• सल्लागार, शिक्षण मंत्रालय भारत सरकार, नवी दिल्ली
• चाळीस वर्षे भारतीय शिक्षण क्षेत्राचे नेतृत्व केले.
• नवीन सुधारणा, नवनवीन शैक्षणिक प्रकल्प देशात राबविले.
• राष्ट्रीय शैक्षणिक नियोजन व धोरण ठरविण्यात महत्त्वाचा सहभाग .. भारतातील सामाजिक विज्ञान संशोधनाचा पाया रचला.
• भारत सरकारने १९७४ साली ‘पद्मभूषण’ पुरस्कार प्रदान करून त्यांचा गौरव केला.
• युनेस्कोने १९८९-९० मध्ये जागतिक शिक्षण-क्षेत्रातील शंभर विचारवंत म्हणून प्रसिद्ध केलेल्या ग्रंथात डॉ. नाईक यांचा अंतर्भाव केला आहे.

THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The first essential condition for rapid national development is that the average citizen must be imbued with love for his motherland, must feel proud of his national heritage, have faith in the future of his country and must be prepared, if necessary, to sacrifice his all for the good of the nation. If these assumptions are correct, two important questions arise :
1) Is the Indian system of education discharging this function adequately? and
2) What role can our schools and universities play in this programme of promoting national consciousness?

It is unfortunate that our school system has never accepted any responsibility for this task. Under the British rule, the educational system tried, not to inculcate a love for the motherland, but loyalty to the Queen Empress or King Emperor. In fact all Programmes which had some nationalist bias were scrupulously kept out of the curricular or extra curricular activities. In spite of this apathy or even hostility, however, the youth of the country did become nationally conscious and proud of our past heritage, mainly because the struggle for freedom acted as a powerful educational force and inspired them with these values. But with the attainment of Independence, the situation has changed greatly. The external social force which discharged the important function of fostering national consciousness in the minds of the people in general and of the rising generation in particular have now ceased to operate, and no other social force has taken its place. Nor has the formal system of education been suitably modified to undertake this responsibility. The consequences have been disastrous and the sentiment itself seems to be wearing thin. It is true that the country responded magnificently on two recent occasions, the Chinese aggression in 1962 and the conflict with Pakistan in 1965. But these exceptions did not vitiate the general conclusions stated above.

It follows that, if formal system of education has to make a significant contribution to the national development, it must now assume responsibility for creating national consciousness in the minds of the rising generation. The Education Commission has emphasized this aspect of the educational reconstruction to be undertaken in the immediate future and has suggested that “The only enduring solution to the problem is to place the responsibility for promoting national consciousness on the educational system and to make it an effective instrument for the purpose.” “There is much evidence in the world, “observes the Commission,”to see that schools and universities can play a major and helpful part in regeneration and advancement of the people and in generating the psychological energy needed for the purpose. If rightly oriented, this approach is not, and should not be incompatible with the wider loyalties to mankind as a whole which we have also emphasized.”

MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED
How is this to be done? One suggestion is that an attempt should be made, at all stages of education, to promote a better understanding and re evaluation of our cultural heritage. This could be done through well-organized teaching of language and literature, philosophy, religions and history of India, and by introducing the students to Indian architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance and drama. The history of the freedom struggle and of the different movements for social, cultural and religious reform should be taught in an appropriate fashion with great emphasis. An attempt should be made to promote greater knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the different parts of India. In addition, we should try to bring home to the students the principles of the Constitution and the great human values referred to in its preamble, the nature of the democratic and socialistic society which we desire to create and the Five-Year Plans of national development. This will have to be done at all stages and in all sectors. Courses and teaching material on this subject appropriately graduated to meet the age and maturity of students at different stages should be prepared and the teachers should be specially oriented to put the programme across in an effective manner.

This theoretical instruction, important as it is, is, however, not enough. The promotion of national consciousness is the building of an attitude and these are best developed by a combination of learning and doing. It is, therefore, necessary to supplement this theoretical programme by involving students in programmes of social and national service. These can become an instrument, not only for promoting national consciousness but also for the attainment of other important educational goals such as character-building, improvement of discipline, creation of a faith in the dignity of manual labour and of a sense of social responsibility. These programmes would also tend to bring the educated classes closer to the masses and help in the evaluation of a well-knit and united nation. The Education Commission has, therefore, recommended that programmes of social and national service, suitably adapted to the age and maturity of children, should be developed at all stages and in all sectors. This is one of its significant recommendations and deserves high priority in implementation.

PROGRAMMES OF NATIONAL SERVICE
At the primary stage a programme of social or community service can be organized fairly easily. The experience of the pioneer work done in Basic school will be of great use in this context. A well-trained and enthusiastic teacher who maintains good relations with the local community can easily find appropriate situations such as those connected with public sanitation, simple village improvement projects, care of small children and help to the old and the sick, in which the school children can help the school community. The problem, however, becomes more difficult at the secondary stage and still more so in universities and colleges.
Ultimately, every secondary school, college or university will have to identify itself with its local community and evolve an extra-mural programme in which it would try its best to assist the local community to improve itself. This programme will have to be jointly undertaken by the teachers and students and it is through such worthwhile and challenging programmes that the students will get their sense of participation in programmes of nation building. But this is a rather slow process. Even now a number of secondary schools and colleges are doing pioneer work in this field. The process may be accelerated if the Education Departments, universities and training colleges try to disseminate their experience and expertise through a planned programme. But even then it would be several years before every institution can reach the expected standards.

In this transitional stage, it would be necessary to devise some central organization which will organize labour and social service camps of different types for those students of secondary schools and colleges who cannot be involved in programmes of community or national service organized by their own institutions. These camps would be built round major projects of national development which should be selected with great care. These should be completed mainly through student-labour and should be such as to make the teachers and students participating in them feel that they are doing something worthwhile, something which results in a lasting benefit to the community. These camps should run almost all the year round and students and teachers of different educational institutions should join them for specified periods according to a pre-arranged programme. Life in the camps should be based on austerity and simplicity and an attempt should be made to keep the cost down to the minimum. The Education Commission has recommended that every secondary school student should be required to spend 30 days in such camps during his school period and that every university or college student should spend 60 days during his undergraduate stage. The cost of these camps would be offset to some extent by the value of the projects implemented through them. The net expenditure incurred on them would not, therefore, be large. But it will pay rich educational dividends.

It is obvious that so important and large scale a programme cannot be developed very quickly. It is, however, suggested that an immediate beginning should be made by involving about 5 per cent of the students and that the programme should be made universal in a period of about 5-7 years.

CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS
If this important programme is to succeed, several essential conditions will have to be fulfilled. As pointed out above, the projects will have to be very carefully selected to give a sense of worthwhileness. An enthusiastic acceptance of the proposals by the teachers and their proper orientation is another essential condition. The motivation of students will largely depend upon the motivation of the teachers themselves and to some extent it can be strengthened by making the programme an integral part of education and hence of the evaluation leading to success in the final examinations. But above all, the programme will need an appropriate social climate for its success. That is to say, an atmosphere of working hard and devotedly for the building of the country would have to be created in the society as a whole. This is a challenge and a responsibility of the entire governmental administration and of the political leadership of the country.