LANDMARKS
IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION WITH RESPECT TO SCIENCE (INDIAN CONTEXT) - B.Ed. TEACHING
NOTES
Prepared by:
SABARISH.P
Lecturer in Physical science Education
Arafa Institute for teacher Education
Attur, Thrissur.
Email : pklsabarish@gmail.com
Introduction
India
has great tradition in the field of education of pure and applied sciences.
Science has been a subject of study in India from the ancient period itself.
Unfortunately, most of the knowledge was lost during the medieval period.
Science Education in India has been greatly accelerated after independence.
Science and science education
during the British rule
The only aim of education including
that of science education was to turn out men competent to serve the civilian
administration. There was less facilities for Science education and research.
Even those few individuals educated in science lacked opportunities for either gainful
employment or for scientific research. They could only procure clerical or
teaching jobs.
It was only in 1857 that the
universities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, modelled after the London University,
were established. Some foundations for basic sciences were expanded and academic
science in the universities received an attention.
It must be stressed that even under
such adverse conditions, globally competitive scientific research was carried
out by a few scientists like, C.V. Raman, M.N. Saha, S.N. Bose, D.N. Wadia,
P.C. Mahalanobis, S. R. Kashyap, Birbal Sahni, S.Ramanujan, S. Chandrashekhar.
Many of these were trained in India and carried out their research in Indian
universities.
Science and science education in
post-independence period
After
independence we realized the crucial importance of science for economic growth
and social transformation. In the context of establishing modern science and
technology as a live and vital force, the importance of science education
cannot be forgotted. Indeed, science education plays a crucial and pivotal role
in the fields of scientific research and technological innovations.
Addressing
the then National Institute of Sciences (now INSA), Nehru stated, “Who indeed
can afford to ignore science today? At every turn, we have to seek it’s aid and
the whole fabric of the world is of its making.”
Raman,
one of India’s most eminent scientists said, “There is only one solution for
India’s economic problems and that is science, more science and still more
science.”
The
important landmarks in the development of Science education in India are the following
Ø In
1953 the Secondary education commission
recommended the teaching of general Science as a compulsory subject in high
schools and higher secondary schools.
Ø All India Seminar on teaching of
science held in 1956 made serious discussions on almost all
the aspects concerning the teaching of Science in schools.
Ø Indian
parliament has adopted major policy statements relating to higher education and
Science & Technology development. These developments have been largely
guided by the Scientific Policy
Resolution of 1958. It is one of the most comprehensive science policy
documents ever approved. It envisaged the cultivation of science and scientific
research in all its aspects. It has helped the nation to build up an Science &
Technology base.
Ø The
constitutional amendment of 1976
places education including science and technology education in the concurrent
list which implies the joint responsibility of the central and the state
governments.
Ø The
Government of India has established Ministry
of Human Resource Development to function as an administrative ministry.
Ø By
establishing the University Grants
Commission and All India Council for
Technical Education, the government tried to improve the functioning of
higher education in science and technology respectively.
Ø The
University Grants Commission (UGC)
of India is a statutory organisation set up by the Union government in 1956,
charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of
university education. It provides recognition to universities in India, and
disburses funds to such recognized universities and colleges.
Ø UGC’s Efforts in Promoting
Excellence: In recent years the UGC has launched a large number
of programmes aimed at promoting excellence. These include:
Ø autonomous
colleges
Ø faculty
improvement programmes
Ø Academic
staff colleges.
Ø centres
for advanced studies
Ø curriculum
development councils
Ø career
development programmes
Ø support
for strengthening infrastructure in S&T and removal of obsolescence in the
universities
Ø Identification
of universities with a potential and supporting them to become comparable with the
best anywhere.
Ø Inter-University Centres:
One of the most innovative steps taken by the UGC for promoting excellence was
the setting up of Inter-University Centres equipped with most modern
experimental facilities or providing access to national facilities such as
accelerators, nuclear reactors, etc to students and teachers from various
universities. Nuclear Science Centre at Delhi, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy
and Astrophysics at Pune and Inter-University Consortium for the Department of Atomic
Energy Facilities with headquarters at Indore have already been set up and have
been extremely useful.
Ø The
All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE) is the statutory body and a national-level council for
technical education, under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human
Resource Development. Established in November 1945 first as an advisory body
and later on in 1987 given statutory status by an Act of Parliament, AICTE is
responsible for proper planning and coordinated development of the technical
education and management education system in India. The AICTE accredits
postgraduate and graduate programs under specific categories at Indian institutions
as per its charter.
Ø Indian parliamentary and scientific
committee was set up in 1961 under the chairmanship of Sri
Lal Bahadur Shastri. The committee took up the study of science education in
schools.
Ø National Council of Educational
Research and Training (NCERT) established in 1961
has a separate department of science education and is giving much importance to
science education. It has set up a National Centre for Computer-based Education
to promote training and development of teachers and teacher-educators. The
centre will eventually sustain development of school teachers with a culture of
resistance to change and provide schools with IT based inexpensive learning
materials in support of the curriculum.
Ø The
Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)
are a group of autonomous public engineering and management institutes of
India. The IITs are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which
has declared them as "institutions of national importance", and lays
down their powers, duties, framework for governance etc. The Institutes of
Technology Act, 1961 lists sixteen institutes located at Bhubaneswar, Chennai,
Delhi, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kharagpur,
Mandi, Mumbai, Patna, Ropar, Roorkee and Varanasi. Each IIT is an autonomous
institution, linked to the others through a common IIT Council, which oversees
their administration. The IITs award degrees starting from B.Tech to Ph.D.
Ø Indian Education Commission
(1964-1966) recommended compulsory science
education as part of general education and stressed that methods of teaching
science should be modernized and that methods of teaching science should be
modernized and that Science teaching should be linked with agriculture and
technology.
Ø The
parliament approved in 1968, the Technology
Policy Resolution, which states that research and development together with
Science & Technology education and training of a high order will be provided
a important place. Basic research and building of the centres of excellence was
encouraged.
Ø National policy on Education (1986)
has given much stress on science education and has recommended that science
education should be designed to enable the learner to acquire problem solving
and decision making kill as well as the ability to correlate science with
health, agriculture, industry and other aspect of daily life. It has also been
stressed that concerted effort be made to extend Science education to all those
who had to remain outside the pale of formal education.
Ø For
Science education and training several institutions comprising the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT’s),
Indian Institute of Science (IISc), about a dozen institutes of national importance,
hundreds of universities, and over 8,000 colleges, exist. This infrastructure
has already made a substantial impact on the country’s scientific, industrial
and economic development.
Ø Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
is a premier university for scientific research and higher education located in
Bangalore, India. Established in 1909 with active support from Jamshetji Tata
it is also locally known as the "Tata Institute". It acquired the
status of a Deemed University in 1958. IISc is widely regarded as India's
finest institution in its field, and has made significant contribution to
advanced computing, space, and nuclear technologies.
Ø Some
of the academic research institutions such as IISc, Bangalore; TIFR, Mumbai;
IITs and a few universities such as Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Poona,
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Central University, Hyderabad; and
Jadavpur., have developed global reputation and attract increasingly large
number of students from South East Asia, Middle East and Africa.
Ø The
role of Information Technology (IT) as an instrument for progress and development
has been acknowledged widely. A number of projects have been sponsored in collaboration
with leading institutions like IITs, IISc, Indira Gandhi National Open
University (IGNOU), Nation Council for Science and Technology (NCST), and Birla
Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, with its long-term
objective being promoting both IT based general education and IT based
education itself. IGNOU has several IT enabled courses and is further promoting
this culture.
Ø One
of the significant leads taken a few decades ago was People’s science movement (PSM) and education through it. The role
of PSM is not only restricted to communicating and simplifying science but also
to question every aspect of science-related activities, in particular issues
involved and intervening wherever necessary with people’s participation.
Ø Exploratory
- An Experiment in Learning by Doing Science : A unique institution called
Exploratory has been developed at Pune by a few dedicated educators. Exploratory
is neither a school or college laboratory nor a museum but is a place where school
and college children can explore and experiment, invent and innovate and design
and fabricate.
Ø Navodaya Vidyalayas:
Navodaya Vidyalayas were conceived in 1986 by Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister
of India. The scheme aims at setting up well equipped well staffed schools in
rural areas, almost one in every district to provide better quality science
education to the talented children. These Navodaya Vidyalayas also serve as a
resource centre and a pacesetter for the other schools in the region to follow.
These Vidyalayas, 425 in number as of today, also aim at promoting excellence
and removing disparities.
Ø Advance
Centres for Science and Technology (ACST): A few senior
scientists and industrialists have proposed setting up advanced centres for
science and technology. These are composite science and technology education
and research centres. They seek to integrate education and research, science
and technology, pure and industrial research. These centres will provide a
5-year integrated programme leading to either an M.Sc. or M.Tech. degree. The
students will be given a common course in the first year, aimed at ensuring
good grounding in physical concepts, equipping them with mathematical
techniques and statistical procedures and exposing them to the current
excitement in life sciences.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that India today
has the second largest education system, it has still to meet the basic needs
and aspirations of its billion people. The level of illiteracy still hovers
around 35%. The access to science education is on the average around 30%. There
is much to be desired in relation to the quality and relevance of higher
science education.
