found to be inadequate both for the needs of the students and for those of the teachers. The report further noted that the role of the library is more important because both students and teachers in this country depend on libraries for the books they need than is the case in other countries. The Sadler Commission recommendations signaled a major turning point, as academic
43
institutions began paying attention to research activities which, in turn, created a certain amount of demand for library services. 2.8.2. Simon Commission (1927) An auxiliary committee of the Simon Commission (l927) headed by Sir Philip Hartog, was asked to look into the growth of education, and faulted the affiliation system for the poor quality of
university teaching among a number of colleges had made it difficult to build up university libraries of the type required for advanced work both at the honours and research stage-majority of university libraries
2.8.3. Sergeant Committee Report (1944) During the Second World War (1939-1945), the Sergeant Committee was appointed by the Government of India to prepare a comprehensive and long range plan for educational reconstruction in India. The committee which submitted its report in 1944 contained a perspective plan of 40 years in which an adequate emphasis was laid on vocationalisation of education, universalisation of elementary education, eradication of illiteracy and planned development of higher education. The British government on this report took no action, presumably due to the fact that the country was well on its way to attaining independence. After independence our national leaders did not show any interest in adopting it. As a result, this comprehensive plan was shelved. 2.8.4. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Commission (1948) Immediately after independence the Government of India constituted the University Education Commission (1948-49) under the chairmanship
of
Dr.
S.
Radhakrishnan.
The
important
recommendations of the commission are related to value of education,
44
raising of the duration of school education to 12 years, the duration of first degree education to 3 years, need for appointment of highly merited and competent staff, university autonomy and professional preparation
of
staff.
The
commission
also
recommended
the
establishment of an apex body the national level to co-ordinate the academic activities in the country and to maintain the standard of higher education. Consequently the University Grants Commission (UGC) was established in 1956. Many of the recommendations, though considered worthy and essential, were due to various reasons, not implemented or were only partially implemented. It was also found that unless school education was reformed, it was impossible to raise the standard of university education.
Conference held at New Delhi in 1949 under the chairmanship of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the then Minister of Education in the Government of India asked that the provinces to start circulating libraries. 2.8.6. Mudaliar Commission (1952-53) The secondary education commission under the chairmanship of Sir Arcot Lakshmanaswamy Mudaliar commented that the library would be the hub and the centre of the intellectual life of the recognized school and would play the same part vis-a-vis all other subjects as the laboratory played for science subjects or the workshop for technical subjects. 2.8.7. Dr. Kothari Commission (1964) The education commission under the chairmanship of Prof. Daulat Singh Kothari said, should be set up without taking into account its library needs in
45
terms of staff, books, journals, space, etc. Nothing could be more damaging to a growing department than to neglect its library, or to give it a low priority. On the contrary, the library should be an
on libraries relating to the establishment of a network of libraries
It was soon realized that sectorial dealing with education would not be effective. Hence, it was decided that if education were to be the core instrument for national development, the entire gamut of education had to be tackled as a whole. This necessitated that the country should have a comprehensive policy on education. As a corollary, the education commission (1964-66) was constituted under the chairmanship of Dr. D.S. Kothari. The report of this commission of which Shri. J.P. Naik was a Member-Secretary, stated to be the Magna Carta of Indian Education. The immediate offshoot of the report was the National Policy on Education (1986). It is also the basis and reference point even for the latest National Policy on Education (1986)
1992. 2.8.8. National Policy on Education (1986) The National Policy on Education was implemented in 1986 and was modified in 1992. It envisaged a national system of education,
of those who have been de cultural heritage, and the effects of over 300 years of colonial rule. Disabled, children, girls, minorities, and children living in remote rural areas were identified as needing extra attention.
46
The National Policy on Education, 1986 (Government of India, 1986) visualizes education to be; a process of empowerment which is to be promoted through the development of knowledge, skills and values(Education for Development), and an instrument of social change that provides means for upward economic and social mobility (Education for Equality). 2.9. Summing up: This chapter gives a summary of several commissions and committees appointed by the pre- and post independence periods in
University Commission appointed in 1917 up to the National Policy on Education-1986 have stated about the teacher education as well. They also covered library and laboratory facilities and in particular emphasised on the role of the Libraries in higher education. The chapter also made a brief mention on the Department of Secondary Education Research and Training (DSERT) in Karnataka and also highlights the importance given to teacher education. References: 1. Arora, G. L. & Panda, Pranti. (n. d). Eds. Fifty years of teacher education in India. NCERT, Department of Teacher Education and Extension, New Delhi. 2. Calcutta University Commission. (1919). 1917-1919. Chairman: Michael Sadler. 3. India, Ministry of Education (1962). Report of the University Education Commission- December 1948- April 1949.Chairman: Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. Manager of publications, New Delhi.
47
4. India, Ministry of Education. (1953). Report of the Secondary Education Commission-Mudaliar Commission Report. October 1952-June 1953. Chairman: Dr. A. Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar. New Delhi. 5. India, Ministry of Education. (1966) Report of the Education Commission.1964-66. Chairman: Dr. D. S. Kothari. Manager of Publications, New Delhi. 6. India,
Ministry
of
Human
Resources
Development.(1986).
National Policy on Education-1986 (Modified in 1992). New Delhi. 7. University Grants Commission.(1965). University and College Libraries. Chairman: Dr. S. R. Ranganathan. University Grants Commission, New Delhi.
48