Centre to set up National Institute for Teacher Education

The Centre has decided to set up a National Institute for Teacher Education (NITE) which would not just offer educational courses but contribute to policy planning of the government to address “various disconnects” in the sector from school education to higher education.

The Institute would introduce a five-year integrated BA-Ed and BSc-Ed programmes and other courses in teacher education. It will also seek to demonstrate quality in pre-service and in-service teacher education and training.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has decided to establish the institute following a recommendation of a committee of experts, formed in July last year to examine a proposal for the establishment of a central university of teacher education.

The move is aimed to “holistically address the various shortcomings” relating to teachers and teaching process across the educational spectrum ranging from school education to higher education including technical, vocational and other allied fields in education, a ministry official said.

“The NITE is neither expected to nor can address all the existing lacunae in the system. It, however, would attempt to address some of the key disconnects in the field, meet the professional requirements of teachers and teacher educators, provide policy guidelines, establish benchmarks in the field of teacher education,” the official said.

It would play an “advisory role” to the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and the HRD ministry “on planning, research, funding, quality benchmarking and related policy matters in teacher education.”

It will develop and prescribe curriculum, practices (methods and pedagogies) and standards framework in teacher education.

“It will be a leading institute at the central level, a first-of-its-kind, and develop discourses in education to lead national policies and practices at par with emerging thoughts, research findings and initiatives in teacher education globally,” the official said.

The NITE will also provide “leadership, guidance and consultancy” to the institutions offering teacher education across the country, develop linkage with various international organisations and provide consultancy to them.

“One core focus of the institute would be research and innovations in education that look at education holistically and attempts to study the processes and gaps in teaching-learning,” the official said.

For this, a centre for research and innovation in education is proposed to be set up.

“The process to establish the institute will start soon. Ministry is holding consultation with the stakeholders,” the official added.