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2.
DIMENSIONS AND COMMON PERCEPTIONS OF THE PROBLEM
Although
the main focus of this document is university science education
particularly at the undergraduate level, it is realized that
undergraduate education is part of a continuum, starting with
education at the school level and going on to research in
science. It is therefore appropriate to remind ourselves,
at least briefly, of some facts concerning school, undergraduate
and post-graduate science education in India, before going
on to reviewing suggestions already made by various individuals,
institutions and agencies. The recommendations to be given
later are to be viewed against this background.
In
the following, representative figures of various kinds drawn
from several sources will be presented. Although great accuracy
cannot be claimed for these figures, they are sufficiently
reliable for drawing the general conclusions set out in this
Paper.
The
number of school-going students, about 12 crores in 1985
[1]*,
has been continuously increasing at the rate of about 3% per
year. However the number of well-equipped schools, in terms
of laboratories, libraries and competent staff, is extremely
small. Thus it has been estimated that no more than 60% of
schools even have a blackboard, and less than 30% have any
kind of library or laboratory facilities
[2].
To cater to these basic needs, the amount of funding provided
by the Government is estimated at about 15% of the total annual
school educational budget of Rs.2500 crores
[3].
This works out to Rs.375 crores, i.e. approximately Rs. 30
per student per year! The remaining budget allocation is used
up for salaries and maintenance of establishments. As a result,
the vast majority of schools are ill-equipped to impart a
reasonable science education; yet the few that do so manage
to maintain a high level of enthusiasm both among teachers
and students.
Less
than one percent of the students who complete the 10+2 school
years go on to science education at college level. While the
total number of students in all three years of undergraduate
science courses has risen from about 1,28,000 in 1950 to 7,25,000
in the late eighties
[4],
the percentage of the total student population choosing science
after school has dropped over the same period from 32% to
about 19% today. Undergraduate education is primarily imparted
in a * Numbers in brackets indicate references or notes listed
at the end of the document large number of affiliated colleges
(about 6000 at present
[5],
but generally not in university departments. The vast majority
of the affiliated colleges are ill-equipped.
We
may also keep in mind that, of the total university output
of undergraduates each year, approximately one-third are in
the sciences. One can also ask: how many really gifted and
potentially creative science students are produced each year
in the whole country, who go on to do research and work for
a Ph.D. in Indian institutions? A reasonable estimate, based
on the collective experience of many academics in their own
institutions is that this number is not much more than 150-200.
(As an illustrative example, the total number of Ph.D.'s awarded
by the Indian Statistical Institute in the sixteen-year period
1979-1994 is about 120.) Typically, the same candidates get
selected for admission in all the major institutions in the
country for research. Thus the number of students who are
suitable and who also opt for research is appallingly small.
Against
this background, we review briefly the commonly held and expressed
perceptions among the members of the academic community involved
in higher education and research about the present state of
science education in Indian colleges and universities. There
are of course fortunate exceptions, but the general view is
that standards in all respects have declined rapidly and alarmingly,
and unless something is done soon to remedy the situation
the country is definitely heading for disaster. This is more
or less uniformly the opinion expressed in the letters written
by Fellows to the Panel. One quite pessimistic view is that
it may already be too late to prevent disaster. On specific
aspects of the whole situation, we may summarise frequently
articulated views as follows.
a)
There has been an alarming drop in the quality of students
who opt for higher studies in the sciences after school level.
The best products from schools choose to go for courses in
engineering, medicine and commerce, the next most talented
group opt for administrative services, bank careers and the
like those that pursue science at the undergraduate level
are then largely drawn from the residue.
b)
As against this, there has been no careful assessment of the
country's needs for talented scientists in different spheres.
The needs are obvious in sectors such as defence, space, atomic
energy, health, agriculture and related fields, apart from
the universities. The absence of quantitative estimates of
the number of persons needed in the years to come may have
contributed to the present problems. Well planned efforts
to attract, train and retain appropriate numbers of scientists,
to
pursue
a professional career in science in this country, are essential
to prevent a crisis in the near future.
c)
In contrast to the situation a few, decades ago, students,
parents and indeed society as a whole do not presently view
a career in science as rewarding or challenging, or even as
offering a satisfying professional life. Career opportunities
in science are perceived as limited, and as being not at all
comparable materially with other professions. Intimately related
to these negative impressions is the fact that faculty positions
in colleges and universities appear lacking in prestige and
respect, and in any case what young people see all too clearly
is rampant inbreeding in most educational institutions.
d)
The National Science Talent Search awards scheme instituted
in 1964 was definitely a very worthwhile attempt to attract
the best and most highly motivated students to devote themselves
to careers in science. However even here the necessary follow-up
steps to retain and provide for such students have been missing.
In 1977 this scheme was enlarged to the National Talent Search
award scheme, to include areas other than science. By around
the mid- to late eighties only about 10% of the total number
of awardees were opting for science at the undergraduate level;
and the number going on to the post graduate level was even
less [4].
e)
It is commonly felt that the maximum damage to our students
occurs after they come out of the school system and enter
the undergraduate level (occasionally even at the +2 level).
It is at this stage that all curiosity, self-confidence, enthusiasm
and eagerness to learn are killed. Added to this are poor
methods of evaluation and debilitating memory-based examining
systems. The products of Indian undergraduate programmes are
definitely poorer than their counterparts in developed countries,
indeed much more so than at the 10+2 level. The burden of
undoing and repairing the damage suffered at the college level
has then to be borne by education at the post-graduate and
research levels.
f)
The options available to undergraduate students entering our
institutions today are limited and inflexible. The division
into engineering and medical streams at the +2 level itself
contributes to the problem. Practically nowhere can an undegraduate
student hope to pursue emerging combinations like biology
and mathematics or biology and physics. One still has to choose
from old-fashioned combinations like Physics. Chemistry and
Mathematics or Chemistry, Biology and Zoology. In this respect
the situation has worsened even in the Indian Institutes of
Technology, which were initially quite flexible and open in
course and subject combinations available to students. The
option of students moving from the engineering stream to science
is also rarely exercised. With this absurd and self-created
inflexibility, a Ramanujan would never make it today.
g)
In most universities and affiliated colleges one finds low
educational standards and a poor academic environment. Colleges
are generally under-equipped, overcrowded and poorly staffed.
Not being directly involved in the framing of syllabi or in
the evaluation process, it is perhaps not surprising that
most teachers become demotivated and are seen to be uninspiring.
Questions from students are often discouraged, and experiments
and demonstrations are few. Due to lack of experimental facilities,
science is taught unimaginatively, and learnt by rote. Generally
routine and unexciting topics are taught, basic concepts are
poorly covered, and at the higher levels teaching remains
divorced from research. Quality and excellence in teaching
go unrecognized and unrewarded; the few good teachers there
are work under trying conditions. All this has a snow-balling
effect - the generally low standards of the output at the
undergraduate level get reflected among the entrants to post-graduate
education and research.
h)
Too many universities and institutions have been established
over the years without giving adequate thought to the availability
of teachers of acceptable quality. Without any attempts to
correct the ills of existing institutions, all too often new
ones are created only to face the same problems later.
i)
It is widely felt that one cause for the sorry state of affairs
outlined above is the government's policy of the past half
century of establishing chains of specialised research institutions
and national laboratories outside the university system, without
proper and healthy linkages to the latter. This policy, especially
the disproportionate funding of these institutions, has deprived
universities of both talent and material support. Even worse,
the access of young motivated students to leaders in various
fields of science - natural in a university setting in developed
countries and so essential to creative work at a young age
- has become virtually impossible. Thus the soil where scientists
of the future should grow has been deprived of some of its
most important nutrients.
j)
There has been hardly any initiative or involvement by private
nongovernmental sources of support towards higher levels of
education and research. Endowed chairs, industry-supported
specialised laboratories and the like are conspicuous by their
absence. This is particularly unfortunate since private enterprises
depend on products of the educational system for their own
needs.
k)
As a result of national-level discussions and suggestions
for mechanisms to encourage and support scientific research,
many schemes have been established by Government agencies,
and these have in fact done quite well. Examples are the Science
and Engineering Research Council within the Department of
Science and Technology, the COSIST programme of the University
Grants Commission (UGC) and the (now-abandoned) University
Leadership Programme. However, in the educational sphere,
though on several occasions studies and recommendations have
been made to improve the situation, there has been no sustained
follow-up action. Even the series of teacher-training schools
held successfully in the 60's and 70's, with support from
the U.S. National Science Foundation, were discontinued due
to lack of support from the Government. As a result, the enthusiasm
for excellence in education has been lost.
1)
With increasing political interference in higher education,
the pursuit of excellence has disappeared and given place,
among other things, to commercialisation of education. The
twin aims of social equity and academic excellence are being
seen as opposed to each other. There is no intellectual debate
on these overlapping problems, and it is being left to the
judiciary and the political leadership to determine the directions
open to society.
From
this sampling of frequently heard opinions it is clear that
the problems of university science education, seen in totality,
are manifold, and that there has been room for continued criticism
and complaint. Under these circumstances the Academy considers
that there is a need to find ways in which it can help identify
and reach out to the gifted, save as many of them as possible
for the pursuit of science, and make them feel that it is
still worthwhile and deeply rewarding to fashion careers in
science.
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