In 1948 at the 18th meeting of the CABE,
the government of Bihar raised the question of relationships between the state
governments and local bodies in respect of administration of elementary
education. The ministry of education therefore appointed this committee in
1951. Shri B. G. Kher, chief minister, Bombay was the chairman of that
committee. There were 11 more members on the committee. The terms of reference
were-
To examine, in detail the present setup
of local administration of education in the different states in the assumption
of more powers by the state governments, the requirements of different state
governments in this regard and to recommend a more or less uniform pattern with
few variations , be adopted in all the states of India.
Major
recommendations of the commission:
- Association
of local bodies with the administration of primary education- It said that
it would be an advantage to associate local bodies with the administration
of primary education in some form or other.
- Creation
of educational bodies-
·
In
all village panchayats and smaller municipalities which have been given only a
limited control over primary education, the local body should be required to
elect a school committee and to delegate to it the task of supervising the
local school or schools.
·
In
district local boards and in bigger municipalities which exercise wider power
over primary education, a school board should be constituted and charged with
the responsibility of looking after educational powers as well as an
administrative officer having adequate authority to carry on the day to day
administration of its primary schools.
·
The
government should adopt the independent system of associating educational
bodies with the corresponding local authorities generally.
·
The
appointment of administrative officers should be obligatory under the statute
in the case of all district school boards and the larger municipalities. They
should be servants of state government.
- Division
of authority on a functional basis-
·
Inspection
should be regarded as a duty of the government and should be carried out by
government officers. All inspecting officers should be directly under the
government and the local bodies should have no contact over them.
·
State
government should solely responsible for maintaining or aiding the requisite
number of training institutions for primary teachers.
·
The
authority to define curricula of courses of study at the primary level should
continue to vest in the state governments. But the local bodies should also be
authorized, with the previous approval of the Director of Education, to
introduce such variations in the prescribed curricula as they may seem
necessary in view of local condition.
·
In
every major municipality authorized to administer primary school within its
area and in every district school board, the authority to recruit and control
the teaching staff should vest in the staff selection committee, the
administrative officer, and the appellate tribunal constituted on lines similar
to those adopted in Bombay.
·
The
service conditions of primary teachers should be determined by the local bodies
concerned with the sanction of state governments and as far as possible these
should be uniform throughout the states.
·
The
primary teachers should continue to be treated as servants of local bodies as
at present.
Regarding text books, it
suggested that state governments should prescribe, on the advice of official
and non official experts in the subject, the books to be used in primary
schools, and where more than one book happens to be prescribed in a subject,
the local body should have the freedom to choose any one of the prescribed in a
subject, the local body should have the freedom to choose any one of the
prescribed books for use in schools under its control.
- Division
of authority on the basis of the local body associated-
- City Corporation – the general policy should be to
devolve as large as authority upon city corporations as possible.
- Authorized municipalities- the larger municipalities may be
designated as ‘authorized municipalities’. They will differ from
corporations in three ways 1) the government will actually conduct
inspections instead of merely reserving he right to do so. 2) The general
control of the government will be a little more detailed and 3) the
administrative officers should preferably remain the servants of state
governments.
- Non-authorized
municipalities – the small municipalities cannot be permitted to
administer primary education in their areas will have to be treated at a
still lower level.
- Villages- the powers and duties of village
school committees should be divided into two groups; the first group will
include all those powers which a village committee will have as soon as it
is formed, and the second group will include all those powers which can be
conferred on it by the District School Board , in views of its efficiency.
- District School Boards- the power and duties of these bodies should be similar to those of the Municipal School Boards.
5.
Finance-
- The union
government should assign specific grants for universal and compulsory
primary education in the states.
- A sum not
less than 60% of the total education expenditure of the state should be
spent on primary education
- State
grants to local bodies on account of primary education should be based on
a combination of proportional grant (used to secure a broad equalization
as well as to provide for rapid expansion), a special grant for backward
or necessitous areas, the specific purpose grants.
- Grants
for all primary education – whether voluntary or compulsory- should be
statutory.
- The
municipal acts should be amended so as to make the levy of all education
cess obligatory or municipalities to ear mark a specified proportion of
their total revenue for primary education all funds thus ear marked for
primary education should be entitled to receive grant in aid according to
rules.
·
In
village panchayats a portion of the total revenue should be earmarked for
primary education.
6. Approved schools-
- Local
bodies associated with the administration of primary education should
ordinarily be in charge of all primary schools in their areas, whether
maintained under their direct control or managed by private agencies.
- The authority
to control and guide the private primary school in there areas should
generally vest in the local bodies themselves.
- The state
government should retain a few powers to themselves with a view to seeing
that no hardship are caused to private schools should vest concurrently in
the state governments, local bodies and managements.
- Regarding
grant or withdrawal of recognition to a private school. The committee
suggested that
1) The inspecting officers of
the department should be required to carry out, in the first instance, an
investigation into every proposal for the grant or withdrawal of recognition to
a private primary school.
2) The school board concerned
should consider the report of such investigation and then decide whether
recognition should or should not be granted or should be withdrawn and,
- Any party
aggrieved by the order of the School Board should have the right to prefer
an appeal to the director of education or to any other specified officer.
7. The authority to grant
recognition should also be authority to sanction Grant in aid.
