PACIFIC SOUTHWEST ASSOCIATION OF CHEMISTRY TEACHERS 0
TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN AN INDIAN ENVIRONMENT' ROBERT D. VOLD University of Southern California, Los Angeles
T m s article is a brief and necessarily incomplete account of the experiences of the author while serving for two years asvisiting Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, South India. This opportunity was given him by the University of Wisconsin which, under contract with the International Cooperation Administration (ICA), has a sisterhood arrangement with a number of Indian institutions under which it locates suitable American engineers and basic scientists to serve as temporary faculty in India. In my case the specific assignment was to introduce new lines of research at the Institute and to help plan for an authorized expansion of the program in physical chemistry at a postgraduate level. Mrs. Vold was also active in the teaching and research program of the Institute even though she held no salaried position. The ICA is the successor to the old Point IV Program, and is authorized to furnish technical assistance to foreign governments which request it. I n India this program operates through the Technical Cooperation Mission (TCM) with headquarters in New Delhi in the American Embassy. I t is responsible for the administration of a wide variety of technical services, including the procurement, maintenance, and supervision of American experts in such fields as agriculture, home economics, engineering construction, public administration, etc., and of specialists in research and education t o work with their Indian counterparts toward the expansion and improvement of the Indian educational system. The Indian institution which desires assistance initiates matters by making a request to the Ministry of Education of the Government of India specifying the fields in which it wishes visiting personnel and the reasons why they are needed, and suggesting suitable candidates if such are known. The Ministry of Education, after screening these requests, contacts TCM with respect to whether the approved proposals can he filled. The next step is consultation between TCM in New Delhi and the ICA in Washington as to the adequacy of budgets, whether the new proposal fits under any of the existing contracts, or whether a new contract must he negotiated. I n the
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Presented in part before a meeting of the Pacific Southwest Association of Chemistry Teachers in Los Angeles, Calif., October 5, 1957.
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case of educational contracts the actual recruitment and selection of American professors t o go abroad is very wisely left to American university authorities, subject t o final ICA approval. SOME ASPECTS OF LIFE IN INDIA
Any consideration of Indian educational objectives must he based on some understanding of the conditions and the society to the needs of which the educational and technical development program must be geared. Above all, India is a land of tremendous contrasts, both physical and psychological. The houses of the well-to-do are spacious and gracious, surrounded by blooming gardens, while the poor live in windowless mud huts suhject to disintegration when the rains come. The Marina in Bombay is as elegant a houlevard, lined with modern apartments, as any in Paris, while the streets of a village are typically unpaved, narrow, and filled with people, animals, and filth. Less than fifty miles from a completely modern steel plant is a tribal area where the men still augment their scanty food supply by hunting with bow and arrow. A modern chemical plant will be engaged in the manufacture of ammonia using the latest developments in catalyst research, and controlling reactions a t high temperatures and pressures, while a small plant will be making sodium silicate with no instrumen. tation whatsoever. The manager of a large factory may becompletely satisfied with operations as they are. and be happy that unemployment is being somewhat alleviated by farming out part of the operation to cottage industry workers who come t o the plant t o get the semifinished product and return it for final manufacture after their bit of piece work a t home. His second in command is as likely as not to be intensely dissatisfied over the high rejection rate resulting from inadequate control of the processing steps, and impatient over the difficulties encountered in attempting to procure and install the modern instrumentation and equipment which he knows t o be so badly needed but the value of which is not thoroughly understood by his superior. Although there are big power plants in some of the factories and textile mills, and extensive use of hydroelectric power, India is primarily a land of hand labor. Baskets, pots, garden produce, and such items commonly move from the point of origin to the point of JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
consumption on the head or shoulders of the individual Indian, both male and female. Water for irrigation is raised from wells or rivers to the level of the canals by either a man or a bullock. Although railroads and some t,ruck lines are available for long distance transportation, most goods in the country a t large are hauled in bullock carts. Highways are built by gangs of a hundred or more men and women coolies, the women breaking the rock into gravel, carrying it in head baskets, and sweeping the dust off the surface with whisk brooms, while the men melt the tar, spread the gravel, and tamp it all in place. Huge d a m for irrigation and power are in some places being similarly constructed by hand, the rock being chipped out with a pick, and the fill carried in individual head load by individual head load. Such methods may seem hopelessly primitive but the important point is that the job is being done with the means a t hand rather than being left undone because modern machinery is unavailable. The utmost admiration is due the indomitable spirit of a people willing t o undertake such Herculean tasks with such slender resources. The over-all poverty of the people is appalling t o anyone accustomed t o the American standard of living. I n the big cities thousands of people eat, sleep, and live in the streets. The bulk of the population is inadequately housed, inadequately fed, and dressed in rags. Beggars abound in every town and village, and some of the road-walkers in the country are all too reminiscent of pictures of famine victims. The limit of the horizon for many such people is quite obviously a worried quest as t o where tomorrow's rice is coming from. At the other end of the scale there is a considerable class of as well dressed, highly educated, extensively traveled, well informed, and genuinely cultured people as can be found anywhere in the world. Another characteristic of Indian life is the relatively great direct participation of government in industry. A power plant is likely t o be government-built and operated, as also a steel mill, a drug factory, a plant for separation of rare earths, etc. This a t first seems strange t o one accustomed t o the usually greater efficiency of private enterprise as contrasted with government operation. But it soon becomes evident that something of the sort is virtually unavoidable in India for the simple reason that there is not enough private available capital to undertake these enterprises. I n many cases unless the government did step in and build and operate the plants there would not be any, and the country would have t o do without the product, since as likely as not foreign exchange could not be found to pay for its importation. The Planning Commission charts the general direction of the economic program for each five-year period, and, after full debate and possible amendment by Parliament, it is put into effect to the limit of the available resources. This system has one interesting corollary, in that social objectives, such as alleviating unemployment or contributing to the economic recovery of a depressed area, enter into plans for industrial operations and expansion rather than concern only for the efficiency of the operation and the profit to be made from it. I t should be emphasized, however, that this form of socialism is not related to the economic VOLUME 35, NO. 10, OCTOBER, 1958
dictatorship of communism, since in India the final authority rests in the hands of a Parliament which is chosen by elections as free as our own. There is complete religious freedom, with peaceful coexistence of Muslims, Hindus, and Christians, and the press is not only allowed t o be but often is extremely critical of the government. Perhaps the most hopeful aspect of the Indian picture is the genuine respect shown for learning and the learned man, in violent contrast with the American tendency t o stigmatize the serious and educated class as "eggheads." This attitude leads t o the inclusion of scientists and professors in the top levels of government where serious weight is given to their opinions in the formulation of national policy. For example, Dr. J. C. Ghosh, ex-professor of chemistry, is a member of the powerful Planning Commission. Prime Minister Nehm is personally concerned with the deliberations of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and himself opens the Indian Science Congress each year and addresses the group. Distinguished visitors to India, traveling as guests of the government, are generally routed through Bangalore in order that they may visit the Indian Institute of Science as an example of one of the leading technological institutions in the country. These include not only eminent foreign scientists visiting universities and research institutions after participation at the Indian Science Congress, hut a great variety of political figures as well. Thus, as a courtesy member of the Institute Senate, during my two years in India I shook hands with such personalities, among others, as Vice-president Hatta of Indonesia, Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, the Shah of Iran, the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, Bulganin and Khrushchev, Chou-en-Lai, and the King and Queen of Nepal. Similar experiences certainly do not fall to the lot of a university professor in the United States. SOME PROBLEMS OF THE YOUNG SCIENTIST
The most immediate difficulties confronting the professional man and the young technical graduate in India are those due t o widespread unemployment and very low salaries. An advertisement for a position as laboratory assistant at the Institute-a permanent hut low pay post with no chance for advancement4rew 132 applications. All of these were from university graduates with science degrees, perhaps one quarter of them having first class honors. About a fourth of the group had been teaching from two t o five years at various colleges, and another quarter were from candidates who had not yet succeeded in finding any work even though they had been out of school for one t o three years. A published survey of Lecturersy2 salaries a t one of the Indian universities showed that a family with two children would inevitably go deeper into debt each year unless outside funds were found to augment the income. A completely reliable peon (combination office boy, janitor, and laboratory helper) who had been employed for eight years was without work for three years after his job was terminated as a retrenchment measure. Even when he was ultimately rehired his salary was still only $14 per month after including all allowances. J. Assoe. of Scientific Workers of India, June, 1955.
Another difficulty is that with a few exceptions there is no pre-existing system capable of absorbing the new technical graduate smoothly, giving h i practical training in the application of his science, and utilizing his ability effectively. Altogether too few of the management group appreciate what application of modern methods could do for the quality and quantity of their production. Consequently the new graduate frequently is forced to make his own opportunities, and must first "sell" a conservative management on the value of industrial research and development. Moreover, he sometimes encounters d8iculties in securing appropriate employment because of some tendency toward nepotism and sectionalism on the part of appointing officers. UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
With the exception of a few oustanding centers most of the colleges a t which the bulk of the Indian students receive their training are poorly equipped, understaffed, and badly overcrowded. The overcrowding is in part a result of the requirement of a university degree for most government appointments, with the consequence that large numbers of students register for a BSc. in a science curriculum who have no intention of, and would be given no opportunity of becoming practicing scientists. Most universities are commonly regarded as being exclusively teaching institutions with little appreciation of the necessity for research activity on the part of the staff to insure adequate teaching. Teaching loads run as high as 24 contact hours per week, and no real authority or voice in setting policy is intrusted to the men actually doing the teaching. It is surprising not that the graduates should be lacking in some respects but that they should be as well trained as they are in view of all these adverse factors. The general program of undergraduate education is superficially similar to that of a British university hut with certain local adaptations. The student attends lectures and laboratories for two years after entering the university before taking his &st examination, the so-called Intermediate Examination. I n the past a common pattern has been that at this point some fifteen or twenty chemistry students would be selected-partly on the basis of merit and partly on the basis of connections-for a three year program leading to a B.Sc. (Honors) degree while the remaining 1200 or so would be assigned to a two year program leading to a B.Sc. degree. Obviously the Honors group can be given a great deal more laboratory experience and individual attention, but there is considerable danger of their being overspecialized. Thus the B.Sc. graduate may have had more mathematics than the BSc. (Honors) man whose time is too completely filled with chemistry. In either case, however, there is no further testing after the Intermediate until the B.Sc. examination a t the end of the course of study. This examination is prepared and graded by examiners outside the home state of the university. In both cases too much emphasis is placed merely on ability to memorize and to repeat the expected answer, and too little on ability to reason and to use the material studied. It is entirely possible for a student to complete such a program successfully and
still be totally unable to solve a simple quantitative problem. Moreover, although students may have seen some instruments exhibited a t lecture demonstrations, all too many of them never will have used anything beyond a balance or buret in their own laboratory work. THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
The Indian Institute of Science is one of the premier scientific and engineering centers in India, performing a function somewhat like that of a combination of the California Institute of Technology, the National Bureau of Standards, and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research. It is devoted about 75% to engineering and 25% to basic science, with a large volume of government-sponsored research in both areas, and a training program leading to higher degrees in science and professional degrees in engineering. The admission standards are high, and the students, unlike those in the typical university, come from all diierent parts of the country. The facilities for research are excellent with adequate modern instrumentation, abundant supporting staff (as a Professor I had a private secretary, personal laboratory assistant, and peon a t my disposal, in addition to the general shop and glassblowing facilities), a remarkably complete library, and very able although frequently poorly prepared students. The light teaching load and low student-faculty ratio (2'/% to 1 in the Physical and Inorganic Chemistry Department) would be the envy of any Americanuniversity professor. In the sciences the nature of the advanced program was patterned after the British model, with the Ph.D. (or Membership of the Institute) awarded exclusively for submission of a satisfactory thesis with no examinations or required courses beyond the B.Sc. (Honors) or M.Sc. degree. Judgment as to the adequacy of the thesis submitted is not intrusted to the Institute itself but is left to the recommendation of external examiners, preferably foreign authorities. There is a very strong tradition of the importance of research, due at least in part to Raman's incumbency as Director of the Institute. However, there was a considerable tendency for some of the student research to be slanted along lines likely to be of commercial interest rather than of optimum value for training independent scientists, partly because of the greater ease of securing financial support for such work and partly because of a feelmg that such "practical" training might make it easier for the graduate to find a job. I n order to acquire sufficient background so as to adapt American methods in such a way as to best serve the needs of the Institute and the Indian economy, arrangements were made for us to visit many National Laboratories, universities, and industrial research laboratories, and to confer with various important men in educational, governmental, and industrial circles. These visits gave us some acquaintance with the research programs deemed important for the development of the country, with the conditions under which graduates of the Indian Institute of Science would work, and with the qualities sought by their potential employers. It was particularly gratifying on these trips to he accepted by our hosts as representatives of the Indian Institute of Science JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
seeking t o improve its program rather than being regarded as outsidersmerely touring the country. In addition t o research activities our efforts at the Institute were devoted in part t o devising means for overcoming defects in the prior preparation of the research students. There was already in operation an intensive course of laboratory experiments designed t o acquaint students with modern instruments and t o improve their technique. To this, as further preparation for research, were added survey courses in physical and in inorganic chemistry with special emphasis on a problem-solving approach, and with periodic examinations. Discussion of the necessity of advanced course work beyond the M.Sc. level in order to equip students for the prosecution of genuinely significant research also occupied a good deal of faculty time. Most American universities are guilty of requiring too many graduate courses of their students, hut even this extreme is less harmful than the Indian extreme of requiring almost none at all. I n order t o accomplish the desired objectives it was necessary that our Indian colleagues should themselves appreciate the validity of this philosophy of graduate education, and themselves take the lead in introducing any changes in the existing program. Accordingly numerous staff meetings were held, attended by all the teaching personnel in the department, at which all these matters were debated, proposed actions approved by the consensus of the group, and later on the results obtained were discussed and evaluated. Such a democratic procedure is in itself rather unusual in India since there, as in Europe, the Professor has essentially dictatorial power, and although he may consult other members of his staff he is under no obligation t o do so. That this program should have been successful at the Indian Institute of Science is a tribute t o the tact and understanding of Professor K. R. Krishnaswami, who was willing to encourage the younger staff members t o speak their minds even when in disagreement with their superiors. Smaller group discussions devoted t o consideration of the research program with special reference t o the significance of the work t o be undertaken and the synergistic value of other work going on in the department were particularly stimulating. Inevitably these discussions also touched on the value of the results themselves t o the national economy as well as on the role of the Institute as a training ground for future leaders of the Indian chemical industry rather than for mere technicians, no matter a t how high a level of competence. We found this experience in group planning, with careful advance appraisal of the potential importance of the work from the standpoint of its contribution t o basic science and general theory, to be a more effective technique than simply leaving the problem to the individual faculty member and his student. OTHER LABORATORIES AND SCIENTIFIC BODIES
I n a very real sense the Government of India has based its hopes for the future on the belief that science can raise the productivity of manufacturing and agriculture in India sufficiently rapidly so the average Indian will experience some improvement in his standard of living before he becomes so dissatisfied VOLUME 35, NO. 10, OCTOBER, 1958
with his lot that he falls an easy prey to the siren song of communism or some other form of dictatorship. Consequently, in addition t o the usual complement of professional societies concerned with subject matter, there are many governmental bodies actively engaged in helping to improve facilities and develop more important programs of work at universities and other research and development establishments throughout the country. Thus the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, in addition t o directing the National Laboratories, makes grants in aid t o individual scientists and institutions much as does our National Science Foundation. The University Grants Commission, which numbers among its membership some of the more important men in the country, has as one of its tasks improvement of the quality of graduates in the sciences. One form their assistance takes is the making of grants t o university departments t o permit the purchase of apparatus and, in some cases, t o permit the construction of new laboratory facilities. The Ministry of Education also has a special department devoted t o technical education which is actively concerned with improving the quality of the program at the different institutions. Sixteen National Laboratories are now in operation, including the National Chemical Laboratory in Poona and the National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi, and others devoted t o specialized fields such as fuels, glass and ceramics, electrochemistry, foods, etc. These somewhat resemble the Regional Research Lahoratories'of the Department of Agriculture in the United States. However, their function is broader and also includes many of the activities found in large industrial research and development laboratories in this country, except that the program is directly geared t o national interests rather than t o company profit. I n general, the work tends to be developmental research but with sufficient attention t o fundamental investigations t o challenge the imagination of their workers and to develop some backlog of basic theory for future exploitation. For example, the National Glass and Ceramics Laboratory has a program of survey and characterization by all modern techniques of all the types of clay available in India, and a processing demonstration showing how indigenous clays can be used to produce just as high quality china as that made with expensive imported ball clays. The Fuel Research Institute not only tests the suitability of various coal deposits for metallurgical coke but also carries out work on the synthesis of chemicals derived from coal and on the structure of coal, and explores possible uses for low rank coals as ion exchangers and soil conditioners. Other important laboratories iuclude those of the Atomic Energy Commission in Bombay and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Since India is deficient in conventional energy resources there is much greater emphasis there than in the United States on the rapid development of atomic energy as a feasibly available source of power for industry and agriculture. Some of the government-operated plants, such as that for synthetic ammonia at Sindri or for separation of rare earths at Alwaye, maintain small laboratories for research, development, and control much like those of an American company. Likewise the larger private
companies such as Lever Brothers, Burmah-Shell, and the Tata Iron and Steel Co., utilize laboratory control in connect,ion with their manufacturing operations, but again these are devoted mostly t o analysis and trouble shooting with only minor attention to development of new methods or new products. This situation, however, is likely to change rapidly since there is a growing realization that it is no longer satisfactory for the country to rely so heavily on an imported technology which is not necessarily best adapted t o Indian conditions and materials. FOREIGN AID
I n all these efforts India has received considerable external assistance, particularly from our own Technical Cooperation Mission, the Commonwealth Colombo Plan, and certain of the United Nations organizations. I n addition there has been a lesser but still significant contribution t o Indian educational and technological development by the Russians, West Germans, Japanese, and others. The Russians, for instance, are providing funds for construction and initial operation of the Western Technological Institute in Bombay, t o be run according t o 'Russian curriculum practices. This will afford an interesting direct comparison of the results of Russian and United States approaches t o higher technological education, since the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur is t o a certain extent modeled after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There are many reasons why foreign aid such as we have been extending t o India is one of the most worth while of the United States government programs. First of all, anyone who takes Christianity seriously must recognize an obligation t o help those in other parts of the world who are so much worse off than are we. Our most destitute live in relative luxury compared to the conditions under which the impoverished masses of India exist. Nor is American aid t o India a fruitless dole or an unwanted give-away program. Rather it is an essential priming of the pump directed toward increasing productivity and helping Indian personnel themselves t o develop the organizational ability, the industrial foundation, and the technical competence necessary t o support a higher standard of - living. But there is another cogent argument in favor of continued foreign aid, and that is the necessity of protecting ourselves against international communism. Strengthening of the free world economy is our best defense against totalitarianism, and this is particularly true in India. For the Indians see China, an underdeveloped, primarily agricultural nation like their own, advancing into modern times under a communist regime, and the Russians never let t,hem forget the
technological advances made in Russia within a single generation, allegedly all resulting from the devoted interest of a communist government t o the welfare of all the people. Unless the Indian government is successful in its efforts toward economic and social betterment there is serious question whether democratic government in India can survive. That there should be a number of dedicated Americans working in India is in itself a helpful countermeasure against communist propaganda, since no Indians who have worked closely with our people are likely to believe the lies which are told about us and our country by our enemies. One of the most effective agencies for making the truth known is the United States Information Service, which maintaiins libraries all over the world. These libraries engage in no blatant propaganda campaign like the Russian radio, but make available a selection of typical magazines as well as books, including college texts and reference works, from which the foreign national can form his own opinion of our country and its culture. They also generally make the local arrangements and sponsor visiting lecturers and artists sent on tour by the State Department, and act as an intermediary clearing house exchanging information between Indians who have visited the United States and those interested in doing so. It should certainly be mentioned that the aid extended has been received by the Indians with genuine appreciation, and that they have shown an eager willingness to learn and to experiment with new approaches, and a marked ability t o adapt foreign ways t o local conditions. This attitude manifested itself in one sense in the warm welcome we received from all levels of the population. On our trips we were welcomed by the Directors of Laboratories and housed in private guest houses with a cook and bearer a t our disposal. When Mrs. Vold and I attended the Indian Science Congress in Agra a Professor at the University insisted that we must occupy the best room in his own house. At Christmas time an impoverished peon at the Institute scraped together enough money t o present us with a basket of fruit and flowers. The mothers of the Girl Guides and the various administrative leaders-including Lady Raman-freely welcomed Mrs. Vold into their fellowship. On our departure the students a t the Institute presented us with a book of photographs with the inscription: T o love is nothing. T o be loved is something. To love and be loved is everything.
Obviously a dedication to science and a measure of toleration can and do bridge tremendous differences in political, economic, and cultural background.
JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
