National education mission on the cards

The Centre is planning to launch a national mission to address issues related to teachers and teaching methods in educational institutions across the country.

The proposed mission, which is yet to be finalised by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, will not only seek to fill vacant posts of teachers but also engage  quality teachers on part-time, contractual, adjunct or visiting basis. It will also allow mobility of faculty from one institution to another.

The mission will also have provisions of pre-service and in-service training for teachers.
“The Mission will look at teacher education in a holistic manner and in a single continuum covering school to universities and suggest ways to strengthen the institutional mechanisms at all levels so that there are vertical and lateral linkages,” a ministry official told Deccan Herald.

Issues like teachers’ absenteeism and accountability will also be taken up. Measures to revamp academic staff colleges will be implemented, ministry officials said.
“The mission will seek to address the entire gamut of issues relating to teachers, teacher education and quality of teaching,” the official added.

The development comes after an analysis made by the department of education which suggested that around 5.23 lakh posts of school teachers at the elementary level are lying vacant. There would be an additional requirement of around 5.1 lakh teachers to meet the provisions of Pupil-Teacher Ratio specified in the Right to Education (RTE) Act.