Delhi assembly: Dy-CM Sisodia introduces bill for Delhi Teachers University

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday introduced a bill for the Delhi Teachers University on the first day of the two-day session of the Delhi Assembly.

While presenting the bill in the assembly, Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said the university will set standards like IIT, IIM, AIIMS and IIMC have in the past, and will be renowned for its unique curriculum.

"In the past seven years, many historic decisions have been taken for setting up the Delhi education model. The Arvind Kejriwal government has been providing 25 per cent of its annual budget to education every year," he said.

Mentioning the need of the teachers university in Delhi, Sisodia said that teachers are the real change makers in the evolving Delhi education model.

"We gave global exposure to our teachers by sending them to international universities and they completely changed the education system in Delhi government schools. Now there is a need to prepare a force of teachers who can provide quality education of international standards to our students," he said.

The deputy chief minister said that there are talented teachers in the country but there is a shortage of training institutes.

"Delhi Teachers University will work to fill this gap and every year thousands of professional teachers will emerge from here who will work to strengthen the education system," he said.

The minister said that the Delhi government has prepared the blueprint of the Delhi Teachers University on the basis of the vision of the new National Education Policy. "And it is a matter of great pride that the Delhi Teachers University will be the first university in the country to meet the requirements of teacher training given in the National Education Policy," Sisodia added.

He shared that every year the seats in the Delhi Teachers University will be increased keeping in view the needs of teachers.

Along with regular teacher education programmes, an one-year diploma programme will also be introduced here for those professionals who have passion for teaching but are not able to pursue this as a profession due to degree restrictions, Sisodia said.

He said that there is a shortage of teachers in 3 lakh schools in the country and there is a shortage of about 11 lakh teachers in the entire country.

In the context of the national capital, the Delhi government has constructed thousands of new classrooms in the last few years, and has created posts of about 15,000 teachers, Sisodia said.

Through the Delhi Teachers University, the aim of the Delhi government is also to meet the shortage of teachers, he said.

The Delhi Teachers' University will be spread over 12 acres of land. It will have lecture halls, digital labs, and a library with world class facilities for 5000 students.