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.
