District Institutes of Education and Training - Teacher Education

District Institutes of Education and Training: A Comparative Study in Three Indian States
Chapter 6 The Diet and Decentralisation
6.1 Introduction
The discussion so far has drawn attention to some of the centralising forces that
continue to exert a counter-pull directly on the DIET, and provide barriers to
decentralisation in teacher education. These have included the nature of recruitment
to DIETs, the centralisation of in-service programme design, and DIET funding
patterns. These centralising forces tend not to promote the autonomy that is needed
for the DIET to function in a decentralised manner, although there is evidence from
Surat District that decentralisation is possible, despite these counter pulls, where
there is proaction by institutional leadership. Autonomy is central to the emergence
of decentralisation. The first part of this chapter continues our exploration of DIET
autonomy in relation to the State level. The second part reviews relations between
the DIET and other educational institutions within the District – such as officers of
the Education Department, the DPEP’s Block and Cluster Resource Centres, and
non-governmental organisations.
6.2 The DIET and the State
Chapter one noted that in the DIET was conceived as the third tier of an
established teacher education system. Relatively little power or control has been
devolved to DIETs: the apex organisation for example sets training targets, and
evaluates monthly progress towards them; it staffs the DIETs; and it retains
control over INSET programme design and funding, and of the pre-service
training course. Tensions between DIETs and apex organisation centre on
untimely disbursement of funds from the State level, and differing views on the
autonomy a DIET should be enjoying.
6.2.1 The impact of funding tensions on DIETs’ responsiveness to local needs
Funding tensions were apparent across all the DIETs. In the DPEP and Lok
Jumbish DIETs, the training budget was considerably larger than in regular
DIETs. While the Lok Jumbish DIET was centrally involved in Lok Jumbish
training programmes, in the DPEP Districts, the DIET was not the automatic
choice for training programmes, and so the presence of the DPEP in the District
did not necessarily enrich the DIET. Indeed, there is evidence from Dhar District
of disempowerment of the DIET by the DPEP.
As far as regular funding is concerned, funds come via the SCERT/equivalent.
SCERT may not be able to deliver the full budgetary requirement to DIETs, as the
budget it submits to the State may not necessarily be fully sanctioned 12 . As the
Surat DIET Principal explained:
12 The federal tensions of centrally sponsored schemes and their monitoring are discussed in Dyer, 2000.
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