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Teacher Education

Notes and the launch of pan-Indian primary education development programmes such as the SSA (2002)
to achieve UEE, the Operation Blackboard (OB) 1986, and the District Primary Education
Programme (DPEP) 1995, there was an increase in the demand for teachers. Added to this, the
backlog of untrained teachers in the system and the essential requirement of pre-service teacher
certification for appointment as a teacher led to mounting pressure on existing institutional
capacity. With the demand far exceeding supply, market forces have taken over causing
unprecedented rise in the number of teacher education institutions in most parts of the country.
The escalating demand for trained teachers and the belief that a training certificate acts as collateral
against future unemployment has made teacher education a lucrative business proposition. It has
also led to a large scale mushrooming of teacher education institutions.
The number of courses offered at different stages – pre-primary, elementary and secondary –
face-to-face and distance modes of teacher education; programmes of M.Ed, face-to-face and distance
modes, C.P.Ed., B.P.Ed. and M.P. Ed. have increased from 3,489 courses in 3,199 institutions in
March, 2004 to a whopping 14,428 courses in 11,861 institutions in March 2009. The student intake
has likewise increased from 2,74,072 to 10,96,673 during this period. This expansion has taken a
heavy toll on quality parameters of infrastructural provision, faculty qualification, learning
resources and student profile.

30.5 Urgency of Reforming Teacher Education

Teacher education as a whole needs urgent and comprehensive reform. There is need to bring
greater convergence between professional preparation and continuing professional development
of teachers at all stages of schooling in terms of level, duration and structure. Considering the
complexity and significance of teaching as a professional practice, it is imperative that the entire
enterprise of teacher education should be raised to university level and that the duration and
rigour of programmes should be appropriately enhanced.
Both at the elementary and the secondary levels, the initial teacher preparation is fraught with a
number of problems, some of them are common while others are specific to a stage of education.

30.5.1 Elementary Teacher Education
Initial training of elementary teachers continues to suffer from isolation, low profile and poor visibility in
view of it being a non-degree programme. In professional discussions teacher education is viewed as
a unitary undifferentiated category with B. Ed. and D. Ed. providing the frame of reference. The
special significance of initial primary teacher education (elementary education being a fundamental
human right and its crucial significance to individual and national development) is overlooked
and its concerns are subsumed under more general problems. The Curriculum Frameworks thus
far developed provide guidelines that are too general and do not address the stage-specific
training needs of elementary teachers. The Curriculum Framework for Quality Teacher Education
(1998) was perhaps the first to have provided stage-specific guidelines. The post-NPE 1986
establishment of DIETs has been the most important development in bringing the issue of
elementary teacher education to the national stage.
There is a grave need to upgrade initial teacher education by enhancing the entry qualification and duration
of training making it equivalent to a degree programme and locating the management and control of elementary
teacher education within Universities. This is necessary as the plus two entry level does not equip
prospective teachers with basic knowledge of the subjects to teach at the elementary level,
particularly classes 3 to 8. Neither does the short duration of the course equip them with the
necessary pedagogic knowledge and professional repertoire for understanding children’s psycho-
social needs and facilitating their learning. There are available a number of degree programmes
for the preparation of elementary teachers, both within and outside the country, that can provide
a way forward.
Upgrading elementary teacher education calls for participatory curriculum planning involving all stakeholders,
modular organization of curriculum in terms of critically engaging with theory and bringing practice within
its perspective and a professional approach to teacher education processes. For accomplishing all this,

276 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY