Mudaliar Commission or secondary Education Commission (1952-1953)

Till 1952 number of commissions had been appointed to survey Indian education; all of which dealt incidentally with certain aspect aspects of secondary education. But no Commission had so far been appointed to survey the problems of secondary education. The central advisory board of education in its meeting held in 1949 and 1951 recommended the appointment of a commission for secondary education.

The government of India; accordingly appointed the secondary education commission, under the chairmanship of Dr. A. Lakshmanswami Mudaliar , then Vice- Chancellor of Madras University.

The terms of reference were as follows-

·         To enquire into and report on the present position of Secondary education in India in all its aspects; and

·         Suggest measures for its reorganization and improvement with particular reference to:

                  the aims, organization, and content of secondary education

                  its relationship to Primary Basic and Higher Education;

                                  the inter relation of secondary schools of different types;

                     other allied problems

So that a sound and reasonable uniform system of secondary education suited to our needs and resources may be provided for the whole country. The commission submitted its report in June 1953. 

The recommendations regarding educational administration were as follows:

Duration of secondary education- the following new organizational structure for secondary education after the four or five years of Primary or Junior Basic Education;

·         A Middle or Junior Secondary or Senior Basic stage which should cover a period of 3 years;

·         A Higher Secondary stage which should cover a period of 4 years

High schools and higher secondary schools – the commission pointed that as it will not be possible to convert all existing high schools into higher secondary schools in the near future. So in the case of such schools, it said that, the problem would be to improve their efficiency within their present structure and recommended for the reconstruction of the curriculum and methods of education. The considerable improvements were also needed to make them more efficient and to enable them to be converted ultimately into Higher Secondary Schools. These improvements should include the provision of better qualified and more carefully selected personnel, better equipment, better laboratory and library facilities and better organization of co- curricular activities. In addition, the scheme of diversified courses of study should also introduce as far as possible.

There should be special criteria for –

1.       Accommodation,

2.      Equipment,

3.      Qualifications of the staff,

4.       Salaries and Grades, and

5.      Adequate finances to ensure that the institution will continue to function efficiently. It said that such assurance must be offered either by the management itself or be provided on the basis of help guaranteed by the State and Central Governments.

Inspection of Schools:

1. The true role of an Inspector would be to study the problems of each school and view
them comprehensively in the context of educational objectives, to formulate suggestions for
improvement and help the teachers to carry out his advice and recommendations.
2. In addition of direct recruitment, inspectors should also be drawn from- teachers of ten
years’ experience, head masters of high schools and, duly qualified staff of training colleges
who may be allowed to work as such for a period of 3 to 5 years.

Management of schools: 

1. The managing boards of all schools should be registered and should consist of a limited
number of persons with the head master as an ex-officio member.

2. No member of the Managing board should directly or indirectly interfere with the
internal administration of the school.

School building and Equipment: 

1. The open spaces available in cities must be conserved  to be utilized as a playground by groups of schools

2. Normal, in designing buildings for schools, care should be taken to see that an area of not
less than 10 sq ft is provided per student in the class room.

3. The optimum number of boys to be admitted to any class should be 30 and the maximum
should not in any case exceed 40; the optimum number in the whole school should be 500
while the maximum should not exceed 750.

Hours of working and vacations:

1. As a rule the total number of working days in a school should not be less than 200, the
working hours per week should be at least 35 periods of about 45 minutes each; the school
should work regularly for six days in a week, one of the days being a half day when the
teachers and the student might meet informally and work together on various extra
curricular and social projects.

Finance:

1. A cess called the industrial education cess be levied, the amount collected to be utilized for the furtherance of technical and vocational education at the secondary stage.

2. The center should assume a certain amount of direct responsibility for the contemplated reorganization of secondary education and give financial aid for the purpose.