Several steps taken to improve quality of teachers at all levels of education: HRD Minister

The Government is committed to improving the quality of teaching and teachers at all levels of education. In higher education, the Ministry is implementing a Central Sector Scheme of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT) which aims at building a strong professional cadre of teachers by setting performance standards and creating top class institutional facilities for innovative teaching and professional development of teachers. Existing Central, State and Deemed to be Universities/Educational Institutions are approved as centres under the various components of the scheme and teachers in private institutions can also participate in various capacity building programmes as well as induction training. Further, Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT), a major and unique initiative of online professional development of higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM is being implemented, for which discipline-specific institutions have been identified and notified as National Resource Centres (NRCs), which are tasked to prepare online training material with focus on latest developments in the discipline, new & emerging trends, pedagogical improvements and methodologies for transacting revised curriculum. In addition, various schemes, namely, Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), Global Initiative for Academics Network (GIAN), Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP), are being implemented to improve the quality of teaching in higher education. A number of initiatives are also undertaken by UGC and AICTE for quality improvement of teaching in higher and technical education.

With regard to school education, the recruitment and service conditions of teachers are primarily in the domain of State Governments/UT Administrations. The Central Government through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha provides assistance to State Governments/UTs for additional teachers to maintain appropriate Pupil Teacher Ratio as per the requirements of the States/UTs. The steps taken by the Central Government to improve teachers’ performance include, inter alia, regular in-service teachers’ training, induction training for newly recruited teachers, academic support for teachers and monitoring teachers’ attendance through School Management Committees/School Management Development Committees/Block Resource Centres/Clusters Resource Centres and encouraging States and UTs to use digital technology like installation of Bio-metric attendance system in schools. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed Performance Indicators for Elementary Education (PINDICS) to track teacher performance and attendance in Government schools. PINDICS have been shared with State Governments/UTs to assess teacher’s performance.

Further, a four year B.Ed integrated course to bring about qualitative improvement in teacher education programmes in India has been conceptualised and regulations for this course has been published in official gazette on 22nd November, 2018. The model curriculum prepared for this course includes crucial aspects like Gender, Inclusive education, ICT, Yoga, Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Health & Sanitation. The teaching specialization would primarily be for the primary levels and the secondary level. Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) have developed a dedicated digital infrastructure for teachers, DIKSHA, with the aim to empower school teachers of the country with access to innovative tech-based solutions. DIKSHA is a unique initiative that leverages existing, highly scalable and flexible digital infrastructures, around the needs of teachers for effective teaching and administration.

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