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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 The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
Government of the
Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and c ...
, 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. 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 Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...
in 1954.


Background

According to the 1951 Census of India, the literacy rate in the
Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and c ...
was 20.86%. 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%.Appendix Q : Modified Scheme of Elementary Education, Madras
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. 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 Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and Indian Independence M ...
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 Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...
and
Vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four Varna (Hinduism), varnas of the Hinduism, Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of caste hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly ...
traders received some education. Shudra were denied education.
Dalits Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...
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. 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 Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
. The first generation of
Dalits Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...
, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and
Backward Classes The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...
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. Rajagopalachari argued,
It is a mistake to imagine that the school is within the walls. The whole village is a school. The village polytechnic is there, every branch of it, the dhobi, the wheelwright, the cobbler.


Earlier attempts at change

In 1939, during
Rajaji Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and Indian Independence M ...
's first term as Chief Minister of the
Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
, 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 Poosapati Sanjeevi Kumaraswamy Raja (8 July 1898 – 16 March 1957) was an Indian politician who served as the last Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 6 April 1949 to 26 January 1950 and first Chief Minister of Madras State from 26 January ...
, 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.


Reasons stated for the reform attempt

* The cost of educating all children in the 6–12 age group would be enormous. Besides enrollment, more than half of the elementary schools lacked proper infrastructure. The reform attempted to increase the number of school-going children within the financial limitations faced by the Government.Appendix T : Modified Scheme of Elementary Education, Madras
* There was an acute shortage of teachers. The state had an average of less than three teachers for five standards per school. There were 4,108 single-teacher schools and more than 60% of the schools with five standards had less than four teachers. * This poor student-teacher ratio was putting a strain on the teachers and led to students being made to stay in school for longer hours. This directly contributed to the high drop out ratio. This plural teaching had to be stopped without hiring new teachers. * Rajaji favoured Gandhi's Basic Education Scheme over the existing elementary education system. He stated that he wanted to reduce the unemployment amongst educated people.Bakshi, P.323 The Basic education system called for learning through living and training in self-reliance. * The retention rate of 37% (between 1947 and 1951) had to be improved by making schools attractive to students of poorer sections.


Proposals in the new scheme

The Modified Scheme of Elementary education proposed the following changes in the school system: * Reduction of School hours from five hours per day to three. * Introduction of shifts -the students were to be divided into two batches and the school would function in two sessions. Each session will be of three hours duration, consisting of four periods of 40 minutes each, with not less than two intervals totaling 20 minutes. The sessions will be arranged to suit local conditions. One batch will attend only one session a day. There were to be six working days per week. * No dilution of the previous syllabus and no reduction in duration for subjects like Language, Elementary Mathematics, Nature Study, Drawing, History, Geography, Hygiene, Civics, Moral Instruction and Singing. * The second session in which the students would be out of school was to be utilised for obtaining the objectives of the basic education system – learning through living and training in self-reliance. * During the out of school session, the girl students were to learn house keeping from their mothers in their home environment. The boys were supposed to learn farming or other crafts from their respective fathers. * Boys whose parents did not belong to occupational groups, were to be sent to work in farms or with other craftsmen in their villages. * In addition to the learning the students were to be utilised in service to the village like ''building sheds,laying bricks, attending to village sanitation, improving roads, etc.''. * The out of school session would have no strict attendance or work requirements.


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.Chapter XIV, A Review of Madras Legislative Assembly (1952–57)
/ref> Rajaji had not even consulted his own cabinet or members of the legislative assembly before the scheme's implementation.
Rajaji said: “Did Shankara or
Ramanuja Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...
announce their philosophy after consulting others?".


Opposition

From the beginning, the scheme attracted heavy opposition from the Dravidian movement led by
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 1879 – 24 December 1973), revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'Fa ...
. The
Dravidar Kazhagam Dravidar Kazhagam is a social movement founded by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, also called Thanthai Periyar. Its original goals were to eradicate the ills of the existing caste system including untouchability and on a grander scale to obtain a " ...
organised a conference in Erode protesting the scheme's introduction. 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. 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''. 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. 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. 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.Anna's Birth Centennial Anthology
/ref> 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 Sathyavani Muthu (15 February 1923 – 11 November 1999) was an Indian politician and an influential leader from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu, Rajya Sabha member and Union Minister. She began h ...
was organised to protest the scheme. Its destination was Rajaji's official residence at Bazullah road,
T. Nagar Thyagaraya Nagar, commonly known as T. Nagar, and historically known as East Mambalam, is a very affluent commercial and residential neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is surrounded by Nungambakkam in the North, Teynampet in the Ea ...
. It was stopped by the police as it was unlicensed. 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.


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. On 29 July 1953, M.V Krishna Rao, the minister for education moved a motion for considering the new scheme. After a discussion,
Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
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 Jagannathan Shivashanmugam (24 February 1901 – 17 February 1975) was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress. In 1938, he became the first Scheduled Caste mayor of Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the offici ...
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. The Scheme was stayed 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.Report, Director of Information and Publicity
/ref> 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 Jamia Millia Islamia () is a central university located in New Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British Raj in 1920, it moved to its current location in Okhla i ...
as members and S. Govindarajulu Naidu, the former Director of Public Instruction, Madras, and the then Director of Public Instruction,
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, as the Member Secretary. 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.


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 Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...
wanted Rajaji to withdraw the scheme as it was unpopular amongst the public and with the party members.Subramaniam, p.205 On 20 October 1953, forty Congress Legislative Assembly members led by
P. Varadarajulu Naidu Perumal Varadarajulu Naidu (4 June 1887 – 23 July 1957) was an Indian physician, politician, journalist and Indian independence activist. He was also the founder of The Indian Express, a major English-language daily, in 1932 in Madras. He was ...
, 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. But Rajaji refused to drop the scheme. On 8 November 1953, Congress lost the by election for the Kangayam constituency by a narrow margin. Pressure mounted from within the party to drop the scheme. On 9 March 1954, Congress leader and former Chief Minister
O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar Omandur Ramasamy Reddiyar (1 February 1895 – 25 August 1970) was an Indian freedom-fighter and politician of the Indian National Congress. He served as the Premier of Madras Presidency from 23 March 1947 to 6 April 1949. Early life Oma ...
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. The meeting was postponed by a week and when it happened on 31 March, C. Subramaniam was defeated by Kamaraj. 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''.The Hindu report on 19 May 1954 : Scheme dropped
/ref> 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.Indian Review Vol.55, p.284


Criticism

The main arguments made against the Modified Scheme of Elementary Education were : *That the scheme was casteist by design. According to C. N. Annadurai, it aimed to preserve and perpetuate the caste hierarchy by ensuring that children took up their parents' profession. It was designed to help Brahmins corner positions of authority .Vasantha Kandaswamy p.262-6 *That it intended to reduce the schooling imparted to children by not monitoring them during out of school sessions. *That it would increase the workload of teachers as it would increase their working hours and force them to handle more children without the appointment of new teachers and without an increase in their pay.Balratnam, P.91 *That it was undemocratic and dictatorial as Rajaji had not consulted his cabinet or the assembly in his decision to implement the scheme (In Rajaji's own words – ''This is an executive matter, no law is involved'' and'' Did Shankara and
Ramanuja Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...
announce their philosophy after consulting others''?). *That it was deliberately targeted at rural children alone to keep them from getting an education.Vashisht, p.52 Writing in ''Viduthalai'' on 17 November 1953,
Periyar Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 1879 – 24 December 1973), revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'F ...
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.


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 Papanasam is a panchayat town in Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Kumbakonam. The name literally translates to "Destruction of Sins" in the Tamil language. It is the suburban region ...
MLA Swayam Prakasam's concerns over the scheme, then Prime Minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
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 Sri Prakasa (3 August 1890 – 23 June 1971) was an Indian politician, freedom-fighter and administrator. He served as India's first High Commissioner to Pakistan from 1947 to 1949, Governor of Assam from 1949 to 1950, Governor of Madras from ...
– 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 Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
. 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 commissionKandaswamy, P. 65 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. This approach was successful and by the end of Kamaraj's tenure as Chief Minister in 1963, enrollment in primary schools had been doubled.


See also

*
Child labour in India A significant proportion of children in India are engaged in child labour. In 2011, the national census of India found that the total number of child labourers, aged –14 to be at 10.12 million, out of the total of 259.64 million children i ...


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Rajaji, a Life by RajMohan Gandhi ( Chapter: Downfall) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hereditary Education Policy Education in Tamil Nadu Politics by issue Education policy in India Dravidian movement Tamil politics History of education in India 1953 in India