education, we should like to stress again that this does not involve elimination of English. In fact, English, as an important 'library language' would play a vital role in higher education. No student should be consid- ered as qualified for a degree, in particular, a Master's degree, unless he has acquired a reasonable proficiency in English (or in some other library lan- guage). The implications of this are twofold: all teachers in higher education should be essentially bilingual in the sense that they would be able to teach in the regional language and in English, and all stu- dents (and, particularly postgraduate students) should be able to follow lectures and use reading materials in the regional language, as well as in English.

(3) Great care has to be taken to ensure that the progress of the student entering the university is hampered as little as possible by complexities relating to the media of education. In a student's life, the change from school to college is a crucial stage. On entering college, he finds that there is a greater demand on his powers of understanding and concentration than at school. When to this is added the difficulty inherent in a sudden change in the medium of education, it is not to be wondered at that many students feel bewildered and lost and lose zest in their studies. At the earlier stage of the undergraduate course, it will be an advantage if the bulk of the classwork is done through the regional language. As one goes higher up the educational ladder and as the student's command over English and his familiarity with its use as a medium of education increases, more and more of the class-work could be in English. At the postgraduate stage, at least for some time to come, the bulk of the class-work will have to be in English.

(4) To safeguard the interest of minorities, some special steps would be needed. The maintenance of colleges teaching through the medium of Hindi in the non-Hindi speaking areas or of Urdu (which is not a regional language in the sense the other modern Indian languages are) in any part of the country should not only be permitted but encouraged. in so far as colleges teaching through the media of modern Indian languages other than the regional language of the area are con- cerned, there need be no obligation on the State to provide such institutions, except in cases where an adequate number of students is available. But if any linguistic minority group offers to maintain such an institution, it should be permitted and admissible grants given to it.

(5) As we have recommended earlier, it would be de- sirable to establish centres of advanced study for the development of modern Indian languages so as to make them fit media for higher educa-

11.60 HIGHER EDUCATION: OBJECTIVES AND IMPROVEMENT 529

tion. These should include two centres for Urdu-one in the North and one in the South.

11.59 We are definitely of the view that at the university stage, no language should be made a compulsory subject of study but the classical and modern languages of India and important foreign languages should be provided as elective subjects. As we have recom- mended elsewhere, *137 there should be considerable flexibility with regard to the choice of the subjects. The compulsory study of a language is likely to make some useful combination of subjects imprac- ticable by placing too heavy a burden on the students. We were con- cerned to find that in one big university, about 50 per cent of the total time available for education at the undergraduate stage was devoted to the study of languages only. It is obvious that, under such conditions, the studies of the principal, subjects greatly suffer and standards remain low.

11.60 Since an adequate command over a library language is indispensable for a university student, we recommend that adequate facilities should be provided in universities and colleges for the study of English and where necessary or Possible, for other library languages also. For this purpose, we recommend the following:

(1) Special units for teaching English should be established in university and colleges whose main objec- tive would be to give a good working knowledge of Eng- lish to new entrants by the adoption of modem teaching techniques and in as short a time as possible. A dis- tinction has to be made between the teaching of English as a skill and the teaching of English literature. The teachers in this unit will, therefore, need special training on the lines of the pioneer work being done at the Central Institute of English at Hyderabad. More- over, it has to be noted that the students who enter the universities will be at different levels of attainment in English. Some will have come from English-medium schools and be well advanced. Others who come from urban schools with, comparatively speaking, good facili- ties: for teaching English would be at an average level. But a large number who would have come from rural areas or the weaker schools will be at a much lower level of attainment. No single course in English would meet the needs of all these students. It should, therefore, be a responsibility of the English units to adjust their teaching to the needs of the different categories of students and to ensure that they are all given at least that essential command over the language which will enable them to use it efficiently as a library language. While the facilities should be provided in all institu- tions so far as possible, it should be optional for each student

137 Chapter XII.

530 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 11.61

to decide the course he would take to meet his needs or even take no course at all, if his preparation at school stage is found to be adequate.

(2) It would be an advantage to teach some English as a part of the elective subject course in the first year of the undergraduate stage. For example, students of economics may study English for about two periods a week as a part of their course in the first year. The object of this teaching would be to introduce the students to literature in economics in English, to the special voca- bulary used in the subject and to help them to read with comprehension books and journals in English in their special field. Where such courses have been tried, they have proved quite helpful and have enabled the student to use English as a library language in his own field far more efficiently than a general English course would do.

(3) While English is our most important library lan- guage, it is necessary, as we have repeatedly stressed in this report, to develop other important library languages also. Much greater attention should, there- fore, be given to the teaching of library languages other than English than is the case at present. In particular, we stress the immediate need to study Rus- sian on a larger scale.

11.61 In major universities, it will be necessary, as a rule, to adopt English as the medium of education because their students and teachers will be drawn on an all-India basis. This is the only feasible approach if their all-India character is to be main- tained. But we are not opposed to the possibility of some university, which has the necessary quality of staff and students, trying this experiment in a regional language. We realize that this will involve some difficulties in drawing their students and teachers on an all- India basis; but we are convinced that they can be overcome. The position can be reviewed in due course as the linguistic situation develops.

STUDENT SERVICES

11.62 A major weakness of the existing system of education is the failure to provide adequately for student welfare. This is an aspect of higher education which needs to be improved on a priority basis.

11.63 Student services are not merely a welfare activity but constitute an integral part of education. The following are some of the important services which can be included in this programme:

- orientation for new students;

- health services;

- residential facilities;

11.65 HIGHER EDUCATION: OBJECTIVES AND IMPROVEMENT 531

- guidance and counselling including vocational placement;

- student activities; and

- financial aid.

Financial aid in the form of scholarships, book-banks and text- book loans and the provision for students to earn while they learn have been discussed elsewhere in the Report.138 In this chapter, it is proposed to discuss briefly the other forms of student services.

11.64 Orientation for New Students. Entry into a college or a university is a very important change in the life of a student, and in some cases, the change is so great and sudden that he is apt to lose his balance. Some deliberate steps have therefore to be taken to facilitate adjustment. We recommend that all institutions of higher education should organize orientation programmes for their new stu- dents in the beginning of the academic year. Senior students should be actively associated with this programme. Group discussions and individual conferences can be arranged for the purpose and, where necessary, guided campus tours will also be helpful. No student should be left in doubt about the arrangements for housing and food, days and hours when his classes meet, the fees to be paid and above all the general traditions of the institutions and the rules and regulations he is expected to observe. Each student should also be assigned to an academic adviser, who should be a member of the staff and assist him in planning and formulating his total college pro- grammes and organizing his studies to the best advantage. Every member of the teaching faculty should be expected to serve as an academic adviser to a group of students.

11.65 Health Services. Health services for students are generally neglected. The replies to the questionnaire sent by the Education Commission to the different universities on the subject have revealed that few of them have conducted any health surveys of their students and not many have organized systematic programmes of health services for them. In a number of universities, there is no medical examination, even at the first entry stage, and where medical examinations have been conducted, they are often of a perfunctory character without any suitable follow-up work. Society has a special stake in the health and the physical well-being of university students who are (or should be!) the elect of the rising generation and in whom it has to invest large resources and to whom it looks for the advance- ment of national interests. The organization of student health serv- ices at the university stage, therefore, should receive a high prio- rity.

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532 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 11.66

11.66 We recommend that early steps should be taken to organ- ize adequate health services in universities and colleges. Health centres should be established on every university campus and in town- ships with a large student population to provide for medical examina- tion, follow-up treatment, and emergency care. The services of part- time doctors should be enlisted for the purpose in smaller mofussil towns. We also recommend that adequate provision should be made for health education of students and for securing their involvement in the organization of health services-both in policy-making and in the execution of programmes. The UGC may explore the possibility of organizing health services for university teachers and students on the lines of the contributory health service organized for the employees of the Government of India. A beginning may be made with one or two universities with a large resident student population and, in the fight of the experience gained, the programme may be extended to other centres.

11.67 Hostels and Day-Study Centres. At present, hostel facilities have been provided for about 18 per cent of the enrolment at the university stage. There is need to expand these considerably and we suggest: that an effort should be made to provide hostel accom- modation for about 25 per cent of the enrolment at the undergraduate stage and 50 per cent of the enrolment at the postgraduate stage. In professional courses like agriculture, engineering or medicine, the extent of hostel facilities provided is already fairly high. We do not share the view that all students in these courses should be neces- sarily provided with hostel facilities. In our opinion, it is neces- sary to emphasize the provision of hostel facilities for the courses in arts and science, at least for the immediate future. In order to cut down the costs of this programme, it would be necessary to keep the design of the hostels as simple as possible. Moreover, the run- ning costs should be kept down to the minimum and there should de provision for a good deal of self-help by the students.

11.68 For the use of non-resident students who do not have adequate facilities at home-the number of such students is extremely large in the towns and cities-day-study centres and library seats should be provided on a liberal scale. The target to be aimed at should be to provide day-study centres for about 25 per cent of the non-resident students. These should also have subsidized or low-cost cafeterias working on the principle of self-service.

11.69 Guidance and Counselling. A guidance and counselling programme which would assist the students in the choice of courses, indicate the lines of remedial action and help in dealing with emo- tional and psychological problems should be an integral part of the educational

11.71 HIGHER EDUCATION: OBJECTIVES AND IMPROVEMENT 533

facilities provided in institutions of higher education. For an effective guidance service, it would be necessary to have at least one counsellor for every one thousand students on the roll. Smaller 'institutions may share a counsellor who Will work in each of the institutions on a part-time basis. The organization of such a service will require a large number of professionally trained counsellors. We suggest that a project for their training should be organized in some university competent to do so.

11.70 The employment, information and guidance bureaux of the National Employment Service and the student advisory bureaux which have been existing in a number of universities have been doing useful work. The former have been collecting, compiling and making available to the students occupational and employment market information, infor- mation regarding preparation for different careers, training facili- ties, apprenticeships, scholarships, etc. They have also been placing students in employment. In the absence of counselling services with fully qualified counsellors, they have also been offering advice and help to the students in planning their careers. The student advisory bureaux were originally set up by the Ministry of Education to provide information regarding facilities for higher education abroad, but now also provide information regarding facilities in India. Since educa- tional and occupational information is closely interlinked, it is recommended that these bureaux may be combined to form an information and employment centre which should function directly under the super- vision of the dean of students.

11.71 Student Activities. It is necessary that the student's energies are channelled into meaningful and challenging pursuits. This would be partly achieved through intensification of curricular programmes to which we have already referred. But that is not enough. It is also necessary to develop a rich and varied programme of co- curricular activities, which would include lectures, debates, essay competitions, group discussions, cultural programmes and contests, study circles, social service camps, NCC, tours and excursions, sports and tournaments, publication of students' journals, educational film shows, conduct of student libraries, canteens and cooperative stores and welfare activities connected with financial and medical assistance to students. Many of these activities are even now a part of the programme in good institutions. They are rich in educational stimuli and help to develop and strengthen certain valuable attitudes and qualities such as cooperation, initiative, self-confidence and leader- ship. These should be organized not only during term time but also during vacations, which is more suited for some of the programmes.

534 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 11.72