Training the teachers

India has very impressive figures of growth and expansion of its education system. The literacy rate was just around 20 percent in 1950 and now stands at 75 percent. During this period, the population has grown more than three times.

With over 1.3 million schools, 634 degree awarding institutions, 33,023 colleges, around 220 million students in schools and 16-17 percent participation in higher education, it is a very complex system. It has produced brilliant young professionals. It has also suffered humiliation when it was found that more than 50 percent children of grade five were not able to achieve learning levels of grade two! Around 80 percent of its professional graduates and 90 percent of general graduates are found inadequately prepared to take up floor assignments.

In a nation that acknowledges the role of teacher with such adulation and adoration, the decline in quality across the board is indeed astonishing. Are we preparing our teachers properly and looking after their needs? Further, are these teachers getting enough encouragement, motivation and recognition during their professional life?

The national policy on education (NPE1986/92) says it all, “The status of the teacher reflects the socio-cultural ethos of a society.” The policy mandated that “teachers should have the freedom to innovate, to devise appropriate methods of communication and activities relevant to the needs, capabilities and the concerns of the community.” It is estimated that around 1.5 million positions of school teachers are vacant in the country and colleges and universities suffer staff shortage of 30 to 60 percent on an average.

The training of school teachers – two years diploma for elementary and one year B.Ed for secondary stage – remains unchanged. Four year integrated teacher education programmes started by NCERT in the 1960s have not been replicated. Another attempt made in 1999 to replace the one year B.Ed by a two year program remains ignored. Quality teachers are prepared through integrated courses of 3-5 year duration internationally and a similar approach should have been accepted in India at least four decades ago.

The quality of teacher preparation in training institutions impacts the quality of school education and necessarily radiates to higher education. College teachers are appointed under UGC guidelines which have changed frequently. A newly appointed college/university teacher may have little familiarity with the pedagogy and the psychology of the learners. Till some three decades ago, no training was considered necessary for them. After considerable pressure from scholars and academics, the UGC created Academic Staff Colleges to provide training and orientation to college and university teachers. They attend these courses as otherwise their promotion may be delayed. These orientation programmes are often disjointed, routine and outdated. The teacher-under-orientation is unable to visualise the utility of what is offered to him.

The focal point has changed from quality teaching to completing the formality of obtaining certificates of attendance. Participation in national and international seminars also fetch some critical points to college teachers. Result - a flood of national and international seminars being announced by colleges in the months of February and March! Exceptions apart, it matters little even if there is only local participation and nothing worthwhile really happens. The certificate becomes a valid document.

While the central government regularly claims that funds are no problem in education, the practice of appointing para-teachers on the pittance of an honorarium has become a practice instead of exception as was initially envisaged. It is futile to expect this group of demoralised teachers, numbering several lakhs, to nurture and develop values amongst the young ones placed under their charge.

Teachers in schools and colleges deserve to be empowered through well-planned comprehensive programmes of initial preparation, regular orientation and opportunities to participate and study innovations on one hand and encouraged to innovate on the other. Sooner the teacher preparation gets its due, better for future generations as they contribute the most to social cohesion, religious amity and India’s march towards becoming a knowledge societ.