Modified Scheme of Elementary education 1953

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The Modified Scheme of Elementary Education or New Scheme of Elementary Education or Madras Scheme of Elementary Education dubbed by its critics as Kula Kalvi Thittam (Hereditary Education Policy), was an abortive attempt at education reform introduced by the Indian National Congress Government of the Madras State, led by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) in 1953. The scheme proposed the introduction of two shifts or sessions in elementary schools. In one session regular teaching would be done and during the second session, the students would be sent home to learn the occupations of their parents. It became controversial and was accused of being a casteist scheme to perpetuate the caste hierarchy as Hindu Professions were caste based.[1] The opposition to the scheme was led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Public opposition and internal dissent within the congress led to the deferment of the scheme. The discontent it triggered among the Congress legislature members forced the resignation of Rajaji as Chief Minister. The scheme was dropped completely by Rajaji's successor Kamaraj in 1954.

Background

According to the 1951 Census of India, the literacy rate in the Madras State was 20.86%.[2] During fiscal year 1950-51, the Madras State Government spent 6.87 crore Rupees (6,870,000) - about 11.5% of total revenues for the state - for Elementary education. The enrollment rate for children of school-going age was around 47.8%.[3] The Directive Principles of the Indian Constitution require the Indian state to provide education to all citizens. In accordance to this directive, in 1950 the Madras State's Directorate of Public Instruction prepared a ten-year plan to provide education to all children of school-going age. This plan called for an allocation of one crore Rs (1,00,00,000) per year for enrolling 500,000 additional students for the next ten years. Against this, the actual allocation in 1950-51 was only Rs. 500,000. The cost of educating a student was estimated to be around Rs.22.80 per year, out of which the government's contribution was Rs.16.30.[3] Out of the 12,22,775 students who had enrolled in standard I in 1946-47, only 4,61,686 (37%) had reached the Standard V in 1950-51. It was against this background, the Congress party with Rajaji as chief minister took power on 10 April 1952.

The opposition to the scheme was largely based on social background. Hindu professions are based on Varna or Caste with the Brahmins the highest in the order and studied while Kshatriya and Vaishya traders received some education. Shudra were denied education. Dalits were considered untouchables and did manual work and also denied education. When the Justice Party came to power in 1920, Brahmins disproportionately occupied over 70% of the high level posts in government, judiciary and in education.[4] The Justice Party introduced caste based reservation and this gradually reversed this trend and allowed non-Brahmins to rise in the government and education in Madras Presidency. The first generation of Dalits, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and Backward Classes also started getting educated and their children had just begun to attend school after centuries of denial of educational opportunities under the rigid Hindu caste system. As per this policy schools were to work in the morning and students had to compulsorily learn the family vocation in the afternoon. This was seen as a ploy to ensure the domination and monopoly of Brahmins. The ulterior motive behind the scheme was understood to be that the children of non-Brahmins should undertake only the manual jobs of their ancestors such as washerman, barber, scavenger, cobbler etc. and they should not aspire for any higher education or for any white collar employment, which only Brahmins could claim as their exclusive privilege. They should follow their parents' professions and remain in their low status and lowly paid professions. Such a step would maintain caste hegemony.[5][6]

Earlier attempts at change

In 1939, during Rajaji's first term as Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency, the girl students of standards III to V and those belonging to Scheduled Castes had been allowed to attend school for only three hours a day and spend the rest of the day helping their parents. In the academic year 1949-50, during the Chief ministership of P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja, an experimental shift system had been introduced in ten taluks and later expanded to other areas as an optional measure. Schools which adapted this system functioned in two shifts or sessions. Teachers who worked during both sessions were paid an additional allowance of 10 Rupees per month. However this system was not widely adopted and by 1951 only 155 elementary schools (out of a total 38,687) in the state were functioning in shifts.[3]

Reasons stated for the reform attempt

Proposals in the new scheme

The Modified Scheme of Elementary education proposed the following changes in the school system:[3][7]

Implementation

The Rajaji Government introduced the new elementary education scheme in all schools in the non-municipal (rural) areas for the academic year 1953-54 (from 18 June 1953). It was planned that eventually the scheme would be extended to 35,000 of the total 38,687 schools in the state. However, due to public opposition, it was put on hold on 29 July 1953 and dropped altogether on 18 May 1954.[9]

Opposition

From the beginning, the scheme attracted heavy opposition from the Dravidian movement led by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. The Dravidar Kazhagam organised a conference in Erode protesting the scheme's introduction.[10] The teachers' unions also opposed their move as they were not consulted before implementation. They also resented the increase in working hours without any increase in pay.[11] The DMK seized the opportunity and started a campaign against the scheme. They dubbed the scheme as the Kula kalvi thittam (Hereditary/Caste Education Scheme) and as the Acharyar Education Scheme.[12][13] The Dravidian movement viewed the scheme as an attempt to preserve and perpetuate caste based discrimination through official means. They used Rajaji's notions about caste and village craftsmen to depict the scheme as a "Brahminist conspiracy". Rajaji had earlier expressed his opinion about castes and crafts as:

After the scheme was announced, Rajaji gave a speech to the washermen at the Adyar riverbank. In it he referred to Kuladharma, the social obligation of each clan or caste. The opposition used such incidents to lend credence to their "casteist motive" accusation.[15] Rajaji and his education minister MV Krishna Rao responded with a counter campaign in the scheme's defense. They gave speeches and made broadcasts in the All India Radio explaining their position.[16] The month of June 1953 saw aggressive propaganda efforts by both the proponents and opponents of the scheme. On 13 July 1953, the DMK executive committee met and decided to conduct a marial (blockade) agitation outside the Chief Minister's residence. EVK Sampath was nominated to lead the agitation.[13] This agitation was part of a three pronged attack on the Government's policies by the DMK. On 14 July 1953, a possession led by Satyavani Muthu was organised to protest the scheme. Its destination was Rajaji's official residence at Bazullah road, T. Nagar. It was stopped by the police as it was unlicensed.[13] The next day (15 July 1953) the confrontation heated up with the Government introducing a motion in the Legislative Assembly for implementing the scheme from the academic year 1953-54. On the same day another DMK procession was stopped before it could reach T Nagar. In the next fifteen days as many as twenty such processions were attempted by the DMK.[13]

Deferment

By the end of July, public opinion started to turn against the scheme and at least four public petitions were tabled in the Legislative Assembly about the scheme.[17] On 29 July 1953, M.V Krishna Rao, the minister for education moved a motion for considering the new scheme. After a discussion, Communist leader K. P Gopalan moved a motion to drop the scheme. The house was deadlocked with 138 ayes to 138 noes on dropping the scheme. The speaker of the assembly J. Shivashanmugam Pillai used his casting vote to defeat the motion. A second motion to defer the scheme and refer it to a committee of experts was moved by K.R Viswanatham. This motion passed with 138 ayes against 137 noes.[9][18] The Scheme was stayed[19] and the Parulekar Committee was commissioned to review the scheme.

Parulekar committee

On 20 August 1953, the Government passed an order (Education G.O # 1888) to constitute a committee of experts for reviewing the scheme.[20] The committee was composed of Prof. RV. Parulekar, Director of Indian Institute of Education Bombay, as the Chairman; Dr.B.B. Dey, Retired Director of Public Instruction, Madras; Prof. Mohammad Mujeeb, Vice-Chancellor of the Jamia Millia University as members and S. Govindarajulu Naidu, the former Director of Public Instruction, Madras, and the then Director of Public Instruction, Andhra Pradesh, as the Member Secretary.[7] The Parulekar committee submitted its report on 23 November 1953. It found the scheme to be sound and endorsed the Government's position. It made additional recommendations including extending the scheme to rural areas, opening as many as 4000 new schools, revising the existing curriculum, providing training and remuneration to the craftsmen involved.[20]

Cancellation

The opposition campaign was successful in creating doubts about the scheme in the minds of the general public. There was dissent within the Congress party and Kamaraj wanted Rajaji to withdraw the scheme as it was unpopular amongst the public and with the party members.[21] On 20 October 1953, forty Congress Legislative Assembly members led by P. Varadarajulu Naidu, sent a memorandum to Nehru objecting to Rajaji's unilateral conduct. Among the issues they raised was his refusal to budge on the education scheme issue.[22] But Rajaji refused to drop the scheme. On 8 November 1953, Congress lost the by election for the Kangayam constituency by a narrow margin.[23][24] Pressure mounted from within the party to drop the scheme. On 9 March 1954, Congress leader and former Chief Minister O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar made an open appeal to Rajaji in the legislature:

But Rajaji did not relent and his education minister C Subramaniam upped the ante by announcing that the scheme would be extended to urban areas in June 1954. This spurred the Congress legislators into open revolt. They scheduled a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party on 21 March. Faced with certain defeat in the leadership election that was bound to happen in that meeting, Rajaji tried a last minute compromise - he would quit if C. Subramaniam was chosen as his successor and the scheme was kept. But Kamaraj, the leader of the anti-Rajaji camp, refused to accept the deal.[25] The meeting was postponed by a week and when it happened on March 31, C. Subramaniam was defeated by Kamaraj.[26] Rajaji resigned and Kamaraj took over as chief minister on 13 April 1954. This effectively ended the prospects of the new education scheme. On 18 May 1954, C Subramaniam announced in the assembly that the scheme was being dropped. The reason stated for the dropping was that the necessary acceptance, support and cooperation of the people were not forthcoming for the scheme and the atmosphere was not propitious for the success of the scheme.[27]

Meanwhile, the composite Madras State had been reorganised along linguistic lines. The state of Andhra had split from Madras on 1 October 1953. The Andhra Government constituted an Elementary Education Committee with Dr. B. Kuppuswamy as chairman to review the elementary education situation. The Kuppuswamy committee report recommended the rejection of the Modified Elementary Education Scheme. In 1954 the Andhra state cancelled the scheme.[28]

Criticism

The main arguments made against the Modified Scheme of Elementary Education were :

Writing in Viduthalai on 17 November 1953, Periyar denounced the scheme as a Brahiminical conspiracy:

In another Viduthalai article written on 26 February 1954, he vowed to destroy the scheme by any means:

He kept up his harangue even after Rajaji resigned and C Subramaniam became the new Education minister. On 17 April 1954 he wrote:

The Andhra Elementary Education Committee Report also rejected the Modified Scheme and recommended an approach similar to the one eventually adopted by the Kamaraj Government.[28]

Defense and endorsements

During and after his tenure as Chief Minister, Rajaji defended his scheme vigorously. He derided the critics as people who did not want to do physical labour:

About the casteist angle of the criticism, he reasoned that it was because of him being the author of the scheme:

After the Kamaraj Government scrapped the scheme, he again defended it as :

Replying to Papanasam MLA Swayam Prakasam's concerns over the scheme, then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru offered his endorsement to the scheme:

India's President Rajendra Prasad offered his support in a letter written to the Governor of Madras - Sri Prakasa - on 9 June 1953:

The Central Advisory Board of Education, passed a resolution endorsing the scheme during its 21st Meeting held in February 1954:

Legacy

The Modified Scheme of Elementary Education even after being dropped had the unintended consequence of bringing primary education to hundreds of thousands of school children in Tamil Nadu. Rajaji's successor Kamaraj was ever mindful of the fact that it was the issue of primary education that caused his predecessor's downfall. Knowing the public opposition to Rajaji's scheme he took the diametrically opposite approach in providing education to Tamil Nadu's children - imparting free and compulsory education till the age of 14. He set up a commission[37] under R.M. Alagappa Chettiar to examine the means for providing compulsory primary education. Instead of sending children away from the school, the committee recommended active Government intervention to bring more children into the schooling system by building new schools and abolishing school fees.[20] This approach was successful and by the end of Kamaraj's tenure as Chief Minister in 1963, enrollment in primary schools had been doubled.[37]

Notes

  1. ↑ Vaasanthi (2008). Cut-outs, Caste and Cines Stars. Penguin Books India. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-0-14-306312-4. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Yazali, P.172
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Appendix Q : Modified Scheme of Elementary Education, Madras
  4. ↑ "Superiority in Numbers". Tehelka. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Kumaradoss, Y. Vincent (April 2004). "Kamaraj Remembered". Economic and Political Weekly. 39 (17): 1655–1657. JSTOR 4414921. (Registration required (help)).
  6. ↑ "Education Policy". thanthaiperiyar.org. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Appendix T : Modified Scheme of Elementary Education, Madras
  8. 1 2 Bakshi, P.323
  9. 1 2 Chapter XIV, A Review of Madras Legislative Assembly(1952-57)
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Vasantha Kandaswamy p.262-6
  11. 1 2 3 Balratnam, P.91
  12. ↑ Ryerson, P.89
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Anna's Birth Centennial Anthology
  14. ↑ Gandhi. p.245
  15. ↑ Gandhi. p.248
  16. ↑ Indian Review Vol.54, P.332
  17. ↑ Table XVII, A Review of Madras Legislative Assembly(1952-57)
  18. ↑ Table XVI, A Review of Madras Legislative Assembly(1952-57)
  19. ↑ The word "stay" in the motion was interpreted by Rajaji and C. Subramaniam as "keep the status quo" as on the day of the vote. In other words, the scheme would be kept in place in the schools where it was already introduced and it won't be extended to other schools. They disregarded the oppositions demands to cancel the scheme in all the schools. Gandhi. p. 247
  20. 1 2 3 Report, Director of Information and Publicity
  21. ↑ Subramaniam, p.205
  22. ↑ Nehru Vol24, p.288
  23. ↑ "By election results 1952-1995". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
  24. ↑ Gazette of India, p.88
  25. 1 2 Gandhi. pp.250-251
  26. ↑ Kandaswamy, p51-52
  27. ↑ The Hindu report on 19 May 1954 : Scheme dropped
  28. 1 2 Indian Review Vol.55, p.284
  29. ↑ Bakshi, p.325
  30. ↑ Kannan p.203
  31. ↑ Vashisht, p.52
  32. ↑ Rajagopalachari, P.115
  33. ↑ Bakshi, P. 168
  34. ↑ Nehru Vol25, p. 214
  35. ↑ Rajendra Prasad, P. 72
  36. ↑ Central Advisory Board of Education - Proceedings of the 21st Meeting, Item IV
  37. 1 2 Kandaswamy, P. 65

References

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