Education has been identified as a critical input for economic development, more so for human resource development. It is considered to be a key instrument of national development and individual welfare. Since independence, to ensure better inputs to the system, committees & commissions have been constituted from time to time, to review and to provide focus and direction to the education sector at all levels. The first National Policy on Education adopted in 1968 laid stress on the need for radical reconstruction of the education system, improvement of quality at all stages, inculcation of scientific temper, cultivation of moral value and focus on bringing education and life closer. The latest on the series of education policy is the National Policy on Education (1986) as updated in the programme of action (POA) 1992.
Indian Education Commission is popularly known as Kothari Commission. This commission was appointed by the Government of India under the leadership of Dr.D.S.Kothari , vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi and chairman of the UGC by a resolution, dated July 14. 1964 ‘to advice the Government of India on the national pattern of education for all stages and in all aspects’. The commission studied the problem of education in India and submitted its report to the Education Minister of India on June 29, 1966. The commission has called for a drastic reconstruction of Indian education. It is a comprehensive report and expected to have so far wide political repercussions.
Main Recommendations of Kothari Commission
To achieve the aim of education, the commission suggested various ways and means, which are as follows: (i) It recommended three measures for making education productive, viz, introduction of science at every stage of school education; work experience to be an integral part of education; and vocationalisation of secondary education.
(ii) There should be a common school system throughout the country to cultivate national consciousness for social and national integration.
(iii) There should be a minimum standard of elementary education for all children up to the age of 14 so as to wipe out illiteracy and strengthen democracy. Equal educational opportunity should be given to all children of merit, irrespective of caste, religion, sex or economic status. Courses should be redesigned to inculcate democratic values of tolerance, co-operation, sacrifice, self-help, equality and justice.
(iv) Radical transformation in the educational system is needed by including modern science and technology in the courses in a manner harmonised with traditional spiritual values.
(v) For the development of social, moral education courses should be introduced at all levels. The commission recommended studying of the major religions of India, highlighting their similarities and stressing upon their moral and spiritual values.
(vi)The commission recommended the following educational structure, i.e. pre-school education of 2-3 years; primary education of 7-8 years; lower secondary education of 2-3 years; higher secondary education of 2 years, including vocational education; and higher education of 3 years for the first degree.
With the change of the government in the centre in 1990, a review committee (under the chairmanship of Acharya Ramamurti) was appointed to review the National Policy on Education (1986). The committee submitted its report in December 1990 entitled ‘’Towards an enlightened and human society’’. The committee was guided by the philosophy of equity and social justice, and decentralisation of educational management. When the congress govt. came to power in 1991, the Ramamurti report was not taken into consideration. A new committee was appointed in July 1991 under the chairmanship of Janardhana Reddy to review the implementation of various parameters of the National Policy on Education (1986). The committee submitted its report in 1992 and, accordingly, finalised and revised the National Policy on Education (1986) in 1992.
Aims of Education as per Secondary Education Commission
Both NPE (1986) and NPE (1992) strongly advocated that children with special talent or aptitude should be provided with opportunities to proceed at the faster pace by making good quality education available to them, irrespective of their capacity to pay for it. Access to secondary education will be widened with emphasis on enrolment of girls, SCs and STs, particularly in science, commerce and vocational streams.
The POA(1986) and POA(1992) have dealt with some important issues that are as under
(a) Strengthening the roles of BSE: A task force was setup to study status and position of boards throughout the country. The task force submitted its report giving certain recommendations.
(b) School Infrastructure: As per POA (1986), a programme for construction of additional classrooms and laboratory facilities in schools, to the extent they were deficient was taken up. Every school must have laboratories and other facilities as specified in the terms of recognition of the board of secondary education to which it is affiliated.
(c) Staff Development: Teacher competencies would be improved by attracting better qualified people to the profession as envisaged in the policy and by improving pre-service and in-service training programmes through strengthened secondary teacher training institutions. The process will begin straight away and will be continued for consistently upgrading teachers.
(d) Reorienting the Content of Secondary education: National Policy of Education stressed on the improvement of the quality of the secondary education. Effort to be made to provide computer literacy in as many secondary level institutions to make the students equipped with necessary computer skills.
(e) Three language formulas (TLF): The NPE of 1968 spoke about the regional languages and the three language formula. The 1986 policy reiterated the earlier stand. The NPE, 1968 recommended the inclusion of the TLF ‘ which includes the study of a modern Indian language, preferably one of the southern languages, apart from Hindi and English in the Hindi speaking states, and of Hindi along with the regional language and English in the non-Hindi speaking states’, at the secondary stage. This was reiterated in the education policy, 1986 and was adopted as the programme of action by the parliament in 1992. These are major attempts to arrive at language policy for education.
(f) Evaluation Process and Examination Reform: According to NPE examination system will be recast so as to ensure a method of assessment that is a valid and reliable measure of student development and powerful instrument for improving teaching and learning.
(g) In Functional Terms NPE Meant:
(i) Elimination of excessive elements of chance and subjectivity;
(ii) De-emphasis on memorisation;
(iii) Continuous and comprehensive evaluation;
(iv) Improvement in the conduct of examination;
(v) Introduction of concomitant change in instructional material and methodology;
(vi) Introduction of the semester system from the secondary stage in a phased manner ;and
(vii) Use of grades in the place of marks
(h) Common Educational Structure: It will be seen that every new school, which is opened ,follows the (10+2) structure in actual practice. Most of the States in the country at present have (10+2) structure of education.
(i) Vocation of Secondary Education: Secondary education begins to expose students to the differentiated roles of science, the humanities and social science. This is also an appropriate stage to provide children with a sense of history and national perspective and give them opportunities to understand their constitutional duties and work ethos and of the values of a humane and composite culture will be brought about through appropriately formulated curricula. Vocationalisation through specialised institutions or through the refashioning of secondary education can, at this stage, provide valuable manpower for economic growth. Access to secondary education will be widened to cover areas unserved by it at present. In other areas, the main emphasis will be on consolidation.
(j) Navodaya Vidyalayas: As enunciated in the NPE 1986 (modified in 1992) on setting up pace-setting residential schools where good quality education could be imparted to talented children from rural areas, the Government started in 1986 the scheme of setting up Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalas (JNVs) in every district which are run by the NVs. JNVs exist all over India, with the exception of Tamil Nadu. There are approximately 596 JNVs across India (one school per district) as per 2014.
Strategies to maintain a high standard of academic achievement in NVs are:
(1) Recruitment of Teachers: A job-oriented test for selection on all Indian bases.
(2) Training: An annual programme of action has been drawn which would include continued development of in-service training programmes and teaching/learning materials.
Navodaya Leadership Institutes have started designing and conducting Induction Training courses for newly appointed principals and teachers. Training programmes consisting of special knowledge and skills have been designed for non-teaching staff. The training wing has conducted several training courses for teaching and non-teaching staff.
CONCLUSION
Education policy is the principles and government policy making in educational sphere, as well as the collection collection of laws and rules that govern the operation of education system. Education occurs in manty forms for many purpose through many institutions. Education policy analysis is the scholarly study of education policy. It seeks to answer questions about the purpose of education, the objectives (social & personal) that it is designed to attain, the methods for attaining them and the tools for measuring their success or failure. Research intended to inform education policy is carried out in a wide variety of institutions and in many academic disciplines. Important researchers are affiliated with departments of psychology, economics, sociology, and human development, in addition to schools and departments of education or public policy.
Examples of education policy analysis may be found in such academic journals as Education Policy Analysis Archives and in university policy centres such as the National Education Policy Centre. The first National Policy on Education was adopted in 1968. The latest in the series of education policy is the National Policy on Education (1986) as updated in the Programme of Action (POA) (1992).