FREE, UNIVERSAL AND COMPULSORY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 921, 5 April 1957, Page 12

FREE, UNIVERSAL AND COMPULSORY

EDUCATION IN NEW INDIA, by Humayun Kabir; Allen and Unwin, English price 21/-. \V HEN India became free in 1947 only about 15 per cent of the population and a smaller percentage of adults was literate. Nevertheless, the Constitution boldly declared that universal compulsory free education should be provided for all up to the age of 11 within ten years. The difficulties ahead, apart altogether from internal disturbances and the impact of world events, were enormous. Expansion of services at the primary level depended on a vast increase in the supply of teachers, and this in turn depended on a reconstruction and

extension of secondary education and a thorough overhaul of the universities. To give a picture of the magnitude of the whole problem, the methods used in tackling it, the programme envisaged, and the progress made is the purpose of this book by Humayun Kabir, who, as Secretary to the Minister of Education and Chairman of the University Grants Committee, did so much to initiate the programme. In the primary schools a plan of basic education has been introduced based on an activity or craft for training the child in a purposive, creative and socially useful activity. Secondary education is being reconstructed in such a way that, while reaching a terminal stage at 17plus and giving students a preparation for life, it will also fit those who passa School Final Examination common to all parts of the country to proceed to a three-year university degree course. The plan for social education in the secondary school includes a scheme for responsible participation in internal government that strongly suggests the influence of Strachan’s work at Rangiora which is widely known overseas though never fully appreciated in this country. One hurdle for the pupil at secondary school is the need to know three lan-guages-the mother tongue or local language, Hindi the official language of the Union, and English. The English language is recognised by the author as having rendered two great services to India-first, it has served to unify the people and develop in them a common national consciousness, and second, it has made it possible for teachers and pupils to move freely within the whole country. The most disquieting aspect of the situation is that the author has seen fit to devote a chapter of 35 pages to Student Indiscipline. The causes are analysed at length and summarised as loss of leadership by. teachers, economic difficulties, defects in the system, and general loss of idealism. The remedial measures proposed centre round improving the quality of staff, the restoration of an academic atmosphere and concurrently the elimination of political intrigue in the universities, improvement of the emoluments and social status of teachers both in the universities and in the schools, and by these and other means to revive a sense of values among

students,

L.J.

W.