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·Spiritual
Values
and
Education
Dr. Hari Ram Jasta
PRABHAT PRAKASHAN, DELHI

·Published by Prabhat Prakashan, Chawrı Bazar Delhi 110006 and printed at Roopabh Printers, Shahdara Delhi 110032 Author / First Edition 1990 / Rs 100 00 ·Preface As civilizations rise and fall, they leave behind an indelible impact on the culture of people It is this truth that flows through our culture Our cultural heritage still inspires us and gives us strength to carve out a better future- Arise awake and await not till the goal is reached Material progress alone cannot make a country great and strong A nation s progress has to be measured in terms of the advancement of its art, literature and culture Culture, as Whitehead said is activity of thought and recep tiveness to beauty and human feeling This cultural aspect is mani fested in many ways through the educational trends, assertions of human right, advancements of science and technology through aspiration for the future Education is a powerful vostrument for social and cultural change We understand that excellence in education is the essence of human cvolution Inowledge explosion, without wisdom has been the cause of human sufferings and this can only be corrected through the spiritual culture Bertrand Russel in his famous book Impact of Scierce on Society asserts "Knowledge is power But that power may be good and bad The result is that unless men increase in wisdom as much as in knowledge increase of knowledge shall be increase of sorrow The objectives of good education basically are freedom of the individual, a fulfilment in his life, equality amongst all people, ex cellence of each individual collectie reliance and perhaps most of all national cohesion or emotional integration Education must cnable the recepient to fight injustice of all kinds intolerencc aod superstition Education should be such that it builds an inner strength of our people It should bring our ancient heritage to the new generation it makes available our aesthetic treasures to the younger section of our society Education permeates every fibre of human life It must be such that it brings the best out of our past, takes the best of the present but keeps in mind the future direction that is best in the interest of the nation in terms of political economic and cultural development Similarly, Theodore Brameld says, 'Education as power meaos first ·PREFACE of all education as an agency for the building of a democratic world community Education as power means that education is the one generative human force potentially great enough to combat all de generative buman forces Education as power means that we the teachers the students and the parents are the only ones who shou'd control education --Control it for our own good ends and by our own good means Our ancient wisdom have time and again emphasised that those who exercise power must combine within themselves the qualities of kingship and spirituality The Indian concept of Rajarish' and the Confucian and Taoist thought 'hingly without and sagely within' convey the essence of this message The education system as it exists today involves the states the centre and the people, which means that whatever we put together or put out from here must be such that all three are involved fully in its implementation If any segement is left out that it will be very difficult to implement in the manner that real education will become instrumental in desired social change My main aim in the present attempt is that human values in the modern world are education s most neglected problem It is really to insist that we no longer have any genuine choice no choice but to bring the nature and meaning of values out of the shadowy back ground and into the spotlight of sustained concern on every level of learning from kindergarten through the university With these thoughts in mind I bave attempted to search for prioni ties within priorities which have unfortunately escaped our serious attention It is my caracst hope that the present attempt will enable teachers educational administrators and policy frawers to gear up the educational system in a manger that it is ready to meet the future aspirations and challenges Ambika Niwas Sanjauh Simla 171006 HR JUSTA

·Contents
Preface
V
1
16
32
47
53
Spiritual Values in Education
Culture and Education
Education and National Consciousness
Effective Teaching Learning to Learn
Humour in the Classroom
The Role of Teachers Organisations
The New Education Policy
Evaluation of School Teacher
Personnel Management in Education
Moderazıng Educational Administration
Code of Conduct for Teachers
59
72
90
96
105
118

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·CHAPTER 1- Spiritual Values in Education Mankind today is passing through an age of passing values with the accent and well set upon materialism Life has become all artificial embellishment But when this mask is discarded by a single jostle of this rough world the darkness and misery seems pervading everywhere Such a state of affairs is aptiy comparable to the treacherous sea shore, which seems very charming to all appearances but which imperils the lives of sailors expectedly The world turmoil is show ing no signs of abating Humanity is experiencing intense strains It is roaming and peering around on the rim of hell A sort of world fatigue is becoming painfully ascendant A tide ot dısıllusionment has come upon the whole world The question what ails the humanity today can be answered with a confident sorrow-Falsehood is rife in the world and truth is being stified hypocrisy is predominant brother trusts not brother virtue is vanishing and vice is increasing in an alarming quantity The big fish is swallowing the little one The traces of springs of tenderness of compassion of fellow feeling in human being on earth are din nishing Every description of impropriety meets the eyes bringing 10 its wake, untold loss and misery caused by fights bickerings killings Man s life has lost its spice and sparkle it is topsy turvy world that greets us all around Amazed by the great accomplishment of science and technocracy, civilised man gives himself airs by claiming this as an era of en lightenment behind non ever enjoyed But is it a reality or merely an illusion Look at mer as individuals and their object seems to be gratification of contemptible vanity, perversion following their low apetities passions and the dictates of selfishness wherever they may leid Look at men in the aggregate and this pride and these passions terminate in wide plans of ambitions in war and civil bloodsheds and the destruction of all that is virtuous and lovely It is the history of a race whose object seems to be to debase their pouers and sink what was intended for immortal glory to the abyss of degradation which sin can cause All the pretensions of man s much vaunted knowledge culture and righteousness do not alter this better ·2 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION reality and thus one can easily look at the great amount of abuse and of perversion of mind One may ask does this immense waste, this unmeasurable loss for tim and eternity trouble mankind? Is the world at work for its redemption and disenthralment? A very small number of human tarians have ever pondered over these questions with interest and impelled by circumstances people 10 general have given to their efforts a pissive support Sometimes even that is not forthcoming and such actions are disposed of as Utopian This small number of humantarians is suilt making some efforts and taking gospel of God and also with it carrying His message for enlightenment, ennoble ment sweetness and eternal peace round the globe But how are these labours esteemed by the mass of society The world ridicules the idea that the earth can be recovered and though furious lions and tigers are constantly tamed and the deadly serpent is charmed, yet there is no faith that the moral character of man is ever to be any better and that it is possible for each human individual, if given the opportunity to develop the divine possibilities which are cryptic m him Who is there who has not imagined a summer fasrer than ever bloomed homes more peaceful than were ever enjoyed, companions more angelic than ever walked on this earth, and bliss more complete than was ever allotted to man? Such great dreams are the joy of mans Iife But man cannot fulfill his ambitions if he do-s not adhere to the principles which are most essential for its attainment if tbe remedy for the survival of humanity is construed simply in terms of more money more nuclear devices and more power it is likely to prove a barren quest No cure can succeed unless it can establish some of the spiritual virtues which secar to be falling out of favour Pure mate nalism cannot create the atmosphere needed to produce the new faith and new spirit which alone can inspire the building of a human society more conducive for man s survival We must learn to act for a new basis and new outlook What is necued today is forging of bonds of international understanding obrough spiritual revival which idea is well reflected in the Sanskrit couplct अस निज परावति गणना सधुवायाम् । उगर चरिताना तु वमुधव कुटुम्बरमा ·3 SPIRITUAL VALUES IN EDUCATION 'Small souls inquire, 'belongs this man To our own race, or class, or clan? But larger hearted men cmbrace As brothers all the human Race This was the idea in mind when Democritus of Abdera said that every soul s fatherland is the whole earth This cosmopolitanism is the weapon with which humanity is apt to defend itself when straitened and bigoted ideology becomes menacing Change of mind proceeds from spiritual knowledge alone The highest aspiration of the individual soul is fulfilled when it realises spiritual oneness with the Universe and Divine All these differentiations which we perceive are fictitious and unreal, they are all extrinsic but discard this mask and there we will see the undercurrent of onc spirit, and when that oneness is properly realised when we have thoroughly understood that we are parts of that one stupendous whole the unsversal spirit, how can we hold back loving and through that universal and divine love we realise the highest ideal of our lives The practice of spiritual ideal in life will bring the most wonderful results If men were only to realise and understand the importance of the truth implied in it agd shape their conduct accordingly, with a tremendous revolution in the religious and political atutude he can overcome the spiritual sickness which is enfeebliog humanity with this unparralelled concept of consmopolitism If we do not change our mind we cannot cbange anything No law no customs no morals neither institutions nor mechanical contrivances can bring about this change It is niind, the individual mind, which conceives, creates and elevates or perverts societies It is the influence of a number of minds like Lord hrishna, Buddha Ramakrishna Swami Vivekananda and Sir Aurobindo thinking and feeling sympathetically, which fashions unconsciously and unintentionally as a rule societies and ages Man will have to engender a feeliog for his spiritual dignity and his essential goodness When this consciousness of common ties common fate and brotherly undying love and faith is created in his mind this will be great stride towards a new world full of hopes and happiness There is a deep affinity of mind and spirit, which is inseparable Reverence for the basic values of spirit is the only antidote to the distamper of buman society We must recognize that there is some ·4 SPIRITUAL VALUIS AND EDUCAT ON thing in man that hunger and thirst after righteousness eternal peace and happiness If sheer confusion dominates the scenes and we are in an age of anxicty and greed it is because our grooming has been through pure materialism and total forebearance of inner values In one of his spirited exhortation Swami Vivekananda oncc ob served There is a class which still clings on to political and social changes as the only panicer for the evils but among the great thinkers there other ideals are growing They have found out that no amount of political or social manipulation of human conditions can cure the evils of life It is a change of soul itself for the better that alone will cure the evils of life No amount of force or government or legislative cruelty will change the conditions of a race but it is spiritual culture and ethical culture alone that can change wrong racial tendencies for the better The revival of this spiritual culture can bring for man primary qualities of reasonableness and a sense of values From these may spring a host of secondaries a taste for truth and beauty tolerarce intellectual honesty fastidiousness manners curiosity a disliking for evil freedom from superstition and prudery a ſearless acceptance of the good things of life a desire for complete self expression and love for all a contempt for utilitarianism and philistinism in two words - sweetness and light for the life of humanity There is no sanctuary on the shores of time which the waves will not wish away there is no patb here which the foot of disappointment will not tread there is no heaven here which sorrow will not invade No society--even 1 regimented godless society--can forever suffer spiritual starvation But there is a home provided for the en lightenment and ennoblement of soul but one can reach it only by living for God ie by one s renunciation and service cultivation and propagation of fundamental spirituality for serving the entire humanity for its essential good in such a way as may be helpful in Inspiration to become a better one for one s own sake and for huma Dit to none other than those who thus live will its doors be thrown open When man will start on a quest for absolute light and beauty freedom joy and immortality and when these longings will send him In quest of God--the source of happiness and light he will find compluc self fulfilment A great saint aptly suid Depend not 100 ·5 SPIRITUAL VALUES IN EDUCATION much upon thine industry, frugality and prudence though they are excellent things for without the blessing of Herven they may be blasted Therefore ask for that blessing humbly A spiritual revival is of particular importance since it implies a reawakening of the mind and inner being of man if the crists facing humanity today is due to materialısm wrongfully converted into an end in itself with the true purpose degraded to the position of a mere tool, then this crisis can only be overcome by a restoration of spiritual values The world is not meant for hate and malice for revenge and des. truction The best we can do is to call upon the intimate, spontane. ous sense of human dignity present and operative to some degree in every one of us The realization of this end requires from man that he must go through a process of inner renewal Change of the spirit is the force which alone can bring about this inward revival It must be clearly upderstood that spiritual revival does not mean the total rejection of scientific technological ads ances and other new contrivances that have come to us in the stream of time We have to lift ourselves out of this narrow grove Such an attitude would be in tellectually absurd physically impossible and above all unspiritual True spirituality rejects no new light no added means or materials of our human self development It means simply to keep our centre our vital way of being our inherent nature and assimilate to it all we receive and involve out of it all we do and create This is the direction in which some faint glints of truth must fall across political and sociological ideals The external devices cannot bring about the psychological under standing and the spiritual unity which are essential for the happiness of humanity If the idea of spiritual revival is to become the future goal of mankind s pursuit for peace and happiness it will be possi ble only when man bid fare to build it on the plane of mind and spirit and with all the appliances of technology whicb are available to him to implement that psychological and spiritual revival Spiri tual revival is the only solution which can be offered to alleviate and even eliminate the leaping flames of world miseries and tensions that are threatening to consume humanity Only then humanity can breathe that celestial vital air of tasting peace and happiness for which man was ushered into existence Education in India today is on the threshold of a mighty trans formation There bave been many more changes during the last forty ·6 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION years than in the past many centuries During this pened higher cducation has witnessed a tremendous expansion and change These are now more than 150 universities or institutions of similar status about 5000 affiliated colleges a total enrolment of adolc 20 million at the unstersily stage and an annual cependiture of about 50% million rupees on higher education Profound changes have taken place and are taking place in all walks of social life They are re shaping the destiny of the country Education is an instrument of accelerating the pace of change but at the same time it is also es posed to the political economic and cultural changes taking place in the society Phenomenon of change brings about several social tensions and creates problem of maladjustment in the related sreas of social life which could not have brought selated consequential changes Change in education generally follows changes in the socio economic and political fields The phenomenon of rapid change is 1 recent deselopment in our country, but we have long established traditions that still determine the nature and process of change in every walk of fe At present we are confronted with some crucial problems of cducation ihas demand quick solution or reform in this connection the statement of our Prime Minister late Mrs Indira Gandhi blazes the trail wody relevance Concepts of education especially higher education are undergoing changes all over the world A few decades ago it was recognized that scholastic education would not equip young people to meet the problem being created by technological changes it is now realised that technological competence is not enough The very problem of survival demands more than acquisition of knowledge and scientific know how Education must train the emotion and cvoke a capacity for harmony It should foster reverence for life and talent for going without exploiting others whether it be people, other characters or the environment There is need for constant debate and exchange of ideas on concepts and value 10 education Plenty of cogitation has gone into planning meaningſu} education that could harness and guide the vast potentialities of our youth But edulation is still far away from our cherished Brave New World Morc and better educational institutions reformed curricula loca ·SPIRITUAL VALUES IN EDUCATION tionalisation, examination reforms in planning documents their number is legion But none of them seems to hold the answer to the big question posed by the fundamental concept of purposeful educa tion The only conclusive fact that has emerged with mounting clarity is the formal education as it exists in our towns and villages today is not meeting the needs of even minority of students studying in our educational institutions The gulf between professed goals and performance of formal education are widening gradually and we are on the crossroad Our educational system has so far not only been underestimating the vast potentialities of our youths but also by underestimating the capacity of the teaching community A greater challenge than the traditional will enable the teachers to discover in themselves dormant capacities that the humdrum practices of the present had encouraged We have suffered long enough through an education carried on by persons who have stopped learning We shall under the new order be able to discover what teachers can do when they are themselves Içarning Informal styles of learning far from dispensing with teachers will find new roles for them Guiding and helping those who would largely educate themselves would give to teachers a higher degree of job satisfaction than they get from the present routine of being in charge of unwilling learners confronting what is perhaps not worth learning Our nation today needs to be shook out of complacencies the rich on the one side, and the poor on the other the educated on the one side, and illiterate on the other The poor and the illiterate need strength hope and self confidence, and the rich and the educated also need the strength of wisdom to respond to the demands of the age Almost all the problems in modern India are the products of the upper classes of the rich and the educated and got of the common people This is because their wealth and education have not helped them to understand and assimilate the true dignity and glory of man as expounded in their own culture After the British went away we became politically free, but that is only external freedom inner freedom is yet to come to our people generally-the freedom of the spirit Unfree people in a free society is as much true and depressing as free people in an unfree society is inspiring Lokmanya Tilak and ·SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION Gandhi lived in an unfree India, Vivekanand and Subash Bose lived in an unfree India but they were truly free There are millions of educated men and women in our free india today but many of them are inwardly unfree they are inwardly slaves full of jealousy greed, and violence because they have not experienced true freedom They have not attained that excellent human development of which Poet Tagore sang in his Gironjalı Into that heaven of freedom, O Father let my country awakel When we don t gne our youngmen any spiritual food but give them only physical and intellectual food we fail to make them truly free we fail to put them on the road of their spiritual gronth of their character development Today we need that kind of programme of the integrated spiritual growth and development of the vast Indian humanity When these young people study their spiritual and cultural values they themselves will get this conviction this inspiration for the revival of our spiritual values We shall not be baffled then by the current dismal atmosphere in our country We have undoubtedly many baf ing national problems we bave accumulated many national maladies since our independence which may make many people despair about our nation s future Our educated people are posing the biggest challenge before our nation only because they have not touched that overflowing energy of their nation s spiritual culture they have not cared to be nourished by their own spiritual heritage they have not been shocked out of their complacencies by the spiritual and moral touch It is this inner milnutrition that is writ large in post independence India s social horizon That is why our young people are misbehaving in extra ordinary ways Smuggling bribery corruption food and drug adulteration goslow tactics in offices and factories, strikes neglect of duties and responsibilities and many other forms of social malpractices--these art indulged in not by our illiterate population but by our educated section who also indulge in divisive political activities accompanied by violence and destruction of national property vast majority of our cural population still cling to the spiritual valucs it is this the educated section of our nation that needs there furt to be educated anew in the virtues and graces of spiritual values, democratic freedom and responsibilities The sooner se inject spiritual and moral bias into our system of ·9 SPIRITUAL VALUES IN EDUCATION education the better for the future of our society This aimless drift in our educational system evident everywhere will then vanish and, in its place, will emerge the march of steady free and resolute hearts, pulsating with the well known lines of Poet Browning, Not that, amassing flowers Youth sighed 'which rose make ours, Which lily lease and then at best recall? Not that, admiring stars It yearned 'Nor Jove Nor Mars Mine be some figured flame which blends, transcends them allt Here we have the essence of what Indian vouth should strive for in a single stanza It is this quint essence of education that conveys the whole dilemma before our educational system It is indeed true that no civilization has ever lived and thrived without a spiritual base for civilization has no meaning without the control of the baser elements of human nature and a considerateness towards the interests and well being of one s fellow beings Civilization is not built with brick and mortar steel and machinery It is built with men and women their spiritual quality and moral character India today is in flux Even tiny hemlets in remote areas have not escaped the wiods of change that have been sweeping the country What is more a sea change has taken place in the national morale and self confidence But bas the soul of India suppressed for centuries found utterance as expected? Or are we joining what Yehudi Menuh described some years ago as the "suicide gallop 'of the West Is India losing its soul in the rat race for material progress? Money and access to power rather than integrity and old famıly reputation have begun to determine one s status in the countryside as well This has inevitably created a confusion of values But traditional norms still continue to be cherished One cannot flout the more basic among them and win social acceptance However, therc is considerable tolerance for deviance Even then one is not socially ostracised or excommunicated these days But the deviants are not admired either Mahatma Gandhi struggled hard and worked patiently to put back into us some character debased by centuries of slavery But within four decades or so we lost much of what we had gained in the pur suit of power and material progress Conscious of the slide back Jawaharlal Nehru spoke repeatedly and fervently duriag his last few ·10 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATIOV years of the importance of insestment in man Alongside Rajendra Prasad as India s first President bemoaned the growing crisis of character and made a bold bid to stem the rot with the assertion latha raja tatha praja To him the character at the top lesel in New Delhi was not crough Even more important as de pointed out was the manner in which politicians and leading public men conducted themsches in the states-from the top down to the officials at the grassroots who too tried to strut about and function as little Mughals Grest thinkers and philosophers the sorld over have more or l ss been faced with a similar predicament throughout history More than rno thousand years ago Plato lamented • What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their clders They disobey there parents They ignore the laws They riot in the streets ingamed with will notions Their morals are decaying What is to become of them drew years ago I read a book that gave a survey of 'Morals in Bricain in the fifty years from 1909 1950 Sex morais were inclus but in a minor way The measurements taken were principallur moral values as obtaining at tlic turn of the century and as prevail ing today where Britain was concerned Needless to say the suncy. "hth was made by a group of eminent research workers in social 87.8 ccunomic affairs indicated a change for the worse in every way altlinugh the findings were as cold dispassionate and unbiased as shou's live from the point of vi-w of a detached sociological study Ito a hose time such a suney was made in India of moral values ty Afroup of comple!cly impartial toscarch workers I believe the tr..ould be stator ·SPIRITUAL VALUES IN EDUCATION The Committce strongly recommended "the deliberate inculcation of moral and spiritual values from the earliest years of our lives' It felt that the teaching of moral and spiritual values shovid include a co operative and sympathetic study of the lives and teaching of great spiritual leaders and at later stages their ethical systems and philosophies The Committee endorsed the University Education Commission's recommendation that work in all educational institutions should start every day with a few minutes of silent meditation in the classroom or in a common hall It finally cautioned that "If we lose these values we shall be a nation without a soul' Subsequently, as many as five central committee emphasised in their reports that provision should be made for the teaching of moral and spiritual values in educational institutions Each of the reports was accepted by the Union Government and recommendations of all the committees were forwarded to the State Governments Union Terri tories and universities for implementation What the states or institu tions did in the matter is largely unknown Since the dawn of history man's beliefs convictions attitudes, faith and his accumulated experience have been accepted as an integral part of any educational scheme that has been adopted by human society It has been his intense desire to transmit all that he has gathered in the shape of culture to the coming generations through the agency of education In fact education without moral and spiri tual values was like an individual without a soul Religion and morality are inseparable Morality is the essence of all true religions Moral values grow from true understanding of the spirit of religion Bertrand Russel admits that religion is the source of the sense of social obligation Religion creates the proper climate among people to cultivate a proper outiook on life which leads to moral virtues It stimulates thought and actions to worthier goals and ends It spurs man to fight the beastly feelings within himself Religious instruction is the basis of the instruction of all true morality Religion and education are natural allies Both seek to emancipate man not merely from contact with his environment but from slavery to it to enlarge his horizon and quicken bis aspirations The continu ing purpose of education is the development of moral and spiritual values amongst the pupils Standards of right and wrong which give a perspective 10 balanced and happy living have their ultimate source in Sharma ·12 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION According to Dr Radhakrishnan, one of the functions of educa tion is to prcpetuate our culturc, to reconstruct its the light of modern needs to produce and maintain a high degree of cksilization and safeguard it against periodic lapses into barbarism Education can perform obs3 fonction only if it is based on Dharma Any education shich aims at cultivating in the individual habits of Tight conduct is termed as moral education it is difficult to determine precisely the propriety or otherwise of human actions done voder varying circumstances at different places and changing times In the ultimate analysis the impact of one's action on human society forms the basis for deciding whether an act is moral or other Wise Any programme of moral education thus must take a full cogni zance of the social norms and mould the youth accordingly If we trace the development of education from carly times sa India it is found that in the ancient Indian society, the study of the Vedas Upanishads and Puranas was considered essentsal for every educated individual It was expected that unless person had acquired a mastery Over these ancient classics and literature including the epics he could not occupy bis rightful place in sociely In the absence of regular schools, which came much later on the scene ashronis of saints and sages were the centres of learning Here the pupils used to foregather with their humble belongings at the feet of chew master and engage themselves in the intensive study of their culture A deep study of history reveals that spirstual and moral principles have always infuenced and at times directed educational aims courses of study and methods of teaching in the East, the Church was the main educational agency for the education and moral emancipation of the people The Church showed them the path of reason and light which helped the people to cultivate the art of living peacefully and cooperatively In our country religious education has always constituted an integral part of the curriculum and the mode of instruction Learning in India through the ages has been praised and pursued not for his onn sake but for the sake of religion It was sought as the means of salvation or self real zauon as the highest end of life 1c mukn or emancipation Through education higher values were sought to be cultivated In the Muslim period schools were under the Muslim theologians and in chete mahlabs, the study of the Holy Quran and religious doctrines ·SPIRITUAL YALUES IN EDUCATION formed the essential part of the curriculum -Their Schoðts were deno minational If religion is a matter of realisation it cannot be reached through a mere knowledge of dogmas It is attained through discipline, train ing and sadhna What is needed is not formal seligious education but spiritual training which one can attain by one s own will and reason The general ignorance and misunderstanding in these spiritual and moral matters are so widespread in the younger generation as to be fraught with great danger for the development of a democracy in which tolerance is rated as a high factor But moral and religious instruction does not mean moral improvement Instruction is not edu cation What is needed is not the imparting of instruction but the trans mitting of vitality Religion is a permeative influence, a quality of life, an elevation of purpose Our institutions should have simplicity and an atmosphere of consecration to impart a religious vitality A short period of silent meditation should be observed every morning before classes start for a few moments the mind has to be made free from the distraction of daily living and should attend to the forces which determine the meaning and value of lſe Moral values can be inculcated in the human mind by suggestion and persuasion The best method is by personal example, daily life and work and book read from day to day in the early stages books should contain the lives of great men which in turn exemplify great thoughts and noble emotions A reverential study should be made of the essentials of all religion, showing how, in essentials they meet in perfect harmony in the religion of man Absolute religious neutrality of the state can be pre served if in the institutions what is good and great in every religion 13 presented and what is more essential the unity of all religions, emphasised It is in the detached atmosphere of an academic snstitutions th48 wc can study analyse and eliminate the prejudices and misunderstandimpe which disfigure inter religious relations It seems that tae most effective way of providing moral and pe tual values is to present to the students diverse situations where they unconsciously imbibe the noble tenets of all religions The la 11 biographies of great saints and spiritual leaders, celebratins into birthdays and participating in the religious festivals, came to this HARE approach -- ·14 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION A The method and content of spiritual instructions should be graded It should be concrete and specific and should vary with the different requirements of children of varying ages and groups The problem of approach for developing programmes/activities on moral, social and spiritual values in education has been dis cussed in many of the documents and solutions suggested Broadly, three types of approaches have been suggested viz , through (1) suggestion/persuasion (2) participation/experience and (3) crample It is possible to adopt all the three methods suggested above Further it is also possible to develop proper value oriented pro grammes Efforts can also be made to utilize opportunities to integrate value development with the various day to day regular features of the school life and to add these some deliberate teaching could also be done These steps would be conducive to creating a proper climate for the growth and development of children it should be clear to all what I mean by moral and spiritual values Anything that helps us to behave properly towards others is of moral value (para 30) Anything that takes us out of ourself and inspires us to sacri, fice for the good of others or for a great cause is of spiritual value (Para 30) (Sri Prakasha Committee 1959) Some of the following practical steps are possible to develop moral and spiritual values among our youngsters 1 vorning assembly prayer silent meditation 2 Lives and essential teachings of great men 3 One period i week be set apart for teaching these values 4 Curricular and co curricular activities celebration of festuals socially useful producine work team spirit through games and sport subject clubs social service 5 Study of great books adapted in simple style 6 Better social environment-home school and society 7 Anowledge about essential values and deals through contextual references (postry slofjes) etc & Sunday satsang Arrangement of special camps during vacation or breaks ·15 SPIRITUAL VALUES IN EDLCATION 10 Book corner on moral, spiritual and cultural values in the school library 11 Dramatization 12 Thought for the day 13 Exhibition At any rate it should now be possible to get the reports of the Sri Prakasha Committee and other general committee on the subject implemented with required modifications before long We must lay emphasis not only on the three R s but also on the big fourth (R) religious or moral education We must also think in terms of bring ing out intelligently in a good volume for students the essentials of various religions The neglect of moral education has created vagueness and indiscipline in the minds of the people We have now a Society where every man by and large is for himself The vicious circle needs to be broken and broken fast We must take care of today for a better tomorrow ·CHAPTER 2 Culture and Education Culture is something which is as much concerned with the Jaymans lfe as with the life of a great philosopher So the word 'culture should be defined in terms of life There should be no abstract subt lety attached to it It is a way of living and thinking How does he Inve? How does he think? That depends upon his culture upon his way of living and thinking Culture is like the elephant recognizable not definable As far back as 1960 a reviewer wrote in The Times Literary supplement that there were 102 definitions of culture extant in the world' It is a fact that at least half as many definitions have been evolved in the years since then Culture of an Individual The cultural attainment of an individual is reflected by his way of living and thinking His thinking affects his living and his living in fluences his thinking We can judge an individual s culture from the way he lives and thinks It has been positively proved by psychologi cal researches that individuals differ from one another in their innate capacity as well as in their acquired ability So it can be said that their way of living and thinking also depends on their joborn and acquired ability In this way the culture of an individual may differ from the culture of another individual according to the difference in their biological and social heredity But one very important point may be noted here Onc individual is bound to be affected by ano ther individual through the psychological principles of suggestion imitation and sympathy It is a way of life dominated by a central idea which is an end itself-which throws up fundamental values reflected in the collected outlook of people The Culine of Gray Though individuals differ from one another yet in spite of these differences there is certain amount of commonness and similarity in a group which is composed of individuals This may be due to two reasons One is that all the individuals of a group belong to the same specie the specie of the homo sapiens The other is that they live in ·CULTURE AND EDUCATION the same environment The smaller the group the fronter to the de gree of commonness among its individuals and the greater the group is, the smaller is the degree of commodness The reason is not far to seek In a larger group the individuals cannot have as close a con tact with one another as they can have in a smaller group There is another reason The human society originated in smaller groups In a smaller group, a particular way of life can be more forceful and more binding than it can be in a larger group But the original smaller groups of the human society did not stay where they started the smaller groups blended into larger and bigger groups When various smaller cultural group mingled to form larger groups, their individual culture did not die out All the smaller cultural groups inter miogled with one another to form a wider cultural group The modern science lias made the orld too small and the process has been speeded up It is due to the increased speed of this process that now the progressive people in all the lands are talking of a world culture They say that as small streams and rivulets of all the lands merge ultimately into one common ocean so the small streams of hundreds of narrow group cultures with which the humın society started its onward march thousands of years back will merge into one common world culture We can infer that culture pertains to well defined people It is characteristic way of life flowed in time as living stream, as an unbroken organic phenomenon shaping the social institutions and giving purpose and direction to their intellectual and aesthetic outlook through art religion literature, social institutions and behaviour, individual and mass action inspired by collective urges The Indian Culture It is against this background that we can see the Indian culture in its proper perspective Historians, scholars and philosophers have Hondered at the long and unbroken continuity of the Indian culture Greece and Rome saw a sudden break from their past after the ad- Vent of Christianity Very few persons and very few [syptians rcmember that they had glonous civilization before the rise of Islam Christianity reached India too Islam also appeared on the Indian scene But why has the Indian culture not broken away from its past? It is a continuous and unbroken thread the one end of which loses itself within the haze of houry past and the other end is in the bands of the modern generation ·18 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION Was Christianity defeated by the Indian philosophy? Was Islam uprooted by the Indian thought? The answer to both these questions is in the negative Then what was it which made the Indian culture march forward without defeating others and without being defeated by others? What was it by which the armed conquerors of India were ultimately absorbed into the Indian pattern of life? The reason is that in the days of her cultural glory India has followed the natural way of cul tural evolution India is a big country Various cultural groups came into existence in various parts of the country if in the end India has attained a unified culture it was due to a long process of synthesis Various group cultures acted and reacted on one another and with their mutual cooperation they produced a unified culture It was the amazing power of absorption adaptation and synthesis which has kept the Indian culture alive er en under a political bondage It was a way of life and a way of thought which did not draw its vitality from the rulers of the soil it could exist with them and with out them Synthesis was its dominating feature Synthesis between the old and the new synthesis among the various local groups synthesis between ourselves and foreigners has been the dominating factor of the Indian culture throughout the ages Live and let live has been another key note of this culture It meant toleration for everybody Without the principles of toleration and live and let live synthesis could not have taken place When ever India followed this natural path it added to her strength and glory and whenever she has left her path of synthesis she has fallen to the greatest depths Let us see how? The Advent of the Aryans The present Indian culture can rightly be said to have germinated with the advent of the Aryans There were civilizations in India even before the Aryans touched the Indian soil But these original cultures alone cannot be said to have laid the foundation of the present cul ture in India It was the fusion of the newcomers and the old inhabitants which gave a particular twist to the affairs of this country The present is the result of that twist The struggle between the Aryans and the Dravidians continued for a long time But side by side with it was going on the process of inter mingling the process or synthesis Some of the Dravadian gods ·CULTURE AND EDUCATION 19 were admitted into the Aryan fold God Siva, it is believed by some scholars is one of them It is also believed by some that the cult of Yoga was also a Dravadian cootribution Inter marriages also ucnt on Indian culture is the product of Arya Dravidian ethnic, social, religion and cultural synthesis integration of languages values, norms and traditions In olden days it provided a wonderful framework to organise the Indian humanity composed of the Aryans and the Dravadians into one polity Due to varying cultures of the various strata of society in those days a casteless framework for all could not be suitable The caste system served as a wide and broad framework to admit all types into one polity It was a grand synthesis Gradually, the caste system became a tool in the hands of the priestly classes to exploit the lower cistes but it continued to serve its original purpose wonderfully The train of society provided separate compartments so that everybody should get into it according to his ability without being left behind If anybody, by incrcasing his ability, wanted to get into a higher compartment there is no restriction to it influence of Buddhism However strong however useful a particular system may be it cannot continue to serve for ever The caste system might be useful when it originated But when flexibility was dropped from it it be came rigid The rigidity develops cracks The caste system also cracked under the blows of Jainism and Buddhism The movements which were led by Lord Mabavira and Lord Buddha could not have begun at once No movement can start all of a sudden The Buddhism and the Jainism must have been a final culmination of a deep seated and long standing discontent They cangot be divorced from the Indian conditions as they existed at that time As long as the caste system remained flexible it served the society with an amazing efficiency in cementing the various cultural groups into one wider whole But when it became rigid it swayed away from the Indian spint of synthesis Priestly classes constituted themselves into sested interests and they fortified their interests witbın the four walls of rituals monies and various superstitions They enslaved the minds of the cere ·20 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION people They killed initiative and original thinking Men of lower castes were not admitted into the higher order even if they possessed exceptional abilities The higher castes in order to perpetuate their vested interests shielded themselves behind social barriers which were propagated as the ones given by God This rigidity was unnatural to the spirit of the Indian culture Lord Buddha load the revolt against the orthodoxy of the Brahmins But it was a unique revolt No heads were broken No swords were drawn and no firearms were used The vested interests which were pitched for a battle against Lord Buddha were equally calm They did not ask any one of their followers to cut Lord Buddha s head Nevertheless it was a battle agaiast evil forces But it was fought at a higher level Buddhism spread in India as well as in the foreigo lands of Asia The Buddha utilized the Hindu inheritance to correct sam, of its expressions He came to fulfils not to destroy The war between the old and the new continued and finally Buddhism was overcome But before its decline it had done its work It was a light which came out of the lodian culture and it enlightened the whole of Asia and then it merged back into the vast ocean of the Indian culture the plan from where it had sprung up and by merging back it added more lustre to its originator It was a synthe sis again a grand synthesis Lord Buddha was accepted by the Brahmins as one of the ten 10- carnations like Rama and Krishna He re introduced the wonderful flexibility of the old into the Indian culture the framework of which would have cracked if it had not been rejuvenated by Lord Buddha There was another achievement of Buddhism The message of India to other Asiatic countries was delivered through the agency of Buddhism and thus India was raised in the estimation of her Deighbours The old orthodoxy could not have done that it was due to the flexibility provided by Buddhism to the old culture that it could absorb the vanous raiders which poured into India Contact with I ersja Modern historical researches show that before reaching India the Ind) Aryans and the Persians were living together In fact they be lo iged to the same race Sume pbilosophical differences divided the race into two parts A great battle was fought ·31 CULTURE AND LDUCATION In the old Indian books thuis battle is referred to as the Devasur Sangram which means a battle between the gods and the devils As a result of this great battle, the defeated section of the race left Persia and forced its way into India This defeated section is known as the Indo Aryans in the history of India So the Persians and the Indians are cousins The two branches continued their connections even after their separation and thus they continued to influence each other The Persian Emperor, Cyrus (558 530 c) advanced upto Rawalpindi and another Persian Emperor, Darius (552 486 BC) advanced still further into India This contact, subsequently, exerted a considerable influ ence over the Mauryan court which was yet to come into existence The Mauryan Empire was not born yet But the Indian society ac cepted some of the Persian influences Some scholars believe that the sight of a great empire touched the Indian ambition and made the Indians keen to work for the same in India The Indian society of the day, very liberally accepted many influences and in turn affect ed the Mauryan court Ashoka s pillars and Chandergupta Maurya s court ceremonies bear traces of the Persian influences The Greek Influence The sight of the great Persian Empire might have stirred the Indian ambition to establish their own empire the invasion of Alexander the Great (326 BC) strengthened this ambition The small state sys tem which existed in the Punjab at that time was totally discredited Our first contact with the Greeks was short lived and the synthetical Indian mind could not have acquired much from this first direct asso ciation with the Europeans But the first contact was not the last con tact After Alexander Seleukos cime to grips with Chandergupta Maurya but he was not as lucky as Alexander and he had to face a unified Indian Empire One of the Greek princess (not necessarily Seleukos daughter) was married to Chandragupta Maury? The Greek Princess and Seleukos s ambassador to the Mauryan Court Magasthanese must have exercised great influence on the receptive Indian mind but sufficient research has not yet been done on this point For the next one hundred years India was safe from Greek in vasions But this security did not last for long From 190 to 155 BC the Greek kings like Demetrios, Eukratides and Menader penetrated for into the Punjab and other adjoining territories There were bound ·22 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION to be certain affects from this contact Some images of Buddha car ved at that time bave got clear traces of the Greek influence in their execution and dress Our coinage was reformed and we added much under their influence to our knowledge of astronomy But what was the greater gain? The Grocks were completely absorbed by the historical forces of our culture They became part and parcel of our life They became our flesh and blood We may not be aware of it but the fact is that the Greek blood is flowing in the veins of many Indians hing Menander adopted Buddbism and another Greek king Helldorous was converted to Vaishanavışm The conquerors were conquered They became one with us The old and the new combined again It was a grand synthesis The Greeks could not have been conquered by force They were conquered by ve and by peaceful means Their own culture was not destroyed It was made a part and parcel of the old culture And the mighty stream of the ancient culture flowed on with more vigour and more strength Sahas and the Aushans Influence The Grecks were not the only foreigners to be absorbed in the old polity The other foreign conquerors were conquered in the same way Who does not know about the great kings like Kanishka and others hing hanishl? was Indianised by the doctrines of Buddhism The great Buddhist scholars like Vasumitra and Ashvaghosha were his contemporaries hanishi a summoned the fourth Buddhist council in which Vasumitra and Ashwaghosha took prominent part The disputed points were settled It must be noted that at that time the new form of Buddhism the Mahayana form was rising Lord Buddha was raised to the position of a god This was the affect of the old Hinduism on Buddhism of Buddhism had given flexi bility to the growing orthodoxy of Hinduism it itself could not escape from some of the influences of the old culture To satisfy the popular taste elaboratc ceremonies and rituals were introduced into the Mahayana Synthesis can be achieved only through the policy of give and tale If Buddhism had gis en certain things to the old culture it also accepted something in return The liberal conditions provided by Buddhism were very favourable for the absorption of the fortignets The last greit austan Emperor Vasudeva I was converted to ·CULTURE AND EDUCATION 23 Saivism Thus the Sakas and the Kushan's were completely absorbed and they, with others became ancestors of the Rajputs who appeared on the Indian scene for the first time in the seventh century AD The era of these foreign kings who were ultimately Indianised starts from 27 BC and continues up to 300 AD During this period the frame of the caste system remained intact but it was very flexible Even the Rrahmins by caste married Saka princesses The change of religion in those days did not mean the loss of the caste A Brahmin could embrace Buddism without losing his caste The followers of Buddhas could also perform their domestic rites by the Vedic rituals Religious toleration was the rule of the day Toleration is the highest stage of cultural attaiament The bloodshed which we saw in Europe during the period of Reformation and counter reformation was siogularly absent The Hunas Influence We are not concerned here with thc Huna invasion Here it is suffi cient to say that after Skandgupta the last great king of the Gupta line, the Hunas dealt terrible blows on the Gupta Empire and the once mighty and glorious empire lay prostrate and the invaders advanced as far as the Central Provinces The last Huna king was defeated by Yasodharman but all the Huna population was not turned out of the land The wonderful digestive system of the Indian culture was set in motion again The Hunas disappeared as a ruling race but they became a part of our social system and they made a deep impression upon the sociological and political system of India Their small bands organised themselves into small clans and fortified themselves in the hilly areas In the course of time they inter married with the old ruling families of India Thus the old Kshtarıyas who carried in their veins the blood of Rama and Krishna, the Sakas and the Kushags and the Hunas got mixed up through the process of marriage and were responsible to produce a new caste among the Hindus This was the Rajput caste The Rajputs dominated the Indian scene during the epoch which intervened between King Harsha and the Muslims Again it was a grand synthesis of the various ruling clans of the old Kshtariyas, the Sakas the Kushans and the Hupas and this synthesis provided India with a valiant people whose heroic deeds are still the pride of lodia ·24 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION The Rajputs During the age of the Rajputs India was free from foreign inva sions for about three centuries The Rajputs had a heterogeneous origin It could be expected that such people would be very liberal in their outlook on life The religion of Lord Buddha was no longer there to exercise a moderate healthy and liberal influence The Rajput period was the most orthodox period in the cultural history of India No interni progressive movement took birth during this period in northern India where the Rajput sway was very strong to fire the imagination of the people and no foreigners entered into India to disturb the complacence of the vested interests on the other hand there were other movements to take the society towards orthodoxy The Rajput rulers with the help of Brahmin priests created innume rable stories and legends to connect their lines with the royal houses of the Epic times This was a process to disconnect them from their real origin A false pride about the purity of their blood and caste was created among the Rajputs They were made to believe in the superiority of their race Such ideas as the purity of blood the superiority of tbe race when accompanied by wealth and position are the strongest citadels of vested interests and orthodoxy The liberal trend of the Indian culture was broken During this period Shankaracharya was born and he used his sharp intellect and spiritual powers to revive the declining Hindu Dharma He was one of the few saints who laid the basis of Indian unity for centuries to come His influence on Hindu culture was decp vast and immense The Crescent Rises in India Then came a time when the Muslims knocked at the gates of India They dominated Indian polity for about eight hundred years The Hindu culture of the day had lost its traditional flexibility It could not face the Muslims in the same way as it had faced the Greeks the Perstans the Sakus the Kushans and the Hunas There Was a long conflict between the Hindu and the Muslims It seems that the lower castes of the Hindus did not take any part in this long struggle agaiost the Muslims They were disgusted with the Hindu social system which had been imposed on them by the cunningness of the priestly classes The capital of the Muslim kings bave been either in Delht or in Agra Cven today we find that the Muslims are not more than fifteen ·CULTURE AND EDUCATION 25 percent in those areas We find a Muslim majority in areas like Malabar and East Bengal where the Muslim sway was very loose No doubt battles were between the Hindus and the Muslims forces But these battles were primarily for political domination In those days there was no sharp distinction between politics and reli gion and hence in some cases, the defeated political enemies were asked by the Muslim conquerors to embrace Islam as a proof of their complete political surrender Spread of Islamic Influence Then, what were the reasons of the spread of Islam? The caste system became very rigid and rigid things by their very nature, cannot last for long Orthodoxy and inequality, cannot give anything to society nor it can take anything from it Social vested interests of the priestly classes and of the land lords were firmly entrenched Such a system could not have lasted for long The exploited masses were bound to revolt aguinst it The exploited Indian masses needed a champion and they found this champion in the rising tide of Islam To survive, the Indian culture needed a very strong reformation which could give a shocktreatment to the orthodoxy This was possible in two ways, either from within or from without Conditions were not favourable for an Internal movement to take birth and to grow The freedom of thought was completely destroyed by the priestly classes A subtle propaganda under the garb of religious books rituals and ceremonies enslaved the minds of the masses In the matter of thought and action the Hindu society had lost self regulating initiative and originality It was a rotten life style it was a decaying social life it was a debasing degenerating life for the masses There was no progressive movement to lift it from the mass of depression into which it had sunk Progress comes through initiative and originality and these very wo things had been killed by the vested interests and feudal leader ship because progress meant a danger to their own position Islam came to India as a democratic reformation movement It delivered a desired shock treatment to the Hindu orthodoxy of the day Directly and indirectly it provided some sort of flexibility to the growing rigid frame work and thus saved Hinduism from a complete destruction which would have resulted through a slow process of decay and degeneration If Islam had not come on the scene then the ·26 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION orthodox Hinduism for want of a liberal and wide spread reformation, would have decayed and degenerated The Bhahi Movement After the initial struggle, Islam lost its militant and aggressive spirit and the orthodox Hindu society tried to respond to the situation The age which came into being as a result of this interaction of the two cultures has been described by some historians as the modern age of India Luther Calvin and Wycliffe and others carried the torch of liberalism and reformation in Europe and sages like Tukaram Ramadas, Kabır Nanak Swami Dayananda Raja Rammohan Roy and Swami Vivekanand did the same in India These reformers did a great work to modernize the outlook of the Hindu society The priestly classes of the Hindus had degraded the lower classes to the sub human level These down trodden people got hope and relief from two directions Some of them were converted to Islam Those who were not converted were affected indirectly The Hindu reformers fought for their cause They also fought against various social evils and superstitions Thus Islam and Hindu reformers tended to level all social inequalıties and condemned caste restrictions The Muslims who came to India after the invaders did not think of going back They made India. their permanent home Wordly wisdom showed them that it was not possible for them to live in the land of the Hindus in a State of perpetual hostility So the followers of the Bhaktı movement on the one hand and the Sufis on the other tried to bring about another cultural synthesis It was quite in keeping with the spirit of the old Indian history But unfortunately, it could not become a grand synthesis It was not a complete synthesis Akbar The Great This process of the cultural synthesis was not confined to the efforts of the reformers of the day A great king appeared on the throne of Delbi Not only he provided a political unity to the great sub contipent but he tried to bring about the unity of the hearts also in this respect Akbar can be compared to King Ashoka the Great Both of them are termed as National Monarch Akbar thought rightly that the best way to bring about the unity of the hearts was the way of inter communal inter religious and inter caste marriages ·CULTURE AND EDUCATION 27 That was the way which was followed by the Indian society in absorb 10g the Greeks, the Sakas the Kushans and the Hunas Akbar wanted to follow the natural way of the Indian History If Akbar could have succeeded in his dream, if he could have achieved his ideals Pakistan would not have come into existence Cultural synthesis did take place in some spheres of life but it was not com plete Nothing was done in the matrimonial sphere Marriage is the strongst link which can unite the communities for ever Akbar, the Great realized it and he tried for it but he failed for no fault of his own Synthesis in certain spheres of life continued but we cannot call it a grand synthesis After the death of Aurangzeb, the Hindus and the Muslims were in a perpetual state of conflict The whole work done by Akbar, the Great and other reformers like Kabır and Guru Nanak was almost undonc Indian culture again left its traditional spirit of synthesis And by leaving this grand spirit, Indri entered into one of the darkest periods of her long history This was the state of affairs when the European nations sought to tighten their grip around India European Influence European never tried to make India their permanent abode Obviously, they could not be as sincere to India as the Muslim kings who made India their permanent home There was no question of uniting the Hindus and the Muslims under the British rule In fact it was the policy of the rulers to play one community against the other makıng them hostile to each other But here we must distinguish between the British Government and the European civilization Both should not be identified with each other The British government had no intention to benefit the Indians with the wholesome effects of the European civilization But some incidental advantages were bound to come and they did come We are yet too near to the British period Our views about that period are still coloured by passions and prejudices But one thiog is certain and it is the most important thing For the first time in our long history we came into contact with a materialis tic civilization which did not think much about spiritual attainments Though the Europeans profess Christianity, yet their practical outlook and the life trend was dominated by materialism Materialism does not mean only Eat Drink and Be Merry as is commonly supposed- It is a logical system of thought which explains the creation of the ·28 SPIRITUAL SALUIS AND EDUCATIOY world in terms of matter without bringing in the super natural It is also belici ed by some scholars that this type of thought also originated in India It was hokcier, up rooted by the Brahmins and cycn the literaturc of the Materialists was completely destroyed But the materialistic philosophy which cime from the sost was supported and strengthened by the scientific discoveries It #15 not possible to defeat this type of Materialism by abstract arguments and disputa tions The psychological experiments and discoveries proved that there was no difference between the inborn intelligence possessed by a group of Brahmins and the innate intelligence possessed by a group of outcastes The science of Genetics has crploded the theory that the blood of one particular community is superior to the blood of another community The improved system of transport and communication sudened the outlook of the people The modern life is so organised that no body is kept out of the public places like the schools and the cinemas This has led to the relaxation of caste barriers The position of the women is gradually improving But inspite of all that feudal outlook has not died out completely It is certain that the thought and the philosophy on which the fort of orthodoxy was built by our priestly classes cannot stand the onslaughts of knowledge explosion and scientific discoveries Sooner or later it is going to be demolished The future of the Indian Culture As intelligent human beings sc must guide the course of our cul tural evolution What contribution can our past make to our future? To answer this question we have to throw a glance over the course of the Indian cultural lustory When was India great? The answer is simple when orthodory was subdued when various cultures freely mixed on the Indian soil India reached the greatest heights And when has India touched the lowest depths? When the orthodoxy and fanaticism has raised its ugly head Fundamentalism has always poisoned the body politic of India It had courige enough to put three bullets into the chest of Mahatma Gandhi and Mrs Gandhi If we want India to rise to her former glory we must follow the path of adjustment and synthesis The path of synthesis is the only hope of India It was through this path that India has progressed and it will be through this path that India will rise again Culture has been the greatest integrating force of man ·29 CULTURE AND EDUCATION From the frequency, arrogance and the vehemence with which our people talk of our culture a foreigner might well deduct that it is the consciousness of a dwindling if not absent, culture that makes them talk so much about it. After all the rich romanticise poverty with which they have had nothing to do, and the poor dream of riches they can never acquire Similarly, the absence of overwhelming cvi dence of a culture leads to what a humorist called the culture of the mouth Why is it that the leaders and people of no country other than ours talk of their cultural accumplishments? Could it be that culture is the monopoly of India? The honest answer is not a happy one Yet it should not be overlooked, however deflating to the national ego it may be And the answer is that each one of us is conscious of the fact that while the body of culture handed down to us by our ancestors was indeed magnificent, even unique in some res pects we are not worthy heirs to it It has been remarked that democracy and culture are mutually exclusive Though this thinking smalks of fascism surprisingly enough it is yet to be challenged Votaries of this school of thought point to the fact that all the ancient monuments-be they temples gurudwaras, mosques or the outcome of plain whım or love as the Taj Mahal and Konarh, for instance--speak of the cultural refinement of the patri cians of yore and not of the plebejans Similarly most of our ancient classics were written or compiled by aristocrate of letters and not by the common people But our democratic instinct militates against this logic Democratic thinking has so conditioned our minds that we believe that a mason working on a dam is entitled to as much credit for its completion as the engineers who designed and executed it The drawback inherent in this logic is that it sometimes blinds us to the reality of cultural difference between one man and another What then, is the yard stick of culture? Education? Wealth' Again, the honest answer is neither What passes for education today is mere literacy Otherwise our students and employees would be more cultured in the expression of their protest When the Japanese employees feel cheated by their employers they sport black badges but work for longer hours than they casually do Our employees on the other hand take it out straightaway on their employers To talk of violence and culture in the same breath is to do violence to culture Or take the behaviour of the people at our cinema and cultural fairs halls There is always a stampede whether to enter or to como ·30 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION out A single file is something totally unknown Men gaze pust women tread on the tiny feet of small children, but donot pause even to say Sorry' Where is culture here? Or take the case of the queue Each one of us would willingly jump it if we could do so with impunity Culture demands that we take our individual turn at the ticket counter But do we? We beg a man or a woman who is already in the queue to get us a ticket We never cause to wonder why every one standing in the queue could not have done the same Culture, though indefinable, consists essentially in self discipline sweetness light and consideration for others None of these are 10 great evi dence in the urban culture Or take bus travel How many would get up and offer their seat to an old man or a woman with a baby precariously perched on her arms or wait for either to alight before getting into the bus them selves? Against all this the villager, though illiterate is cultured through sheer instinct The first thing he does when even a total stranger goes to bis house is to offer a glass of water and enquire if the caller would desigo to partake of his humble meal These graces of culture are very nearly becoming extinct in the urban culture whose people talk the most about cultural greatness A culture flourishes only when its educational system imparts a sense of mission to the youth and train them to lead a consécreated life The real test of living culture is (a) Do the best among its adherents continue to prize its funda meotal values as absolute values? (b) Do they in every generation find self fulfilment by living upto the central idea The absolute experience- I am more of my self than I was In the draft National Policy on Education 1979 it is stated about culture that or a positive effort has to be made to ensure the integra tion of traditional and contemporary cultural elements with formal and non formal education The education system has so far not made full use of the rich and varied cultural heritage of the country and the vast cultural resources available in communities which are socially and economically backward All these resources should be drawn upto and woven into the fabric of education at all stages (101) We must develop action programmes for the permeation of cultu ·7 CULTURE AND EDUCATION 31 tural content at all levels of educational system For this purpose we.. Deed reorientation of the curricular by providing a more meaningful cultural content We have to modify the present programmes of for mal education so that it may revolve round participative activity rather than imparted knowledge by rote leaving through working and culture and aesthetics through life will be a better alternative Laying stress on effective linkage between educational planning and planning for cultural development through all levels of educa tion system is the need of the hour We should not only teach contents of history but try to develop expertise in archeology, archives, museology, libraries etc ·CHAPTER 3 Education and National Consciousness India is inhabited by varied religions, castes, and language groups It has had a chequered and long history There have been periods in ats history when the whole country was divided into so many principalities and regions when it was ransacked and devastated by marauding bordes alien in race or when some of its inhabitants indulged in reactionary exploitation or persecution of weaker brethren Whatever may have been the circumstances before independence, today these differences are beginning to cause alarm Some of the recent happenings whose origins could be traced to these variations, are posing threat to our national unity Let us not forget that all Indians still have consciousness of having sprung from common roots of being moved by common forms of thought and of adopting common ways of life which were not affec ted by minor local superficial differences The saints and sages of our country in the several periods of history spoke in one language the language of the spirit which was however, diversely spelt in vary 10g alphabets An abiding unity bound us all together The pilgrims who traversed through the entire country felt a common bond with one another whatever the region they came from The sands of Dhanushkodi were carried to Kashi and the waters of the Ganga were brought to bathe the idol at Rameshwaram This spint of national unity became intensely pronounced effectively active during the struggle for independence The people stood as one man and opposed foreign rule in the fight for Swaraj Today fissiparous tendencies are raising theirs head ugly here and there A small section amongst minorities tribals some regional and religions groups are raising the bogey that they are not being given full share in the main stream of national life They feel that the benefits of economic development of employment opportunities and the sharing of political power bas by passed them If there is some truth behind such slogan or their propaganda succeeds there may be more tension in various parts of the country The hydra headed monster of violence in educational institutions and public life that greets us everywhere Be it bijacking of a acro- ·33 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS plane, killing of innocent people, burning of government or private property or throwing grenades at social and religious gatherings Any small grievance real or supposed, by any section or group of people is a sufficient ground to resort to riots Even gaiety is expressed through vandalism There is a mental homogeneity, irrationality, diminished sense of responsibility sense of power and sense of anonymity in a communal or parocbial group This aggressive type of communalism and regionalism in a secular and democratic country attacks people, destroy public property, resort to lawlessness, including murder, arson and loot In fact religious frenzy is indeed a blind force Like steam and other physical forces, it can be utilized for creating a tremendous amount of power for oppression and suppression When a group of fanatics train themselves for a particular narrow end, it becomes a common interest with them to keep up that purpose and preach absolute loyalty to it and when it gets bold of their minds, it is sure to lead them to moral degeneracy and intellectual blindness It has been said that a desire becomes most acutely critical when the brain 13 affected For it is the brain that is constantly directing the siege against all diseased forces The spirit of selfishness is the brain discase of a group which exhibits itself in red eyes and clenched fists in violence of talks and action all the while shattering its natural restorative powers It spreads its inflammatory contagion all over proclaiming its fever flush to the best sign of health it is causing in the hearts of people a feeling of envy at not having their temperature as high as that of their delirious colleagues and not being able to causc as much mis chief but merely having to suffer from it Such mental slums Dr Radhakrishnan put it are thus more dangerous than material ones for the smooth running of democratic life The fire of violence is fast spreading This fire is burning in a noble land of Buddha Mahavira Guru Nanak and Mabatma Gandhi How will the followers of nobility grow in its midst? How will we be able to improve human standards which lie today at a level far lower than that of the beasts? Frequent incidents of violence go to show that there is a widespread assault on the Rule of Law-a challenge to the peaceful orderly progress envisaged in the Constitution posing a serious threat to the unity and integrity of the country, at the hands of those as ·SPIRITUAL VALUIS AND EDUCATION who are working for the violent Oscothrow of the democratic way of life the myopic protagonists of linguistic, regional chauvanısm acd communal hatred Parliamentary democracy is frequently being sup crseded by street parlaments and religious hook hamnamas, which impose their decisions through mass coercion and violence It is gratifying to note that a responsible section of intelligentsia feel that the growing trend towards violence as a weapon of public protest is a threat to our democracy and steps should be initiated to meet this challenge Some of the apparent causes may be (a) Violence is 17spired by certain frustrated politicians and politi cal parties Anti social elements readily take advantage of out breaks of violence for their own ends and ultimately the people suffer (b) Plethora of regional communal and factional Senas/ Dals all of which under some spacious plcas are allowed to carry on their divisive and violent activities are striking at the roots of national unity and democracy (c) Some State governments cannot absolve themselves of the res ponsibility of the spat of violent agitations on inter state dis putes river water sharing, regional imbalances language and communal issues etc (d) A feeling is increasingly growing or encouraged to grow in the minds of the people that their problems cannot be solved through purely democratic and constitutional means Some of the groups are convinced that the Government responds to agi tation and violence (e) This danger is all the more insidious because in the public mind any form of direct action or agitation is identified with Gandhian Satyagraha It is forgotten that hunger strikes mass demonstrations gheraos bandhs are only large scale attempts to disrupt normal life create chaos and blackmailing copstitu tionally established authority Lately there has been tendency among the opportunists and power hungry politicians to make every national issue a cause of street demonstrations leading to violence destruction and hooliganism (f) There are instances where some state authorities appeared to have come to a tacit alliance with the leaders of the violent demonstrations by instructing the forces of law and order not to interfere with demonstrations while they molest peaceful citizens going about their lawful avocations ·EDUCATION AND NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 35 (g) Some groups of student owing allegience to a few political parties have acquired the status of privileged class to whom the policeman must always apologize for maintaining law and order They try to dictate terms to the authorities by violent demonstration and direct action (h) Overpowering sectional and local urges the most rampant being communalism linguism and regional chauvanısm are crippling democratic forces Every State wants to be autarchic and industrially self sufficient-regardless of its natural resources facilities and regional economic imbalances Every party and regional politician want to play upon the narrow religious and regional sentiments of the masses Some of them going so far as to press for progressive surrender of the plenary powers of the centre The law and order situation throughout the country 19 likely to worsen with election hovering over the horizon as the self seekers play on the sentiments of innocent masses resulting in mob violence and consequent police firing (1) Another reason seems to be a crisis in our national character The moral and spiritual base of public life has been shattered discipline is conspicuous by its absence intellectual honesty has become a thing of the past and our standard of public behaviours (whatever of it is left) tends to drop steeply (1) If we look around the world where parliamentary democracy has been undermined or sabotaged, we find that the people, disgusted with corrupt self seekers and inefficient bureaucracy have preferred violent overthrow of the lethargic system If the forces of violence are not checked and conditions improved well in time they may swell and blot the very delicatc fabric of secularism and democratic life so laboriously and painstak ingly evolved and nursed by the patriotic and dedicated leaders of the people Ever since we achieved freedom democracy in our country has been continually subjected to terrific strains not only from external aggression but also from internal subversion and sabotage from communal and regional chauvanism destroying the national outlook, from the manoeuvres of different groups to wrest power and from rapid deterioration in national character leading to terrorism violence and anarchism Law and order situation and peaceful atmosphere in the country cannot be improved upon by brick and mortar, by chisel and ham- ·36 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION mer conditions fisc to be created in the country so that respect for it frou silently in the minds and hearts of people They are not in terested in idcologics but on tlic rule of law and efficient administra tion No cfforts are to be spared to face the new menace to our de mocricy and unity which maintains Madras for Madrasis Bengal for Bengalis Punjab for Punjabis One wonders as a leading states man quipped what place is left for the Indian who are gradually be ing reduced to minority Let it not be forgotten that what is at stake is the scry survisal of India as a nation It is dangerous to make distinction between 10- lence on one issuc from another Violence in all its manifestations should be ruthlessly dealt with as such The growing tendency to be compiacent or ctplain away violence indulged in on certain issues and by certain bodies should cease Those in power and those who want to urcst it should look upon any breach of peace first and foremost as a law and order problem irrespective of the purpose for which it is perpetrated or the persons who are behind : however powerful or politically useful they may be as the death or survival of democracy depends on whether the people would continue to tolerate the hooligans and the hoodlums throttling it to death or raise a powerful voice against forces of violence The greatest danger to national integration comes from extra constitutional cocrcion-through hunger strikes through ill conceiv cd mass demonstrations and through large scale violence and attempts to disrupt law and order machinery for the sake of sec tarian parochial and communal propaganda Parliament is then left with the power to submit Organized violence is stalking the land for the last few years under one pretext or another In this connection the former Prime Minister of India Mrs Indira Gandhi made a perti nent reference in her inaugural speech at the National Integration Council We are at the stage when the tensions and inequalities dominate our minds it is also unfortunate that impartiality of the very force who should ensure social harmony and justice and give protection is questioned So far our major emphasis in tackling socia) violence has been on the law and order angle However I think that we should correct this negative approach to national life and give due weight also to other aspects like gearing up educational system increasing self employment opportunities social and political harmony better understanding of our cultural traditions by all groups and regions and so on It is being increasingly felt that ·EDUCATION AND NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 37 education can play effective role in building up forces of national integration In order to develop political foresight and impersonal national loyalty, educational system can he employed to change divisive tendencies for the better One of the national objectives of education of post independent India is the achievement of national and emotional integration No doubt education should endeavour to relate it to the life needs and aspirations of the people and thereby make it a powerful instrument for the realization of the national goals It is absolutely necessary, to go to the root of the matter and realise that the unity of the pation has been maintained by the cultural unity, which is far more abiding than other unities The Report of Education Commission (64 66) inter alia stresses that the deepening of national consciousness can be fostered specially by two programmes (1) the understanding and re evaluation of our cultural heritage, and (2) the creation of a strong driving faith in the future towards which we aspire The first would be promoted by well organized teaching of the languages and history of India and by introducing the students to Indian architecture, sculpture painting, music dance and drama In addition it would be desirable to promote greater koowledge, understanding and appreciation of the different parts of India by including their study in the curricula by the exchange of teachers wherever possible by the development of fraternal relations between educational institutions in different parts of the country and by the organization of boliday camps and summer schools on an interstate basis designed to break down regional or linguistic barriers It would further be necessary to establish and maintain all India qastrtutions which will admit students from different parts of the country Faith in the future would involve an attempt as a part of the course in citizenship to bring home to the students the principles of the Constitution, the great human values referred to in its preamble the nature of the democratic and socialistic society which we desire to create and the five year plans of national development At the higher stage of education the students should learn to assess the value of modern movements and tendencies so that they may learn which of them can and should be usefully assimilated into our culture We have however to guard agaiost the temptation, for instance, while teaching history or social and political developments in the ·38 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION country, to suppress facts which may not suit our immediate objectives This does not mean that we should not lay stress on facts which would encourage healthy national outlook on the part of our students It is quite legitimate that in the teaching of certain subjects, efforts be made to develop the sense of the whole being more impor tant than the part in the words of Swami Ramatiratha Let every son of India stund for the service of the whole, secing that the whole of India is cmbodied in cvery son Almost every town stream hill, stone or animal is personified and sanctified in India is it not high time now to deify the entire motherland and let every partial manifestation inspire us with devotion to the whole This may lead to the development of an attitude on the part of the students where by they can be justly proud of the culture and achievements of the regions to which they belong and yet be equally proud of the culture and achievements of the country as a whole A further possible outcome of this process of adjustment would later on be their willingness to look upon India itself as a part of the larger world in which we live and Indians as a part of total huma nity From this angle our aiming at national integration on such a basis can become a major consideration in the development of our educational policy but only so long as this is in keeping with what we accept as the chief aim of cducation viz, to create mature human beings It can also be maintained that whatever contributes towards the achieving of this overriding aim of education will in a great measure, contribute to national integration The task of education in developing national consciousness and in maintaining it can be made easier if a corresponding ideal prevails in the political social and economic fields also It is the education which ought to provide to society for its social and political activities, men and women of character whose attitudes and action will pave the way for national unity In spite of countries potential strength-both human and materialthe national scene is distressing Communalism regionalism and other divisive forces are again on the prowl indiscipline and lethargy are also rampant This is reflected in the widening gulf between the Privileged and under privileged the urban and the rural the educated and the uneducated and one community and the other There is an increasing impact of local regional linguistic religious and other sectional or parochial loyalties in India today This has resulted in the general weakening of the feeling of national solidarity ·39 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS The situation is fraught with dangerous consequences as is evidenced by frequent outbursts of violence, organised campaigns of massacre, arson, loot and destruction of valuable property This calls for an all out effort to fight the forces of disorganisation by widening the base of national consciousness There are a number of factors which ought to be taken into consideration in order to understand the problem This is necessary in the first place to safeguard against the tendency of wishful thinking and complacency as shown by certain influential groups which regard the dilemma not as serious as it is generally portrayed or only as a tem porary aberration and that India s soul has remained intact through out the ages in spite of the apparent diversity and will remain so I the future This is to say the least an exaggerated notion of India s unity It is hardly borne out by facts Moreover, it is essential to recognise the factors which tend to complicate the issue of national integration for another reason This will make us wary of the danger involved in seeking an easy solution to the problem as is recommended so forcefully by the ad vocates of the cult of 'Indianisation meaning thereby regimentation of all the different cultural groups so as to ensure one uniform pattern that is, the cultural pattern of the majority community We have to recognise the fact that in India the growth of national consciousness has brought in its train heightened awareness of group identities at all levels -loyalty not only to the country as a whole but also to religious sect caste language and region Above all 'religion in danger slogan has a powerful emotional appeal for its followers to unite themselves It has played a vitiating role particularly in the recent political bistory of India Extended kinship and in group loyalties are characteristics of all pre industrial societies Such loyaltres easily take the form of a communal outlook where religion is played up as a dominent repository of social and cultural values There are several voluntary religious organisations and parties in India today with definite aims of safeguarding the in terest of their members at the cost of others Strange as it may seem so the face of the steps taken to weaken the age old caste system and communalism, religious and caste consciousness has become sharper during the decades This is brought out so forcefully by the frequent occurrences which involve commu nal and caste conflict and the clashes that take place between the various communal group and castes in different parts of the country ·40 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATIOV Communal and caste system and its concomitant value orientations are still a prominent part of our social cultural, cconomic and politi cal life and this factor adversely affects all efforts for national inte gration The educational institutions may follow the same curriculum text books, systems of examination and certification, and yet some of them secularise children and some others communalise The difference seems to generate from the 'total environment and the ideological climate of the school and the college The nature of school/college management seems to play a crucial role in this respect From time to time some attempts have been made to curb such narrow and parochial tendencies by mostly at the textbook level The problem is much broader and so vital that a total programme designed to pay attention to encouraging national cons ciousness through college and school management co curricular actı vities recruitment and training of teachers and a host of other things besides textbooks is needed There is a need to introduce and strengthen such educational pro grammes as are best calculated to cultivate cross cultural understand ing and appreciation among children young and adults rather than sentimental attachment to their own parochial heritage It is unfor tunate that so far the latter has been emphasized and different groups have only sought to take pride in their own glory Researches and studies need to be conducted on inter cultural understanding and inter group education These may form the basis of formulating more meaningful and effective programmes of national integration than sentimental approaches of making all children in schools perform the ritual of singing the national anthem or saluting the national flag on ceremonial functions Even youth camps and festivals designed to promote national integration may prove fruitless, if their pro grammes are not planned deliberately to create inter cultural under standing The State Re organisation Commission drew attention to this danger in these words Already in the schools of some States songs exalting the regional idea have been introduced in textbooks History books taught in lower classes have disclosed a marked tendency to exaggerate the past achievement of the dominant linguis tic groups Our country interested in rapid development social and political change have to depend heavily upon purposeful and conscious mani ·EDUCATION AND NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 41 pulation of formal as well as informal environment of the educational institutions This becomes all the more important as more and more children from lower class homes enter into educational institutions For them it could be first generation in education Their home environment may not be conducive in developing liberal democratic and secular values and attitudes in them for such children and their number is bound to increase the school assumes a double role in anculcating democratic secular political orientation On the other hand if such children enter a 'parochially managed school they are likely to be socialised at variance of the national goals Thus the educational institutions hold the key These can become a conscious instruments of national integration and democratic secular development Or it may become a tool for regionalism, factionalism and communalism If we take into consideration the fact that the regional languages will eventually be accepted as the media of instruction even at the university level let us then find out how best we can use the very diversities differences of languages and of cultures to promote an understanding and appreciation of national cultural and artistic achievements This could be done, for instance by translating in major Indian languages books of cultural value written in different Indian languages through encouraging exchange of teachers and students by instituting chairs and scholarships for the study of regional languages other than ones own through adoption of a common script for at least the major languages of the country and through encouragement of simultaneous study of Hındı as link language In fact seeming diversity of languages in India merges into a common heritage The fountain head of the common heritage is literature and through Sanskrit Prakrit Tamil and Pali it is diffused over the entire continent No part of the country is less proud of this beritage And even Persian and English have proved to be good vehicles of this legacy Besides art in its manifestations is yet another pool of common heritage The art styles bave countrywide ramifications The Indian temples palaces, homes and forts have a distinctive Indian connota cion they follow a more or less uniform pattern with certain regional adjustments sometimes throughout the country The same is truc of Indian sculpture and painting Even the contours seldom change Music and dance and decorative patterns too, have a universal country wide appeal ·40 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION Communal and caste system and its concomitant value orientations are still a prominent part of our social cultural, economic and politi cal life and this factor adversely affects all efforts for national inte gration The educational institutions may follow the same curriculum text books systems of examination and certification, and yet some of them secularise children and some others communalise The difference seems to generate from the total environment and the ideological climate of the school and the college The nature of school/college management seems to play a crucial role in this respect From time to time some attempts have been made to curb such narrow and parocbial tendencies by mostly at the textbook level The problem is much broader and so vital that a total programme designed to pay attention to encouraging national cons ciousness through college and school management co curricular acti vities recruitment and training of teachers and a host of other things besides textbooks is needed There is a need to introduce and strengthen such educational pro grammes as are best calculated to cultivate cross cultural understand ing and appreciation among children young and adults rather than sentimental attachment to their own parochial heritage It is unfor-, tunate that so far the latter has been emphasized and different group have only sought to take pride in their own glory Researches and studies need to be conducted on inter cultural understanding an inter group education These may form the basis of formulating moi meaningful and effective programmes of national integration th sentimental approaches of making all children in schools perform th ritual of singing the national anthem or saluting the national flag of ceremonial functions Even vouth camps and festivals designed to promote national integration may prove fruitless of their pro grammes are not planned deliberately to create inter cultural under standing The State Re organisation Commission drew attention to this danger in these words Already in the schools of some States songs exaluing the regional idea have been introduced in textbooks History books taught in lower classes have disclosed a marked tendency to exaggerate the past achievement of the dominant linguis tic groups Our country interested in rapid development social and political change have to depend heavily upon purposeful and conscious madı ·EDUCATION AND NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 43 that the textbooks which are used in our schools at present generally leave much to be desired Some of these only highlight the achieve ments and contributions of a particular group and ignore under rate or cven misrepresent those of others Though there is no conflict on the basis of race as such in India, yet sometimes the question of race is raised by certain groups to justify their superiority to the other The Brabriins and other high castes claim descent from the Aryan race and assign the lower castes to the Dravidian race Sometimes even South Indian are called Dravidian and on that basis distinction is made between the people of the north and the south In fact race in its pure stock does not exist in India and for that matter anywhere in the world today For, there has been much of intermixing of various racial strains Even if there were a pure race superiority of a particular racial group over any other group could not be justified It is only when the nation state operates on the principle of social justice that a sense of security and belongingness can be generated among all citizens Education has a role to play in the transformation of such a state All the agencies of education formal as well as non formal can be channelised for this purpose Educational institutes as well as mass media of communication such as press radio televi sion cinema etc should be pressed into service to achieve this end General lectures may be arranged in all educational institutions frequently about different regions and people of our country with a view to making students aware of national problems and national achievements as arising out of what happens in the different regions, forces for emotional integration can be strengthened by arranging cultural programmes exhibitions, and inter regional travel through student/teacher organisations in the school and colleges itself Social service camps and NCC camps on inter regional basis can also develop national understanding The educational institutions, hostels may try with advantage the introduction of State Evenings Each week people live and enjoy their cultural life in the different regions of our country State Govt and universities may be urged to open National Hostels for students so that students from different regions can come together If we are agreed as a nation on the promotion of social justice and equality and also on the protection of minority groups within our country then diversities in languages and cultures should not hold any threat to national integration But attitude of justice and equality ·42 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATIOV The teaching and study of different subjects be so handled that ? pointed attention of the students may be drawn to the need for cult vation of the scientific attitude and also for making a fulier use of the scientific method not only while studying natural sciences, but cren also in the study of social sciences and humanities General lectures may be arranged about different regions religions and people of our country with a vicw to making students aware of national pro blems and national achicvements as arising out of what haprens in the different parts of the country at a given time Forces for emotional integration can be strengthened by arranging cultural programmes and exhibitions on the occasions of different fauss and festivals Social service camps and National Cadet Corps camp can also be utilized for fostering inter regional and inter cultural understanding Education has a rolc to play in the transformation of such a state All the agencies of education formal and informal can be pressed into service for the purpose Educational institutions viz schools and colleges as well as mass media, such as press, radio TV, cinema etc, should be geared up to achieve this end There is a need to introduce and strengthen such educational programmes as are best calculated to cultivate cross cultural understanding and appreciation among children, young and adults rather than sentimental attachment to their own parochial heritage It is unfortunate that so far the latter has been emphasised and different groups have only sought to take pride in their own glory Researches and studies need to be conducted on inter cultural understanding and inter group education These may form the basis of formulating more meaningful and effective programmes of national integration than sentimental approaches of making all children in schools perform the ritual of singing the national anthem or saluting the national flag on ceremonial occasions Even youth camps and festivals designed to promote national integration may prove fruit less if these programmes are not planned deliberately to create national consciousness Textbooks particularly of History Social Studies and language and literature must reflect the contribution made by the national freedom movement and various sections of the Indian people for the carich ment of our multi coloured national fabric While teaching these subjects it is to be emphasised that we must accept the total cultural beritage of India as our own and take pride in it It is a painful fact ·EDUCATION AND NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 43 that the textbooks which are used in our schools at present generally leave much to be desired Some of these only highlight the achieve ments and contributions of a particular group and ignore, under rate or even misrepresent those of others Though there is no conflict on the basis of race as such in India, yet sometimes the question of race is raised by certain groups to justify their superiority to the other The Brahmins and other high castes claim descent from the Aryan race and assigo the lower castes to the Dravidian race Sometimes even South Indian are called Dravidian and on that basis distinction is made betueen the people of the north and the south In fact, race in its pure stock does not exist in India and for that matter anywhere in the world today For there has been much of intermixing of various racial strains Even if there were a pure race, superiority of a particular racial group over any other group could not be justified It is only when the nation state operates on the principle of social justice that a sense of security and belongingness can be generated among all citizens Education has a role to play in the transformation of such a state All the agencies of education formal as well as non formal can be channelised for this purpose Educational institutes as well as mass media of communication, such as press radio televi sion Cinema etc, should be pressed into service to achieve this end General lectures may be arranged in all educational jostitutionsfrequently about different regions and people of our country with a view to making students aware of national problems and national achievemeats as arising out of what happens in the different regions, forces for emotional integration can be strengthened by arranging cultural programmes exhibitions and inter regional travel through student/teacher organisations in the school and colleges itself Social service camps and NCC camps on inter regional basis can also develop national understanding The educational institutions hostels may try with advantage the jatroduction of State Evenings Each week people live and enjoy their cultural life in the different regions of our country State Govt and universities may be urged to open National Hostels for students) so that students from different regions can come together If we are agreed as a nation on the promotion of social justice and equality and also on the protection of minority groups within our country then diversities in languages and cultures should not hold any threat to national integration But attitude of justice and equality ·44 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION cannot be developed except through the right kind of education of our young men and women Above all the academic environment of each educational institution should pervade with 'National Dharma' spirit and every care should be taken to plant this ideal deeply into the subconscious of the learner It is not conflicts that we can suppress or pass by There are bound to be conflicts in a democratic society they are a sign of life But they become a disease when they are against national interest Conflicts between preferences and priorities are not the ones that go against the overall nations interests The solution when such con flicts occur has always to be to choose national loyalty as the top most priority which has to be both emotional and convictional Creation and organization of Indian Educational Service will surely pave the way for the interchange of Educational Administrators for fostering national consciousness When all these factors tradition norms of conduct institutions, common memory of triumphs achieved and the collective will to action give power to a people to will themselves into a unit their culture as an integrating force opens out a common destiny for them Our education ideologies training programmes of common work and task have to be tuned and geared up to this one idea of national unity and integration Now that there is no place at all for individual interests group loyalties and so on But the ideal has to be discip lined subordinating and sacrificing of all other loyalties to national Interest Ones personal and local dharma must never be placed higher than the national Dharma The keeping of right proportions only secures felicity All the sons and daughters of India are the guarantors and trus tees of liberty stability and unity of the nation irrespective of their caste creed colour set, region and political ideology Arcn tre all in some way or other, guilty of dereliction of sacred duty to our motherland? The subject matter included in textbooks need not be concoced in the interest of national integration What is stressed here is to take due care in presenting national awareness in the proper perspective, so that it may not create bad blood among various sections of socicty The contents should be carefully selected keeping in view the level of the mental maturity of the students The material included in the tcribooks for small children should be imbued with positive senti ·EDUCATION AND NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS ments of mutual love and respect As they grow up and develop therr powers of critical thinking and analysis they may be exposed gradually to books containing controversial material But here again thoa subject matter must be presented in the proper context describing the historical events against the social, economic and political forces operating at a given period The study of history should enable students to understand why a particular event occurred as it did Textbooks thus provide an intellectual and emotional basis for Unity Not only the good things and achievements of the past serve as unifying factors but also the misdeeds and mistakes committed in the past could do the same by cautioning students against the repeti tion of similar ones Unity should emerge out of the critical accep tance of our past It is time that we deliberately use education as an instrument for the propagation of nationally relevant idcals and as an instrument of socio economic change and also for promoting aesthetic values in individual life values of decency and inter personal morality w public life and values of enlightenment rationalism humanism and scientific temper The concept of a pluralistic society made up of many communities, with their separate identities needs more study in the organization of modern alternatives to the traditional social institutions-communal and caste prejudices and separatist tendencies that are threatening to divide the nation must be counteracted with a well planned educational programme designed to develop better human relationship and understanding This can only be realised through democratic and secular educational practices based on the following few suggestions Recognition and acceptance of the existence of a wide range of caste and class groups in the context of the diverse religious settings in which they operate 2 The acceptance of intergroup relations as a matter of concern for all irrespective of caste and creed 3 An explicit dynamic code of ethics to be developed to motivate and direct personal behaviour and group relations 4 A confidence in the integrity and moral worth of the individual and a genuine faith in social change or means of progress to gether with an optimistic view of the future as it pertains to 5 Recognition of the need for promoting human relations education through inter faith understandiog 1 social change ·46 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION 8 6 Formation of voluntary organisations like cultural and neigh bourhood groups to encourage change of behaviour and to develop a favourable climate for social reform and change of attitude 7 Recognition of responsive academic freedom in re organising curricula to meet the needs and aspirations of the people Preparing teachers to be intellectually and emotionally sensitive to the diagnosis and solution of national and social problems in school and the community 9 A willingness to assign to educational 10stitutions as part of their educational tasks roles in the study and solution of social and national problems 10 Recognition on the part of educational rostitutions to take up research studies on group prejudices to offer suggestions for casing tensions and promoting iotergroup understanding 11 Organisation of Indian Educational Service as suggested by the Kotharı Education Commission (64 66) for promoting national consciousness The suggestions are basic to any educational programme that seeks to improve intergroup relations If the concept of national conscious ness has any realistic value the leadership has to respect the concept of manyness People may remain different and still work together for a common national cause Nation building is a long drawn out process. It requires sincere and perseverjog efforts Right means will alone lead to right end ·CHAPTER 4 Effective Teaching Learning to Learn Today we are face to face with the twin problems of quantitative expansion as well as qualitative progress of education in all spheres of national life We have to shape our educational system in a manner that will make it worthy of our national aspirations and ambitions It is a healthy sign that old ideas and practices are undergoing a rapid change and efforts are afoot to evolve some new system as new situa tions create new needs We have to be ever sensitive to the process of change Of late teachers are being blamed for the lowering of standards at all levels of education The accusing fingers at the teachers are being raised perhaps because they have failed to fulfil the expectations and aspirations that were raised or perhaps the system no longer acts to vitalize learning the way it ought to Whether the causes lic in the lack of enthusiasm and will of teacher or in that of innovative ideas, or in the complacency of those who teach 10 institutions, or in the smugness of their belief that all is well with teachers the fact remains that teaching practice which is the ley to effective teaching and without which the whole cdifice of teaching can collapse is in bad shape To save teaching from the impending hazard, it is imperative to salvage teaching practice and to imbue it with freshness and creativity Education is suffering from narration sickness Narration leads the students to memorise mechanically the narrated content Worsc sull it turns them into containers iato receptacles to be filled by the teacher The more completely be fills tbe receptacles the better teacher he is The more meekly the receptacles permit themselves to be filled the better students they are These are the words of Paulo Freire the Brazilian educator expressed in bis rexo'rlionary book--Pedagogy of the Oppressed Although white writing these lines Paulo Freire must have had in his mind the schools of Brazil but they truly reflect the type of teaching being done in our schools also The report of the Education Comis sion amply bears it out To quote from it 'In the average school ·48 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION today, instruction still conforms to a mechanical routine and continues to be dominated by the old besetting evil of verbalism and there forc remains as dull and uninspiring as before. This then is the existing state of teaching being donc in our schools and we bear wit ness to it Why only bear witness to it we are mainly responsible for the sorry state of affairs A recent research report on the use of teaching methods in classe room revealed that during the period of B Ed /STC training the teachers were given practical knowledge of one method of teaching only and that was-Question Answer method The Editor of the Educational Trends therefore, raised a very pertinent question of accountability in teacher education is high time we take heed of it and remedy the narration sickness and eradicate the besetting evil of verbalism as early as possible One such remedy, from my point of view is to emphasise learning to learn in our day to day teaching and to educate teachers for creating an environment conducive to it But before we actually remedy the evil, we shall bave to examine as to whether the remedy is in tune with the philosophical and psychologi cal foundations of education and whether it is in Iceping with the demands of the modern age and the requirements of the future Edmond Amidon and Elizabeth Hunter have quoted Dewey in their book saying that so much in education was the result of routine tradition accident and transitory accidental influences This is the reason why we have not been able to put teaching profession on a sound footing In spite of our all efforts in training teachers through our varied teacher education programmes we find very little change in the teacher behaviour in the class rooms In spite of the existence of teachers colleges for more tban a century they have not been able to make a significant impact on classroom teaching The reason is obvious because there has been very little effort on the part of teacher educators to evolve a scientific theory of teaching Again according to Deney education should be based more on methods of science rather than intuition of practitioners If we really wish to make a beadway in the field of Teacher Education we will have to experimentally establish what ingredients are essential for a good teaching George Leonard in his book Education and Ecstas, has quoted Sullivan as saying In entire psychological literature you ma find no evidence that teacher per se helps leo much uvidence that teacher does harm to Though this remark may be much annoying ou non ·EFFECTIVE TEACHING LEARNING TO LEARN 49 teaching profession, it does provide us a point for serious thinking Such remarks are made because we have not developed teaching as a discipline We have not experimentally proved what is good teaching Many of our maxims are based on assumptions and contemplations The only way to challenge remarks like these made by Sullivan is to evolve a scientific theory of teaching Ours is a democratic society based on the worth and digoity of the individual We believe that mind can only grow through freedom which means that each of us should be able to think for himself, will ing to question and to dissent Consequently, therefore, the schools should be practice grounds for democratic living The methods of teaching should be such as to develop the capacity for clear thinking and receptivity to new ideas in each individual But we find that our classes are not the places where future citizens are trained in demo cratic living, rather they are the hives of authoritarianism Actually, in our classes, the teacher student relationship is that of dominatordominated relationship They are entrenched on one side by the advantages of age knowledge and unchallenged authority, on the other by the position of inferiority and submissiveness This situation has to be changed In fact in a democratic classroom "the teachers duty is less and less to inculcate knowledge and more and more to encourage thinking his formal functions apart, he will have to become more and more an adviser a partner to talk to, some one who belps seck out conflicting arguments rather than handing out readymade truth' In this way, we see that leaming to learn becomes a fundamental objective of education as soon as we attempt to democratize education Not only this the ancient wisdom also points out in the same direction To quote an ancient Chinese philosopher 'If you give a man a fish be will have a single meal and if you teach him how to fish he will cat all his life? It implies that if we encourage students to learn how to learn, they will continue to learn throughout their life How similar is the advice of Aurobindo the modern Indian philosopher when he proclaimed, 'the first principle of truc teaching is that nothing can be taught Tbc teacher is aot an instructor or task master, he is helper and guide His business is to suggest and not to impose le does not actually traic tbe pupil s mind he only shows him bow to perfect his instruments of knowledge and helps and cocourages is the process He does not impart knowledge, he only shows how to acquire knowledge' ·50 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION Thus learning to learn is emerging as a global philosophy of edu cation This philosophy is, of course, more fundamental to the attain ment of the goals and aspirations of developing countries like lodia who are striving towards self help self direction and self attainment The modern psychology makes it very clear that the child must do his own Icarning no one can do it for him Thus all learning is self learning and all education is self education According to Asley Montague, "learning is the continuous adventure of thinking analyti cally critically and independently for one self It is therefore, a personal matter individual and unique In the light of this the traditional belief that mind is a storchouse of facts and the purpose of teaching is to fill the storehouse with facts is fallacious In fact, it is the antithesis of what ctually teaching should be Teaching is useful only to the extent it facilitates learning but our (cachers view themselves as the dispensers of knowledge They find it very difficult to view their role as one of producing the climate pro viding the resources stimulating the students to explore investigate and scek answers So if we get rid of the traditional belief and accept what the modern psychology has to say we come to realise along with Carl Rogers that the only learning which significantly influences behaviour is self discovered and self appropriated In this back ground learning to learn gains paramount importance as a funda mental base of education The world is changing so fast and the knowledge is copanding so rapidly that we cannot hope to teach person what he will need to know in the years to come Our only hope to meet the deninde of the fast changing world is the production of self starting sell direct ing citizens capable of independent action in this contert Alvin Tomler has rightly remarked Tomorrows schools must therefore teach not merely data but ways to manipulate it Students must learn how to discard old ideas how and when to replace them They must in short learn how to learn A recent study Education in the year 2000 AD conducted by Prof Torsten Huesen comes to the same conclusion that skulls or learning to learn will acquire greater importance as compared to specific pieces of information Thus from the point of view of democratizing education from the point of view of the modern psychology and also from the point of vicw of the demands of the fast changing world learning to learn be comes a solid base for the continuing education of all human beings ·SI EFFECTIVE TEACHING LEARNING TO LEARN From the preceding discussion on the basis of learning to learn, it is imperative that we begin emphasising it as early as possible Wc can do so by implementing the following suggestions The first task in this direction should be to change our teaching strategy from emphasising teaching to cmpbasising learning in our day to day work Actually we should convert our schools into learning centres rather than keeping them as teaching centres Secondly, teachers should use less and less the techniques of narration exposition, description, elaboration, etc and should encourage students more and more to read, write, speak question converse analyse and explore It will be possible when teachers shed their role of 'masters because calling teachers masters is more and more an abuse of the term in the wake of the explosion of knowledge' Thirdly, the teachers should emphasise independent study by the students as a powerful tool of learning But when we talk of independent study, it should not be taken as a study carried out by a student entirely on his own Actually, when a student is collecting information, taking notes facing a problem, developing an idea analysing different points of view, drawing a diagram interpreting data etc he needs to feel the underriding influence of the teacher A skilful teacher should provide the right amount of help at a time when it is oceded most and thus should prevent a student engaging needlessly in unproductive effort Fourthly to enable the students to do independent study they must be equipped with necessary skills of acquiring information, abilities to think clearly critically and independently and abilities to interview, observe and experiment In the absence of these skills and abilities independent study will be a fruitless crercise for this subject teachers should prepare a list of basic skills and abilities pertaining to their subjects Fifth the explosion of knowledge and its early obsolescence has reduced the distinction between the teacher and the taught, in the sense that the teacher himself learns with his pupils For a tcacher to discharge his duties efficiently continuing sell education is of para. mount importance It is therefore, very essential that teachers equip themselves with necessary skills of Icarding to learn for their own continuing education and also for demonstrating these skills to the students Actually the new strategy of teaching will not be imple mented so long as the teachers are ignorant of the theory and practice of learning to learn ·50 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION Thus learning to learn is emerging as a global philosophy of edu cation This philosophy is of course, more fundamental to the attain ment of the goals and aspirations of developing countries like India who are striving towards self help self direction and self attainment The modern psychology makes it very clear that the child must do his own learning no one can do it for him Thus all learning is self learning and all education is self education According to Asley Montague learning is the continuous adventure of thinking analytı cally, critically and independently for one self It ss, therefore a personal matter, individual and unique ' In the light of this the traditional belief that mind is a storehouse of facts and the purpose of teaching is to fill the storehouse with facts is fallacious In fact, it is the antithesis of what actually teaching should be Teaching is useful only to the extent it facilitates learning but our teachers view themselves as the dispensers of knowledge They find it very difficult to view their role as one of producing the climate, pro viding the resources stimulating the students to explore investigate and seek answers So if we get rid of the traditional belief and accept what the modern psychology has to say we come to realise along with Carl Rogers that 'the only learning which significantly influences behaviour is self discovered and self appropriated In this back ground learning to learn gains paramount importance as a funda mental base of education The world is changing so fast and the knowledge is expanding so rapidly that we cannot hope to teach person what he will need to koow in the years to come Our only hope to meet the demands of the fast changing world is the production of self starting self direct ing citizens capable of independent action In this context Alvin Toffler bas rightly remarked Tomorrows schools must therefore teach not merely data but ways to manipulate it Students must learn how to discard old ideas how and when to replace them They must in short learn how to learn A recent study Education in the year 2000 AD conducted by Prof Torsten Huesen comes to the same conclusion that 'skills of learning to learn will acquire greater importance as compared to specific pieces of information Thus from the point of view of dergocratizing education from the point of view of the modern psychology and also from the point of view of the demands of the fast changing world learning to learn be comes a solid base for the continuing education of all human beings ·51 EFFECTIVE TEACHING LEARNING TO LEARN From the preceding discussion on the basis of learning to learn it is imperative that we begin emphasising it as early as possible Wc can do so by implementing the following suggestions The first task in this direction should be to change our teaching strategy from emphasising teaching to emphasising learning in our day to day work Actually we should convert our schools into learning centres rather than keeping them as teaching centres Secondly, teachers should use less and less the techniques of narratron, exposition, description, elaboration etc and should encourage studeats more and more to read write, speak question, converse analyse and explore It will be possible when teachers shed their role of 'masters because "calling teachers masters is more and more an abuse of the term in the wake of the explosion of knowledge Thirdly, the teachers should emphasise independent study by the students as a powerful tool of learning But when we talk of indepen dent study, it should not be taken as a study carried out by a student entirely on his own Actually when a student is collecting information, taking notes, facing a problem, developing an idea, analysing different points of view drawing a diagram interpreting data etc he needs to feel the underriding influence of the teacher Askılful teacher should provide the right amount of help at a time when it is needed most and thus should prevent a student engaging needlessly in unproductive effort Fourthly, to enable the students to do independent study they must be equipped with necessary skills of acquiring information, abilities to think clearly critically and independently and abilities to interview observe and experiment In the absence of these skills and abilities, independent study will be a fruitless exercise For this subject teachers should prepare a list of basic skills and abilities pertaining to their subjects Fifth, the explosion of knowledge and its early obsolescence has reduced the distinction between the teacher and the taught in the sense that the teacher himself learns with his pupils For a teacher to discharge his duties efficiently contiouing self cducation is of pardmount importance It is, therefore, very essential that teachers equip themselves with necessary skills of learning to learn for their own continuing education and also for demonstrating these skills to the students Actually the new strategy of teaching will not be imple menied so long as the teachers are ignorant of the theory and practice of learning to learn ·52 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION Sixth, with a view to creating environment conducive to learning to learn, the school library should be developed as a powerful learning centre in the school in the Western countries libraries have beco developed as resource centres where students engage themselves not only in consulung a variety of reference books but they also use specialized rooms for working with microfilms, audio tape recordings film strips and various auto instructional devices Perhaps it will not be possible for us to convert our school libraries into resource centres on the pattern of Western countries but we can certainly make maxi mum use of the available facilities by making necessary changes in the existing rules Actually, library should be a place where children would love to go with a certain amount of enthusiasm They should be well lighted well ventilated rooms equipped with comfortable furniture and books displayed on open shelves We should begin developing such good libraries right in our primary schools so that book reading habit and otber skills of learning are developed in them from the very begioning In the absence of a good library the pro gramme of converting schools into learning centres would be greatly handicapped Seventh the teacher education programme must take into account the emerging needs and demands of the situation The teacher trained today will teach students for the next thirty years or so It is there fore essential that he must learn how to learn so that he may be able to develop the required skills in his students Modern educators therefore have to find new ways and means in order to be relevant to new times Surely learning to learn is one of such means for meeting the challenges of the fast changing world Indeed it provides a solid but growing base for life long learning It serves as a foundation for re educability further growth progress and achievement throughout the life span in all its entirety For effective teaching we must enunciate two educational commandments as suggested by Alfred North Whitehead Do not teacb too many subjects and again what you teach teacb thoroughly The awful question that confronts teachers in India is what are they doing with their power and their duty?

·CHAPTER 5 Humour in the Classroom The study of humour in classroom appears to have been neglected by educational psychologists in tbe past And yet it is hardly necessary to point out that any psychological manifestation ficeting superficial and uninteresting as it may appear can help us as well as human science aim to do to a fuller understanding of human nature If it be true that humour is peculiar to man the advantages of knowing the psychological processes involved in laughter are obvious In any free society humour should be considered indispensable Real humour is not meant to hurt but to laugh away oddities and absurdities because humour has deep sympathy, purity and appre ciation and loves men while raising a laugh at their ſrailities and eccentricities Humour may be unintentional, and applies to what is laughable in a person's appearance and his action as well as in what he says We are made to laugh because a person is ridiculous but not because he is being ridiculed Some of the following classroom incidents will I hope illustrato the point A teacher called on a student to read aloud a brief paragraph from an essay This he did laboriously When he finished the teacher ask ed him to comment on the significance of the passage which he had read His carnest reply brought even the slecpiest studeot to an bullarious awakening For he said "I am sorry Sır, but I was not listening Again a young doctor who had instructed a class of women in first aid for several weeks resolved to put his teaching to a practical test As he stood on the platform he suddenly paused staggered and then fell to the floor A wave of horror ran through the class Some women gave faint screams some rose and sank back to their seats again but nobody came to the rescue of the prostrate doctor After a few moments he got to his feet and soundly berated bis students for their lack of enterprise 'What use is my teaching' be demand ed If you can t tackle a simple fainting spell ? His star pupil rose from her front seat with an injured air But doctor she exclaimed we thought, it was a real faint? A teacher can keep his balance of mind in the classroom only by ·52 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION Sixth with a vicw to creating environment conducive to learning to learn the school library should be developed as a powerful learning centre in the school in the Western countries libraries have been developed as 'resource centres where students engage themselves not only in consulting a variety of reference books but they also use specialized rooms for working with microfilms audio tape recordings, film strips and various auto instructional devices Perhaps it will not bc possible for us to convert our school libraries into resource centres on the pattern of Western countries but we can certainly make maxi mum use of the available facilities by making necessary changes 10 the existing rules Actually, library should be a place where children would love to go with a certain amount of enthusiasm They should be well lighted, well ventilated rooms equipped with comfortable furniture and books displayed on open shelves We should begin developing such good librarics right in our primary schools so that book reading habit and other skills of learning arc developed in them from the very beginning In the absence of a good library the pro gramme of converting schools into learning centres would be greatly handicapped Seventh the teacher education programme must take into account the emerging needs and demands of the situation The teacher trained today will teach students for the next thirty years or so It is there fore essential that he must learn how to learn so that he may be able to develop the required skills in his students Modern educators therefore have to find new ways and means in order to be relevant to new times Surely learning to learn is one of such means for meeting the challenges of the fast changing world Indeed it provides a solid but growing base for life long learning It serves as a foundation for rc educability further growth progress and achievemcot throughout the life span in all its entirety For effective teaching we must enunciate two educational commandments as suggested by Alfred North Whitehead Do not teach too many subjects and again what you teach teach thoroughly The awful question that confronts teachers in India is what are they doing with their power and their duty? .

·CHAPTER 5 Humour in the Classroom The study of humour in classroom appears to have been neglected by educational psychologists in the past And yet it is hardly necessary to point out that any psychological manifestation fleeting superficial and uninteresting as it may appear can help us as well as human science aim to do, to a fuller understanding of human nature If it be true that humour is peculiar to man the advantages of knowing the psychological processes involved in laughter are obvious In any free society humour should be considered indispensable Real humour is no meant to hurt, but to laugh away oddities and absurdities, because humour has deep sympathy purity and appre ciation and loves men while raising a laugh at their fraılıties and eccentricities Humour may be unintentional, and applies to what is laughable in a person s appearance and his action as well as in what he says We are made to laugh because a person 18 ridiculous but not because he is being ridiculed Some of the following classroom incidents will I hope illustrate the point A teacher called on a student to read aloud a brief paragraph from an essay This he did laboriously When he finished the teacher asked him to comment on the significance of the passage which he had read His earnest reply brought even the sleepiest student to an billarious awakening For he said I am sorry, Sır, but I was not listening Again a young doctor who had instructed a class of women in first aid for several weeks resolved to put his teaching to a practical fest As he stood on the platform he suddenly paused staggered and then fell to the floor A wave of horror ran through the class Some Women gave faint screams some rose and sank back to their seats again but nobody came to the rescue of the prostrate doctor After a few moments he got to his feet and soundly berated his students for their lack of enterprise 'What use is my teaching', he demanded if you can t tackle a simple fainting spell ? His star pupil rose from her front seat with an injured air But doctor she exclaimed we thought it was a real faint? A teacher can keep his balance of mind in the classroom only by ·54 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION his capacity to laugh at the incongruities of life to smoothen out the oddities by treating them with fun Suppose a dog enters a class room it becomes an incongrous situation and causes humour It will not do to get angry and belabour dog Friendliness and tolerance are essential in peculiar circumstances Borrowed humour does not go too far Most teachers love to narrate tit bits or ancedotes heard or read somewhere There is, however no harm in relating relevant tit bits One of the parents revealed an incident recently A few days ago he overheard his small grandson doing arithmatic homework Three plus one the son of a bitch is four he was saying 'Three plus two the son of a bitch is five' 'Three plus three the son of a bitch is SIX and so on Horrified? he asked him where on earth he had picked up that language Oh that s the way they teach us at school he replied The following day the fatber went to see his teacher and asked her about it At first she was equally horrified then her face broke into a grin 1 get it, she cried We teach the children to say threc plus one the sum of which is four Three plus two, the sum of which is five Sometimes vague fear of the teacher prevents young students to understand clearly and they mug up leading to faulty learning Children should be allowed to be free and frank with the teacher There is no doubt that a sense of humour is one of the greatest assets in developing a vital personality to which people pay appre ciative attention Teacher in the modern classroom where he had to face pot students but large crowd of dişinterested and hostile youngsters feel strangled Most of them transact their classroom work in a business like manner But this makes learning a very difficult and hard pro cess Let the teachers learn to encourage this contagion of humour The best humour is always spontaneous and innocent During the first weck of admission in the college the boys were instructed that when questioned by a Professor they should respond with 'Yes Sir, No Sir or No excuse Sir One day the Principal entered the class Stopping before a student he asked him if he liked the college Yes Sir was the reply The Principal asked Why ? No excuse Sur shot back the young boy Thus even in business like classroom a flash of humour may be Visible ·HUMOUR IN THE CLASSROOV 55 The class was making a great noise Teacher ordered them to be quite so that he could hear a pin drop After sometime a boy got tired and said, 'Sir when is the pin going to drop? This is a genuinc humour One can quickly sease it The genuine humour always shows the warmer side of human personality This is how a Russian lecturer telling Czech students in Prague about the Soviet s wonderful scientific advances 'Already' he said, we have lauched two satellites In no time at all, we will be able to go to Mars and then to Venus, and later on to all the planets Iso t it a wonderful thing? All the students nodded 'Are there are any question? A student raised his hand Sır, he asked, when can we go to Vienna? In such situations a smile makes all the difference If need be we may have college/school humour wecks/days Let there be humour clubs and humour circles It may not help in achieving the objective of textbooks teaching or solve the educational dilemama but it would make certainly classroom teaching more plea sant and learning process more comfortable Once a professor of Geography pointed to the map and said, "Suppose we were here on this hill The map says we are 80 feet above sea level The river is only 16 as the map also indicates, there is no obstruction between our position and the river Now if you were in the middle of the river, which the map says is 200 feet away could I see you Silence reigned supreme What do you mean quick enough? I just said that there is no obstruction between these two points' He asked a boy * Yes sir But you see I can t swim' Teacher should not frown at such originality He sbould rather share humour with them In case teaching profession is to be judged by its sense of humour, one can safely say that we have not reached very far, Most of us undervalue the importance of humour in classroom at their own cost This is how the teacher can contribute in enliving the classroom atmosphere Once an aspiring vocalist bad just compelled a lesson 'Professor she asked 'do you think I shall ever be able to do anything with my voice? ?

·56 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION ing He asked "Well' replied the teacher, "it might come in handy in case of fire Humour is not only found in spoken words It is often enjoyed through written words Some of the great works in world literature are interpersed with humour here and there Shakespeare Dickens, Chesterton GB Shaw and Dr Johnson are still quoted in all class Tooms, where English is tavght with delight and admiration Besides students contribute innocently through their written answers Young science students in an international school in Spain were asked if they believe that living people inbabit the moon It is obvious that at least one person must live on the moon wrote a 8 year old Dorothy Waller in her composition otherwise who would turn on its light at night and turn it out in the day time? Humour in classroom is not one way traffic It does not always originate from teachers side students too contribute a great deal in creating a hearty laugh among other classmates and teachers A boy wanted to enter the class where a lady Professor was teach May I come in Sır? Professor No Madam Student I am not madam Sır Professor I am not Sir Madam A smile from the teacher will make all the difference Humour is infectious Just to smile is often enough to raise our spirits When other people smile back we feel better still In another instance the teacher in a nursery class had just finished a stern lecture on the subject of Baraba s wayward little playmates Now tell me dear sbe concluded in a kinder tone Where do bad little girls go? Baraba smiled winsomely Everywhere Humour also displays that we are interested in other people and not merely in ourselves Once a Chemistry Professor asked his class what they considered the most outstanding contribution Chemistry had made to this world The first student in answer shouted Blondes Most essential is the teachers willingness to laugh at himself or herself and be willing to be laughed at Teachers who laugh at them selves are far more likely to have 4 warm relationship with their pupils than those who cannot Too often teachers in trying to be humourous make fun of something a child does This may be funny to the teacher, but not to the child Watch a good speaker and the ·HUMOUR IN THE CLASSROOM ways he puts his audience into a receptiva mood He often does it by applying gentle ridicule to himself, yet if he ridicules' his audience, he may lose their goodwill completely Teachers should remember this if the teacher learn to laugh at herself, and welcome the laughter of the children, then through example, those children will also learn to laugh at themselves and will learn to see the humour in niany situations, which would otherwise be emotionally devas tating Not only must the children learn that they may laugh at the teacher but they need to learn that laughter in the classroom is ac ceptable They need to know that it is approved before they will per mit themselves to laugh at any situation The teacher must welcome their moments of laughter, even some silliness, in the classroom The teacher must be quick to recognize humour when it appears for example, a funny incident may be happening outside the classroom window The students may need to know that they have the teachers approval before they feel free to direct their full attention toward it and enjoy it fully Cven a problem student can sometime innocently throw the whole class into peels of laughter A first form teacher took one look at Wilmon and knew he was going to give trouble But when she started to explain arithmetic to her class she was pleased to see he was paying close attention When she had finished several problems she asked "Are there any questions? Yes said Wilman "Where do those little numbers go when you rub them out? The teacher do not allow freedom of expression in classes without facing a situation in which they dont like the expression that has been made If the teachers are not prepared to deal with the problems that arise where they disapprove or dissent from their opinions, then they had better go back to the old days when what teacher said was law, and leave it at that Various studies have been conducted in many countries In a study conducted by Professor David Victoroff in France in 1952 he com pared popularity of the different types of spoken humour, distinguisbed in terms of their laugher provoking clement According to him five types selected were sufficiently well defined to make the comparison Horthwhile They were sexual humour coarse humour humour of the absurd sick humour travesties (or 'take offs on people or situa- ·58 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION tion) Gramophone records illustrating each type of humour were played to differcat audience who were then asked to rate the humour as good , 'average or 'bad Seven hundred subjects were divided in to three groups with different social and vocational backgrounds 312. private soldiers and firemen 215 teachers (male and female) 183 students Various conclusions can be drawn from the study of the results The first was that preferences vary considerably according to Socio professional backgrounds Thus while soldiers and firemen living far and away prefer scxual jokes (72% giving these a good rat ing), with absurd humour (52%) their second choice, teachers prefer the absurd (58%) with sexual humour rating very low (3%) students on the other hand enjoyed satirical travesties the most (53%) followcd closely by the absurd (49%) These finding give a clear inkling as to where the teaching profession stands So far no such study has been conducted in India Freud and Eastmen rgbtiy suggested that humour is a safety valve for disagreeable emotions Humour can have a tremendously impor tant role to play in educational institutions It could be a safeguard against fatigue overwork boredom, and laziness which are all merely different ways that youngesters have of protecting themselves against the surfiet or excessive variety of what they are asked to learn There is a vast scope for research in this field, which educational psychologists should not neglect In public as well as academic life a subtle understanding of laugher and keen sense of humour may perhaps prove of considerable help to provide catharsis for aggressiveness boredom and nervous behaviour and make milder any and all demonstration of academic unrest that greets us everywhere A laugh is just like sunsbine It freshens all the day It tips the peak of life with light Aod drives the cloud away ·CHAPTER The Role of Teachers' Organisations For centuries, countries and communities did their best to provide young people with the right kind of education And then, as education expanded and became increasingly compler the whole fabric of the educational system began to crack and crumble apart Even when countries are quite prepared to make all kinds of sacrifices to give their young people an education what guarantee do they have that it will provide the intellectual and more training which young people bave the right to expect and that it will produce the leaders which cvery pation needs A country cannot afford to make mistakes in the education of its citizen any more than it can afford them in matters of agriculture nutrition and health or in the exploitation of its natural resources and the use of its manpower It is recognized by all that a good teacher can enhance the value of education, a bad one can jeopardize it. Whether one considers the benefit to the individual child or the collective interest of society there is no escaping the fact that the quality of education always has been and always will be directly linked with the quality of the teacher Recruiting and training enough good teachers giving them the work best suited to thelr aptitudes and tastes providing the salary, working conditions and career prospects which will both enable and encourage them to devote themselves wholeheartedly to their work These are not simply the answers to equitable demands, they are also the soundest ways to meet a nation s needs Thus the obligation to give teachers their legitimate material and moral position in society ranks high among the factors that can improve education of all public services education is if not the most important at least the one whose need is most immediately obvious and it is the duty of the State and in its own interest see to that the teaching pro fession receives its proper proportion of youthful talent at all levels of educational hierarchy There is a good deal of ignorance and hypocrisy in the reasoning that it is mission Why should young men and women at the very beginning of their working life renounce the legitimate ambition of obtaining a decent place in society for themselves. aod their families?

·60 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATIOV Status as used in relation to teachers means both the standing or regard accorded to them as evidenced by the level of appreciation of the importance of their function and their competence in performing it and the remuneration and other material benefits accorded them relative to other occupational groups It is only natural that a growing concern Oier the status of teachers is being currently feit and expressed not only by the teaching profession but by all those responsible for the advancement of education There is close correlation between the social and economic conditions of teachers on the one hand and their training and qualifications on the other It would not be practicable to deal with any one set of problems separately While there has been growing awareness of the importance of education to the individual and to society the dimen sions of the resulting problem as to that needs to be done to translate this concern into effective positive action have not yet been fully realised It is not enough to build schools colleges universities laboratories and libraries to improve educational structures curricula and metbods to make forecasts and plans on a medium or long term basis Every effort will be vain of the teaching profession does not consist of very numerous highly qualified very well trained and very enthusiastic persons who are a consequence reasonably satisfied with their status In modern society the teachers play a role which goes beyond the direct effect of their teaching upon their pupils Through their work and example they extensively raise the cultural and moral standards They also through their teaching contribute to the economics of the Society which in the years ahead will be composed of those who have been their pupils For the high purpose of education cannot be achie ved if those charged with high responsibility they are not highly regarded in the society in which they are set to work and to live as citizen It is not that teachers are more important in and for themselves than are any other kind of workers Educational institutions exist for children and education is designed to serve society not to provide employment for teachers What is important is the teaching functions for this has such potentiality for the promotion of human happiness and progress that its value cannot be overstressed? Teachers are important as teachers only to the extent that they perform their function well Teaching must be made a more demanding profession ·THE ROLE OF TEACHERS ORGANISATIONS 81 than ever before but this will not happep until teachers are accorded a social standing and a status commensurate syith their importance of the function they are expected to performa Planning designed to improve the social and economic conditions of teachers would be given direction and coherence if it were to arise out of a conscious aim to accord teaching a public esteem and social standing commensurate with the high importance of the teaching function for the society The teaching profession is an occupation wherein its practitioners render an intimate personal service on the basis of possession of a body of knowledge particular to the calling and a set of specialised skills gained initially through rigorous education and training demanding high intellectual attributes and refreshed to reinforced from time to time in service It is further marked by dedication to the welfare of others, tvillingness to accept responsibility for work outcomes with an accompanying authority to exercise independent judgement in prescribing procedures deemed to be in the interest of those whom the profession is called upon to serve If teach ing profession is to be accorded a social status of this kind it follows logically that conditions appropriate to preparation for professional practice and conditions necessary for the exercise of professional responsibility will have to be established Besides professional status comes when people are prepared to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the job to which they have been cntrusted What right have we, as teachers, to expect the nation to believe in a better educational system if we do not in words and in deeds prove that we believe in it ourselves? In words we often say that education can improve the economic status of a nation, that it can raise the standards of liviog that it coables independence to be a. reality and a real democracy to be established and that it enables individuals to be able to live a full and abundant life But this 19 something that teachers must not only say with their lips, but live with their lives, and when do, believe me the miracle can begain to happen If only teachers live their belief in education, then there is no doubt whatsoever that the status of the profession would be immea surably raised Many decades ago Dr Radbakrishnan saidRespect for teachers cannot be ordered, it is carned Thus professional status is not something imposed or given from outside it is something that wells up from apside inside teachers individually, inside teachers collectively Teaching is a complex and demanding task Professional growth ·62 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION requires initiative on the part of teachers Inservice training, largely ignores the experienced classroom teacher and aims instead at the new teacher The educational administrators in India are yet not trying to understand, among other things how teachers need change as they move along in their careers The necds of the neophytc differ from those of the more experienced teachers Surprisingly little has been done to determine the different levels of necd among veteran teachers It is a wrong assumption to believe that, as teachers develop and become more expert at their jobs they don t require help Actually they outgrow some needs and grow into others I do not know how many teachers in India will agree with Prof Frank Musgrove FW Taylor contemptuous statement that during the past 100 years or so there has evolved in our midst a new despotism THE RULE OF TEACHERS-How far it dovetails with the current educational scene in India I leave it to the teachers to test the truth of the statement at their own level Today most of the teachers, fail to take adequate cognizance of the winds of change blowing around us and what is worse, spurn with scanty regard a variety of forces pressures and expectations in the environment whose interplay determines what may be termed the role of teachers in society at a particular time and place As teachers most of us tend to forget that our roles are determined to a large extent not only by professional association but by the ex pectations and aspirations of the pupils the expectations of their parents and the teachers and authorities themselves No doubt pupils expect their teachers to be efficient and benevolent teachers rather than temporary and authoritarjan parents and do not put great pre mium on their other personal qualities Interestingly wbile all teachers attached greatest importance to their personal attributes children and their parents emphasized their teaching standards It 18 an established fact, now that teaching is an art and a specialised job The old concept that one who was ope page ahead of the pupils could teach, has been squarely rejected in order to perform bis role in a satisfactory manner a teacher is required to be not only acade mically well qualified but professionally well equipped also Besides it is being increasingly realized that a teacher cannot be trained for life and the job requires continuous efforts to keep him abreast of new developments Hence the need for an organized well PE Society & The Teacbers Role Routledge And Kegan Paul London 1969 ·THE ROLE OF TEACHERS ORGANISATIONS 63 planned continuous inservice professional education programme The teachers in India have the right to form their associations The government teachers, however are bound by service conduct rules which should not be transgressed in forming or joining an organiza tions These rules are also applicable to teachers serving under statu tory bodies such as Municipalities Zila Parisbads, Distt Board and Panchyats etc The major attributes of a profession are knowledge and skill dedi. cation to public service a code of ethics professional association, considerable authority over the clientele and continuing education Education as a professional field of study has distinctive problems Most of the cducational problems arise out of the need to formulate and justify educational policy curriculum designs schemes of organı zation and support and strategies of teaching and learning They are distinctive of education and define the domain of professional training in the ficld of education The knowledge expected in a teacher can be called his professional content which may be divided into two kinds-repertory content and interpretative (pedagogical) content For example a history teacher should have a knowledge of history as well as the methods of teaching history The second criterion for teaching profession is the 10 built desire for and capacity of performing public service A sort of responsibility for creating and preserving a social fabric directed by ones own experience in the content of social need Public sympathy self realization contemporarity, generosity along with drive analytical ability creative capacity foresight commupica tive skills technical proficiency social sensibility, resourcefulness and judgement are very much required in a person belonging to a profession Teachers should learn from the experience of business and industry and develop a public relations programme carefully tailored to the required clientele Professional educators and citizens thus form an inseparable partership A strong public opinion should be created through out the country so that people are ready to accept the viewpoint that the professional educator alone must be responsible for the educational system in our country Doctors do not permit laymen to practice last but educators alone are not so conditional in their public service All and sundry become professors even overnight Only the educator is the knowing professional Teaching shops are growing around without let or hindrance The dearth of dedicated teachers is being increasingly felt and ·64 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION publicly announced A commitment to calling is noticeably absent in the present day generation of teachers A resistance to quack teachers is very urgently called for This can possibly be achieved through pro fessional organisations than through any legislation A profession can only be said to exist when there are bonds among the practitioners The development of a profession, therefore, depends among other things, upon the existence of a large body of experts held together by common bonds in the form of obligations and responsibilities that its members have to undertake The dis tinguishing characteristics of a profession enshrined in its code of cthics are actually evolved when the members associate in groups By means of mutual exchange of ideas it attempt to re design and reestablish the role of professional institutions and organisation pres cribing the standards of education for entry By far the strongest pro fessional body is the Bar Association of the legal profession Bodies like the Institute of Engineers and the Medical Council along with the lastitutes of Chartered and Cost Accountants are functioning appre ciably well But somehow the professional organisations for teachers are many and varied without much of a unified bond Even the World Confederation of Teaching Profession could not establish norms and conditions for professional development To maintain pro fessional competence and to ensure opportunities for some measure of professional practice there should be a well attested faculty of professionals in charge of these associations Teaching is the only profession that attempts to identify its practitioners by the work they do thus permitting many men to call themselves teachers Other professions identify their qualificd practitioners by the educational programmes they have completed in these proſes sions one cannot even sit for the examination for license to practise without the appropriate academic degree How many teachers at the higher level do have qualifications in teaching for education? In fact people in universities and other teachers do not look upon Education as even a discipline under the pretext it is art to be individually obtained or it is already in practice with experienced educators The teachers organisations in this country should come forward to insist on a formal methodology course for their members depending on their levels and aceds Educational design is an exercise in proſes sional logic professional Curriculum is a dynamic continuous process Rules of entry, training and behaviour in relation to the public have to be laid down the standard of knowledge and skill of the practi ·THE ROLE OP TEACHER'S ORGANISATIONS 65 tioners should not be lowered, competing groups should be prevented from encroaching upon the boundaries of their professional activities Professional status should be watchfully preserved A profession rests on theoretical bases, a theory is a set of assump tions from which are deduced testable hypothesis before establishing verified knowledge Practice can then be compared with knowledge whereupon it recerves a degree of legitimacy It was AN Whitehead who clearly distinguished a profession from a craft A craft is "an avocation based on customary activities and modified by trial and error of individual practice' While a profession is "an avocation wbose activities are subject to theoretical analysis and are modified by theorctical conclusions derived from that analysis' At the present time, teaching is simply a craft It is the responsibility of the professional associations to make it possible for teaching to become a profession with the necessary knowicdge base built It is admitted by all that the states of a profession also depends on well organised purposeful and powerful professional organizations They not only safeguard the interests of their members but also functions as strong interest groups in the formulations of policies affecting the profession as well as the society Whenever teachers carry the banner of protest into the streets, someone resurrects the 'guru image How can these safe minds, entrusted with tbe guidance of young budding citizens, do such a thing? What kind of example are they setting? What sort of 'gurus do they imagine they are, when they become like this? They say that teachers all talk about their democratic right but none speaks of their duties and obligations They think that teachers themselves were responsible for declining standards in education when they smoke and drink with the students what standards can they expect from their students? As far striking work they have a right to press their demands but they must not shun constitutional peaceful path to get their demand fulfilled Some feel that teachers should go on strike only for noble causes and not to resort to strike on petty issues like invigilation Sees abolition of complex system examination boycott or creation of Primary Directorate or separation of 5+3+10+2 Parents on the others hand feel that teacher s Strike is punishment on their wards more than for anyone else The authorities are embarrassed and harassed by street protests Educated parents bold that a strike by teachers bas a very unhealthy effect on the impressionable ·66 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATIOV minds of students particularly school students Dialogues meetings with authorities and representations, should be crplored first in all carnestocss Neither the authorities nor the teachers should stand on prestige points, they should deliberate in good faith Members of the professional association assert that teachers need social respectability Sincc this intangible is linked to economic status teachers have to fight for more pay in this process strikes and agita tions become unavoidable Strikes have become the only way for them to get their service conditions improved We should not abstain from classes under any circumstance Wc could demonstrate for an hour or so after class hours just to cmphatically voice our nced This is how one woman teacher ſelts about the teachers right to strike Moral issues are involved We are supposed to inspire the young We should not express our frustration in a way that will disillusion them But there are teachers who claim that nothing can be realised with out a strike, dharna gherao or hunger strike in 'normal circums tances teachers have the right to organise themselves to improve the quality of teaching and standard of education The educational authorities often think that the strikes are always politically motivat ed The problems can be sorted out amicably provided politics is not brought in Little wonder then that teachers after their training go out still born into a world of schools without libraries of no book grants of no teaching aids and no stimulus to look for them, of obsolete syllabı obsolete salaries, and grim classrooms without the hope of a ray of light As a result the learners suffer So far as I know no voluntary teachers organisation in India has any well planned and organised programme for the professional growth of teachers as compared to such well organised bodies eg Bar Council Institute of Engineers of India and Medical Council of India which have initiated programmes for the prc service and in service professional growth of their members No organised and definite steps have been initiated for the professional growth of teachers in India Of Jate, the NCTE is taking some initiative 10 the right directions but it will continue to be an ineffective organi zation so long as it is not given a statutory basis for organising its programme It will be in the best raterest of professional growth of teachers of certain guidelines for evolving code of conduct for teachers to spell out their duties is evolved ·THE ROLE OF TEACHER'S ORGANISATIONS 67 Some years back the Working Party on Educational Planning, Ad ministration and Evaluation mentioned the following four main factors as being responsible for the teachers involving intimately and effectively in the preparation and implementation of educational plaas by holding up the implementation of this principle 1 The government has never been keen to involve teachers effecti vely in educational planning and development In fact it has not even shown an awareness of the problem and its signifi cance 2 We have not yet been able to visualize and create the institu tional machinery which will enable all teachers to effectively participate in the formulation and implementation of cducational plans 3 There are several divisions in the ranks of teachers which weaken the profession and diminish its capacity for active parti cipation in such a progarame 4 The teachers themselves have shown a general unconcern towards problems of educational planning and development and have failed to develop the necessary expertise and leadership The teachers organizations bave so far been concentrating mainly on improving their economic status and have been neglecting the im. provement of education and their professional development But per haps the authorities too have their share of blame They have been consulting the teachers organizations on the question of salaries alone and then condemning them for showing interest in nothing else Professional ethics is yet another norm of a vocation being called a profession All professionals adhere to a code of ethical conduct This code of ethics outlines the standards to which members of the group subscribe and gives an understanding of what the public can cxpect in sts relationship with the profession The code of ethics also serves as a guide to the members of the profession in their conduct and relations with each other One has therefore to observe an ac ceptable code of conduct In the absence of an established code of cthics for the teaching profession many eyebrows are raised at the way in which teaching happens in our country The very designations of teachers of categories are different in different parts of India For the professional growth of teachers, Professional Organisation will do tell if the duties of teachers are spelled out on the following ·68 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION lines and code of conduct cvolved for presenting a better image of teachers in India (a) A teacher shall devote his energies to develop and improve his academic and professional competence by taking all opportunities to attend and participate in academic programmes such as seminars, orientation courses in service programmes etc (b) A teacher shall perform his academic duties such as preparation, lectures, demonstrations, assessment guidance, research, tutorials etc and shall give evidence of his having organised his teaching programme in relation to the curriculum set out for him for its completion, properly apportioned for the academic year and will encourage pursuit of Icarning in his students (c) A teacher shall participate in teaching research and training programmes (d) The workload shall be as prescribed by the Education Department and University from time to time (c) A teacher shall engage the classes regularly and punctually and impart such lessons and instructions as the Principal/Head shall allot to him from time to time and shall not ordinarily remun absent from work without the prior permission or grant of leave (f) A teacher shall faithfully observe the provisions of the Education Act Code statutes ordinances regulations and rules in force as modified from time to time and abide by the decisions. of the University/Governing body/Education Deptt Principal and Head and shall ensure the interest of the University/ College/Department If it is found that damage or loss has been caused to the University/Department/College or school by an act on the part of the teacher or by wilful neglect or default on his part, such damage or loss shall be liable to be recovered from him (g) In addition to the duties of teaching and allied activities the teacher shall when required attend to extra curricular cocurricular activities organised by the sports College Universities/ Department and administrative and supervisory work and maintenance of records and assessment reports or any duties assigned to him by the Principal/Head. (h) A tcacher shall belp the school College/Department/University authorities to enforce and maintain discipline and good habits. among students ·THE ROLE OF TEACHER'S ORGANISATIONS 69 0) TA teacher shall be required to do examinations work within the Board, University of Department as a part of his duties () A teacher, depending upon the nature of his duties shall follow the procedure and rules laid down in Education Code (k) A teacher shall perform any other work related to the School/ College/University/Department as may be assigned to him from time to time by the Principal/Head/University Board The following responsibilities may be expected from the teachers Failure to observe them would be considered lapses constituting mis conduct (a) A teacher shall perform his academic duties and work related to examinations as assigned (b) A teacher shall not discriminate against the student on political grounds or for reasons of race, castes, religion or sex or for other arbitrary or personal reasons and shall not incite students against other students or other teachers, colleagues or adminis tration (c) A teacher will have freedom of academic thought and expres sion, provided that he will not use the facilities or forum of the school University, College such as classroom library or labo- Tatory seminar and symposia to propagate this own ideas or beliefs for or against a particular theory or schools of thought or alignment of political parties (d) A teacher shall not refuse to carry out the decisions taken by appropriate administrative and academic bodies and/or func tionaries of the school University/Governing Body and shall not disrupt or cause be disrupted functions or activities sponsored or authorised by the University/Governing Body/ College (e) A teacher shall not engage himself in any act prejudicial to the interest of the Depttor management of the school and college or the University and go against rules (f) A teacher shall not make use of the resources and/or facilities of school the University/College/Management/Department for bis personal commercial political or religious purposes (8) A teacher shall not accept gifts nor ask for or receive loans from a student including his relatives or persons coming in his contact in discharge of his duties as a teacher or any employee of the school University/College/Department without prior ·70 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION permission of thc Varyersity or the school and College management as the case may be (h) A tcacher shall not exploit students for his private advantage or inicrests or seccisc any assistance from them (1) Alcacher shall not have any interest in any transaction of $3le or purchase relating to any land, building or immovable property etc being negotiated or entered into by the school college/University or any Department ()) A cacher sliall not be partial in ossessment of students and shall ensure that the chaluation of the students reflects their true tocrits He shall not attempt victimisation on any grounds (k) A teacher shall perform duties as specified in the Statute and any other duties that may be assigned to a Principal/Head of the University/Department, teacher from timc to timac (1) Farlure to perform satisfactory any of the duties allotted to him in connection with the cramination work in any school university college within the State which will be taken to mean dereliction of duty and will render the teacher Itable in discip linary action which in extreme instances may even imply the termination of service A poignant paradox of the present educational system in India 15 that while the academic profession provides its incumbent adequate leisurc (vacation breaks etc ) for advancing the frontiers of Inowledge the output is exceedingly mcagre Many in the profession only kull time or make money in the extra time available The energy, by and large flows into intellectually unproductive channels to the deteriment of the younger generation This might appear as a severe structure on Indian academics, but the truth cannot be denied if the malady needs to be properly diagnosed The general tendency is to blame the system to escape rcsponsibility on the part of persons involved Self criticism or self evaluation becomes healthy when there is a sincerc desire to improve Status consciousness is so ingrained in the educational set up that the ladder is percenved only in administrative terms There is no academic or professional commitment which this noble profession demands Most teachers depend on institutional libraries for their day to day needs While the routine purpose and teaching is served by borrowing books from libraries the long term roterest of cultivating a grow ·THE ROLE OF TEACHER S ORGANISATIONS 71 ing interest in the discipline or of researching remain unfulfilled Just as agricultural production depends, on the men behiod the plough and industial growth in the man at the machine the educa tional system rests on the teacher The effort so far has been, only to an extent, to improve bis income in monetary terms The assumption of such a policy is that material satisfaction of increased by degrees would improve the quality of a teacher which I believe is false This is not to suggest that salaries of teachers should not improve with rising costs, but only to hint at a wrong emphasis point The more important consideration should be to examine by empirical survey how an average teacher keeps or losses touch with the subject aod the profession and whether he has ample equipment and facility to improve his intellectual calibre The academic sector accepts subordination to the political calculus and surrenders to the pragmatism of the proximate presents It yields casily to the prevailing ethos of "everything goes' The situation is bleak but not without hope There certainly exist islands of excellence in the arid zone that is the academic life Let us make a determined effort to cultivate excellence, develop trained competence and produce a large number of young minds with problem solving capabi lities The teaching profession has a leadership function It has to conscentize the masses and use its privileged position to produce generations that will attend to the business of nation building and architecting the future A balance has to be struck between the larger good and individual and group ioterests ·CHAPTER 8 The New Education Policy Education has a key role to play in understanding the world, in copiog with life in adding savour to cxistence There is practically oo country in the world which is satisfied with its educational system For centuries education was the preserve of the few But all societies now are casting aside old hierarchies, feudal outlook castes and vested interests Education has come to be regarded as a basic human right The surge of interest all over the country in the Prime Minister s apnouncement relating to the formulation of new Education Policy has been most encouraging Education can no longer be a matter of concern only for the pupil or the parent, as the main rostrument of change education should be considered a key input for national development There is indeed no field of activity or sector of deve lopment which does not have its impact on the education system Again, there is hardly any sector of development which is not in fluenced by education in some form or the other Realising the overall importance of education Indian Parliament has recently approved the draft of the New Education Policy and it is now left to the centre and the State to implement the policy in right carnest During the last four decades the weakest link in the system has been educational planning and management There is need for proper planning and management of education Education has suffered in its orientation and functions The overcrowding in education the decreasing proportionate facilities and the increasing diversity of students population have distorted the structure of education The picture becomes more g ave when we find that values are deteriorat ing and external pressures of vested groups are lacreasing Apart from this the internal functioning of education has reached lovy levels of inefficiency It is hoped that in the years to come, more funds will be made available cyperimentation encouraged and decentralised operations be introduced and accountability by internal and external agencies is accepted to produce the required quality manpower through education We should aim at developing the overall character and ·THE NEW EDUCATION POLICY 73 capability of an individual through well planned educational programmes in order to develop the qualities of hard work initiative, creativity and self confidence Higher education should be made available to those who have the aptitude, motivation and competcace to pursue such studies Access to higher education need not be restrictive to those suffering from regional, social, cultural and rural backwardness Higher education programme should be related to emerging em ployment opportunities and should be designed in collaboration between the educational and employing systems Greater channeli sation of students to a wide variety of productive distributive and services sectors should be emphasised Only the best should go in for post graduate studies and research At the higher education level strong professional orientation to courses or professional institutions need to be established Linkage between education and employment can be forged through tivo pronged measures--by increasing employment opportunities and through qualitative improvement Increase in employment is linked with the wider problem of choice of techoiques policy in respect of imported technology, production structure and the product mix in the country Except for a few professions such as engineering medi cinc teaching and law, all other jobs should be delinked from degrees An effective liaison between the institutions of learning and employing agencies such as the Government industrial establishm-nts and other business organisation is necessary No good policy can work unless it get translated into action by teachers No committ or commission wever seasoned its mem bers and whatever its mandate can substitute the need to involve teachers in pooling sifting and diffusing new ideas Changing the work ethos along the lines suggested in the new education policy would require a massive effort to introduce in service training programmes for existing teachers and new programmes for future trainees The task of creating a new positive spirit among teachers will also require a new kind of relationship between the bureaucracy of the education department and teachers At present, the teacher is at the receiving end of this power relationship Nearly four decades have passed since the University Education Commission presented its recommendations Very little has been done during this period to reduce the sterility that characterises the institu- ·74 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION tions of higher learning in our country The curriculum and routine of our colleges kill what little appetite and stamina for jotellectual inquiry our young people are able to protect, from the oppressive and inanc regime of the secondary school years Only riots, demon strations and eve teasing offer some relief from the enormous ageoda of boredom that the college timetable inflicts upon students If we want to alter this character of our campus life we should re cxamine our assumptions about what is worth learning at the college stage and about the ways in which learning at this stage occurs The present curriculum of higher education is nearly in all fields of know ledge is built upon mid Victorian concepts such as the pursuit of theoretical knowledge for its own sake and sharp separation of one subject from another Our graduates are simply not trained to think that is possible to solve problems by applying knowledge A major reform in the curriculum of undergraduate and postgraduate education is needed The first step in this direction will be to diversify Also there is no reason why universities should not offer courses designed to teach specific skills or knowledge that has a direct vocational value India certainly needs a farger effective and latter infrastructure of higher education but one that will offer different kinds of educational experiences from the one that is available at present Education is both an ingredient and an instrument of human re source development We bave to have excellence without elitism system of reward for ment and hard work without the vast body of the average students being denigrated to dysfunctional and unrewarding institutions and an environment in which life long learning be comes a cherished goal within the reach of the whole society Since independence our country has changed as never before, and we do not know what shape it will take when it settles down But during this period of uncertainty it has been seized by an epidemic of fear This is a psychological malady and few realise its virulence and extent It has in fact affected individuals families nations and the world itself and most people do not know what to do about it Its symptoms are found everywhere Young men pursuing studies arc afraid of hard discipline and well planned persistence and yet they want good careers and feel frustrated because they fear that they may not secure them A farmer is afraid to part with his crops cheaply but demands cheap cloth and cement a merchant is afraid to pay income tax but a

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·-76 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION tackled without the aid of education Problems of economic growth, social and national integration, political development, industrial and technological process are linked with the quality of education we can impart and the expansion of educational facilities we can bope to bring about The acceptance of education as the main instrument of -change is the revolutionary idea of the present day educational think ing in this country Education is not only to preserve the social and cultural heritage of a country and transmit and enrich it from generation to generation but also to transform society and make it richer, nobler and more grand In fact, education is a continuous process and it is a life long process It does not end with completing a formal education culmi nating in the award of a degree It is a process, which continues from cradle to grave What matters most is the ideals and objects that you have built up during this process The object of education is not mere ly to impart information and to teach skills It is something much more than that The creation of an abiding faith in the higher values of life I feel, is the prime necessity in the process of learning Know ledge of things is necessary but unless that knowledge is used to im prove human behaviours and human relations that knowledge is of no account Education is in the main a mental and moral process a process that establishes a right relationship between the mind and the world of things and of human being all around The problems of modern education have become all the more com plicated because of lack of sufficiently definite moral and social pur pose absence of necessary and vital co relation between advancing knowledge and its application as it should be and rapidly disappear ing faith in the higher values of life The Education Commission has rightly pointed out that while the combination of ignorance may be futile that of knowledge with lack of these essential values may be dangerous In our modern world education apart from harnessing has also to cultivate the correct out look conducive to the promotion of pational consciousness and a sense of social responsibility An ideal educational programme would therefore scck to achiave a synthesis between cultivating intellect and fostering a sense of national social and moral responsibility Unless this is done education would continue to have a hiatus between its ideals and attainments The high task of building up of proper educational system is be set with innumerable difficulties og population explosion and explo- ·77 THB NEW EDUCATION POLICY sion of rising aspirations of our youth The bigh expectations of our youth, generated on India s Independence and strengthened by the fruits of freedom are a force to be reckoned with The frustrations and distresses the deprivations and denials, the hardships and hinderances inherent in our social system and econo mic and political structure in our youth There is a loud protest and bitter resentment there is shouting of slogans and threat of revolution The lack of understanding on the part of the elders and their incompetence is proclaimed from the house tops, by the teen agers The campuses of educational institu tions have become battle grounds of clashing ideals The brandishing of sticks and knives, and firing of shot guns and rifies have become a part of the new style campus revolts This revolution in the life style and thought pattern of our youth which has come to stay is straining the present educational system and structure Hippies mods rocks, beatles and what not, arc ugly manifestations of contemporary life which can be ignored only at our peril Hshish, marijuana and drugs of this kind, which are fast becoming popular in the West arc a stern warning to us that all is not well with the upbringing of the youth The noble influence of the elders, the affectionate control of the parents and the benign inspiration of the teachers are fast dis appearing DRUG addiction The alcoholism and drug addiction has greatly increased among students during the post independence period The young people generally consider liquor drinking and smoking as sign of respectability and do not feel any inbibition about it The miasma has made deep in roads in Indian educational institutions A disturbingly large percentage of the student population in cities has experimented with alcohol and drugs, ether once or more Drugs in common use are Charas Ganja Marijuana Cocaine, Bhang LSD Heroin Barbiturate and anphetamines, etc The current scene is essentially an immoral scene Campus morals have degenerated into a cesspool and this addiction is fast spreading among our youth This development portends a frightening future filled with fanatical wild eyed hippie clads lazy inert ambitionless blobs of humanity drifting through life and a weakened escapist society with hundreds of sick and burnt out lives and as a result in-- creasing hopclessacss ·78 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION The trend is basically an imported fad Yet in some cases juokies are made, due to certain chronic flaws in our society Discotheques in cities are said to be a hot centre for drug takers and drug pedlars It is fast developing into a major social confrontation The trouble is too much time is spent trying to pin the blame on someone instead of trying to solve the problem Abuse of intoxicants has been a feature of all societies Famous historion Toyanbee had remarked Intoxicating drinks have brought about the destruction and downfall of nineteen out of twenty one civilizations There are several instances in history when drink evil has brought major national debacles Marshall Petaro of France, while broadcasting the story of his nations collapse before German said Our soldiers drink and could not fight The drink and drug evil is ruinous for a person, his family the community and the country Makers of our constitution had also foreseen these evils and that is why they kept prohibition of consumption of intoxicating drinks and drugs injurious to health as one of the Directive Principles To a certain extent the explosion in drug abuse and narcotics smuggling is indictment of the immorality of our modern age Only when there is a vast renewal of morality and personal character deve lopment will the alcoholism and drug traffic cease to flow Though this may seem like a simplistic solution to some sophisti cated intellectuals they must confess that nothing else has worked and the prognosis for the future is not good This is a two way traffic make the youth feel they are not being ignored and in return they will start doing something creative but who is to start the traffic? Many a suggestions have been made Strict penalties for the Jun kies and pedlars special trained antiparcotics squads surprise raids on all the notorious joints in the city rigid security measures and relentless vigilance to baulk narcotic smugglers are all vital necessities Even though India has a tradition of abstinence and prohibition on the use of intoxicants It is also favoured by our national leaders Inspite of this there has been marked increase in the use of intoxi. cating drugs over the years To study the problem of drug abuse in the country from all angles Government of India had constituted a National Committee on Drugs Addiction four years back From the cvaluation of studies already conducted and also by making use of various materials and methods the Committee prepared seport it covers various aspects of drug abuse viz. masoitude of the problem ·79 TH18 NEW EDUCATION POLICY preventive and controlling measures, treatment of addicts and social rehabilitation The report of the National Committee on Drug and Drug Addic tion reveals that drugs mainly abused are alcohol, opium and canna bis Use of psychotropic drug viz LSD etc is not of that magni tude which is cristing in western countries The number of regular users of drugs is also quite small This small proportion, the Com mittee attributes to our traditions which exert refraining forces Caste religion and local customs are also found to pay a significant role in either promoting or controlling drug abuse The rich and poor are both prone to this vice although social contexts differ Also al cohol which was an anathema to higher castes in India is now becoming fashionable as the educated individuals are adopting western life styles The Committee has discovered that prevalence of drug abuse (especially Opium) is more in Punjab than in other rural areas of the country In general public alcohol and drug addiction is maximum in the age group 35 54 years Psychotropic drugs are more frequently used in metro cities and by the student community To relieve tensions and get relaxation is found to be the top reason for falling prey to drugs The studies have also brought to fore the fact of hard core addicts Within this hard core alcohol addicts are in maximum number Alcohol and tranquilisers are liked most by the student community Drug abuse exists even in students of secondary school stage The most vulnerable time is around seven teen years or immediately after entering tbe college/university Public school education and hostel institutions are socially favourable cir cumstances in going for drug abuse Drug abuse is more prevalent Among students who come from affluent and educated families Will the drug abuse increase in future? Yes, easy availability of drug want of greater freedom especially by the young ones and changing acceptabilities and increase in the tempo of life are the points indicating the increase of drug abuse in future How a man starts taking drugs? Immediate effects of drugs (viz Tehef of pain increased activity etc ) lure an individual He repeats the use to re experience the feeling earlier to take drug and alcohol This is done in spite of clear knowledge of the barmful effects of drug Prevention and Control It is wrong to liok drug abuse with revenue raising Social attitudes ·80 PIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION which influence an individual to a large extent should also form an integral part of drug problem To curb the problem some legal and penal mcasures should be taken These include legislation of a single law for the prevention and control of abuse of narcotics or psychotropic drugs It will be better to re examine the extent of punishmont available under law and making them more deterrant where necessary To meet the problem of drug addicts opening of approved centres for users of all dependence producing drugs will a better remedy Educational and social measures alongwith the medical treatment of drug addicts can help in solving addiction problem To create a rational public opinion on drug probleno importance of the role of mass media cannot be ignored For every pound sc spend at the present time in protecting the health of the people, we squander five in undermining it How far these words of late Lloyd George former PM of England are true in our contert cannot be overstressed Besides, it is imperative to educate the young people that alcoho. lism and drug abuse is not the way to happiness Ji is not creature It. 15 degenerative not mind expanding it is mind weakening Mass media should be fully geared up to stem the tide of this dangerous monster The legitimate aspirations of youth have to be understood reco nised and fulfilled genuine resentments basc to be removed and their doubts allayed and difficulties overcome What is important is that they haic to be understood Understanding begets respect Patronising and scrmonising are things of the past they are no solutions They have been in the field 100 long with barren re uits Education is essentially a two-way process based on human relations What is often not clearly understood is the fact that young students should be given due recognition and sense of participation in the process of learning as also in the process of nation building These sensitive soul with extraordinary potenualities should not be handled roughly and carelessly These delicate and sensitive plants have to be nourished with great care and vision As ard when I find lire to be amongst them I always meet them in a spirit of humility Ithil this is a correct approach ard there is a stront season and & *L** sincerity behind this belief flere I am reminded of an 1763- den flat tool place in USA some years back Once a problem toy trour' a look to ore of the courent professors of Parlosophy for ·THE NEW EDUCATION POLICY 81 an autograph The professor signed it but at the same time, he said to the boy, 'Now, youngman, you sign the autograph for me" The boy was startled and he asked, Professor, sir, why should you need my autograph? The learned professor replied, Look, my boy, I have shot my bolt and have achieved what I could achieve during my life You have yet to shoot your bolt and who knows you may shoot very high I shall watch your career with interest' Because of these humble remarks of the learned professors, the boy turned over a new leaf and changed bimself so much that he turned out to be a great success in life It is with this humility that we should meet young students for one never koows how many of them are going to be highly placed Often, the prejudices of the elders, influence the merit of students in an undesirable manner No student is incompetent or worthless, for no one is good at all things nor is he bad for all things It is a common experience that like Thomas Alva Eddison many students who were considered incompetent at schools and colleges became celebrities in life Let me translate a few Urdu verses from Sardar Anjum Who says country s youngestors are mad? Who says country s youngesters are wild? When their feelings are hurt Then their is fire on the horizon When destination are separated from paths Life is lost on the path of death These country s youogsters are the wealth of time Look at their feelings with the eyes of heart Among them Gautamas Gandhis and Nehrus These lines in a way convey the substance of the problem facing our youth Dr Radhakrishnan said in the preamble of the University Education Commission Report that the greatness of a country does not depend on the extent of its territory or the length of its communi cations or the amount of its wealth not even on widespread education or equitable distribution of wealth, important as all these things are We cannot preserve real freedom unless we preserve the values of democracy justice and liberty, equality and fraternity It is the ideal towards which we should work though we may be modest in planning our hopes "Utopies are sweet dreams wrote Kant "but to strive ·82 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION relentlessly towards them is the duty of the citizen and of the states man as well' Human beings should strive hard to achieve the goal without caring for the burdles on the faith Universities and colleges must succeed for these ideals can never be lost so long as men see wisdom and follow righteousness and work with an undying spirit of curiosity in the pursuit of excellence Are they? No not so far Let younger generation vie with Ulysses To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield', We are sure to make a headway towards our cherished goal There is hardly any university in India which is fully satisfied with the way Higher Education is being run and therefore, all Universities have this constant debate on whether there is any need for change and if so what changes there should be Even in the most advanced countries, educational policies and educational systems are constantly being debated Statements that are being made by people in responsible position and by those whose words carry weight in such matters always emphasise the deterioration in the standards of the Universities and also of the schools in the country The Public Service Commissions both at the centre and in the States repeats the same complaints year after year that the candidates that come before them for the various competitive examinations have a lower and lower standards as years pass on That education must be for character building and for the development of citizenship that acquisition of knowledge and not the receipt of degree or diploma must be the aim of University education and all precepts are profuse both in such reports and in the statements of responsible persons But nothing that can be called cutting new ce has been seen in any such report or statement It is with this background that I am treading this razor s edge A university is not a piece of machinery which can be fabricated accor ding to standard specifications It is in large part a product of its environment reflectiog both in its strength and in its weakness the characteristics of the society in which it is growing up Yet it is obviously necessary that this growth should be regulated on certain commonly acceptable principles of only because the products of each of these universities have to be brought into a common pool of technological scientific and professional achievement in various fields and have therefore to be assessed by common standards Undoubtedly a university should have a democratic system a ensuring effective participation of the academic community in the

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·84 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION Indian educational life With the students really fit for University studies it would be possible for teachers to have manageable classes and not mobs to lecture to and the lectures could be agreeably punctuated by questions and discussions More emphasise should be given to the expansion of existing colleges rather than establishment of new ones every year without qualitate improvemtot of facilities in the existing colleges At the initial stage, there should be at least one college which must strictly limit its number in relation to facilities available to all and where the real tutorial system is possible and wbere the whole academic atmosphere is one of a university college The residential system should be an indispensable feature of the university and affiliated colleges with the proportion of students living in hostels rising progressively from 25 per cent for under graduate and 50 per cent for post graduate level and so on that it ought to be with only those students who have their homes in the town exempt from this rule Besides the university and college library cvery hostel should have a small library cum reading room with biographies, popular history and science books made available High priority should be given to the development of libraries labo ratories, building of hostels and staff quarters and better conditions of service and work Libraries should be sufficiently organised and thcsc should be the most attractive places in the university and college Where a large proportion of students (and even teachers) have hardly any facility of books at home or a quite corner for study and contemplations It is almost imperative that reading scats are provided in libraries and other suitable places on a fairly large acalc The importance of students services student welfare programme health services and improving games and sports is beyond doubt The unicrsity has to guide, encourage inspire and coordinatc thcsc acit vilies on proper lines There is an undoubted need for establishing student personnel services in the university and affiliated colleges at all levels to guide students in connection with the variety of problems They face in their attempts to adjust to educational environment and selection of suitablc vocation As a practical stop in this direction it is suggested that a beginning may be made by Assisting a small number of colleges to establish a programme of student personnel services Larn while you learn scheme should be launched gradually in ·TIC CW EDUCATION POLICY 85 educational institutions to supplement their resources through work This should include assistance in college fibraries scoicc in dining balls cafeterias tuition, clerical work assistance to professors work in collcgc farms gardens and university printing press in college coorcratics and repairs maintenance jobs book binding soup maling carrotar establishment of work shops clectrical and radio repairs spinning and scaung Some students could be provided with los cost apparatus lilc Initting and pencil muling machines to cnable them to carn moncy Somc uniscrsities in India have detailed rules regarding the hours of work remuneration and standard of perform ance for their caring schemes The number of hours for part time job should be limited so that their studies might not sullor Some of these schemes can be arranged with the co operation of local commu nity With the help of UGC the scheme of organising consumer cooneratives can be implemented The cooperatises in educational institu tions would provide items like text bools imported bools scientific instruments stationery, bool bank and also such service as necded for students and stall the consumer coorcratives stores can be orgiinsed at the headquarters of the university with branches in thic affiliated colleges located outside the Unsersily town Our sources are no doubt severally limited but it becomes necessary to concentrate the cfTorts on programmes which have the largest utility in relation to scholarly and desclopmental needs About cxamination reforms what the Radhakrishnan Commission said four decades ago is truc cien today-'We arc convinced that if we are to suggest one single reform in university cducation it should be that of the examination without which they have warned univcrsity cducation 'will fall into chaos There is therefore imperative need for a comprehensive reform It is well known that the undue impor tance attached to examinations has also affected the work of the teachers They are content with teaching what is absolutely necessary from the point of view of cxaminations Both the content of their teaching and the method they adopt for the purposc arc circumscribed by the limited objective they have set before themselves The reform of a fundamental character is the one which concerns the college and university teachers It will be useful to organise orien tation courses and summer institute for teachers in the universities and colleges so that they could familiarisc themsclves with the pro blem of teaching and giving guidance to students Teaching and

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·THE NEW EDUCATION POLICY 85 educational institutions to supplement their resources through work This should include assistance in college libraries service in dining halls cafeterias, tuition, clerical work, assistance to professors work in college farms gardens and university printing press in college cooperatives and repairs maintenance jobs book binding soap making carpentary, establishment of work shops clectrical and radio repairs spinning and weaving Some students could be provided with low cost apparatus like knitting and pencil making machines to enable them to earn money Some universities in India have detailed rules regarding the hours of work remuneration and standard of perform ance for their earning schemes The number of hours for part time job should be limited so that their studies might not suffer Some of these schemes can be arranged with the co operation of local commu nity With the help of UGC the scheme of organising consumer cooperatives can be implemented The cooperatives in educational institu tions would provide items like text books imported books scientific instruments, stationery book bank and also such service as needed for students and staff The consumer cooperatives stores can be orgainsed at the headquarters of the university with branches in the affiliated colleges located outside the University town Our sources are no doubt severally limited but it becomes necessary to concentrate the efforts on programmes which have the largest utility in relation to scholarly and developmental needs About examination reforms what the Radhakrishnan Commission said four decades ago is true even today- We are convinced that if we are to suggest one single reform in university education it should be that of the examination without which they have warned univer sity education will fall into chaos There is therefore imperative need for a comprehensive reform It is well known that the undue importance attached to examinations has also affected the work of the teachers They are content with teaching what is absolutely necessary from the point of view of examinations Both the content of their teaching and the method they adopt for the purpose are circumscribed by the limited objective they have set before themselves The reform of a fundamental character is the one which concerns the college and university teachers It will be useful to organise orien tation courses and summer institute for teachers in the universities and colleges so that they could familiarise themselves with the pro blem of teaching and giving guidance to students Teaching and ·86 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION research are supporting activities, and quality teaching can only be possible in a research environment There is necd for coordination of such programmes with drastic changes and improvements in the syllabi for higher education It is necessary to review and modernise existing courses of study both at the undergraduate and post graduate levels in different disciplines An element of flexibility and innovation in regard to content of courses should be introduced at all level We have first to change our attitude of distrust towards the teachers into one of trust If the members of the Bar Medical Council Insti tute of Chartered Accountant can be expected to be honest teacher should be expected to be honest No reform is possible without trust on the integrity of teachers and improvement of his social and finan cial status His salarv and status should correspond with the salary of judiciary and IAS officers Any scheme of examination reform would throw greater responsibilities on the theacher and progressively eliminate too much dependence on esternal examination Not only the techdique of internal assessment need considerable improvement but at least one fourth credit to class work should be gradually increased The advantage will be to spread work throu ghout the year and the student will have less pressure at the end For BA Final Honours and MA classes besides lecture system seminar course and directed reading course should be introduced This method is quite popular in USA In the case of directed reading course a student is required to read a prescribed set of books and authors and to report to his professors once a week for two hours and satisfy the pro fessor and other members of the group as to his grasp understanding and judgement At the end of the term the teacher asks him to write a short paper and then he gives his final award Better combination of essay and objective type tests is another step in the right direction The major change would be to abolish the external examination altogether In USA the teacher himself sets the question paper conducts the examination and assesses the answers or gets them assessed by his assistant under his close supervision He is allowed a great deal of discretion in planning the teaching of the course as also in examining the progress of the student in the course For better assessment record of tutorial work result of terminal examination and the result of the examination at the end of the course can be of immense help The introduction of tutorial element kill check any tendency on the part of a teacher to show favour Thus the student would throughout the year, be awarded credit on the whole work ·TIIT VIN #DUCATION TOUCY 87 don. America ko'er, mer x cm is another relorm that can go a long way in relorming mariralın 1 sem To reformyard ir pinie distet duralios it rotary tail Improtergome of His het nodigingin improve rl in the performances and ricromgant of the UnNTAISY department, citry colleet IT toucher and even supil Ther}" isih borc Il e univery in india is threon tornar u; a-Jacinsite recies of deliberation and Cecilioamalire lins only on th- lani of jar' or partnership thi ling that we can color a cohagant policy and inject a Laity of nycsardufour inners of education desclopment Th re* Edwration Policy has highlighted the road to thoroughly restruc use and revzmp the existing educational sysicm in Indir Restri-luring involves the pictlen of such l.icicforms as in curti cult cuamariors faculty and deputeeri organisation in service education of teachers and making their teaching more electre 10 on and so forth T1 Prime Minister of Indis have time and apain urfed upon ut to do something to male educational system more relevant puipo elul ard realistic to our rood and aspirations lic has bached this cihentation with the necessan rolitic31 will ond fin.roes withnut which no useful seform in education can take place As all of you inou, quality is the essence of higher education and untess standards are here continuously under review and raised from time to time to meet the growing national needs the higher education will not be able to achieve its goals for this purpose we must regu late the enrolments in full time institutions of higher education not only to maintain and improve standards but cren for securing a greater degree of cquality of cducational opportunity There are two aspects to regulation of institutional facilities and both are equally important One is the optimal use of existing insti tutions which may be brought about by imaginative programming and by small but critical inputs which will increase the use and pro doctauty of existing resources The other 19 the rational distribution of cristing facilities and potential so that areas and communities not already covered are properly and adequately serviced It may also involve creations of same facilities to serve the needs of educa tionally backward arcas or sections of the population Accring this principle in View Wc may start more colleges in educationally back ward and remote areas of the country in the near future Another problem that need to he tackled imaginatiscly and with all the resources at our command is that of cducation of the back ·88 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION ward classes I feel our colleges can set up a system of compensatory coaching or say remedial courses for backward students so that not only access to educational institutions but also attainments in learn ing may be equalised between students of scheduled castes and tribes and backward communities—the first generation learners-and tradı tional colleges and university learners Another factor that is likely to help us in raising the standard of higher education is the introduction of Tutorials and seminar system in teaching and to make it more effective It is a recogoised fact that tutorials and semibars to be meaningful and productive will have to be organised on an institutional basis Every student should know in advance the number of tutorials he has to attend in a course The student should also know the assessment of his work in the tutorial and this assessment wherever possible should form a part of the total assessment of the student It was recognised that the uni versities do not have any provision for internal assessment The programme of teaching in every course should be planned and an nounced to the students at the beginning of each term The list of topics to be covered either by lectures or by tutorials may be indicated and synopsis of each lecture including comprehensive and graded bibliographical potes may be cyclostyled and circulated among the students well in advance of the actual teaching work These notes will have to be revised periodically Adequate clerical assistance will have to be provided to the teachers for this purpose Assistance in this behalf could more profitably be provided even by students who should be paid for this work done by them Another remedy for raising the educational standards is the in crease in teaching hours and days At present most of the teaching days does not exceed 100 days whereas it should have been 200 days For this purpose it will be better if we could reduce examination days preparatory holidays, strike days Another suggestion that comes to mind is the recommcgdation of the UGC that the duration of each period should be increased from 45 minutes to one hour daily College and University teachers can also make concerted efforts to lacrcase student amenities and youth development programmes When we look around ourselves we feel that student participation and jo volvement in community activities is as essential as academic work A total comprehensive approach to student youth involvement and participation is urgently called for if our educational system is not to ·THE NEWY EDUCATION POLICY 89 be alienated from society Student must be helped to gain a sense of purpose and direction by direct participation in a spirit of civil responsibility and human solidarity Some of the activities which need revamping and gearing are effectiveness of NCC, NSS, National Integration-Samities, career clubs, Science Clubs Plaoning Forum UNO clubs, Sports and games, promotion of recreational and cultural activities, etc Some other amenities which need to be organised are book banks, hostel facilities book exhibitions and construction of more teachers quarters, hostel facilities more particularly in far flung and remote areas to attract better teachers and students from far flung villages All these suggestions if meaningful cannot be implemented without active and sincere cooperation of the teaching community The teaching community in general and teachers associations in particular can make concrete and effective efforts for raising the educational stan dards but also raising the image of teachers in the public eyes No amount of sermonising will help us in revamping and restructuring the educational system of the teachers will to devote themselves whole heartedly is not there ·CHAPTER 9 Evaluation of School Teacher The evaluation as an instrument of progress us as important for the teacher as for the students Before evaluation begins the purposes of cvalvasion of school teacher should be clearly defined and understood by all the Educational Administrators Usually the purposes of evalu ation include such statements as the following 1 To build a programme which better satisfics pupils' needs 2 To justify educational expenditure 3 To check upon the effectiveness of the school teacher 4 To inform the public In common with all aspects of evaluation what school teacher needs most today is better evaluation of their performance A conti nuing evaluation is the best means of eliminating wasted effort and addiog more effective procedures An evaluation process is the best way to determine the amount and direction of change needed That teachers differ widely in ability and accomplishment has always been known Teachers have always been compared and con trasted they have always been evaluated--what the pupil thinks of the teacher usually determines what tbe parents think and what the parent thinks usually determines how the general public and school administrators appraise the teacher Every teacher has at some time been classified by all the aforementioned groups of persons as good or excellent average or unsatisfactory, such ratings cannot be escaped by the teacher, and probably they are made every day of the teacher s experience or annually in a baphazard way ignoring 95% good work of the whole year at the cost of 5% bad work Man is not perfect and teacher is a man It is of course true that such ratings have been usually based upon general impressions or pupil result method-and have often been biased and grossly inaccurate nevertheless such judgements-untrustworthy though they may be--constitute evalua tion and teachers have been and are being promoted demoted encouraged and frustrated on these basis There is therefore, the need for a more accurate evaluation of teacher than general impression can supply or the annual result of pupil can justify The report of the Secondary Education Commission (52 53) bears ample testi mony- 'The present system of examining by ·EVALUATION OF SCHOOL TEACHER 91 means of essay type questions leaves so much scope for the subjectivity of the examiner that it cannot be relied upon to any great extent It may therefore be fairly inferred that as at present conducted, examinations do not help us to evaluate correctly even the intellectual attainment of the pupils It is not only the pupil but the teacher also is affected by this examination craze This is unfortunate that his success as a teacher is very often measured by the results of his pupils in the examinations' In utter disregard of the circumstances in which a teacher has to work he is still being judged by the result percentage shown by pupils in their annual examination He is expected with varying degrees of unrealism to bring his class upto University/Departmental pass percentage, when that stastical jugglery is beyond a teacher s control Although amply criticised by eminent educationists and educational administrators the annual public examinations are held to test the efficiency of the teachers' work rather than that of the pupils It is a form of teacher s efficiency audit It has however, been realized of late that the teachers cannot be properly gauged by an examination of this type since the results are determined largely by the capacity of the pupils to profit by instruction and by other circumstances beyond the teacher s control Again the Secondary Education Commission Report comments- Headmasters in presenting their annual reports lay emphasis on the results of examinations To judge the work of a teacher by the per centage of passes of his pupils in the examination is to keep alive the old and exploded system of payment by results Examinations today dictate the curriculum instead of following it prevent ay experi mentation hamper the proper treatment of subjects and sound methods of teaching, foster a dull uniformity rather than origioality, encourage the average pupil to concentrate too rigidiy upon too narrow a field Hence in his sense of responsibility the average Tadian teacher does not yield to any teacher in any other country What he needs is clear direction, encouragement and sympathy and not discouragement on the basis of wrong evaluation method of a teacher s work More than half a century of research efforts have not yielded meaningfully measurable criteria around which the majority of nations' educators can rally No standards exist which are commonly agreed upon as the criteria of teacher s effectiveness and effi ciency While giving the definition of teacher s efficiency in 'The Common- ·92 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION wealth Teacher Training Study', Charters and Wapler developed a checklist of 1010 items The fact that only 122 items were classified under 'Class room instructions' emphasizes that the total job of teaching includes numerous activities not directly related to "teaching subject matter and 'Teaching pupils to study Many activities are involved in teaching To evaluate teachers work on the basis of one item to the exclusion of all others is a gross injustice which may blunt the thin edge of his enthusiasm Traits such as discipline, co operation adequate scholarship, voice care of individual differences, health love for the job command of the subject, daily preparation cultural background teaching aptitude, professional information, social and professional attitudes, interests in teaching effective method of learning social adjustment and the like are amongst the countless attributes of teachers work In view of the above the present procedure to evaluate a teacher by pupil result method will therefore, obviously appear questionable at best by almost all leading educationists and quite possibly vicious It fails to take into account a number of important considerations some of which have been enumerated in the foregoing para In the first place, the achievement of a class group is a function of therr whole previous educational ki tory not merely of the year just past It is unreasonable to hold the teacher who has taught a group for a year or so solely responsible for their present position In the second place achievement depends upon aptitude and upon out of school cultural experiences as well as upon schooling Unless the evaluator is prepared to make an appropriate adjustment for the intellectual and socio economic level of a particular class - and class groups can differ widely in these sespects and as a result of academic atmosphere of the school concerned-no reasonable baseline can be provided for evaluating what the teacher has accomplished In the third place the skills measured by an achievement exami nation represent only a fraction of the objectives of modern edu cation Comparison of terchers with respect to this partial criterion peglects much of their work and may provide a very unfair evalua tion of relative worth of a teacher whose strength lies in different directions Fourthly placing a premium upon University pass percentage level is almost inevitably going to lead the teacher to adopt only those teaching shills which can sccure increase in pass percentage only and pot in quality of education and will ignore the characteristics and ·EVALUATION OF SCHOOL TEACHER 93 traits such as cooperation disciplinc, etc altogether because that carries no weight in the eyes of evaluators and administrators Skills will tend to become the central theme of his teaching at the expense of all other outcomes that the total education is tryiog to achieve He will, with varying degrees of directness teach for the tests Fifthly, as Guildford in his well known work Educational Statistics and Psychology has stated- Really, a percentage of any number less than about 100 should be computed with hesitation If a lower limit must be mentioned as a total below which computation of percentages is unwise, it might be placed at 20 At this number a change of one case would mean a corresponding change of 5% But this warning is ignored when the annual results of teachers are. computed by the Administrators Finally I may mention the demoralising effect upon teachers of a. mechanical external examination of pupils that is subject to all technical limitations discussed above Even though evaluation of school teacher is not a new pheno menon suitable evaluation techniques form the weakest link of the educational process Few busy educators can find time for elaborate research investigations but there are many informal and less exacting and time consuming methods that can be used, profitably by them Although incomplete the following suggestive evaluation criteria may profitably be used in developing proper techniques of school teacher s evaluation 1 Evaluation should increase efficiency of the teacher appraised, by determining bow much progress he has made in his work 2 Measurement research interpretation and analysis are indispensible 3 The purposes of evaluation should be stated clearly in terms of desired changes Define the objectives in terms of specific acti vities 4 Desired changes and purposes should be flexible and subject to review re evaluation and restatement as the needs change 5 Final decisions should be based upon factual data or upon valid judgments 6 Annual pupıl pass percentage is not sufficient data from which to recommend changes Other factors of less tangible naturc are also required 7 Evaluation programmes for teachers should be coordinated with and be a continuous part of the entire educational programme ·94 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION of the school 8 Unique and experimental methods of teachers evaluation should be encouraged but adopted with caution All data and 10 formation submitted should be validated studied and weighed before they are used to effect changes Evalua tion wherever used is concerned with both the means and the ends 10 Administrative lapses incoberences and inefficiency specially in Government Departments should not be overlooked in any pro gramme of evaluation Keeping in view the above suggestive criteria I feel the an nual School Teachers Evaluation Report (Confidential Report) should cover at least the following major areas (a) Social participation of the students in his/her charge, (b) Socio metric appraisal of teacher during the session (c) His/Her participation in the development of good habits among the students (d) Achievements of the students in academic and co curri cular activities (e) Appraisal of the personality traits along with other quali ties as punctuality regularity resourcefulness and 101 tiative (f) Attitude of the teacher towards his students (g) Public opinion about the teacher, (h) Proper maintenance of teaching records and diaries (1) Development of reading habits among his students G) His contribution towards betterment of national and social life (k) His own learning habits literary tastes, achievements or any written work (1) Separate record of the teacher s evaluation to be maintain ed by the Headmaster/Principal and Inspector/Education Officer for Schools and assessment done by them about teaching work be given due weightage (m) Annual subject result of public Examination, explaining in detail pros and cons for any lapse The detailed checklist under cach of the above headlines can be elaborated according to the objectives and standards of education in cach State, subject and school Despite the rather extensisc growth of High and Higher Secondary ·EVALUATION OR SCHOOL TEACHER Schools and consequcotly teachers' population in Indian schools re search studies in objective evaluation techniques of teachers' work are almost all in our country Hence more research that will objecti vely appraise and assess the many facets of teachers work is urgently needed It is desirable that more thorough and systematic programme of research in this area be pursued if teachers' work is to gain effective ness Better teaching will become possible in proportion to our knowledge and improvement of the conditions and techniques which influence the teachers performance in schools To be effective a teacher, in addition to being a competent must understand his relationship with the community in which he works the State which he serves the teaching profession to which he belongs and above all the Indian society to which he is committed The most important social reality that is making teacher s work more and more difficult is the dynamic nature of our prescnt society ·19 8 CHAPTER 10 Personnel Management ja Education During the fast 40 years there has been a good deal of expansion of the administrative structure of education But unfortunately, ibis expansion bas oot kept pace with the expansion of educational facili ties both in terms of 'quantity and quality The percentage of expenditure on Direction and Inspection to total educational expendio ture has come down from 3 2 in 1946 47 to 2 2 in 1981 82 In some states it is even less Moreover, the son academic duties of educa craqal managers bas also gone up The application of modern techo ques of educational management is not without difficulties Some or these are (a) Effective use of any modern technique depends on the quality of the data and joformation available or feed back (b) The application of modern techniques requires both trained technicians and programmers as well as well oriented top level administrators At present very little opportunities are available for professional training of educational managers (c) A large portion of education expenses is already committed in advance on teachers salary which forms a large chunk of edu cational expenses and the funds for new projects are scacrally limited (d) Education is a part of overall public administration and is not 10 a position to apply modern admiaistrative techniques suitable in the sphere of education independently A part cannot change unless the whole system changes (c) The nature of education and its process whick insoles a long time span of discretion is less conduce to experimentation than business and industry (f) The practice of promotiog teachers to administrative positions without adequate pre promotion training makes the application of new techniques of management more difficult (8) Resistance to change sometimes fald and mostly grouod'ess trade vnionism and political pressures interferes with the task of bringing about innovations ard aprising maders management techniques to educational administraton Administeriog the educational system at all level in such a *3* ·YT PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION to get the best performance out of the teacher is one of the major challenges in educational management The essence of the educational task being the improvement of teacbing learning process in the class room, enhancing the competence as well as the performance of the teachers is the most critical factor in the edıcational operation The control of the instrinsic and extrinsic factors which contribute to the morals of the teachers is one of the crucial tasks of the educational administration In order to give education the crucial role and priority and to cnable the reorganised educational system to play the desired role, location and preparation of appropriate personnel at various levels to handle and manage the system is very crucial There is an urgent nee to design and develop managerial cadres at all levels of educational administration by identifying suitable persons from amongst the uni versity scholars educational managers teachers and others A good pohcy placed in the hands of those, who do not believe in it is bound to fail The level of educational planning and management necd to be identified which should be co terminus in the units of general plannog and administration Appropriate policy design for personnel management at various levels of educational administration should be developed on the basis of work analysis Special emphasis in this regard should be laid to sensitise the management cadre at block, district and state levels in order to emphasis the importance of academic supervision and educational management The programme of career development of leaders and adminis trators has not been given due attention in spite of the fact that education is the biggest employer It is essential that comprehensive career development programmes are formulated on scientific lines with academic excellence and experience as primary factors for bigher promotions as compared to seniority and availability of posts The National Commission on Teachers has rightly rejected the concept of seniority in matters of promotion of teachers Recruitment of teachers and educational managers should be strictly on the basis of specifically designed selection test The Teachers Commission has recommended the following criteria for selection of teachers 1 Knowledge of the subject 2 A good academic record, and 3 Special ability for speech The Nauonal Commission on Teachers, 1985 has recommended } ·98 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND IDLTATICS "The revival of Indian Education Sertice to cnhance the status of the teaching profession, to promote national integration and to accettato tbc pace of educational development in the count is strongly recom mended In this connection hotban Education Commission (196465) also made specific recommendation for the establishment of Sts** Education Service and the Jodian Education Service keeping in view these recommendations, one of the possible channel is to provide for three types of selection into the SES and IES (a) Direct recruitment of talented highly qualified young post graduates through a competitive cram, (b) Lateral recruitment from amongst teachers, beadmasters Prit cipals teacher educators, college and universily teachers and (c) Promotion from amongst college teachers, Headmasters fract pals and Inspecting officers A judicious blend of promotion and direct recruitm-nt of frt rate young talent should be the basic policy in regard to the recte ment to Education Service Recruitment and promotion ruta skol's be periodically reviewed to determoc thc proportion according to the needs and requirements of States Direct recruitment should derid through a written test and 10:crvicw as for other administrative ser sices by the Public Service Commission Such procedure su already been evolved in Maharastra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu Ditar a-J Uitse Pradesh ctc In regard to lateral recruitment the main. tes bice saspxk admiarstrative experience may be prescribed as 10 yein KIADI years for MA/MISC+M Ed/A Phil As regards criteria for departmental promotios 1 sborld be play strictly on merit cum scalorily basis la regard to direct, lateral and promonoa CTI Std I'**** cbart speals for itself I lleadmasters of High Schoolshi e frizes!! W. 25% direct 23% lateral 50% Promotion on Nesil-fat-seglo sy 011 1 $'$111 II Principals of 10+7(Sr St Seboc''SUCO D, DIO 75 Promotion 25% Lateral recruiter! II DEOIDPEO/ DE OSO 23. Direct 25 Lateral ·PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION 99 50% Promotion on Merit cum seniority basis SES (Jr 1) IV CEO/Dy DeſPrincipal, College cadre IES (Jr I) 50% Promotion 25% Lateral 25% Direct V JDE/Add DE/DE IES (Selection) These selected persons in SES/IES should not be placed in administration direct Their first assigoment for a minimum period of 3 5 years should be in teaching from elementary to college stage Some posts of the IES should be available for being filled by tenure appoint ments of teachers for specified periods In the same way, some posts in teaching and research should also be available for tenure appoint ments of persons for the IES An adequate numbers of posts comparable to the higher scale of pay in the IES should be created in the Universities and college to prevent a drain of talent from teaching and research to administration Adequate avenues should be made available for vertical growth of talented teachers as is prevalent in other comparable services After selection intensive training of planners and managers of education for at least 9 months should be made compulsory and be supported by periodic inservice education programme in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu the direct recruits and the lateral entrants has to undergo a training of 9 months They are given further inservice training of 3 months duration before they are actually posted as Education Officers During the period of probation, the candidate is required to pass three tests namely Accounts Test for Executive Officers, District Office Manual Test and Special Language Test Bringing about desired changes in education and innovation in the traditional administrative pattern is not a simple and single action, but rather a complex operation which involves time efforts social approval administrative sanction, imagioation resourcefulness and funds In order to gear up the educational management to future needs and situations we have to chalk out strategies to bring about desirable Innovations and changes and create an environment to generate trust, joitiative making use of group dynamics establish clusters of change agents and setting oneself as an example for others to follow The times are now ripe for a thorough re examination of the institutional lag and drawback with which our present system of education suffers ·SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATIOY A department of Personnel under the Union Education Ministry looking after the career interests of IES officers should be set up immediately and similar sing need to be set up at the State level to look after the val career laterests of educational administrators and (cachers of all categories All this is a gigantic task it needs vast resources vision and politi cal will Even more it needs the best available intellectual efforts and dedication to the vital cause of education All educational reforms have failed to materialise in the past because educational manage meat is still in topsy turvy It should be our effort to ensure ti necessary operationalisation details are also worked out along w preparation of the policy document on education The importa featurc of a national system of education is creation of an ethos : which teachers identity is tcinforced Training of Teachers In the past 40 years, there has been a phenomenal growth of the cducation system in our country We bave changed the objectives of education for nation building We want to have development oriented cducation But then, the administrative set up we bave us just a replica of the old one we have enfarged it Is it able to cope with the demands of the new kind of education taat we want to base in our country? No, how could it be? Just adding more bricks pont add another floor to your house You have to have sen strategy, you have to give various other kinds of loputs Tho assumptions comes to my mind (1) Education is a powerful instrument for maintaining trade tion (11) Let us think of a{ternative ways of marging education systems Any system, especially education system which is an open system has to manage itself at two levels IVe have to have one strategy for mapaging the interface, the other for managing internal system llc have to have a strategy for ynfluencing and coping wh the Gosern ment which is an important saterface We get financial resources from the Government We haye to have strategy for $13raging the pohtical system because they have an important impact on education We must bave an interface with the community the Society Ide parents and those sho use our product, 10 {be organisations ard the Government These are sery important interfaces because iny a times when sye are voable to cope with the interface itoy casie inroads into our interaa) system and tbca Rre are at a lous He ture ·PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION 101 to have a coping strategy otherwise forces from interface will break through your doors and windows' and crash into your system That's what is happening in education system today The environment Is much more powerful and has much more important role in in fluencing the direction and the growth of the institution than the institution itself bas Secondly, we should look at the management of the internal system Management of Human Resources is very crucial to any system Organizational structure will be effective as long as people make it effective financial system will work as long as the managers of the financial system provide support and academic management will work as along as the people are willing to invest their energy and ideas Therefore management of people is a very important variable There are four sub systems (a) Faculty, (b) Students (c) Administrators, and (d) Other Employees There has to be an integrated strategy for management of Human Resources Why not develop participative systems at various levels between various subsystems across verti cally, horizontally and diagonally based on tasks and issues? And I think unless we work on that we will not be able to go far because after all if you have support of one subsystem and not of others you will not be effective The question finally is How does the leader of an educational system use management science resource? There can t be to my mind a national policy on managing education systems Because manage ment strategy has to be effected in the light of the context the situation the objective of a particular institution Parliament cannot ass rules they can give norms and guidelines But management bas to be related to the situation in which a system an organisation or Institution is placed There are some important issues in the area of education system which need immediate attention (a) A major issue is to identify the impact of scientific and technological developments on the educational system and the consequent need to think about the appropriate responses, keeping in mind the experience in training of scientific societies and research and development groups An important issue is to find out in what way an appropriate scientific and technologica) culture can develop among the people of this region (6) Developments in science and technology have their impact on sociological and educational developments also Political deve- ·102 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION lopments, too, interact with sociological developments and both influence the cducational system The issue is to study the impact of all these developments on the new personnel profiles (c) One need is to assist the management of educational systems continuously to adjust personnel profiles and training programmes in vicw of planned as well as unplanned, changes (d) There is a need to look more critically at the exercise of develo ping profiles of new educational personnel from the viewpoint of (a) congruence (b) emphasis on implementation and (c) study constraints (c) It is necessary to develop a methodology for developing new personnel profiles in the absence of any earlier experiences (f) There is the possibility of an overlap between the required patterns of behaviour of different categories of new educational personnel (g) It will be useful to make a classification of problems necessita ting the need for changes in the educational system (b) There is a need to make changes in the provision of educational resources simultancously with the anticipated changes ia per sonnel profiles (1) An important issue is to determine the priorities for developing new personnel profiles and organizing training programmes () It is important to renew the existing organizational structures preparing educational personnel and to establish alternative structures to prepare educational personnel with new personnel profiles (k) An appropriately developed future orientation is required to determine the profiles of educational personnel and to influence their training (1) One underlying strategy is the need to examine the capacity of cxisting systems of management to cope with the new demands on the educational system It is felt that political developments and political commitments require greater involvement of people at all stages of the educational ladder and particularly at the lowest rung of the system viz the elementary schools in response to scientific and technological change These issues highlight the need for the educational system to pro vide an adequate and satisfactory response to the socio economic and technological changes in society The varied nature of social demands require a plurality of educational personnel The latter should not be ·PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION 103 confined merely to one or two categories such as a teacher or a head mas er, but should include a variety of personnel viz, teachers, supervisors, principals curriculum specialists, educational technology specialists evaluation experts, special cducation teachers, managers, of educational institutions, and guidance counsellors The need for this plurality 15 seen not merely in the categories of educational personnel but also in the new roles ascribed to the teacher and other educational personnel In view of the multiple resources of learning the new teacher, the curriculum specialist or the educational administrator will have to redefine his or her role as against that when the school was recognized as the only available resource for learning The new developments demand that the education of the child be a continuous process both outside and inside the school, the teacher s role in this process is to co ordinate the experiences wbich the child received in informal non formal and format situa tions The newly ascribed role of the teacher simultaneously changes that profile as well as that of the teacher educator who prepares the new teacher and of the supervisor in day to day contact with the teacher It is only the new cducational personnel, with clearly develop profiles of traits patterns of behaviour and roles, who will be able to assist 10 the development of a satisfactory educational system in response to the socio-economic changes in society Some of the following suggestions regarding the principles to be followed for developing personnel profiles may be taken into consi deration (a) The process of preparing personnel profiles has to be seen an continuous process as society is continuously changing There is a need to anticipate the necds and the desirablc fcatures of society a couple of decades abead and to develop educational personnel who will be able to prepare children for the future (6) The process by which the general statements of personnel profiles are given operational meaning through the design of courses and production of materials should be considered very important The profile once developed should not be considered as final and the educational personnel implementing the tasks should have freedom to modify the profile on the ba is of experience and societal changes (c) Before new profiles are developed existing profiles of educational personnel should be tboroughly analysed with reference ·104 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION to the existing arrangements and with a view to understanding the cxisting situation in an effective manner (d) While preparing profiles, and exaggerated list of unachievable roles and behaviour should be avoided, they would be self defeating (e) The order of profile priority should be consonant with the order of national concerns (f) Profiles should be linked up with a system of incentives and accountability (g) It is essential that profiles should not be prepared on the basis of planned changes only In this regard it should be remembered that we are also dealing with unplanned changes both in formal and non formal settings (b) There should be an in built programme of revising the profiles in tunc with the socio economic changes (1) A sound machinery for evaluating the programme of develop ing and implementing personnel profiles should be set up Roles of educational administrators are not absolute Rather flexible roles seem to be apparent Leadership needs arise within a specific situation What works in problem solving in one situation may be totally or partially ineffective in another The problems of the educational system are vitally linked up with the type of wider social order that is being brought about in India ·CHAPTER 11 Modernizing Educational Administration The need for modernizing the educational administration at the grassroot level in India stems from (a) The rapid growth of educational jastitutions, after independ ence (b) Advances made in educational planniog and difficulties en countered in plan implementation in the past (c) Educational administration has to keep pace with the latest practices of management and its effective applications for in creasing efficiency and improving educational standards in institutions (d) Providing different kinds of leadership at different levels of educational administration (e) Changing pattern of educational system and changed priorities in the system (f) Decentralization of educational administration at all levels (g) Effective utilization of existing trained manpower (h) The need to adopt an interdisciplinary approach whereby the generalist and the specialist collaborate to plan and implement more scientifically the educational social, cconomic, manpower and other aspects from a system or holistic point of view (1) Ensuring rational and objective process of decision making () The need to work out systematically details of educational projects and establishing coordinations between different agencies of Education Bringing about desired change and innovations in the traditional administrative pattern is not a simple and single action but rather a complex operation which involves time efforts social approval ad ministrative sanction, imagination resourcefulness and money Its effective implementation depends on how man and institution conceptualization and organization and planning and implemen tation' are conducive to desired change Since in the sphere of education the administrators can play vital role in bringing about desirable change, it is felt that they should possess a variety of qualities and skills such as (1) Sensitivity to men and situations ·106 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION (11) Flexibility and behavioural expressions (111) Tolerance and preserverance (iv) Administrative and organizational skills (v) Human relation skills (vi) Technical skills In order to gear up the educational administration to modern needs and situatious we have to chalk out strategies to bring about desirable innovations and changes and create an environment to generate trust, initiative making use of group dynamics establish clusters of change agents and settiug oneself as an example for others to follow In order to have a viable self sustaining climate for change the provision of opportunities plays a greater role than demanding compliance and identification Further more the newly established institutions are better places and more suitable for experimentation innovation and change to the extent that the dynamic leadership and involvement of the whole faculty is achieved with utmost care The times are ripe for a thorough re examination of the institutional lag and drawback with which most of our existing institutions suffer In fact administering the educational system at the grass root level in such a way as to get the best performance out of the teacher is one of the major challenges in educational management The essence of the educational task being the improvement of teaching learning process in the classroom, enbancing the competence as well as the performance of the teachers is the most critical factor in the educa tional operation The control of the intrinsic and extriosic factors which contribute to the morals of the teachers is one of the crucial tasks of the educational administration For modernizing the educational administration at the ass root level some of the following conditions are indispensable (a) Favourable political and administrative climate (6) Awareness orientation and support of top-level administration (c) Trained technicians and programmers (d) Availability and accuracy of data (c) Availability of tools and equipment (f) Community Cooperation and Teachers involvement at the grass root level Every District Education Officer and Head of Institution is aware that his management of educational affairs at the grass root level should be more democratic and less bureaucratic Discussion approach and the principle of decentralisation and institutional plan 1 ·MODERNIZING EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 107 ning could prove more rewarding 2 Instead of policing and inducing awe educational administra tion should pilot educational leadership and professional counselling in an atmosphere of friendship, parity, esteem and mutual confidence So enthused, a DEO or the Headmaster would stand out as an acade mic coach, a skilled technician and a superior craftsman practising the management technique and upgrading its sphere of influence 3 Eschewing the role of a supercilious inspector who betrays the traits of a selective critic and a hard bound fault finder modern cducational administration promotes rapport between the teachers and community, links up the teaching and administration and guaran. tees the effectiveness of learning situations He kaits the community urges and ethos and establishes the credibility and utility of educa tional objectives 4 Modern educational administration is a positive force and forum for the improvement of educational activities through the willing acceptance of responsibility and creativity instead of enforcing: blind conformity and mechanical obedience of routine directives and instructions 5 The modern administrator assists teachers to recognise and release their potential of creativity, leadership and dynamism by treating education as a dimension of living and not merely as a preparation for life He distrusts the roles of a prying spy and a nagging boss and denigrates the shibboleth tbat teaching amounts to baiting. or policing 6 He believes that faults are thick, where love is thin, a modern educational administrator stresses the provision and evidence of expert guidance and kindly counselling brought the actual doorsteps of a school Epitomising the participatory and co operative functions of inspection and supervision he plans to support assist and share all good educational programmes commends the outstandiog and propagates the best values 7 Refusing to be an administrative hoax and menace a modern administrator ensures co ordination and integration of all educational efforts in the role of a specialised consultant and sympathetic collaborator He prefers to be an educational guide and underrates the pomp of a seasonal demagogue He confirms that education is a ceaseless and continuous process assimilation and articulation of ideas and attitudes interpretations and actions designed to bring about cultivated minds balanced temperament and heightened seosl- ·108 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION tivity His role is experimental in nature and his motto is echoed 10 Goeth s saying Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being 8 To enrich the professional competence of teachers inspection of schools and class visitations can be constructively handled without evoking misunderstandings or engendering alienation Invariably, visits should be followed by a tactful conference This would help in appreciating the positive strengths of a teacher or a school and would reason him out of remediable flaws and avoidable failures in business like manner 9 Demonstration teaching is particularly beneficial to fresh un initiated teachers invigorating for mature teachers who are keen to apply new methods of teaching Finally, it proves precautionary for the conservative, back dated practitioners of pedagogy In a sense, it 18 an objective lesson whereby an enterprising teacher can realise the gap and the ground to be covered in respect of presentation and perspective 10 Through regular arrangement of short term in service courses for the teachers and different subjects he can refresh and revitalise their knowledge its direction and cohesiveness Professional stimu lation and achievement tend to neutralise insularity and immobility besides toning up vocational self respect and sense of academic com mitment For this purpose it is necessary that in each district so far as possible an extension service is attached to a model school located near DEOs headquarters which will function as an academic arm of the DEOs and also keep a reasonable quota of leave reserves specialist for inspecting schools in his area 11 Equipping school library tably and utilising its resources and services to the optimum level can be counted upon as a precious asset in creating academic atmosphere in a school Beside budgetary provision community help can be employed for enriching the school library Proper arrangement of library hours in the school time table 18 essential 12 Arrangement of annual workshop at the district level for pre paring teaching technique and procedure can provide the thrill of co operative venturing into felt problems We can succeed in ham mering out collective solutions if the conduct of workshops does not descend to a point of etpensive get togethers conducive to mere eye wash and double talk To be effective these workshops should allow adequate time for study and ready access to skilled consultation The ·MODERNIZING EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 109 groups of participants should be tentative and flexible while the resource persons must desist from eclipsing the course of deliberations by dictating their fond, anticipated outcomes 13 Encourage teachers to use a variety of instructional techniques and provide all facilities to enable them to function better 14 Involve the institutions in formulating an in service training programme according to educational objectives 15 Utilize demonstration teaching to acquaint teachers with various teaching methods through lecture recitation, laboratory, seminar and project 16 In cach school faculty meetings must be used to discuss ways in which instruction might be improved 17 Use democratic leadership methods while conducting instructional meeting avoiding administrative domination of the meetings 18 Encourage classroom action research projects in different subject areas and grade levels in an effort to improve instruction 19 Devise an intra and intervisitation programme for administrators and teachers 20 Secure resource personnel to assist in workshops and other instructional meetings 21 Evaluate and follow instructional workshops, conferences and demonstrations 22 Obtain new equipment to make instructions in specific subject arcas more meaningful 23 Organize orientation programme to assist new teachers 24 Suggest special instructional projects such as science fairs exhibitions field trips and job experience programmes that will make subjects more lifelike and meaningful 25 Prepare handbooks guides and worksheets with the help of SIE/SCERT to assist teachers in improving instruction 26 Suggest teachers various methods of dealing with classroom disciplinary problems through the use of student courts, counselling service self discipline suspension etc 27 Use tact in offering constructive criticism to teachers 28 Arrange for teachers the effective use of audio visual equipment and other educational technology equipments 29 Explain new instructional and evaluation procedure to parents. through PTA and take steps to develop community relationship 30 Provide released time for teachers to attend instructional. meetings and other educational facilities ·110 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION 31 Make maximum use of community facilities and resources 32 Each institution be encouraged to employ the assistance of the staff in the selection of audio visual and other instructional equip ments 33 Allot sufficient time for observing and supervising instruction 34 Arrange extension classes for the professional improvement of the staff 35 Headmasters should discuss homework assignments with teachers 36 Each institution should encourage teacher the reading of pro fessional articles and books to improve jostructional techniques 37 Headmasters should follow up classroom visits with teachers conferences 38 Lengthen class periods to improve instruction ie 60 minute periods for secondary classes 30 minutes for supervised study 39 Preparc devices for the evaluation of instructional aids Difficulties and Problems The application of modern techniques of educational admipistration as not without difficulties The following are some of the difficulties (a) Effective use of any modern technique depends on the quality of the data and information available or feed back (b) The application of modern techniques requires both trained technicians and programmes as well as well oriented top-level administrators At present very little opportunities arc available for professional training of educational administrators c) A large portion of educational expenses is already committed in advance on teacher s salary which forms a large portion of educational expenses and the funds for new projects are gen erally limited (d) Education is a part of overall public administration and is therefore not in a position to apply modern administration techniques suitable in the sphere of education independently A part cannot change unless the whole system changes (e) The nature of education and its process which involves a long time span of discretion 15 less conducive to experimentation than business and industry (f) The practice of promoting teachers to administrative positions without adequate pre promotion training makes the application of new techniques of management more difficult ·MODERNIZING EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 111 (g) Resistance to change sometimes valid and mostly groundless trade unionism and political pressures interferes with the task of bringing about innovations and applying modern management techniques to educational admioistration Common Decisional Situations Most of the decisional situations that frequently arise at the grassroot level have been briefly identified as follows I Filling leave vacancies and other vacant posts 2 Planning annual academic inspection and supervision programme 3 Resolving career problems of individual teachers and resolving faculty members grievances 4 Determining appropriate administrative strategies for better performance 5 Establishing general instructional policies Keeping in view the local conditions and needs 6 Devising ways and means for establishing community relationship in different educational rastitutions 7 Planning and allotting school budgets and time table in order of priorities 8 Determining specific school problems and developing strategies for meeting the challenge 9 Planning new schools and subjects and building and other facilities 10 Resolving disciplinary and other administrative problems 11 Clearance of faculty salaries and other arrcars Decision making process Decision making process lie close to the nerve centre of admisis. tration It is to administration what a switch throwing mechanism is to an express train It controls direction by selecting between and among alternative tracks or courses of action In any administrative activity a cboice has to be made or a course of action has to be chosen The choosing of this course of action on the application of the rational thinking is the core of the decision making process It does not mean that the decisions are not based on hunches or personal biases But it does mean that those decisions which are based on available adequate data and logical arguments are superior to those made otherwise Personal prejudices and political group bias should ·112 SPIRITUAL VALLES AND EDUCATION not influence decision on educational and administrative matters For arriving at a particular decision certain steps are invariably involved These steps are similar to that of problem solving in psychological process 1 A clear comprehension of the goal served by the decision 2 Collection of data obtaining of all the facts, opinions and ideas which are relevant for the proposal 3 Analysis and laterpretation of the data collected in the light of sound judgement 4 Formulation of the alternatives which are available 5 Evaluation of each alternative in the light of its possible effectiveness in the achievement of the purpose of goal 6 Selecting the particular alternative which offers the best promise when all possible consequences are considered In the management of educational affairs every day and every moment a large number of prompt decisions have to be taken The decisions regarding curriculum text books, educational technology, time allotment provision of subject teachers, games and sports etc arc normally taken at the level of the Board and Education Directorate and in regard to class room situations at the school level At the directorate level they are more in the form of policy decisions and at the school level they are the decisions for the execution of the policy decisions already taken Honever at both levels the above six steps are invariably involved for clarity and effectiveness in decision making and for achieving the desired end At present our administrative set up is suffering from three major maladies 1 Decisions are arred at burriedly at the Secretariat level with out proper consultation and comprehending the real problem analys ing the alternatives and selecting the right ones This is mostly done for political expedicacy 2 Decision making is simply passed over to the subordinate next in linc The process takes many circuitous routes before the decision is arrived at Many a time the decision making is permanently deferred 3 Decisions are kept pending because the person concerned who has to take the decisions is incompetent to arrive at any definite choice In educational administration whole of our planning machinery suffers from the first malady The plans are formulated at top-speed without giving much thougbi to ibeir practicability The planning ·113 MODERNIZING EDUCATIOVAL ADMINISTRATION so far, is being done by top level administrators in the directorate, state secretariat or Government of India level They have no ade quate data with them as to how the schools are functioning and yet they take decisions of far reaching consequences The chaos which results from such decisions is very much before us For example, planners for quite a long time raised a hue and cry over the shortage of technical persons The administrators hurriedly took decision to open new Engineering and Techoical colleges without assessing the manpower needs Today we face the unemployment of engineer A large number of them are unemployed or underemployed The administrators at the ministerial level are very much to be blamed for much of indecisions 20 educational administration Here the hurriedly arrived at decisions without the rational processes might also be considered as aspects of indecisions For such decisions emanate out of non arrival at good decisions earlier Much of the administrative decisions finalised by the Director of Education 10 many states are again reopened at the lower level and finalised at the secretariat level Again the same decision is reopened at the lower level and finalised at the Finance Department level in this process the red tape kills precious time and in most cases the real spirit of the aims is killed Our District Education Officers, Headmasters and teachers very often shift their responsibility They are afraid to take a decision because they have no confidence on their superior officers A teacher who is asked to take a decision about a new method of teaching shuns to take the decision because he feels that his decision may not he approved by the Headmaster He therefore shifts his responsibility to the Headmaster In many instances the Headmaster shifts it to the Block Education Officers or District Education Officers Many deci sions which ought to have been taken at the school level remain sbunting from one administrator to another At present, therefore, the Heads of the institutions take very few decisions This situation needs drastic change for this, it is necessary that adequate authority is given not only to the District Education Qficers but also to tbe Heads of Schools They in turn must give sufficient scope to their staff for taking decisions Decentralisation of all authority is the key to the success in the educational sphere At present if a teacher in a government school wants study leave he gels bis application recommended by the Head It goes to DEO s Office No decision is taken there After a long time it goes ·114 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION to the Directorate and there the remarks are put by all the officers and subordinates Then it passes backwards taking the same time Meanwhile neither the teacher is at ease nor the head is sure of get ting suitable replacement All this results in bad teaching A national seminar on the role, function, recruitment and training of District Education Officers was held at Delhi by the NIEPA in February, 1970 which made some of the very useful and relevant recommendations It is a tragedy that a very few states have imple mented these recommendations although their utility has still not diminished Obviously some of the recommendations could not be implemented due to certain vested ioterests groupism cadreism pressure groups, political system and administrative expediency In fact there is an urgent need of re defining the role and functions of District Education Officer and Heads of institutions in the light of the tests and challenges of today and the long range perspec tive of future educational development Besides the traditional role which the District Education Officer and the heads of institutions are required to perform as administrators inspectors and superiors it is necessary to emphasize their new role as educators and supervisors, as professional leaders and innovators, as developmental generalists and planners and as extension agents and bridge builders between the school and the community In order to equip the District Education Officers and Heads of lastitutions adequately for the proper discharge of the functions and responsibilities cast on them it is necessary that | Their workload is rationalised according to reasonable adminis trative norms 2 Adequate administrative and ministerial staff is provided so as to enable them to concentrate more on developmental aspects of ad ministration as distinct from routine maintenance of administration and transfers 3 In order to enable bim to perform bis supervisory functions effectively the DEO be assisted by a team of subject specialists and statistical cell 4 Administrative and financial powers be suitably delegated to the DEO and Officers under him to enable him to function more effectively 5 For every revenue district and sub division there should be a team of education officers to coordinate the entire programme of school education in that area However where circumstances so demand such co-ordination may be effected at the regional level -- ·MODERNIZING EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 115 6 A judicious blend of promotion and direct recruitment of first rate young talent should be the basic policy in regard to the recruit ment of District Education Officers and Principals The proportion of direct recruits to promoters should be 50 50 This point has been stressed by the Kothari Education Commission also Academic merit cum seniority should be the only criteria for promotion in the educational administration 7 In case of direct recruitment through competitive cxamipation candidates must possess a good post graduates research degree 8 With a view to promoting greater 1oterchange between administrative and teaching posts qualified and other experienced persons from universities/colleges and other institutions may be offered tcnure appointments to senior admipistrative posts 9 With a view to preparing the District Education Officers and Priacipals to discharge the important managerial and educational functions devolving upon them there is urgent need of developing a comprehensive programme of pre service pre promotion and in service training for them 10 For persons who are promoted to the cadre of District Edu cation Officers and Principals from lower levels there should be a short orientation course to enable them to cover the gap between their previous post and the one to which they are promoted 11 For District Education Officers and Principals who are re cruited to the cadre through lateral entry there should be a programme of three to four months training with a view to acquainting them with departmental rules and regulations 12 For direct recruits of the cadre from fresh post graduates it is desirable that they are put through the regular B Ed training pro gramme in a training college or some specialised institution This training should be supplemented by a course in educational administration and training in departmental rules and regulations coupled with practical experience of the functioning of various organs of the Education Department This should be followed by a period of intern ship under experienced officers An alternative programme of training for fresh recruits could be a Specially tailored training programme in pedagogy of about six months duration followed by practical training in the field of about a year s duration and further period of six months training in some specialised institution university, Icading to a Masters degree in cducation ·116 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION 13 It is also extremely desirable that the direct recruits require some teaching experience before they are called upon to perform inspectional and supervisory functions An experience of about s years in different teaching and supervisory posts should adequately equip them for an independent charge as District Education Officers 14 Short orientation courses could best be undertaken by the State Institute of Education or SCERT The longer courses of three to four months duration suggested for lateral entrants could also be taken up at the State level supplemented by short training programmes at the Central level In case of fresh recruits, it would be very desirable that they undergo a training programme in educational planning and administration at the Central level in an institution such as the National Institute for Educational Planners and Administrators 15 The importance of continuous 10 service training programme for District Education Officers Principals and teachers cannot be over emphasised Short term in service training programmes may be organised for them once in three years Such courses can best be organised by an institution like the NIEPA and respective SIE or SCERT 16 A fair proportion of the district staff and school Principals sbould consist of women officers in order to encourage girls education All will agree that the application of latest administrative/management technique will be a positive step in the direction of making educational administration more efficient responsive and effective at all levels It is therefore imperative that the State Governments set up or reorganise the requisite educational admioistrative and organizational machinery with due regard to multi disciplinary representation so as to examine the efficiency and the effectiveness of the system of educational administration and design change and innovations for its improvements The State Governments should, therefore conduct a continuous and meaningful dialogue for modernising educational adtajnistration 10 the States which may lead to collaboration between educational administrators and exponents of modern management techniques for the purpose of identifying and evolving on the basis of mutual appreciation of their respective approaches such priaciples methods techniques and aids as may be conducive to better management of education and developing such preliminary requirements as quantifiable objectives management ratios and work measurements which are ·MODERNIZING EDUCATIOVAL ADMINISTRATION 117 essential for the successful application of modern management techarques The universities in India should also initiate, sponsor, assist and encourage researches, studies and investigations specially with the active co operation and participation of State Institutes of Education, Department of Education, National Staff College Institutes of Management and Public Administration and such other institutions and teachers organisations into the feasibility of applying or adapting modern management techniques and aids in the fields of both educational administration and classroom instructions Besides the State Government should take initiative to offer cducational administrators of every level adequate training in educational administration on a regular basis, while top administrators are periodically exposed to rapid developments taking place in the sphere of educational administration The universities should also consider the feasibility of introducing the teaching of modern management techniques applicable to education as a part of the teacher education curriculum in Universities and Colleges of Education The universities can further improve facilities methods and techni ques of collecting storing, processing, analysing and retrieving data, relevant and unable for better management techniques, and establish educational data banks for such purpose The State Governments and the universities can provide incentives for the motivation of educational admiaistrators and scholars to suggest, design and implement reforms in the effective madagement of education The State Departments of Education should provide for the involvement of those actively engaged or interested in designing administrative reforms and experimenting with modern mapagement techniques in the process of implementing such reforms and installing such techniques and may, therefore organise sponsor and assist seminars on the application of modern management techniques to educational administrators at the grass root level Such steps are expected to go a long way in improving the contents and quality of education for the betterment of future citizens of the country ·CHAPTER 12 Code of Conduct for Teachers The subject of evoking code of conduct of teachers has been raised at a number of forums, state, national as well as international This important issue has been discussed thread bare by the National Commission on Teachers and at the Seminars on Student Teaching and Evaluation and as such two such Teachers codes discussed and evolved therein are reproduced below to suggest the kind of professional values ethics or code a teacher must observe in order to be a worthy teacher in a fast changing Indian society A Professional Code for Teachers 1 The primary purpose of education is to develop citizens who are enlightened useful patriotic and upright and who are capable of securing for themselves richer and fuller lives, and for the society in which they live to seek progress peace and prosperity 2 Universal education is the vehicle of a democratic way of life which believes that every individual if properly guided in his growth and development is capable of contributing to the common good 3 The quality of education can be measured not only in terms of the amount of knowledge transmitted from accumulated wisdom of the ages past but also in terms of the provision made and secured for a bealthier, happier and more prosperous life dedicated to the promotion of the welfare of the nation and the peace of the world 4 Since the outcome of the educational process is a reflection of the ideals purposes, preparation and conduct of the members of the teaching profession, anyone who chooses teaching as a career binds himself to live and act in accordance with the ideals and standards of the profession Article I The Teacher and the Students In fulfilling the above stated obligations it is necessary that the 'As developed by the World Confederation of Organisation of the Teaching profession and reproduced from NCERT Report of the All India Preparatory Seminars on Students Teaching and Evaluation held at Allahabad Dec 1966 10 82 ·teacher in relation to his students should 1 Understand that the students interest and welfare are his first and foremost concern 2 Share responsibility with the parents of his students even acting in 1000 parentis in the task of shaping cacb students purposes and action towards the attainment of socially acceptable ends To carry out his responsibility, the teacher should establish friendly relation with the home by visiting parents and inviting them to classes in order to acquaint them with their children s progress in school and seek their co operation in solving individual pupil s behaviour pro blems and in evaluating pupil progress in certain aspects of their personality development Article II Teacher and Nation Building The teacher in his role as disseminator of democratic ideas and ideals and as an example of the democratic way of life should 1 Display no biases in dealing with students of different physical mental or emotional characteristics or of different political social economic, racial or religious persuasions recognizing that children are different from one another 2 Believe in the efficacy of co operative actions and seck to enable his students to attain competence in their use in the solution of problems affecting their daily lives both in and out of school 3 Develop in his students positive attitudes and create practical situations for them to enable them to experience fidelity to all forms of duty which demand courage, self denial, and devotion to freedom serviceableness toleration and social justice The teacher in the discharge of his responsibilities for the future of the nation should I Think of raising the cultural level of the community as his immediate concern since the children under his charge and guidance are part and parcel of that community 2 Stimulate creativeness in his students to the end that they may discover better ways of doing things 3 Instıl in his students as well as in the people of the community the idea that all occupations are dignified and honourable so long as they are suited to the ability of the individuals cngaged in them and so long as there is a continuous effort on their part to improve the quality of their service ·120 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION Article III The Teacher and his Profession The teacher as a number of the teaching profession sbould 1 Embrace his calling with zeal and devotion focussed towards the betterment of mankind placing service above all other consider ations 2 Improve himself professionally through continual study and rescarch, reading professional literature, attendance at conferences workshops, seminars, vacation classes and travel 3 Encourage capable individuals to enter and remain in the pro fession 4 Participate actively in educational planning and do his utmost to implement the decisions thereof 5 Maratain active membership in organisations dedicated to the professional growth and social welfare of the teacher Article IV The Teacher and his Rights In due recognition of many demands which the above stated oblig ations and responsibilities make upon any member of the teaching profession the teacher is guaranteed the following rights 1 To be assured of a salary scale in keeping with his qualifications his place in society, and the dignity of his profession that will enable him to meet his growing obligations to bis family and lead a life compatible with his role and responsibilities 2 To be protected from those who wish to enter the profession at lower pay 3 To be protected from harassment caused by pressure from factors outside the school organisation 4 To perform bus official duties under good working conditions and be provided with an adequate supply of materials of instruction and equipment To have sufficient time for rest and relaxation for attending to his personal affairs and family duties and for bis professiona) growth 6 To have the freedom to express his opinion, particularly on educational matters 7 To have an adequate old age provision to enable him to live in comfort on bis retirement 8 To promotion to higher cadres of qualified upon recommenda tion by the proper authorities or by application 9 To be given opportunities for 10 service training during the ·CODE OF CONDUCT OF TEACHERS 121 school year such as teacher inter visitation attendance at semi nar, conferences and workshops in keeping with his specific teaching assignment B Code of Conduct for Teachers 1 Professional Sensitivity and Growth The teacher (a) Tries to understand and assimilate the implications of the profession (b) Embraces his calling with devotion (c) Imbibes an outlook on life conducive to healthy social growth (d) Acquires love of knowledge and teaching (e) Adopts a progressive outlook and grows professionally through continuous study, research and attendance at Educational Meets (f) Is receptive to new ideas and adopts these with caution and maturity (8) Takes interest in professional organisations and participates in formulating and executing group decisions (h) Imbibes a sense of belongiogness to the teaching fraternity and encourages talented persons to enter and remain in the profession (1) Is montally healthy and displays a cool sense of wisdom to tackle problepis Teacher and the Student The teacher (a) Understands child psychology (b) Establishes cordial relations with his students and looks to their welfare (c) Teaches them effectively (d) Projects worthwhile socially accepted self image (e) Utilises environmçotal influences to impress upon the students accepted values of society (0) Is resourceful in providing opportunities to the students to bave varied experiences 'Asd velop dat Cuindigarh Srinar oa Stadent Teachiog and Evaluation NCERT 1969 ·122 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATIOV (8) Shares responsibility with others (h) Maintains desirable social distance (1) Guides students educationally and vocationally (j) Erns respect for the students and the society (k) Looks to the all round development of the student through 10- class and out class experiences (1) Keeps the school plant healthy 111 Teacher and the Society The teacher (a) Imbibes a secular and democratic outlook based on thorough understanding of our Constitution (b) Cultivates a behaviour pattern worthy of his profession (c) Establishes a vital relationship between school and society by sensitizing the various educational agencies to play their effective role (d) Tries to raise the cultural level of the society by making the schools society centred (e) Stimulates through school programmes a progressive out look in the society and gets them interested in social out comes (f) Realizes and makes others realize the importance of education as a significant medium of social reform IV Teacher and his Rights The teacher deserves (a) A decent standard of living and security of service with ampic opportunities of employment (b) Opportunities of professional growth (c) Recognition of his status in society (d) To organise against exploitation of his profession (e) To be protected against external harassment by vested interests (f) Good working conditions in the school (g) Right to rest and relaxation for professional growth (b) Right to freedom of expression within the frame work of his obligations (1) Right to enhance his qualifications and to demand a salary scale commensurate with his qualifications 6) Provision for post retirement amenities in keeping with the dignity of the profession and skill of the individual (1) Free education for his children upto the university stage ·CODE OF CONDUCT OP TEACHERS 123 Status of Teachers3 It will be extremely relevant to refer to a historic paper which had been prepared after an indepth study of the malaise affecting the world of education in general and of the teaching community in particular and the useful guidelines provided therein for improving the teachers status In 1967 the XVI Assembly of Delegates of the World Confedera tion of Organisations of the Teaching profession adopted the reso lution 'Man s ability to enjoy the products of modern scientific and technological discovery and to live a full and satisfying life at peace with his fellows depends upon education Teachers therefore, have a particularly important role to play in modern society They can only play this role in all its aspects if they can act collectively through their organisations Teachers organisations therefore, carry great responsibilities The role the teachers have to play and the status they should enjoy in the society are questions that have been debated incessantly The Government of India Ministry of Education and Culture (Depart ment of Education) vide Memo No F 23 1/81 PN 2 dated 16 February 1983 set up two National Commissions to advise the Government on various aspects relevant to the teaching community This was in fulfilment of the Ruling Party s Election Manifesto in 1979 about setting up of the commissions The declaration was made on Teachers' Day September 5 1982 and it took the Ministry six months to announce the Commissions The National Commission I dealt with the issues related to teachers at school stage The II Commission dealt with issues relating to the teachers at the higher education level including technical education The Commissions submitted their reports within a year commenc. jag from the date of their first meeting The terms of Reference were 1 Lay down clear objectives for the teaching profession with reference to the search for excellence breadth of vision and cultivation of values in keeping with the country's heritage aod ideals of democracy, secularism and social justice 2 Identify steps to be taken to give an appropriate status to members of the profession The laternational Recommendations adopted by the Special Inter Govern mental Conference on the status of teachers in Paris on October 5 1966 ·124 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATIOV 3 Suggest measures for forstering dynamism in the profession and responsiveness to developments elsewhere in the world 4 Recommend measures needed for attracting and retaining talented persons in the teaching profession and widening the base for recruitment, particularly of women 5 Review the existing arrangements for pre service and in service training/orientation for teachers and to recommend improve ments 6 Review and recommend the application of improved methods and technology for teaching 7 Recommend measures to enhance the role of teachers in facili tating motivating and tospiring students in the acquisition of knowledge, skills and values and promoting through them the spread of the scientific temper, secular outlook environmental consciousness and civic responsibility 8 Identify the role of teachers in integrating education with deve lopment work in the community and home 9 Study the special requirements of the teachers in the fields of non formal and continuing education and to suggest ways and means by which these requirements can be met 10 Identify the role of teacher s organisations in professional grow th and professional conciousness 11 Look into the feasibility of evolving an acceptable and imple mentable code of conduct for teachers and 12 Assess the adequacy of arrangements for promotion of teacher s welfare with special reference to the National Foundation of Teacher s Welfare and to suggest modification where nece ssary Status of Teachers The 1967 Resolution mentioned above was endorsed by all the teacher organisations irrespective of their ideological differences One of the fundamental differences relates to whether a teacher organs sation is to be mainly considered as a professional association devot ed to serving the interests of education and the status of teaching profession or as a trade union dcfending the interests of the teachers against those who employ them In fact teachers organisations al most invariably perform both functions at the same time In spite of political or ideological considerations all the lateraational teacher organisations deal with the same problems and their practical ap- ·125 CODE OF CONDUCT OP TEACHERS proach is very much similar Over the years they have developed close contact with the inter governmental organisations dealing with teachers problems, in particular the International Labour Organi sation, International Bureau of Education and the UNESCO They have been acting as Pressure Groups and the International Recommendation on the Status of Teachers adopted by the Special Intergovernmental Conference in Paris on October 5 1966 is a tribute to their work This is a monumental Teachers Charter which, if implemented, would enhance the prestige of the teacher and the teaching profession As a member nation our government is committed to the recommendation and it is the first responsibility of every teacher association in the country to coax and cajole' the Central and State: Governments for implementing the Recommendation The Recommendation It consists of 146 clauses which have been organised as follows I Definitions II Scope III Guiding Principles IV Educational objectives and Policies V Preparation for the profession VI Further education for teachers VII Employmeat and career VIII The rights and responsibilities of teachers IX Conditions for effective teaching and learning X Teacher s salaries XI Social security XII The teacher shortage XIII Final provisions 1 Preamble This recommendation applies to all teachers in both public and private schools up to the secondary stage of education It states that the right to education is a fundamental human right and it is the responsibility of the State to provide for proper education for all. It is affirmed that the role of teachers is essential in educational ad vancement and in the development of man and modern society Therefore teachers must enjoy the status commensurate with this role In spite of differcaces in the patterns and organisation of education and the diversity of arrangements for the teaching staff and, their service conditions the teacher leaders are convinced that simmar questions arise in all countries with regard to the status of teachers and they need a set of common standards and measures The framers of the Recommendation have considered carefully the terms of all the existing international conventions applicable to teachers and astruments concerned with basic human rights The framers of the laternational Recommendation on the status of ·126 SPIRITUAL VALUES AND EDUCATION teachers have also noted the recommendations adopted by the International Conference on Public Education convened jointly by the UNESCO and the International Bureau of Education and the recommendatioi concerning Technical and Vocational Education 1962 adopted by the General Conference of the UNESCO Finally the preamble s tes that the International Recommendation supple ments existing standards by provisions relating to problems of pe culiar concern to teachers and to remedy the problems of teacher shortage 2 Guiding Principles (1) Education from the earliest school years should be directed to the all round development of the human personality and to the spiritual moral social cultural and economic progress of the com munity, as well as to the inoculation of deep respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms Within the framework of these valucs the utmost importance should be attached to the contribution to be made by education to peace and to understanding tolerance and friendship among all nations and among racial or religious groups (11) It should be recognised that advance in education depends Jargely on the qualifications and ability of the teaching staff in genc ral and on the human pedagogical and technical qualities of the individual teachers (ui) The status of teachers should be commensurate with the needs of cducation as assessed in the light of educational aims and objec inics It should be recognised that the proper status of teachers and due public regard for the profession of teaching arc of major impor tance for the full rcalization of these arms and objectives (iv) Teaching should be regarded as a profession It is a form of public service which requires of tcachers expert Anowledge and spe cialised skills acquired and maintained through rigorous and conu nuing study It calls also for a sense of personal and corporate res ponsibility for the education and welfare of the pupils in their charge (1) All aspects of the preparation and employment of cachers should be free from any form of discrimination on grounds of race colour ser religion political opinion national or social orgio economic condition (-) Worling conditions ro teachers should be such as will best or ·127 CODE OF CONDUCT OF TEACHERS promote effective learning and enable teachers to concentrate on their professional task (vn) Teacher's organisations should be recognised as a force which can contribute greatly to educational advancement and which there fore should be associated with the determination of educatiopal policy 3 Educational Objectives and Policies Appropriate measures should be taken in each country to the er. tent necessary to formulate comprehensive educational policies con sistent with the Guiding Principles, drawing on all available resources human and otherwise In so doing, the competent authorities should take account of the consequences for teachers of the following princi ples and objectives (a) it is the fundamental right of every child to be provided with the fullest possible educational opportunities children requiring special educational treatment should be paid due attention (b) all facilities should be made available equally to enable every person to enjoy his right to education without any discrimination (c) since education is a service of fundamental importance in the general public interest, it should be recognised as the state responsibility The state should provide an adequate school network free education in these schools and material assistance to needy pupils This should not be construed so as to interfere with the liberty of the parents to choose for their children schools other than those established by the state or so as to interfere with the liberty of individuals and bodies to establish and direct educational institutions which conform to minimum educational standards laid down and/or approved by the state, (d) siace education is an essential factor in economic growth, edu cational planning should form an integral part of total social and economic planning undertaken to improve living condi tions (e) since education is a continuous process various branches of the teaching service should be so coordinated as both to improve the quality of education of all pupils and to enhance the status of teachers (f) there should be frenancess to a flexible school systems so that ·128 SPIRITUAL VALUIS AND I DUCATION nothing restricts the opportunities for each child to progress to any level in any type of education (s) as an educational objective, no state should be satisfied with mere quantity but should seck also to improve quality, (h) in education both long term planning and programming are necessary, the cfficient integration in the community of today s pupils will depend more on future needs than on present requirements () all educational planning should include provision for pre service and in service training of teachers who are familiar with the life of the people and able to teach in the mother tongue (1) coordinated systematic and continuing research and action, in the field of teacher preparation and in service training are essential, including at the international level cooperative projects and the exchange of research findings (k) there should be close cooperation between the competent authorities teacher organisations, employers and workers parents cultural organisations and institutions of learning and rescarch for the purpose of defining educational policy and its precise objectives (1) as the achievement of arms and objectives of education largely depends on the financial means made available to it high priority should be given in all countries to setting aside within the national budgets an adequate proportion of the national income for the development of education Professional code of conduct for teachers will have to keep in view the role of a teacher in India of tomorrow The teacher of the future will be expected to perform the role of planned organiser of curricula innovator of educational ideas practices and systems, writer of TV and Radio lessons and programmes, resource personnel in the propagation of cver expanding knowledge, adept in the preparation of programmed texts, and motivator to learners in many creative inconventional ways At the same time, he will bave to be a good communicator efficient organiser of learning situations, and democratic group leaders

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·Dr H R Jasta (1932) is an eminent educationist and prolific writer in English and Hindi His work in English include Essentials of Educational Guidance Youth Power & Higher Education Folk Tales of Himachal Pradesh Aes thetic Vision of Sri Aurobindo The Search for Beauty Value Education in Schools He has been recepient of literary awards for his Hindi books on Folk Dances of Himachal Pradesh and Folk Lores (Himachal Gaurav) His other prominent works in Hindi include Geet Madhuri Ramanu; Bharat (Play) Pahan Lok Ramayana Parvaton Ki Goonj (Folk Literature) Bharatiya Lok Param para aur Naag Pooja Himachal ki Lok Sanskrit Sri Aurobindo Ka Sahityak Darshan Himachal ko Kahani (History) Himachal ki Jhanki (Geography) Adhunik Bharatiya Sharkshik Chin tan History of Pahari Language and Literature four collections of One Act Plays four moral readers for the younger generation Dr Jasta obtained his PhD (English) for his dissertation on the Aesthetics of Sn Auro bindo He taught English fiterature for more than 20 years in Govt Colleges He has publi shed research articles on topics of arts literature culture language education etc in Research journals and delivered talks on these topics in various seminars conferences inservice courses AIR Doordarshan etc Dr Jasta is at present a senior officer in Himachal Educational Service and the founder editor of departmental educational Journal HIMSHIKSHA since 1971 Heis member of HP Akademy of Arts Languages and Culture Member HPU College Development Council President of HP Rachnaakaar Sangam & seve ral literary and educational organisations