HRD ministry plans slew of measures on quality of teaching

Involvement of retired teachers, adopting IIM-designed modules for educational administrators and a grading system for teacher training institutes are some initiatives that the HRD ministry has planned to address concerns related to shortage and quality of teaching.
A meeting of education ministers and officials of state governments was today chaired by HRD Minister Smriti Irani, where it was decided to initiate a 'pilot project' to encourage volunteers and retired teachers to contribute to rural schools.
According to a statement released here, a mobile app is being developed in collaboration with MyGov platform, by the HRD Ministry to enlist citizens willing to volunteer as teachers.

Eighteen states expressed their willingness to participate in the first phase, the statement said, adding these states would formulate the finer details of this plan.
Earlier, Irani had also mentioned that ex-servicemen could be utilised in schools for physical training etc.
In the meeting, it was also decided that during April-May, a two-three day workshop for educational administrators in higher education will be organised by the UGC in five regions across the country.

Modules for these workshops will be developed by IIMs and these modules may be adopted by state governments which can carry the process forward by organising similar workshops for principals and heads of other institutions, officials said.

A committee has also been set up to develop a grading framework for teacher-education institutions so as to provide an idea of the quality of institutes.
Another panel was constituted today to suggest ways to institutionalise an internship of teacher education programmes in government schools.
The panel includes state education secretaries of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Tripura and representatives of National Council for Teacher Education and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.
Officials said that a plan relating to internships of 20 weeks duration is also being worked out for those who aim to become teachers.
The internship will be for a duration of 20 weeks, at the end of which the school will provide feedback on the teaching aptitude of the trainees.

It was also decided that the National Council for
Education Research and Training (NCERT) will conduct a review of State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) and District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) and prepare a roadmap for strengthening of these institutes.
UGC will similarly undertake training of college principals, the statement added.
In the meeting, all state education ministers were requested to prepare a state specific roadmap to address challenges in teacher education and find out solutions to deal with them.