Kothari Commission


National Education Commission , popularly known as Kothari Commission, was an ad hoc commission set up by the Government of India to examine all aspects of the educational sector in India, to evolve a general pattern of education and to advise guidelines and policies for the development of education in India. It was formed on 14 July 1964 under the chairmanship of Daulat Singh Kothari, then chairman of the University Grants Commission. The terms of reference of the commission was to formulate the general principles and guidelines for the development of education from primary level to the highest and advise the government on a standardized national pattern of education in India. However, the medical and legal studies were excluded from the purview of the commission. The tenancy of the commission was from 1964 to 1966 and the report was submitted by the commission on 29 June 1966.

Structure

The commission, under the chairmanship of Daulat Singh Kothari, was the sixth commission in India post independence and the first commission with comprehensive terms of reference on education. It was composed of a member secretary, an associate secretary and fifteen members. Apart from the core group, the commission had a panel of overseas consultants numbering twenty and nineteen task forces, their sub groups and special panels of invitees.

Core group

Consultants

A panel of 20 consultants, selected from various parts of the world and deemed experts in education, was constituted for consultative assistance to the commission.
No.IncumbentPosition
1James E. Allen, Jr.Commissioner, State Education Department, USA
2C. E. BeebyVisiting Professor, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University
3P. M. S. BlackettPresident, the Royal Society, UK
4Recteur J. J. CapelleDirector-General of Education in France, Paris
5Christopher CoxEducational Adviser, Ministry of Overseas Development, UK
6Philip H. CoombsDirector, UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris
7Andre DaniereCentre for Studies in Education and Development, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University
8Stevan DedijerInstitute of Sociology, University of Lund, Sweden
9Nicholas DeWittDirector, International Survey of Educational Development and Planning, Indiana University, USA
10John Guy FowlkesSchool of Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
11Willis JacksonProfessor of Electrical Engineering, Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London
12J. Paul LeonardProfessor of Education, Columbia University Teachers' College
13Gordon N. MackenzieProfessor of Education, Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York, USA
14C. A. MoserDirector, Unit for Economic and Statistical Studies on Higher Education, London School of Economics
15S. OkitaExecutive Director, Japan Economic Research Centre, Tokyo
16A. R. PrestProfessor of Economics and Public Finance, University of Manchester, England
17Lionel RobbinsProfessor Emeritus, London School of Economics
18Edward A. ShilsProfessor, University of Chicago, USA
19Frederick SeitzPresident, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, USA
20W. C. SmithDirector, Centre for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University

Task Forces and Working Groups

The main front line activities were handled by nineteen task forces or working groups, each handling a specific area of activity.
Task Force on Adult Education
The group's main objective was the eradication of illiteracy by focusing on adult education. The group was composed of three foreign members, J. F. McDougall, Welthy Fischer and Hans Simons and fifteen Indian members, V. S. Jha, Abdul Qadir, G. K. Chandiramani, A. R. Deshpande, Durgabai Deshmukh, K. L. Joshi, D. R. Kalia, T. A. Koshy, M. S. Mehra, A. R. Moore, J. P. Naik, M. S. Randhawa, K. G. Saiyidain, Sohan Singh and group secretary, S. M. S. Chari.
Task Force on Agriculture Education
The group had 15 members of which two were foreign members, J. F. McDougall and R. W. Cummings. The Indian members included B. P. Pal, Hashim Amir Ali, Anant Rao, Chintamani Singh, V. M. Dandekar, K. C. Kanungo, A. B. Joshi, S. N. Mehrotra, S. K. Mukherji, J. P. Naik, K. C. Naik, N. K. Panikar, C. S. Ranganathan, S. C. Verma and secretary, S. Ramanujam. The group focused on the development of agricultural education.
Task Force on Educational Administration
This twelve member group examined the shortcomings on the educational administration and had Prem Kirpal, A. C. Deve Gowda, V. Jagannadham, M. V. Mathur, S. N. Mukherjee, J. P. Naik, H. M. Patel, D. M. Sen, J. D. Sharma, V. D. Sharma, Rudra Dutt Singh and S. Rajan as its members.
Task Force on Educational Finance
The task before the group was to examine the existing set up with regard to educational finance and identify ways to overcome the shortfalls. The group had M. V. Mathur, D. A. Dabholkar, B. Dutta, R. A. Gopalaswami, K. L. Joshi, D. T. Lakdawala, Gautam Mathur, Atmanand Misra, Sadashiv Misra, J. P. Naik, K. A. Naqvi, Pritam Singh and Gurbax Singh as its members.
Task Force on Higher Education
The group's objective was to coordinate the higher education system in India and advise on ways of improvement. The group was one of the largest and had 20 members, including three overseas members, J. F. McDougall, Hans Simons and H. J. Taylor. The Indian members were K. G. Saiyidain, J. W. Airan, P. K. Bose, Chandrahasan, V. S. Jha, A. C. Joshi, K. L. Joshi, C. L. Kapur, D. S. Kothari, M. V. Mathur, P. G. Mavlankar, J. P. Naik, P. J. Philip, A. B. Shah, Amrik Singh, R. K. Singh and S. Rehman.
Task Force on Manpower
The group had twelve members which included R. A. Gopalaswami, Abdul Qadir, K. L. Joshi, M. V. Mathur, J. P. Naik, R. Prasad, T. Sen and S. P. Aggarwal. The group had its mandate to examine the recruitment and training of teaching and non teaching staff.
Task Force on Techniques and Methods in Education
This seventeen member task force was entrusted with the designing of the functional mechanics of the educational system. The members were V. S. Jha, G. K. Athalye, M. L. Bharadwaj, A. R. Dawood, S. Dutt, C. L. Kapur, S. S. Kulkarni, J. C. Mathur, J. F. McDougall, S. K. Mitra, J. P. Naik, Paul Neurath, S. Panandikar, Albert J. Perrelli, S. Rehman, J. M. Ure and S. M. S. Chari, who served as the Secretary.
Task Force on Professional, Vocational and Technical Education
The group trained its focus on the professional and vocational courses. The group had sixteen members including the associate secretary, J. F. McDougall. The other members were T. Sen, S. K. Bose, G. K. Chandiramani, L. S. Chandrakant, D. R. Dhingra, R. N. Dogra, V. G. Garde, R. A. Gopalaswami, K. L. Joshi, P. K. Kelkar, S. G. Pendse, S. C. Sen, R. K. Srivastav, H. C. Visvesvaraya and secretary, S. Venkatesh.
Task Force on Science Education
The mandate of the group was to focus on the science education excluding medical education and consisted of D. S. Kothari, S. Deb, B. D. Jain, P. Florence Nightingale, R. C. Paul, R. N. Rai, T. S. Sadasivan, D. Shankernarayan, Shantinarayan, A. R. Verma, R. D. Deshpande and I. C. Menon.
Task Force on School Education
The group worked on the modalities of school education excluding primary education in India. It consisted of twelve members including the commission secretary, J. P. Naik along with A. R. Dawood, K. L. Gupta, G. S. Khair, K. Kuruvila Jacob, D. R. Mankad, P. N. Mathar, R. Muralidharan, S. Panandikar, H. Radhakrishna, S. N. Saraf, and S. Doraiswami.
Task Force on Student Welfare
The welfare aspects of the students including scholarships and other measures of incentives were attended to by this group which had A. R. Dawood, V. S. Jha, D. R. Mankad, M. S. Mehta, Perin H. Mehta, J. P. Naik, Prem Pasricha, V. Ramakrishna, A. S. Raturi, D. S. Reddy, S. L. Saruparia, Vikram Singh and S. Doraiswami as its members.
Task Force on Teacher Education and Teacher Status
The group inspected the proficiency of the teachers and their remuneration packages. One of the tasks before the group was to standardize the public and private sector compensation packages and also to design a machinery for continuous on-job training of the teachers. The members of the group were S. Panandikar, S. P. Aggarwal, Reginald Bell, A. C. Deve Gowda, G. N. Kaul, J. P. Naik, S. Natarajan, K. G. Saiyidain, Salamatullah and M. D. Paul.
Working Group on Educational Buildings
This group had its focus on the educational infrastructure and had several construction and infrastructure experts among its fifteen members. The members were A. R. Dawood, R. K. Chhabra, Dinesh Mohan, B. V. Doshi, J. F. McDougall, M. M. Mistri, J. P. Naik, M. H. Pandya, C. B. Patel, S. Rahaman, J. L. Sehgal, T. S. Vedagiri, H. C. Visvesaraya, H. Williams and S. Venkatesh.
Working Group on Education of the Backward Classes
The group had fifteen members and was mandated to focus on the education of the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward communities in India. L. M. Shrikant, Sashimeren Aier, N. V. Bapat, S. R. Bhise, P. D. Kulkarani, J. Lakra, D. J. Naik, J. P. Naik, V. Rajlakshmi, T. Sanganna, S. C. Sen Gupta, Manikya Lal Verma, Vimal Chandra, N. M. Wadiwa and the secretary of the group, Gurbax Singh were the members.
Working Group on Educational Statistics
The group provided the statistical tools for the commission and had J. P. Naik, S. P. Aggarwal, R. K. Chhabra, G. P. Khare, D. Natarajan, H. Webster and Gurbax Singh as members.
Working Group on Pre-Primary Education
This group was intended to work on the primary education and its standardization as the primary education till that time was unorganized with several different schools such as basic primary and Montessori systems in practice. The group had ten women, S. Panandikar, Bilquis Ghufran, L. Jesudian, Shalini Moghe, A. Pakrashi, Grace Tucker, P. K. Varalakshmi, Amrita Varma and R. Muralidharan and two men, M. C. Nanavatty and Shesh Namle as members.
Working Group on School Community Relations
The group composed of L. R. Desai, Hulbe, V. S. Jha, H. B. Majumder, P. N. Mathur, J. P. Naik, M. C. Nanavatty, H. Radhakrishna, K. G. Saiyidain, R. K. Singh and M. P. Balakrishnan worked on the extra curricular ambience and activities of the education.
Working Group on School Curriculum
This group had one of the major tasks of the commission which included the design and development of a standardized curriculum to be used across the country. S. Panandikar, J. P. Naik, A. R. Dawood, L. S. Chandrakant, A. J. Perrelli and B. Ghosh were the members.
Working Group on Women's Education
The group, consisting the chairman, D. S. Kothari and the commission secretary, J. P. Naik, had Durgabai Deshmukh, Rajammal Devadas, P. N. Mathur, S. Panandikar, K. G. Saiyidain, Raksha Saran, Premlila V. Thackersey and S. Rajan as members.

Sub groups and invitees

Besides the task forces, the commission had twenty one sub groups assisting the task forces on specific assignments. They were:
  1. Sub group on Literacy Education
  2. Sub group on Role of Universities and Institutions of Higher Learning in Adult Education
  3. Sub group on Education of Workers
  4. Sub group on Role of Cultural Institutions in Adult Education
  5. Sub group on Equalization of Educational Opportunities at University Level
  6. Sub group on Rural Higher Education
  7. Sub group on Salaries of Teachers
  8. Sub group on University Standards
  9. Sub group on Evolution at University Level
  10. Sub group on the Functions of a University
  11. Sub group on Policy of Admissions and Substandard Institutions
  12. Sub group on Secondary Education
  13. Sub group on Evolution at The School Stage
  14. Sub group on Hostels
  15. Sub group on Guidance and Counselling
  16. Sub group on Health Services
  17. Sub group on Teacher Education
  18. Sub group on Evaluation in Teacher Education
  19. Sub group on Comprehensive Scheme of Teacher Training
  20. Sub group on Recruitment, Pay Scales and Conditions of Service of Teachers
  21. Sub group on Statistical Calculations, Finance and Unit Costs
C. Gilpatric, M. S. Mehta, Prof. M. Mehrotra, H. H. Howes, Nauhria Ram and Olive 1. Reddick served as special invitees of the sub groups.

Report

9000 individuals covering educators, scholars and scientists were interviewed and 2400 memorandums were examined by the commission, during a period spanning 21 months. The commission submitted its 287-page report on 29 June 1966 to M. C. Chagla, the then minister of education. The report had four sub sections:
The four main themes of the commission were:
  1. Increase in Productivity
  2. Promoting social and National Integration
  3. Education and Modernization
  4. Developing social, moral and spiritual values

    Main recommendations

One of the main recommendations of the commission was the standardization of educational system on 10+2+3 pattern, across the country. It advised that the pre-primary education which had different names such as kindergarten, Montessori and pre-basic should be renamed as pre-primary and the primary education to be up to the 4th standard. It further classified the schooling as upper primary or higher primary and high school. The under graduate education was identified as XI and XII standards under the name, higher secondary or pre university. The graduate studies were recommended to be standardized as a three-year course. The educational system up to master's degree was categorized as first, second and third levels of education.
The commission recommended that a common public education system should be introduced and then it should be vocationalized in general and special streams by introducing work experience as a part of education. It further stressed on the need to make work experience and social/national service as an integral part of education. Specialization of subjects were advised to be started from higher secondary levels.
The days of instruction were recommended to be increased to 234 for schools and 216 for colleges and the working hours to be fixed at not less than 1000 hours per academic year, preferably higher at 1100 or 1200 hours. It also advised for reduction of national holidays. Linking of colleges to a number of schools in the neighborhood, utilization of school facilities 8 hours a day all through the year, establishment of book banks, identification of talents and provision of scholarships, setting up of day study and residential facilities and opportunities for students to earn while studying were some of the other recommendations of the commission. It also emphasized on free education up to and including lower secondary level of education.
Commission laid stress on women education and advised setting up of state and central level committees for overseeing women education. It suggested establishing schools and hostels for women and urged to identify ways to find job opportunities for women in the educational sector. Focusing on equalization of opportunities to all irrespective of caste, religion and gender and to achieve social and national integration, the schools were advised to provide education to backward classes on a priority basis and the minimum level of enrollment at a secondary school were advised to be not less than 360 every year. Two sets of curricula were prescribed, one at state level and one at the national level and the schools were recommended to experiment with the curriculum. It also proposed that three or four text books to be prescribed for each subject and moral and religious education be made a part of the curriculum. The curriculum prescribed by the commission was:
Lower primary level
Higher primary level
Lower secondary level
Higher secondary level
It also recommended the establishment of guidance and counselling centres and a new approach in the evaluation of student performances. The commission suggested the neighbourhood school system without social or religious segregation and a school complex system integrating primary and secondary levels of education. It put forward the suggestion that state and national boards of examination be set up and state level evaluation machinery be put in place.
The commission recommended the establishment of Indian Education Service, along the lines of Indian Administrative Service, to bring in professional management to education sector. It proposed standardization and revision of the pay scales of the teaching, non teaching and administrative staff and prescribed minimum pay levels based on their locations. It also advised standardization of pay scales working under different managements such as government, private and local bodies. The minimum scale was suggested to be in the ratio of 1:2:3 for teachers in the primary, secondary and higher levels of educational sector. Another proposal was for the establishment of a machinery for continuous on job training of the teaching staff and for efforts to raise the status of the teachers to attract talents into the profession. It urged laws to be passed to legalize the educational standards and the educational expenditure to be raised from the then level of 2.9 percent of the GDP to 6 percent, to be achieved by the fiscal year, 1985-86. A significant suggestion was the issuance of a National Policy on Education by the Government of India which should serve as a guideline for the state and local bodies in the design and implementation of their educational plans.
There were 23 recommendations of Kothari Commission:-
1.Defects in the existing system of education according to Indian education commission.
2.Aims of education according to Indian education commission.
3.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Educational structures and standards.
4.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Curriculum.
5.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Textbook.
6.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Methods of teaching.
7.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Guidance and counselling.
8.Recommendation of Indian education commission Regarding problems of supervision and inspection.
9.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Problems of administration.
10.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Physical welfare of students.
11.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Evaluation.
12.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Adult education.

13.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Teacher education.
14.Recommendation of Indian education commission on Three language formula.
15.Recommendation on Moral and religion education
16.Recommendation on Education of women.
17.Recommendation on vocational Education.
18. Recommendation on Work experience.
19.Recommendation on Distance Education.
20. Recommendation on Aims objectives and functions of University.
21. Recommendation on Enrollment in Higher Education.
22.Recommendation on Selective Admission.
23.Recommendation on University Autonomy.

Aftermath

Formulation of a National Policy on Education was one of the important recommendations of the commission and in 1968, the fourth Lok Sabha elected to office in 1967 under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, passed the bill. The policy covered many recommendations of the Kothari Commission such as free and compulsory education, Status and pay scale revision of teachers, equalization of educational opportunity and science education.
Another recommendation of the commission for the alignment of the educational system on 10+2+3 pattern has been achieved by the government on a national level. The education has been modeled as per commission's recommendation to stratify the sector with state and national bodies and a central board, Board of Higher Secondary Education was set up in 1986.
Kothari commission, fourth education commission in the independent India, and its recommendations are also reported to have influenced the 1986 revision of the National Policy on Education by the Rajiv Gandhi ministry. The guidelines laid out by the commission were revisited by the National Knowledge Commission headed by Sam Pitroda in 2005.