National Tutors Programme for higher education on cards

The Union government is gearing up to launch a National Tutor's Programme (NTP) under which thousands of professionals from various fields and retired university teachers, who are willing to join “voluntarily”, will be engaged to provide complementary teaching to higher education students.

Starting this year, the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry plans to identify as many as 20,000 tutors in five years to work under the programme.

“Professionals from various fields and retired faculty who are willing to provide their academic services voluntarily to higher education institutions in nearby geographical vicinity and who meet some stipulated eligibility criteria will be encouraged to join as National Tutors,” the higher education department of the ministry has proposed in its five-year vision plan.

The programme will offer an opportunity to women, who have had a break in their career, to reconnect to society and contribute by taking up teaching assignments as National Tutors.

“This would ensure that the intellectual soft power gained by these bright women is harnessed and leveraged for teaching/tutoring,” the ministry has noted.

Mechanisms to induct retired defence personnel into the teaching system will also be worked out under the programme, “subject to certain stipulated eligibility criteria,” the ministry has proposed.

All the tutors to be engaged under the NTP will be linked to the higher education institutions in their vicinity to offer their services to the students in need of complementary teaching.

Participation of the tutors under the programme has been envisioned as to be voluntary in nature.

Peer tutors for schools

The draft national policy on education, released by the ministry recently, has recommended for rollout of a similar programme (National Tutors Programme) in the school education sector.

Under this programme, the best-performing students in each school would be drawn to serve as tutors for up to five hours a week to help fellow students, “generally” younger to them, who are lagging in their studies.

“Being selected as a peer tutor will be considered a prestigious position, earning a certificate from the State each year that indicates the hours of service,” the draft national education policy, which is under consideration of the HRD ministry, stipulates.