On June 1, 1953, at a conference in Madras, Chief Minister C. Rajagopalachari declared to Education Department officials from across the State, “I tell you frankly that we are really on the brink of a historic change. It is not merely a change in the educational practice. It is a change in the whole of our life organisation towards progress”. The conference was to discuss the implementation of the Modified Scheme of Elementary Education (MSEE), remembered today as the infamous ‘kula kalvi thittam’ (family vocation scheme). It was brought in through a circular in April 1953 without the consultation it deserved within and outside the government. In short, the scheme introduced two shifts for Classes I to V by reducing school hours to three. The students were to spend the other half learning a craft by helping their parents (if they belonged to occupational classes) or learn a craft from a farmer or a craftsman in the village.
‘Key problems’
Rajaji doggedly believed that the scheme would fix what he perceived as the key problems in the schooling system. He despised long school hours, terming them as “imprisoning” of students. He believed that the education system created an aversion to manual labour and village life. The more palatable reason given was that the scheme would help achieve free and compulsory education for all children as envisioned under Article 45 of the Constitution. Highlighting budgetary limitations, the government argued that the shift system would easily double the enrolment by doubling the schools’ capacity without additional resources. In 1950-51, only 47.8% of the children aged 6-12 were in schools.
For the opponents, Rajaji’s views on the varnashrama dharma and preservation of village life overshadowed such reasons. In his seminal research thesis on MSEE in 1980-81 and published posthumously as the book, Half a Day for Caste? Education and Politics in Tamil Nadu, 1952-55, D. Veeraraghavan, who taught at IIT-Madras, says Rajaji’s views on the varnashrama dharma were more conservative than those of Mahatma Gandhi. “Though a reformer who championed the cause of the untouchables and women, he [Rajaji] never sought to destroy the existing social framework or replace it with a more egalitarian one... He believed in the continuance of the family apprenticeship,” he says.
Rajaji’s conviction was evident from the fact that he wanted to introduce it even when he was the Premier of Madras Presidency in 1937-39. However, the then Director of Public Instruction, R.M. Statham, had reservations and introduced it instead as an option in the Periyakulam taluk in the present-day Theni district. But none opted for it. Determined to introduce the scheme at the next opportunity, Rajaji set the ball rolling soon after he became the Chief Minister in 1952. He did not bother taking his party or the Cabinet into confidence. No one knew about it, except a few officials and Education Minister M.V. Krishna Rao.
Widespread opposition
As the scheme came into force in June, the opposition was widespread and cut across political lines; even many Congress members were against it. A section of the opponents wanted to believe in Rajaji’s intent owing to his stature and personal integrity, but criticised the way it was being enforced in a hurry without discussions or being tried out in a smaller area.
Those at the forefront of the opposition were the Dravidar Kazhagam and its offshoot, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which had not entered electoral politics then. They alleged that the scheme’s ulterior motive was to protect the caste system and deny progress through education to children of the downtrodden communities.
The second half of 1953, especially July, proved to be a politically turbulent period, owing to protests against MSEE and the materialisation of efforts to carve out the State of Andhra from Madras Presidency. In July, the mummunai porattam (a three-pronged struggle) of the DMK against MSEE and imposition of Hindi, and to condemn Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for belittling the party’s agitations, resulted in a few deaths in police firing.
Opposition to the scheme was strong within the Assembly as well. However, Rajaji remained steadfast. In August, while refusing to stay the scheme, he reluctantly ordered the constitution of a committee under educationist R.V. Parulekar to study MSEE. The Hindu’s editorial on November 28, 1953, criticised the committee’s report for failing to establish the soundness of the scheme.
Poor electoral performance
Rajaji’s re-entry into politics in 1952 to become the Chief Minister was necessitated by the Congress’s poor electoral performance in the Andhra region of the presidency. Hence, the carving out of Andhra from the presidency in October ensured a clear majority for the Congress and diminished Rajaji’s indispensability.
Rajaji refused to budge on MSEE until he resigned as the Chief Minister on March 26, 1954. Reflecting on Rajaji’s “conservative” views and his stronger belief in his own judgment than that of others, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former West Bengal Governor and Rajaji’s grandson, in his foreword to Veeraraghavan’s book, says, “Rajaji’s self-containment and parleying insufficiency was unfortunate as such, but also supremely imprudent.” “If he had taken the scheme’s adversaries into confidence at an early stage of their demurring, some ideas could have emerged that might have purged the scheme of its unintentional distortions, especially the effect of caste-perpetuation, and saved both the scheme and his chief ministership,” he says.
The scheme, indeed, ushered in a historic change, as Rajaji said. But it was more in politics than in education. A.R. Venkatachalapathy, historian and Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, in his introduction to the book, says the scheme effectively ended Rajaji’s political career and accelerated the “de-Brahminisation” of the Congress, culminating in Kamaraj becoming the Chief Minister. Kamaraj dropped MSEE and intensified efforts at universal school education by opening more schools. The DMK’s spirited protests and the public support it garnered gave the party a boost and influenced its decision to contest in the 1957 election. Thus, Rajaji, who returned to politics in 1952 to prevent the Communists from forming the government in Madras Presidency, ended up helping the DMK come to power 15 years later, first through MSEE and then through direct support in the 1967 election.
