EDUCATION AND CULTURE

GENERAL EDUCATION

The Central Government schemes and the State Government policies regarding education were executed at the district level by the Government Inspectorate in the district. The District Inspectorate consisted of one Educational Inspector, one Deputy Educational Inspector and 34 Assistant Deputy Educational Inspectors. All educational institutions in the district were under the control of the Educational Inspector. To facilitate the administration of primary education, District School Boards were entrusted with the work of primary education. Secondary schools, primary training Colleges and other technical and professional institutions were directly under the control of the Educational Inspector. The Inspector and his deputies visited and inspected these institutions and recommended grants-in-aid. Besides, the responsibility of the control of the primary education also partly vested with the Educational Inspector, as he was empowered to have general supervision over the administration of the schools.

The following table shows the strength of students in the primary and secondary stage according to medium of instruction in the district form the year 1963-64 to 1966-67.

TABLE No. 4

DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENTS IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS ACCORDING TO MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION, YEOTMAL.

DISTRICT

The following table gives the number of students according to age in the district from 1963-64 to 1966-67.

TABLE No. 5

DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS BY AGE GROUP (IN PRE-PRIMARY, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY), YEOTMAL DISTRICT

The District School Board which is now a defunct body was composed of a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman, and 14 other elected and nominated members. The Administrative Officer who worked as the ex-officio secretary of the board was the representative of the State Government to guide the Board on Government policies in respect of educational matters. He executed the programmes chalked out by the Board for primary education in consultation with the Staff Selection Committee, a statutory body under the Primary Education Act, 1947. Teachers were interviewed, selected and appointed by him in accordance with the rules prescribed by the State Government.

The academic side of primary schools was supervised and controlled by the Assistant Deputy Educational Inspectors working under the control of the Educational Inspector who visited and inspected the primary schools. They recommended cases for opening of primary schools, grants to primary schools, etc., through the Deputy Educational Inspector who was their immediate superior.

This in brief was the administrative set-up with the powers and duties of the functionaries of the Education Department prior to the advent of the Zilla Parishad.

Since the formation of the Zilla Parishad, Education has come under dual control, viz., that of the State Government and the Zilla Parishad. The Deputy Director of Education, Vidarbha Region, Nagpur, is the officer in charge of the State sector in the division.

The Education Department of the Zilla Parishad is headed by the Parishad Education Officer who also acts as the Secretary to the Education Committee of the Zilla Parshad. He is a Class I Gazetted Officer of the Maharashtra Education Service. He supervises, controls and guides the work of his subordinates. He has powers to inspect and release grants to primary and secondary schools in the district. He grants recognition to primary, middle and secondary schools. He is assisted in his work by one Deputy Education Officer, belonging to the Class II cadre of the State Service. The work of the inspection of secondary schools is done by the Assistant Deputy Education Officers. Under the Deputy Education Officer are 25 Assistant Deputy Educational Inspectors and 26 Social Education Organisers.

All girls' schools whether primary or secondary, come within the purview of the Zilla Parishad. The Assistant Deputy Education Officers of the Zilla Parishad have to visit and inspect the primary schools. The secondary schools are inspected by the Inspectors of Schools. The report of inspection in both the cases is forwarded to the Education Department in the State sector.

The municipalities have been given certain powers under the Local self-Government Acts of the former States of Central Provinces and Madhya Pradesh. Accordingly, recognition of schools in the municipal areas and allotment of grants from the State revenue are the duties of the municipality.

The education at school level is divided into six categories, viz., pro-primary, primary. Indian-middle school, Indian-English middle school, higher secondary and multipurpose higher secondary.

Basic Training Colleges for primary school teachers, Secondary Teachers Training Institutes and institutes leading to Diploma in Teaching for Indian-English middle school teachers and post-graduate degree course in training for high school and higher secondary school teachers form the main bulwark of training institutions.

Pre-primary.

The pre-primary education helps in finding out the aptitude of children and in inculcating good habits among them. Though of recent origin, the importance of pre-primary education is nowadays felt even in rural areas. In 1967 the district had 19 pre-primary schools imparting education to the children in the age group of 3—6. It was proposed to increase their number to 42 with a view to have three pre-primary schools in every block.

Ashram Schools.

In 1967, there were three ashram schools in the district providing educational facilities to the children belonging to tribal population.

Primary schools.

There has been a rapid growth in the number of primary schools in the district during the last few years. The number of primary schools increased from 464 in 1951 to 897 in 1956 and to 1.168 in 1961. On 31st March 1962, it stood at 1,219. Of these schools, 65 were senior basic, 82 were junior basic, 42 were single teacher basic, 574 we're single teacher non-basic, 340 were multi-teacher non-basic and 116 were non-basic middle schools.

Of the 1,219 primary schools, 1,113 or 91.30 per cent are managed by the Zilla Parishad and only 2.13 per cent are managed by private institutions. The State Government's share in 1961-62 was 88.8 per cent of the total expenditure. The expenditure on primary education is incurred by the State Government through grants-in-aid to Zilla Parishad and building loans and giants to primary teachers' training colleges. Similarly, wards of parents whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 1,800 get free education. The cost borne by the schools on this account is reimbursed by the State Government. Students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and children of political sufferers and of landless labourers get free education. The cost is borne by the Government. Scholarships are given to students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes at the rate of Rs. 3 per year in first and second standard and Rs. 6 per year in standards third and fourth. Government also gives aid to backward classes in the form of maintenance cost of the mixed hostels which accommodate students belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The State Government's policy of converting primary schools into basic schools has also made steady progress in the district. In 1960-61 there were 157 has c schools in the district. On 31st March 1962 the number stood at 189.

By 31st March 1962. eight towns and 1,115 villages in the district had primary schools and 230 villages had schooling facilities, i.e., within a mile from the village, primary schools were situated. The number of villages which had no schooling facilities stood at 284. In the same year, the district had 3.223 teachers, of whom 1,614 were trained teachers.

The following statement indicates the progress of primary education in the district.

Some vital statistics, as on 31st March 1962, of the progress of primary education in the district compared with those of the State averages are given below: —

The scheme of compulsory primary education was introduced in the district during the First Five-Year Plan period. Initially, the scheme was applied to four towns and it was extended to the remaining four towns as well as to the Community Development Blocks during the Second Five-Year Plan period. The scheme covered the children in the age group of 6—10. One of the Third Five-Year Plan schemes was to extend the scheme of compulsory primary education to the children in the age group of 6—11. A provision of Rs. 70.28 lakhs was made for primary education in the district in the Third Five-Year Plan. During the period 1,226 additional teachers were to be appointed. The number of students was expected to rise by 61,300. Similarly. 201 class-rooms were also to he built during the period.

The number of primary schools has increased to 1,577 in 1967. Of these, 58 primary schools are located in urban areas and 1,519, in rural areas. In the same year any place having a population of 150 or more was provided with primary schools with the result that out of 1,628 villages in the district 1,535 villages were having educational facilities.

Secondary Schools.

The district had 27 secondary schools in 1951, 35 in 1956 and 59 in 1961. Their number stood at 71 on 31st March 1962. Of these eight were managed by the State, two by municipalities, 48 private institutions and 13 by the Zilla Parishad. The district had 12 multi-purpose higher secondary schools, five managed by the State, one by municipality and six by private institutions. The number of ordinary higher secondary schools was 38. Of these 33 were run by private institutions and five by the Zilla Parishad. The district had, during the same period 21 middle secondary schools three managed by the State, one by municipality, nine by private institutions and 8 were conducted by the Zilla Parishad.

In the year 1962, the total number of teachers stood at 941, of whom 471 were trained teachers. The percentage of the trained teachers thus worked out at 50.

The following statement gives some of the other important statistics regarding the secondary education in the district in comparison to those of the State:—

The following statement shows the progress of secondary education in the district from 1951 to 1962:—

The above statement shows that the secondary education in the district has been making a steady progress. The number of secondary schools had increased from 27 in 1951 to 35 in 1955-56 and 59 in 1960-61 and it stood at 71 on 31st March 1962. In 1968. the number of secondary schools in the district stood at 126.

The secondary schools are adequately dispersed throughout the district, both in urban and rural areas. In 1961 while Wani taluka had seven secondary schools, Darwha and Kelapur talukas each had 15, Yeotmal taluka had 12 and Pusad taluka had 10 secondary schools.

Private institutions manage 67.6 per cent of the secondary schools in the district. The Government's share in the. total expenditure on secondary education was 78.9 per cent in 1961-62 and is incurred through different schemes of grants for maintenance, salaries, buildings, building sites, equipment, freeships, scholarships, loans, etc., and special concessions to Scheduled Castes. Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Class students.

Looking to the very fast growth in the number of pupils in primary schools, the number of pupils in the secondary schools was expected to rise to 36,000 by 1970-71.

From the various centres in the district 2,677 candidates had appeared for S. S. C. Examination in March 1962 of whom 1,450 had passed. During the same year 467 candidates had appeared for higher S. S. C. of whom 273 bad passed. The number of candidates appeared and passed in the October Examination of the same year stood at 588 and 225, respectively. Those appeared lot higher S. S. C. were 103 of whom 15 were declared as passed.

The following table shows the strength of teachers including trained hands from 1963-64 to 1966-67.

TABLE No. 6

STATISTICS RELATING TO TEACHERS IN THE YEOTMAL DISTRICT

College Education.

In 1960-61 the district had four colleges with 805 students. Of these, three were in Yeotmal and one was at Wani. The number of colleges increased to seven in 1962-63. In 1967-68 the district had eight colleges. These colleges provide education in the faculties of arts, science, commerce, teaching and law. There is a private Ayurved Mahavidyalaya and a Government recognised Homoeopathy College, both located at. Yeotmal. All the colleges are managed by private institutions and receive grants for maintenance, salaries and buildings from Government.

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