Knowledge
Union HRD Minister inaugurates the new building of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Office
Minister also launched a platform designed by NCTE to facilitate registration of Teacher-Pupil which would facilitate essential documentation while seeking employment as school teachers
Union Minister of Human Resource Development Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurated the new office building of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in the national capital today. The state-of-the-art,four-storied office building is situated in Sector 10 at Dwarka, New Delhi. The Minister took the Delhi Airport Metro Line from Shivaji Stadium to reach the venue for the inaugural ceremony.
On the occasion, the Minister of HRD launched a platform designed by NCTE to facilitate registration of Teacher-Pupil. This would facilitate essential documentation while seeking employment as school teachers.
Addressing the audience at the inaugural function Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said that on17thAugust this year, NCTE would begin to celebrate the silver jubilee year of its establishment. He said that the move to the newly constructed headquarters is a befitting occasion to invite all stakeholders to join hands to enable it to live up to the expectations of more than 25 crore school children in India who need quality school teachers. He further said that we seek to reimagineNCTE’s role as the premier government agency for ensuring world-class teacher education in the country. NCTE is in the process of reinventing itself so that it lives up to the dreams and aspirations with which it was established 25 years ago.
The Minister added that NCTE being a regulatory body contributes towards setting the foundation of the country’s development. India has been the world’s teacher for thousands of years including Takshila and Nalanda a Premier Educational Institutions and NCTE have the potential to regain this glory the purpose for which established. He said that a child is always treated as a blank slate, so the role of school teachers is critical in molding their future in an expected manner. Education should be not only a medium of generating material prosperity but also transmitting cultural values and pride to the next generation.
He added that School education is the spice of the nation. It needs to inculcate positive thinking in students so that they can be an asset to society by having both a vision and a mission. A teacher should be the distillation of what a nation stands for. It is important to keep the curriculum for teachers as well as students updated. We need to train teachers who are in great demand all over the world. Indian Education system will only do well if it is rooted in Indian ethos.
Talking about the significance of shifting the NCTE office to the new building, Dr. Satbir Bedi, Chairperson, NCTE, said that the inauguration of the newly constructed building at Dwarkahas paved the way for shifting all the regional committees/offices of NCTE under one roof. This will facilitate better coordination of existing teaching resources with premier national Institutes like NCERT, NIEPA, NIOS, IGNOU, JNU, Delhi University, etc. In addition, the adoption of e-governance at NCTE, especially converting all records into e-format and e-office, will facilitate a seamless transition from a paper-based to a paperless office.”
Dr. Bedi added that teacher education in India faces a lot of challenges. For thousands of years, India has been known as the Vishwa Guru (World's Teacher). We are determined to overhaul teacher education in the country so that India once again becomes known for the excellence of its teachers and emerges as the key exporter of teachers to the world. We are committed to upgrading the skills of school teachers through ICT, innovations and inclusive education. The young people in the teaching system are the key to driving this change. School teachers collectively decide the destiny of the next generation, and thus the destiny of the nation. They are currently responsible for teaching more than 25 crore school children in 15.2 lakh schools spread across India. There are 18,500 (approx.)teacher education institutes in India, from which 19.5 lakh teachers pass out each year, as against the total requirement of 2.75 lakh to 3 lakh school teachers annually. This is a big challenge facing today’s teacher education sector.”
NCTE performs various regulatory functions to maintain norms and standards of teacher education in India. Its mandate covers the entire gamut of teacher education, including research and training of persons for equipping them to teach at pre-primary, primary, secondary and senior secondary stages in schools.NCTE is a statutory body of Govt. of India that came into existence on 17th August 1995. It is tasked with achieving planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country and maintenance of norms and standards therein. Teacher education institutions in India offer 17 programmes recognised by NCTE for prospective school teachers.