With the objective to inspire and motivate teachers, the government plans to launch the Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya New Teachers Training Programme soon, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani said Thursday.
"...while we look at the research and infrastructure component, we are also extremely conscious about the most important component of the Indian education system - the teachers. And dedicating ourselves to re-training these teachers, we will soon launch the Madan Mohan Malviya Teachers Training Programme," she said.
Irani was speaking at the FICCI Higher Education Summit here. The theme for the summit was "Higher Education Vision 2030: Making it Happen".
She added that in a country where youngsters were keen on democracy as a whole, "there is still a challenge as to how do we inspire those who teach our children".
She also released the FICCI-EY Knowledge Paper on the theme "Higher Education in India: Moving towards Global Relevance and Competitiveness".
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The knowledge paper reveals India's vision to build a 21st century model for higher education that is of high-quality, equitable and affordable, and a model of a higher education system that is not just the best in the world but the best for the world. The paper also suggests key imperatives to realize this vision.
The minister, who delivered the inaugural address, also announced that the government hopes to roll out the the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan next year.
"It is a national innovation initiative, so that in primary and secondary education we can inculcate a desire for enquiry-based learning, and inculcate a desire to possibly oscillate towards the field of maths and science as a profession and not only as something you pursue as part of academic," she said.
"And we also seek to increase the research component and the industry exchange of ideas and collaborations to incubate in higher education so that those who come up with new innovations don't need to leave the shores of India," she added.
Irani also said that with the view to designing a path forward which is not only "holistic in nature, but also takes cognisance of the future", the government has undertaken a review of most of the regulatory bodies like University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).
