DIALOGUESOn The Teaching Of Science

BY WAY OF AN INTRODUCTION

Krishna Kumar

The Hoshangabad Science Teaching Project (HSTP) isundoubtedly the most exciting episode in the history of schooleducation since independence. A detailed description of it wouldlook just as attractive as Elmhirst's description of Shiksha-Satrain the twenties or the picture that emerges from some recoids ofthe institutions inspired by Gandhi during the forties. I don'tmean that the HSTP was in any sense based upon Tagore's orGandhi's ideas, but that it further advanced the cause ofprogressive education in India which had been initiated by theseearlier experiments. The HSTP is by no means over; on thecontrary, it has expanded area-wise, and it has grown into anindependent institution.

The HSTP started in 1972 as a collaborative venture of theFriends Rural Centre, Rasulia (Hoshangabad), a Quakerinstitution with a history going back to the nineteenth eentury,and Kishore Bharati, a voluntary agency committed to ruraltransformation which had recently established itself inHoshangabad district. TheKishore Bharati idea had beeninitiated by a young scientist recently returned from America,Anil Sadgopal, whom fortuitous circumstances, had brought toHoshangabad district at a time when Marjorie Sykes, anassociate of Gandhi in his educational experiment, was proposing

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an innovative pedagogical venture for her Friends Rural Centreto take up. What this venture might be was not clear, but Anilhad seen an interesting project ofscience teaching in Bombay'smunicipal schools, and he felt it would be worthwhile pursuingscience with rural children. Sudarshan Kapoor agreed that hisFriends Rural Centre would collaborate with Kishore Bharationthis project, and the two requested the Madhya PradeshGovernment's Department of Education to permit them tolaunch an experiment in sixteen rural schools.

From 1972 to 1977 the project remained confined to thesesixteen schools, covering grades six, seven, and eight. Jt involvedteacher training, development of curriculum content andmaterials, supervision, study of teachers' and children'sresponses, and refinement of curriculum. These tasks wereperformed by members of the two voluntary agencies with helpfrom several friends in advanced institutions of scientific researchand technology. By 1977-78, when the programme was expandedto cover all the 118 middle level schools of Hoshangabaddistrict, the HSTP had become the responsibility ofKishoreBharati mainly. In the task of expansion, the agency receivedhelp from the National Council of Educational Research andTraining, particularly through the Council's wing, the Regional 39College at Bhopal, and from the State Government's owninstitutes of education and the Textbook Corporation.

The innovative method developed under the HSTP has thefollowing prominent features : all teaching is based onexperiments done by children in small groups; the experimentsare based on batteries of questions given in workbooks thatreplace the usual textbooks; the content of these workbooksreflects the milieu in which Hoshangabad's rural children live,and the teacher acts as a guide, not as a source of informationand authority. The main idea, that children should get theopportunity to simulate the manner in which scientists carry outexperiments is reflected in the title of the workbook seriesdeveloped under the HSTP, 'Bal Vaigyanik' which means 'thechild scientist'.

Although the 'Bal Vaigyanik' workbooks do include anumber of topics that have practical value for the rural student,nevertheless, the pedagogical strategy of these workbooks cannotbe described as utilitarian. Under the HSTP, skills andinformation are imparted primarily for the purpose of helpingthe child to practise science—to deepen the child's commitmentto a scientific attitude and method. In the context of pedagogicalpractices in India, the HSTP's emphasis on the philosophical or

methodological aspect of science represents a major innovation.The culture of Indian schools has for a long time beencharacterised by authoritarian teaching and passive learning.Such a culture transforms every subject, including science, intoa collection of facts printed in the textbook. The transformationdrastically reduces the number of levels at which teacher andpupils can interact, Indeed, it cuts down the roles teacher andpupils are required to play to the minimum—that of the teacherto telling or showing, and that of pupils to listening andrecording or copying. By emphasising the philosophical demandsof science-teaching, and by training teachers to act according tothese demands, the HSTP made a symbolic inroad in the schooltowards the desirable erosion of the prevailing culture of schools.

While it broke new ground in pedagogy and teacher training,the HSTP also created new kinds of interaction in the educationsystem. One was the interaction between the bureaucracy andvoluntary agencies. From the initial acceptance of the HSTPproposal by the Director of Public Instruction, to the expansionof the programme to all middle-level schools of Hoshangabad,and to the decision to allow Kishore Bharati to design a schemeof evaluation, the postures taken by the State Government would

40 find no parallels in the past, I have reason to believe that thesepostures are to be accredited to a few individuals who happenedto be in top positions of the education department at the timewhen the HSTP required renewal of the government's confidencein it. Yet, the fact remains that the HSTP was carried out byvolunteers in collaboration with the government. The cost ofthis collaboration, in terms of energy spent in fulfillingexasperating technical requirements, missed deadlines, andtension caused by difficulties ofcommunication, was enormous.

Another interaction that is significant from adevelopmentalist point of view is the one that took placebetween teachers of government schools and teachers ofadvanced institutions of science. Considering that the educationsystem hardly provides any opportunity to school teachers forenhancing the meagre professional preparation they receive, theexposure that Hoshangabad teachers got to university-levelpractitioners of science can only be described as anextraordinary event. I feel it is related to what I find thebiggest interactionist pay-off of the HSTP, namely, a shift inpower relations between school teachers and the bureaucracy.Nothing characterises the colonial legacy of the Indianeducation system more succinctly than the powerlessness of theschool teacher vis-a-vis the capacity of education officers of

various ranks to oppress the teacher, and the impunity theyenjoy. The involvement of teachers in the process of curriculumdevelopment, supervision, evaluation, and training in the HSTPhas given them a sense of professional autonomy. Teachers'role in the HSTP was no token involvement, such as theNCERT allows some teachers to have in the preparation of newtextbooks. The Kishore Bharati group succeeded in creatingthe right conditions for the emergence of professionalismamong science teachers by acting as a buffer between thebureaucracy and teachers. Thisis a historic contribution, eventhough the teachers* professional identity has a long way to goin Hoshangabad and in the rest of Madhya Pradesh.

Now that the HSTP has become Eklavya, an independenteducational institution, the challenges it faces are of a neworder. The pain of a project growing into an institution is onemajor challenge. Another is of moving towards innovativepedagogy in other school subjects. The enrichment of teacher-pupil interaction that the HSTP provided would benefit theteaching of all subjects, but the exclusive use of one style ofreasoning that characterises the HSTP materials would deny tosubjects like language and social studies their unique contexts inchildren's lives. The urge to treat all subjects of the curriculum ,-in a 'scientific' manner can potentially harm the symbolicpurpose that innovation in science teaching has served in thecontext of pedagogy.

PrefaceThe seminar was sponsored by the Ministry of Human

Resources Development, Government of India. Eklavya wasspecifically asked to prepare a set of recommendations to beconsidered for the 'New Educational Policy (NEP)\

Apart from the HSTP resource persons, individuals andinstitutions known to us to be supporting and working towardsinnovations in science education, both at formal and non-formallevels, were present. Such institutions included the NCERT,DST, Yfe&m Sar<\W\ai Community Science Centre, HomiBhabha Science Centre, Jamia Milia University, AligarhUniversity, State Institute for Science Education, M.P., RegionalCollege for Education, Bhopal etc. People's science groups likethe KSSP, Lok Vigyan Sangathan, Bombay and Pune, KarnatakaRajya Vigyan Parishad, Manan Nava Chintan Andolan, KishoreBharati, Vidushak Karkhana, Association of BangaloreAstronomers, Medico Friend Circle etc. were also present.

There was an unanimous view that all recommendations

that are made should be substantiated by the experiences of theHSTP, wherever possible. Since HSTP has been continuouslyevolving for about thirteen years now, it was felt that thisprogramme provides a model that can help in giving solidity tootherwise often repeated and by now cliche' policy statements.Similar reference to other innovative programmes, whetherfailures or successful, was also suggested. Another commonview that emerged was that science education cannot and shouldnot be looked in isolation of what is happening in other are aslike mathematics, languages or social sciences. In particular,the priority for the nation has been and continues to be theuniversalisation of elementary education. It was felt that fromthe document 'Challenge of Education', the dominant ideas thatseems to emerge are that:

a) Universalisation of elementary education may no longerbe feasible for India.

b) Model Schools at district level should be opened.Naturally, the rural and semi-urban rich shall benefitfrom them.

c) Higher education should be privatised and made moreexclusive.

42 d) All policy changes have to be within political andfinanc al constraints.

Taken together these signals provide a framework for acurtailment and elitisation ofeducation. I t seems as if educationshall become more meaningful if more and more people aremarginalised from its process, right from the school. Thisemergent view was strongly criticised at the seminar. Inparticular, it was forcefully stressed that universalisation andquality improvement should not be limited owing to financialconstraints. Finances must be made available for such purposes,as the destiny of the nation, not only in the twenty-first, but forall centuries, depends crucially on these factors.

The report that follows is based on all such views expressedat the seminar.

Towards a Meaningful Science Teaching ProgrammeWhat objectives must science teaching fulfil? There would,

perhaps, be little disagreement that science teaching must aim :

i) to develop an nrteTts\ Yfi C\^\\SICTI v& YiVwy&il $t<sce&ses Uitheir immediate environment,

ii) to make them keen observers so as to discover patternsand 'order' in such processes,

iii) to train then to gather available information on aparticular phenomenon,

iv) to generate further information by experiment andactivity,

v) to learn methods of organising and displaying suchinformation and data by tables, histograms, graphs etc.

vi) to analyse the available data so as to reach logicallyconsistent and empirically valid conclusions,

vii) to abstract such conclusions in order to conceive of'models' so as to be able to 'predict' phenomenon.

This is essentially the method that the scientific communityuses, in part or as a whole, depending on the love] of the personand the problem under investigation. The aim of scienceteaching could, therefore, be summed up simply as to :

"impart an ability to acquire problem solving skills of allkinds, utilitarian or abstract."

It does not require much reflection to conclude that scienceteaching as currently practised is far removed from addressingitself to the fulfilment of the above objectives. It is totallyinformation based, and seems to subscribe to the aim of 4 Jconveying through the printed word as much of factual —information on scientific subjects as various 'experts' from thesesubjects deem it to be necessary from time to time. The logicfor doing so seems to be to cater to the exponentially growingnumber of'facts' of science.

In order to fulfil the objectives listed earlier, it is apparentthat a total departure needs to be made from the currentpractices. A complete revision of the view that more facts'need to be transmitted is necessary. An alternative philosophy,that basic 'concepts' of science, rather than its ever increasingfactual information need to be effectively taught has emerged asa strong recommendation at the seminar.

A study (as reported by Prof. P.M. Bhargava of the Centrefor Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, at the seminar)confirms that since 1930, whereas, the factual information inscience has continued to grow exponentially, the conceptualcurve is nearly linear, i e. the total number of basic conceptshave not really increased. This would strongly favour theintroduction of the alternate philosophy for science teaching.The question then is to define the ways in which such aphilosophy can be implemented, particularly at the school level.

Primary Schools : For children in primary schools,

education must primarily mean a. joyful activity, which it is notat present. The teaching strategy must be aimed at making theprocess of learning one that exploits the natural curiosity ofthe child and carries it forward; rather than a dull, drab,regimented rote-learning cramming of uninteresting materialdestined to kill the child's interest and enthusiasm.

The major stress at the primary level should be a thoroughacquisition of language ability and elementary mathematics.Other subjects, including science, must basically aid this process.Teaching, and particularly, science teaching must thereforemean an activity that a child is engaged in, but, importantly,stress must be laid on the child verbalising his activity. Thiscan take the form of either the child being guided to describe byspeech and writing, what he has done, and/or visualise hisactions pictorially. Language learning of this nature, where thechild is constructing words, sentences or visualising his ownactivities is radically different from that of parrotting lineswritten in his language text.

The problem of activity learning at primary schools isrelated to availability of material/kit and number of teachers.As for the first, a creative effort is needed to exploit the

4 4 immediate environment of the child (plants, trees, fields, rivers,stones, clay, wood and other odds and ends) to make zero-costactivities (ref. "Keith Warren"—'Preparation forUnderstanding'). Since in-service training of primary teacherscan perhaps only be a long-term objective, an immediateimplementation strategy would require the preparation of asuitable teacher's manuals to enable teachers to start such aprocess of teaching.

Naturally, it is assumed that at the primary level, scienceteaching does not at all mean teaching basic physics, chemistryetc. (e.g. force, energy, uniform velocity, atoms etc.). I t meansmore an observation of, interaction with, and some elementaryordering methods (e.g. sets) of things in the child's environment.

Middle Schools : In the middle schools (class 6, 7, 8), somebasic concepts like measurement, area, volume, force, living andnon-living etc. and other general activities related to the variousdisciplines of science should commence. Formalexperimentation should also commence from this stage. Thisnecessitates the availability of a functional science kit. Arecommendation therefore is that from the middle schoolonwards, a regular laboratory should be available in schools.The science kit envisaged is not for demonstration purposes,but for each child to actually carry out experiments.

In this regard, the experience of the Hoshangabad ScienceTeaching Programme can serve as a guide. A science kit isprovided in each of the schools covered by the programme(about 350 schools spread over 7 districts of MP), enablingstudents to carry out their experiments in groups of four. Foran average school with 40 children in each of the classes 6, 7and 8, the average cost of the kit is Rs. 1,200/- and the annualrecurring expense is Rs. 1.5 per child. The cost of kit for the9,000 middle schools of a state like Madhya Pradesh, therefore,works out to under Rs. 1. 1 crore with an average annualreplacement cost of about Rs. 16 lakhs—certainly a feasibleinvestment.

Secondary Schools : Of every 100 students that enter school,only 23 continue to the secondary stage ('Challenge ofEducation' document). The secondary school therefore is thejumping board for higher education and the job market for aselected few of the millions of Indian children. In recent yeajs,particularly with the coming in of such 'arithmeticalinnovations' like 10 + 2, this stage of school has beenoverloaded with a barrage of memorising of facts, by bringingin nearly all elements of the so-called 'modern sciences'.Absolute disregard for the importance and emphasis of conceptsand facts like energy, force, entropy, structure of matter aredealt with in as many lines and half pages as modern technicaldetails like the INSAT and colour TV or such less importantand subsidiary details like elasticity, bending of beams etc.

A conscious effort has to be made to continue theconceptual development of the sciences at the secondary stage,involving the activity method. The only difference at this stageis that as more abstract notions will have to be dealt with,experimental demonstration at each stage may be difficult.Hence, mental activity and model making have to be introducedso as to complement experimental activity. Experiments thatmeaningfully complement the theory have to be devised andbrought in. The current practice of the students carrying outexperiments that are mere verifications of things they havealready been told in theory classes is purposeless—they knowwhat they are supposed to produce and experimentation thusbecomes a thoughtless pursuit of trying to produce the expectedresult by data fudging, back calculation or wrong interpretationof one's observations Measurement is a valid exercise onlywhen one is looking for an unknown quantity. I f one is merelytrying to duplicate or verify a known result, the process can nolonger be treated as that of 'measurement'.

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Since, as mentioned earlier, the total number of scienceconcepts are not expanding very much, the secondary schoolmust see the beginning of the process of taking up a few ofthese concepts for a detailed study, from various approaches.Hence, for example, atoms must be 'arrived at1 as Dalton did;the 'physics' aspects should follow ths chemical roots; and ingeneral, a historical evolution of ideas and theirinterconnectedness need to be clearly exposed. This thereforeimplies that the secondary school curriculum must become adetailed exposition of the basic concepts of physics, chemistryand biology.

Implementation of a Science Teaching ProgrammeHaving outlined the needs and objecthes of a meaningful

science teaching programme, the next step is to develop itsimplementational strategy.

Curriculum Development: The notion that syllabi, teachingmethods, books etc, can or should be developed in committeeor seminar rooms by some experts must be given up. Suchdevelopment can and must occur through an organically

A(L combined effort of the subject experts, school teachers and— children's feedback in live conditions. A feedback mechanism

must provide the basis for continuous updating of curriculumand the involved teachers must form an important componentof people who decide what and how to teach.

The strategy upto class-8 must be to make the teachingprocess environment based, in addition to being activity based.The well known pedagogic principle, 'from known to unknown'must form the basis of curriculum development upto class-8\ t \ t \ . Hence a flexibility in forming curriculum at a regionalh \c l is a necessary condition. In this respect, the proposednotion of a national core curriculum at the school levelcontradicts the equally well accepted notion of environment-based curriculum. It may be accepted that a definition of abasic minimum level of achievements in skills and abilities at anational level is desirable and should be worked out But theforming of curricula to achieve these levels must be left flexibleso that environment-based education can be imparted at kastupto class-8 level. The use of the environment outside the fourwalls of the classroom netds to be stressed. Field trips, eitherfor collecting material or data, surveys, observations of soilprofiles, night sky etc. must become integral parts of sciencestudy.

That these are not mere words but achieveable aims hasbeen demonstrated by the HSTP, which has utilised most of theabove mentioned methods in developing its curriculum andteaching strategies.

Feedback and Follow-up Mechanism : The intellectual andacademic isolation of a school teacher, particularly in ruralareas is probably the most important factor responsible for hislow level of efficiency. The removal of this isolation byproviding library and laboratory facilities and the possibility ofcontact with peers with whom he can share his academicproblems must be given the highest priority.

The school teacher who is expected to act as an agent in acreative process, must receive continuous academic support.Now, a teacher, after a shoddy pre service training h left onhis own for the rest of his life with a book written by "experts"from the big cities. He neither understands the book, nor dohis students. If this situation is to be changed, it is imperativethat apart from a much more sensible pre-service andcontinuous in-service training, the teacher must have access tobooks, material and human contact with some other personswho can become his academic peers. A follow-up system isvisualised to meet this purpose.

In the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme, a _follow-up group of about 200 higher secondary school teachers(called the operational group) exists for precisely this purpose.Most of these teachers are at least M.Sc.'s in their subjects.Each one of them is expected to visit two middle schools,every month, in the vicinity of their own school. The purposeof these visits is not administrative supervision but an academicone; to discover what exactly is being taught in the class,teacher's difficulties, problems in canning out an experimentand so on He is expected to help in solving many of theseproblems on the spot, keep note of everything that is importantand send his report to the local 'sangam kendra'. A sangamkendra, which exists at a school complex level or at the blocklevel, receives about 20 such reports each month. The sangamkendra incharge's duty is to compile, from the reports, issuesand problems that require to be discussed. These then form thebasis for the agenda of meetings, held everv month, at the blocklevel amongst teachers and follow-up personnel of the concernedblock.

In this manner, a follow-up and feedback mechanism,combined with monthly meetings, provides a continuousreview, evaluation, diognostic and corrective means for the

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programme. Since the system is operative in seven districtsand involves, by now, about 200 follow-up personnel cateringto about 1000 middle school teachers, it is felt that it is asystem that is replicable.

The feedback so generated has been the basis for updatingand revising chapters of the workbooks under the HSTP, inwhich both the teachers and follow-up personnel participate.

Teachers Training and Orientation : As indicated earlier,the introduction of an activity and environment based methodof science teaching, laying more stress on the 'method' ratherthan on cramming of facts necessitates adequately trained andoriented teachers.

Given the sheer number of primary schools, an in-servicetraining of all primary teachers may not be feasible. However,,their pre-service training of nearly two years at the TTI's andBTFs must be radically reformed so that they can be orientedtowards more meaningful curricula. The present in servicetraining is not only a waste of time and money, but one ofnegative orientation. Run more on the lines of regimentedschools, with stress on pedagogic principles of the rote learningtype, it is a wonder that some teachers at all retain a love orconfidence for teaching.

Under the HSTP, each teacher goes through a training, forthree weeks every year, in the content and method of theprogramme. This training continues for threeyears. In eachof these three weeks, it has been calculated that the training timeamounts to eighty hours and this is an absolute minimum, eventhough realistic estimates show that the total time they spendin teaching science in their schools (Madhya Pradesh) is onlysixty hours a year! The training received for these three yearsis continued through regular contact through follow-ups andmonthly meetings. The follow-up persons are also trained, inthe content and method of the programme and in follow-upmethods.

Examination : Finally, the obvious fact that examination^that eternal magnet, determines what becomes of any contentand method in practical terms, needs to be clearly realised. Aslong as it stresses on cheap recall and the 'vomiting out' offacts, all innovations will get frustrated by it. Revamping theexamination method ultimately is the first and most importantstep of any meaningful educational change.

For a science programme based on the objectives outlinedat the outset, the examination method must mean an evaluationof achievement levels in the skills and abilities mentioned; that

is the achievement of the method of science. An alternatestrategy, that is open-book type, involves statistical methods, isconducted by the teachers themselves, and stresses on theapplication of the child's learning, has been amply demonstratedby the HSTP.

But change in the examination methods is not an easychange, not because of any inherent problems of devisingalternate methods, but because of its political implications. It isa great wonder that examination reforms were allowed by theMadhya Pradesh government to the HSTP. The experience iraBombay Municipal schools and the Khiroda experiment (asmentioned by Prof. Udgaonkar at the seminar) shows that bot£bthese innovative efforts ultimately floundered becauseexamination reforms were not allowed by ths authorities.

Since examinations are supposed to provide the interface,either with higher education or employment, any change at eachstage is linked to what happens at the next stage. As such, achange in the examination method can be effected only if thetotal educational process is considered as a whole. The IITentrance examinations, the medical entrance examinations, thePET and PMT examinations of the states are, perhaps, a greatstumbling block for any examination reform, particularly insciences. It will be necessary to change such recruitmentexaminations in order to make sensible changes in school levelexaminations. And until that is done, and a will to do soexists, only cosmetic educational changes shall come through,no matter how many 'new' policies of education are formulated.

The various alternative examination models are well knownand need not be discussed here. The HSTP model is well triedout and is actually in operation. A wilful decision by thegovernment to effect a total change in examination is the firstand important step for concerned people to get together tosuggest various models for trial, feedback and final acceptance.

Administration : It must be realized that no qualitativechange in the educational process shall be possible without acorresponding change in the administration machinery. Merebringing in of new booksand ideas, without any effort to bringin a conduciveadministrative structure is bound to be acosmetic change. So rotten, stagnant and anti-innovative hasthe educational administration structure become that it is amajor factor for'no change'. The total preoccupation of theeducational administration is with the disbursement ofsalaries,checks and punishments-in the form of transfers and stoppageof increments —of teachers, indictment of any individual effort

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to innovation, giving rise to an incompetent and corruptbureaucracy.

These lessons have been learnt the hard way in the HSTP,and it has become abundantly clear that any educationalinnovation by a group or the government cannot end with thedevelopment of curricula, but must go on to define the relevantadministrative structure and fight for it. Creating a follow-upand feedback mechanism, in-service training of teachers,altering the examination methods, evolving a kit distributionmethod have been the major achievements of the HSTP, in thesense that they have required appropriate administrativechanges. A detailed account of an administrative structure thathas been formulated for the HSTP, containing the experiencesand the struggles of thirteen years is available in the form of amanual and can serve as a model. The main plank in it is aseries of decentralised tasks, giving some flesh and characterto the idea of school complexes proposed by the KothariCommission. It is proposed to print the manual in numbers sothat each teacher, principal and administrative officer has acopy to ensure that lack of information does not become adominant stumbling block, as it does in relation to bureaucracy.

Financial Implications : A general view held in the policymaking corridors of this country seems to be that a scienceteaching method that requires a basic kit material, its annualreplacement, a follow-up and feedback mechanism and acontinuous training programme is too expensive for a poorcountry like India. Let us use the experience of HSTP to derivesome estimates and examine this view on the basis of someconcrete figures.

Consider middle schools first, because that is where theHSTP experience is immediately relevant. The one time(capital) cost of the science kit for an average school with 40children in each class is Rs. 1,200/-. Assuming an averagedistrict with 200 middle schools, the total cost for providingthe basic kit works out to about Rs. 2.5 lakhs. The recurringexpenditure, that includes kit replacement, TA/DA for follow-up personnel (at MP Government rates), TA/DA for monthlymeetings, annual training of 100 teachers, overhead charges(postage etc.) at sangam kendra level etc. is Rs. 1.5 lakhs (asper the administrative manual for Hoshangabad district,prepared in consultation with the Department of Education,M.P.).

1 here are on an average, 1000 primary schools per district.For an activity based teaching of sciences, mathematics and

languages, a basic amount of R. 1.000/- to purchase games,some material and to print teacher's manuals per school wouldbe fairly sufficient, considering that the stress would be onzero-cost experiments and local environment. The net cost perdistrict then works out to Rs iO lakhs A high recurring costof Rs. 300 per school for this purpose means Rs. 3 lakhs perdistrict per year.

Higher secondary schools (average 40 per district) normallyalready have science laboratories. Even then, Rs. 10,000 perschool to refurnish these laboratories could be provided tomake them suitable for an experiment based science teachingprogramme. This would total Rs. 4 lakhs. A recurringexpenditure of Rs. 5,000/- per school per year, over and abovealready provided could meet the extra expenditure of kitreplacement, follow-up and feedback and teacher orientation,adding up to Rs. 2 lakhs per year.

When calculated, the projections for the whole country(550 districts) would yield :

Capital: : Rs. 90,75,00,000 Recurring :: Rs. 35,75,00,000

What we therefore get is that over and above the currentexpenditure, the financial investment for bringing in an activity,experiment and environment based science teaching methodwilh follow-up feedback and teacher training components at themiddle and higher secondary levels and with direct links to aidlanguage and mathematics teaching at the primary school level,in the whole country, is around Rs. 100 crores (capital) andRs. 35 crores (recurring)—about three Mirage aircraft (capital)and one such aircraft (recurring). For further comparison, itmay be interesting to note that the annual school educationbudget of a poor state like Madhya Pradesh is Rs. 200 crores;of course 90% of it is spent in paying low salaries to a woefullyinadequate number of teachers.

The above estimates obviously exclude infrastructureexpenses like construction and improvement of school buildings,drinking water etc. The important point, however, is thatquality improvement in science teaching does not require suchinvestments as people are made to fear, unless the onlyimprovements are providing micro-computers and videos to everyschool in the country—may be that is the implied yardstick.However, let us remember that a basic laboratory, meaningfulcurriculum, local environment and a continuously informed,trained and better paid teacher is a far better investment than allthe high-tech together; and it is much, much cheaper.

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Conclusion

All that has been mentioned above presupposes that scienceeducation at school level is aimed primarily towards creating acritical attitude, problem solving skills, a spirit of inquiry and aspur for the natural curiosity of the child. In particular,considering that most of India's children dropout of theeducational stream by class-8, it is strongly suggested thatteaching upto class-8 level should not be linked too stronglywith the requirements of the higher education pr ocess, acceptingit as an important and legitimate exit point. As such, theartificial needs of 'factual learning' should be totally avoidedupto the class-8 ]Q\Q\ and the stress should be on an overalldevelopment of critical faculties, so that a child may thirst formore knowledge, rather than be barraged by it. Highersecondary schools should become the first stage for links withhigher education or vocation. However, the stress shouldcontinue on an all round development of critical thinking,rather than a mere learning of scattered bits of information.

It would seem that a particular political situation isdeveloping in the country that may determine the educationalpattern for the future. It is often argued that the colonialeducation was primarily geared to produce lower echelons ofbureaucracy. Hence a limited amount of book-keeping andreading-writing ability was all that 'native'education wasexpected to do. A similar situation seems to be developing inthe country, with a slight difference. With a massive stress ontechnology, mostly imported, it is natural that a very largeforce of service and maintenance technicians shall be required.How shall they be created ? A fear that the educationalprocess, particularly science education, shall gradually transformto mostly produce such a workforce is not a far-fetchedinference. This would be as much of a backward step as thecolonial education is thought to be.

A conscious decision, therefore, seems to be necessary tonot let science education degenerate to merely producingservice technicians, who will naturally get selected from thepoorer sections of the society, and a handful of technocrats,coming fr om the elite sections. That science education shouldmean more a mass effort to create thinking, critical men andwomen, who may then learn technical skills, must remain thedominant conscious philosophy. I f it is allowed to rest at purelyutilitarian objectives, we shall have to blame only ourselves—the colonial bogey is no longer valid.

General Issues

As pointed out in the introduction, science teaching cannotand should not be viewed in isolation of teaching of othersubjects, and other wider issues related to education in general.It would be fairly pointless if corresponding qualitative changesare not introduced in the social science, language andmathematics teaching—by teaching we mean, just as for sciences,the content, method and teaching strategies of these subjects.The imperativeness for such corresponding changes, from fieldexperience, has been so compelling for the Eklavya group thatresource persons and teachers have been working for over twoyears now to develop critical, imaginative and enjoyablecurricula in these subjects for implementation in rural schoolsof Madhya Pradesh.

Apart from such need to bring in a consolidated change inall subjects and at all levels in our educational system, the moreoverpowering and far reaching issues related to education werea central point at the seminar.

Equity and Universaliiation : A view that emerged veryclearly and was shared by all was that although 'equity' and'universalisation' are mentioned in the document 'Challenge ofEducation' (be it equity through univenalisation of education orequity in universalisation), there are statements in the documentwhich seem to contradict this, I t would appear that thedocument is implying the giving up of the responsibility ofuniversalisation of education. Many of the suggestions made inthe document will eventually result in lack of equality; todivide equally between unequals, it was argued, is not equity.

The recommendations and suggestions which are supposedto produce equality ring particularly hollow in light of the factthat a child labour bill is to be placed in Parliament soon, notto discuss its abolition, but to prescribe minimum age, wagesand rights for child labour. Similarly, by calling the poor as a'millstone round cur necks' (page 37), the document, through areprehensible faux pas has, nonetheless, revealed whoseinterests are at stake; which is that of less than ten per cent ofelite heads adorning these burdened necks.

That the 'Challenge of Education' does not refer to childlabour at all is shocking, to say the least. It just does not seemright to talk of a new educational policy, or an educationalpolicy of any kind unless one is prepared to face the fact thatmillions of children in the country are used as labourers.

As it is, a majority of the children in the country are

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disadvantaged—economically, socially, as well as culturally,with enough existing practices in the education system thatcontinue to perpetuate these disadvantages through privateschools, alien and inappropriate medium of instruction,culturally biased evaluation procedures, and curricula that donot fulfil the needs of most of the children, Even the apparentlyinnocuous practice of summer vacations tends to accentuatethis inequality; for the rural child, free of agriculture labourduring this period, it is simply a discontinuation of the processof education while for an urban middle class child, it means anexposure to new experiences and an enrichment.

Most people at the seminar held the view that allsuggestions, recommendations made in order to bring aboutequity must take into account that these, unless meticulouslyexamined, will not serve the aim, but will perpetuate and evenwiden the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.

Non-formal Teaching', for instance, must not be viewed asan alternative to formal school education, but only as asupplement, an additional help to those sections of the societywho do not have immediate access to formal education. Foreducation is not synonymous with acquiring knowledge orbeing literate. It is providing an environment to an individualfor his social, cultural and intellectual development. Unless anon-formal teaching programme can bring the disadvantagedchild to the same footing as a child from a more privilegedbackground, it is not easy to see how it can bring about equity.

This raises the issue of how a child who has gone througha non-formal programme shall be evaluated. How is one todecide when such a child can enter the formal system ?Questions such as these are extremely important, and unlessanswers to these are forthcoming, 'non-formal' education mightactually further stigmatise the underprivileged as 'inferiorlyeducated', with little chance of social mobility and competitionwith formal education.

Model Schools: Such schools are opposed to for similarreasons. To begin with, it is debatable if the schools on whichthe model schools are to be modelled provide good qualityeducation simply because they have better facilities; the childrenwho go to these 'public' (mostly private) schools, come frombackgrounds where they are exposed to a wide and rich varietyof experiences. Further, much of this 'high quality education*consists of acquiring social, rather than intellectual skills; thepercentage of children from such schools becoming scientists orcreative artists, for instance, is very low.

Certainly, extra and better facilities such as access togames, debating, dance and music etc. improve the performanceof children. But such avenues must be opened for allchildren,through, may be, centres to which children from neighbouringschools have access; at a much lower cost than that of separate'pace-setter' schools for very few. Better education is the rightof all children, and not of some dubiously chosen 'gifted' few,especially if equity is the guiding principle.

That really creative and gifted children should be nurturedis something no one is likely to disagree to. But how does oneidentify such children ? What makes a child creative is an openquestion. And, should talent be nurtured in isolation ? Theredoes not seem to be any rationale for labelling a given childgifted, to transplant him into an alien environment away fromhis roots and then, expect the child to develop his gifts. Willthis necessarily be better education ? Can it not have adverseeffects on the child? And what about the children who are notchosen ? Are they to wear the 'non-creative' label for the rest oftheir lives ? Can they never exhibit their creativity ?

Early selection in any case is an undesirable proposition.The pressures of being labelled 'special' and of being expectedto perform accordingly have demoralized and wrecked many anindividual. Elite pace-setting institutions which nurture thegifted science and technology talent of our country (IIT'setc.)have produced scores of such defeated individuals, and onlyabout twenty per cent of the 'non -defeated' stick to theirprofession. As such these pace-setting institutions have notcontributed to the indigenous development of technology. Dowe need to subject young children to similar pressures? Also,early selection would thwart any slim hope a child might haveof overcoming the handicap proferred on him by being borninto a poor or disadvantaged family, and would deny him thechance to 'catch up'.

The earlier we apply the sieve, the further we would be fromequity.

High Technology: A whole set of equally importantquestions arise when one beings to examine suggestionsregarding the use of hightechnology teaching aids with the aimof bringing Indian children at par with children from thedeveloped countries.

How useful TV is a medium of instruction for schoolchildren is an open question. In fact, France and Sweden aretwo countries which have actually stopped using TV forchildren's education, finding it an unsuitable substitute for the

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teacher-student interactive teaching practice. Even if highquality software which, if one took the available one as asample, is practically non-existent, was to be produced toprovide a supporting hardware infrastructure, means enormousfinancial inputs, without which these aids will remain confinedto a few 'model' and 'public' schools, catering to a minisculepopulation.

Exactly the same argument holds against micro—computers.There is no evidence to show that learning through computers(at school) is more efficient or effective and the inputs—financialas well as intellectual—are enormous. Creating a nationalinfrastiuctureis an unachievable task and finally, given theconstraints and the unequal nature of the social structure, onlythe privileged will derive whatever little benefit there may befrom such teaching aids. Even though there may be littleeducational value of such aids, the *have-nots* will get furthermarginalised from the benefits of education.

Finances : are required, and not merely for high-techteaching aids. They are required to bring in universalisation ofeducation, quality improvement, for training and paying ourteachers better, for constructing many more schools with properbuildings, drinking water, playgrounds and adequate teachingmaterial. Any amount that is required for this has to be put in,whether it raises the expenditure from 3% of the GNP to 6%or above. If education is to be considered within theperspective of the developmental model of the country, then themodel must be one that considers human resource developmentas a basic and necessary input for any development, not onlyin name, but in action. Highest financial priority must,therefore, be given to this basic development, rather than totechnological development; which anyway will be on a shortlimb without an adequately educated population- If the presentdevelopmental model of the country does not reflect thispriority, then, instead of constraining education financially, themodel itself needs a reformulation.

Summary of Recommendations

1. Science teaching must primarily stress on learning themethod of science, impart skills of problem solving and helpdevelop a critical attitude.

2. The method of teaching must be based on environment andactivity, including mental activity.

3. Zero—cost experiments, educational games and

] 00 crores of initial investment and a recurring annualexpenditure of 35 crores. High investment can, therefore,not be used as an argument against it.Comparatively larger investments are however requiredto ensure proper infrastructural facilities, buildings,drinking water etc., better paid and an adequate numberof teachers. It must be realised that such financialinvestment,even if it is more than double the present, is animperative need and cannot and should not be avoided.The country's developmental model must be cast, or recast^to ensure that this need is not constrained.

12. At no cost should the objective of speedy universalisationof education be given up. In fact if India enters thetwenty-first century with 100% literacy and less hightchnoiogy, it shall be a grand entry. The conve rse shall beaecatastrophe.

13. T here seem to be no valid arguments to justify the settingup of district level model schools, at an enormous cost.Their usefulness, admission criteria and effect on otherchildren are highly questionable; and in realistic terms, theyare more likely to aggravate inequality. This idea shouldbe abandoned forthwith and efforts should be made todevise ways to improve all schools.

14. A radical and wilful change in the examination s>stem, atthe school, college, university and recruitment stages mustbe made. Any innovative change in education is finallyjeopardised by this single factor. Examination must meanan evaluation of well defined and sensible achievementlevels at all stages, and not the test of meaningless transientmemory.

15. Educational administration must be revamped to make itconducive to imbibe innovations. The joint efforts of theMP Government and theHoshangabad Science TeachingGroup to devise such an administrative structure should betaken note of to serve as a model.

] 00 crores of initial investment and a recurring annualexpenditure of 35 crores. High investment can, therefore,not be used as an argument against it.Comparatively larger investments are however requiredto ensure proper infrastructural facilities, buildings,drinking water etc., better paid and an adequate numberof teachers. It must be realised that such financialinvestment,even if it is more than double the present, is animperative need and cannot and should not be avoided.The country's developmental model must be cast, or recast^to ensure that this need is not constrained.

12. At no cost should the objective of speedy universalisationof education be given up. In fact if India enters thetwenty-first century with 100% literacy and less hightchnoiogy, it shall be a grand entry. The conve rse shall beaecatastrophe.

13. T here seem to be no valid arguments to justify the settingup of district level model schools, at an enormous cost.Their usefulness, admission criteria and effect on otherchildren are highly questionable; and in realistic terms, theyare more likely to aggravate inequality. This idea shouldbe abandoned forthwith and efforts should be made todevise ways to improve all schools.

14. A radical and wilful change in the examination s>stem, atthe school, college, university and recruitment stages mustbe made. Any innovative change in education is finallyjeopardised by this single factor. Examination must meanan evaluation of well defined and sensible achievementlevels at all stages, and not the test of meaningless transientmemory.

15. Educational administration must be revamped to make itconducive to imbibe innovations. The joint efforts of theMP Government and theHoshangabad Science TeachingGroup to devise such an administrative structure should betaken note of to serve as a model.