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Educational Management

Notes The library possesses collection of more than 2 600 000 of volumes. Fundamental Library is the first
Russian library which has the Internet connection via high-speed optical communications. The Library
information services are developed and supported by the Open Library Systems Center. IIEP is
open for welcoming foreign students and for launching mutually beneficial cooperation with foreign
partners.
Institute maintains relationships with Universities, international educational organizations, research
institutions and industrial companies from different regions and countries all over the world.

IIEP library is a department of the Fundamental Library of Polytechnical University
is one of the largest scientific and technological libraries in Russia and rates among
the three best libraries of St.Petersburg.

29.6 Educational Planning Practices in India

The beginning of educational planning in Asia was influenced relatively more by the then context
than the education-economic growth ideology. After the Second World War, several countries in
Asia became free from the colonial rule. In these countries, long years of neglect of basic education
and adult literacy by colonial governments, fragmented educational systems and strong nationalist
aspirations called for development of coherent and self-sustaining national systems of education
and expansion of educational opportunities at all levels. Many countries in the region subsequently
went for comprehensive reforms in education aimed at transferring the existing education system
into national systems of education. Unlike the objectives of educational planning in industrialized
countries, educational planning in these countries, to begin with, was more socially oriented rather
than aimed at meeting the manpower requirements of their economies. Even though there were
compulsions for preparing the skilled manpower for economic growth, initially the primary objective
of planning in most Asian countries was reorganization and expansion of the education systems
and elimination of spatial and social disparities in educational opportunities.
At the same time, some countries in the region including India while engaged in transforming their
education systems were also concerned about producing high level scientific and technical manpower
like engineers, scientists, doctors, teachers, etc. These countries then gave new directions to
educational development through medium-term macro plans, mostly in the form of five-year national
development plans. In the initial years of independence, India went for the Soviet model of centralized
planning in education that was more of an indicative than directive in nature. Relative to other
levels of education, higher and technical education was given priority in the development agenda.
One of the reasons for such a truncated planning in education was the preoccupation of the Indian
planners to address the issues of shortages of high level technical and scientific skills they considered
extremely important in the reconstruction of the national economy. In a way to begin with, educational
planning in India was centralized and based on manpower approach, at least for science, technical
and professional education, and social demand approach in all other levels of education, except the
compulsory level of education.
It may be noted that one of the important aspects of educational planning practices in India during
the first two and a half decades of independence was that, given the federal structure, the Central
Government had to play a coordinating and advisory role and the primary responsibility of planning
educational development lied with states. Till 1976, education remained on the State List, which
means that states were responsible for overall development of education. Support from the Central
Government was primarily in the form of centrally sponsored schemes. In addition, lack of necessary
data and expertise at the sub-national levels rendered macro planning in education indicative, rather
than strategic. The absence of concrete development policies at the national level also made it difficult

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