Plan panel for assessing teacher training institutes

With the 11th Five Year Plan earmarking huge funds towards strengthening of teacher training institutes...

With the 11th Five Year Plan earmarking huge funds towards strengthening of teacher training institutes, the Planning Commission has asked the National Council of Education Research & Training (NCERT) to carry out an evaluation of the training institutes.

The Plan panel has said that the assessment was necessary before the fund is allocated, as the teacher education programmes did not fare well under the Tenth Plan.

“Around two weeks ago, the Plan panel had asked us to conduct an assessment of the teacher training institutes like District Institutes of Education & Training (DIETs) and State Council for Education Research & Training (SCERTs). The panel is sceptical in allocating such a huge fund to the institutes without knowing about their existing state and performance,” said NCERT Director Prof Krishan Kumar.

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“While the entire evaluation will be completed by December this year, we would submit an interim report by next month,” added Kumar.

The 11th Five Year Plan document clearly expresses dissatisfaction over the functioning of DIETs and pointed out that the latter failed to influence the quality of teacher education.

“DIETs have not justified their existence in terms of outcomes despite their existence for about two decades. Structural problems and absent linkages with higher education seem to have isolated DIETs from current trend in research as well as the academic community. The quality of teacher training leaves much to be desired,” says the 11th Plan document.

The SCERT too has not measured up to expectations, suffering a capacity crisis, many even headless or headed by people of limited calibre, the document says.

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More than Rs 4,000 crore is lined up for allocation towards teacher education under the 11th Plan.