EDUCATION AND CULTURE

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

Primary and secondary education in the Satara district is under the control of the District Educational Inspector who is a class I officer of the Maharashtra Educational Service and is directly under the control of the Director of Education. The Educational Inspector is responsible in his district for: (1) The supervision of primary education; (2) The administrative control of all Government Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, and Training Institutions under the control of the Education Department; and (3) The control and inspection of all secondary schools including English-teaching schools, multi-purpose high schools, training institutions of primary teachers and such special schools as are under the control of the Education Department.

As regards girls' schools and institutions for women the Inspectress of Girls' Schools, Poona (Maharashtra Educational Service, Class I) performs the functions and duties in respect of (a) the inspection of girls' secondary and special schools in the district; (b) visiting girls' primary schools in the district and making suggestions for improvement.

In carrying out his duties of inspection and control, the Educational Inspector is assisted by an inspecting staff consisting of one Deputy Educational Inspector, Maharashtra Educational Service, Class II and 29 Assistant Deputy Educational Inspectors (Maharashtra Educational Service, Class III) who are directly responsible to him for the supervision and inspection of primary schools in the district. Out of these one is in charge of Urdu schools, another in charge of girls' schools and the third in charge of physical education for the whole district.

There are separate Inspectors having jurisdiction over the whole State for physical education, visual education, drawing and craft work and commercial schools who are responsible for organisation and inspection in their respective spheres. These inspectors are directly under the Director of Education.

Under the rules framed under the Bombay Primary Education Act, the Deputy Educational Inspector, Satara is the chief Government Inspecting Officer of the district so far as primary schools are concerned. He decides the question of recognition of private primary schools. He has to keep close watch on the working of primary schools maintained or approved by the School Board, adult education classes and village libraries. He has to report regarding the housing arrangement, equipment, staff, efficiency of instruction etc., of the primary schools so that the department may be in a position to determine whether the school board is conducting its schools satisfactorily. All aided schools are inspected by him or by the inspecting staff under him. He also assists the Educational Inspector in the inspection of secondary schools and reports on specific points about them whenever he is required to do so by the Educational Inspector.

Primary Education.

It is the declared policy of the Government that universal, free and compulsory primary education should be enforced by a definite programme of progressive expansion, and under Bombay Primary Education Act (LXI of 1947), the State Government has taken upon itself the duty of securing the development and expansion of primary education in the State. The object aimed at is to have a minimum course of seven years' education for every child. The agencies employed for attaining this objective are the district school boards and authorised municipalities. The Municipal Borough of Satara has been declared an authorised municipality in this district.

District Local Board.

" Approved schools "[Approved school" means a primary school maintained by the State Government or by the school board or by an authorised municipality or which is for the time being recognised as such by a school board or by the State Government or by an officer authorised by it in this behalf (section 2 of the Bombay Primary Education Act, LXI of 1947).] within the area of all non-authorised municipalities and of the district local board are under the control of the Satara District School Board. This school board is composed of sixteen members out of whom two are nominated by Government, one is a Government official, two are elected by the non-authorised municipalities falling within the District School Board's jurisdiction and the rest are elected by the Satara District Local Board. Of the remaining eleven seats, one seat is reserved for the scheduled castes, one for women and three seats are reserved for prominent educationalists.

Working of Primary Education Act.

Under the Primary Education Act and the rules thereunder all the district school boards and authorised municipalities have to maintain an adequate number of primary schools in which instruction is given through the medium of the local, regional language.

For children whose mother tongue is other than the regional language of the area, school boards have been instructed to open schools in their language if the number of such children is not less than 40 in the first four standards and 20 in the upper standards. The teaching of the regional language of the area is also compulsory in such schools from standard III onwards. An authorised municipality has to make such provision in its budget as will enable approved schools in its area to receive grants at the rates authorised by Government. Responsibility is laid on the District School Board and the School Boards of the authorised municipalities to maintain a schedule of staff of assistant administrative officers or supervisors, primary teachers, clerks, Class IV servants and other staff, sanctioned by Government setting forth the designation, grades, pay and nature of appointment of the different members. The members of this staff are servants of the School Boards concerned and receive their pay, allowance etc., from the Primary Education Fund, maintained by the School Boards. No change or alteration can be made in the schedule of staff without the previous sanction of Government.

The annual budgets of the School Boards have to be submitted to the Director of Education for sanction. A district school board derives its income mainly from Government grants which form nearly 96 per cent, of its total income. It also receives from the District Local Board a contribution equal to such portion of its income from the cess and land revenue and water rates as may be fixed by Government from time to time, and from authorised municipalities whose schools are under its control such proportion of the ratable value of properties in the area of the respective municipalities as may be fixed by Government from time to time. The District Local Board, Satara has, under the present rules to contribute 15 pies of the three anna cess on land revenue and water rates that it is allowed to levy The amount to be paid by non-authorised municipalities has been fixed by Government at 5 per cent. of the ratable value of properties in their respective areas. The Primary Education Fund of the Municipal Borough of Satara, is composed partly of the grant payable to it by the State Government on account of primary education. This grant is regulated by rules passed by the Government under the Primary Education Act. In actual effect the Government grant amounts to a little less than 50 per cent, of the expenditure on primary education incurred by the municipal borough.

The chief executive officer of the Satara District School Board is its administrative officer. This officer is appointed and paid by the State Government. The administrative officer of an authorised municipality is generally the officer appointed by the municipality. Under this administrative officer are assistant administrative officers or supervisors, primary school teachers, clerks and inferior servants and other staff under the employ of the District School Board or the School Board of authorised municipalities, as the case may be. The administrative officer is responsible for the general administration of all primary schools maintained by the School Board. He is responsible for carrying out the suggestions made from time to time by Government officers. It is his duty to advise the school board on all matters connected with primary education. He is also a member and secretary of the staff selection and transfer committee. The staff selection committee is a committee composed besides himself, of the chairman of the school board and the Educational Inspector of the district. Its duty is to select candidates for appointment as assistant administrative officers, as supervisors and as teachers. The committee also selects the teachers to be deputed for training. The staff selection committee has been authorised to transfer primary teachers on joint consultation among its members. The district school board or the school boards of authorised municipalities, or their administrative officers have to make appointments of candidates in accordance with the directions given by the committee. The selection of candidates and teachers is made in accordance with the instructions issued by the Government. The administrative officer has power, subject to the general instructions issued by the Director of Education to promote and take all disciplinary action, including removal or dismissal, against the staff. His orders, however, are subject to appeal to a tribunal consisting of the chairman of the school board and the Educational Inspector of the district. A primary school teacher who was a guaranteed teacher on the date the Primary Education Act came into force has however, a right of further appeal to the State Government against any order of his removal or dismissal.

Statistics (1957-58).

There were 1,347 primary schools (both lower primary i.e., teaching standards I-IV and upper primary i.e., teaching standards V-VII) of which 43 were exclusively for girls. The distribution of the schools by management was as follows:-

There were 92,512 boys and 51,876 girls in the lower primary stage (i.e. standards I-IV) and 21,468 boys and 3,617 girls in the upper primary stage (i.e., standard V-VII) or a total of 1,69,473 pupils in all primary schools. The percentage of school-going children to the population was 62.6.

The number of teachers in primary schools was 4,325 of whom 3,874 were men and 451 women. This works out roughly at 39 pupils per teacher. Two thousand nine hundred and forty of the men teachers and 383 of the women teachers were trained.

There were seven training institutions, five for men (1 Government and 4 non-Government) and two for women (both non-Government) training 558 men and 160 women or a total of 718 teachers during the year.

There was one practising school for Marathi speaking boys and girls directly under the control of Government.

Expenditure.

The total expenditure on primary schools was Rs. 48,68,744 and it was met from the following sources: -

The average cost of educating a pupil was Rs. 26.2 per annum of which Government's contribution was Rs. 24.8.

There were in 1957-58, 17 municipal primary schools and one private school within the municipal limits of the Satara City Municipality. The total number of pupils was 5,663 (4,940 in municipal schools and 723 in private schools). The expenditure of the school board of the municipality was Rs. 1,67,863 out of which Rs. 63,000 were contributed by the Satara Municipality and grants to private schools amounted to Rs. 12,601.

The District School Board, Satara introduced compulsion for the first time from 1947. This was, however, applicable only to children between 6 and 11 years of age in the areas of the non-authorised municipalities. Under the post-war reconstruction plan, the board introduced compulsion both for boys and girls from 1947 beginning with the age groups of 7-8 in the first year throughout the district local board area. With this, children of the age range between 7 and 11 were under compulsion during 1957-58. The population of the area (in September 1951), was 5,72,967 males and 6,02,342 females. The total number of children of the age groups under compulsion was 1,48,567 and the total number actually attending schools was 1,06,580 or 71.06 per cent.

Compulsion was introduced in the municipal boroughs of Satara district during 1921 only for boys of the age group of 6-11. The population according to the 1951 census was composed of 19,631 males and 18,890 females (38,521 total). The number of children of school-going age in the municipal boroughs was 6,694 (3,910 boys and 2,784 girls) or 92.9 per cent.

Medium of Instruction.

According to the medium of instruction, in 1957-58, the schools were distributed as follows: -

In 1957-58 out of 2,211 buildings in which district school board's schools were housed, 329 were owned by the board, 397 were rented and the remaining were housed in temples, dharmashalas and other places.

Basic and Craft Schools.

A new ideology has influenced the educational activities of the staff since 1937-38. It has come to 0be recognised that education must centre round some form of manual productive work. In 1957-58 there was one compact area for basic education in this district viz. Khandala, with six basic schools. There were in all 169 craft schools of which 66 had spinning, 67 agriculture and 36 carpentry as crafts.

Secondary Education.

Secondary education is now under the general regulation of Government which exercises control by means of conditions for receipt of grant-in-aid. At the end of the high school course an examination is conducted by the Secondary School Certificate Examination Board, and the students who pass are awarded the Secondary School Certificate. The office of the Secondary School Certificate Examination Board is located at Poona. The first examination was held in 1949. The examination provides optional courses for pupils with varied interests and aptitudes. Each University, however, lays down the subjects which candidates must take for entrance to its courses.

Statistics(1957-58).

In 1957-58 there were 64 secondary schools in the district with a total of 12,855 pupils (10,422 boys and 2,433 girls) of which five schools were exclusively for girls. The number of girls in the schools exclusively meant for girls was 1,357 while 1,076 girls were in mixed schools. There was one multi-purpose Government high school for boys. In addition, there was a technical high school under the control of Director of Technical Education.

The following statement shows the number of schools under different managements and the number of pupils in them.

* The figure does not include the three Anglo-Indian Schools under the control of the Education Inspector, Greater Bombay.

Secondary education was imparted mainly by private agencies aided by Government grants.

There were 559 teachers in secondary schools, of whom 472 were men and 87 women.

The total expenditure on secondary education was 5,31,727.54.

Drawing Examinations.

Government hold drawing examinations, elementary and intermediate. In 1957-58 in Satara district 942 candidates appeared for. the elementary, of whom 478 passed; for the Intermediate, 367 candidates appeared and 210 passed.

Special Schools.

In 1957-58 there were 17 special schools in the district having 1,038 pupils as per details given below:-

Physical Education.

One trained assistant deputy educational inspector looks after the physical activities in the district. He visits secondary, full primary and training institutions and offers suggestions and guidance to further the cause of physical education. He also inspects the vyayam shalas run by private bodies and recommends grants. He often conducts short-term courses for primary teachers for training in physical education.

Boy Scouts, Girl Guides and Junior National Cadet Corps.

In 1957-58 there were 20 troops for boys and seven for girls in which 480 boy-scouts and 168 girl-guides participated. The high schools had 39 auxiliary cadet corps with 1,897 cadets.

Medical Inspection.

There is arrangement for medical inspection of high school and training college students.

SCHOOL BOARD BROADCAST AND VISUAL EDUCATION.

Most of the well established schools in the district have radio sets. Some schools own 16 mm. and 35 mm. projectors in order to cater to the needs of visual education.

Special Features.

For primary schools, the whole district has been divided into talukas as per revenue division. Each taluka is in charge of a taluka Features. head. The taluka head is usually a semi or basic trained graduate. He is assisted by an assistant deputy educational inspector. Every month, Shibirs (Camps) are held where current topics in education are discussed. The idea of community life is fully brought home through them.

Sports, elocution competitions and dramatics are arranged. These competitions have created healthy atmosphere in all talukas.

Successful attempts have been made to secure lands for the conversion of primary schools into agricultural basic schools.

For secondary schools, the district has been divided into zones. Each zone consists of two talukas. Zonal meetings for the purpose of improving teaching methods in different subjects are arranged in each zone. Deliberations are circulated to' all secondary schools. These meetings are of great use for improving the efficiency of instruction.

The Scouts movement is progressing well in this district both in primary and secondary schools.

SAINIKI SCHOOL, SATARA.

The Sainiki School at Satara is a well-known military training centre in the State.

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