The Progressive Teacher Vol 03 Issue 05

case study
Are our teachers equipped for the
present and ready for the future?
The need for teacher education and addressing shortage of teachers
Recognising the important role the teacher plays in the
delivery of education, it is important to look at the challenges
facing the country in ensuring that all children have qualified
teachers in their classrooms.
Currently India faces an acute shortage
of teachers. To achieve the sustainable
development goals for education:
‘ensuring every child has access to a quality
education by 2030’, UNESCO has projected
that India will need to recruit 30 lakh additional
teachers. This gap in school vis-à-vis teachers
also finds reflection in the recent District
Information System for Education (DISE).
figures shared by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.
providing continuous professional
development opportunities and transfers.
The Ministry of Human Resource
Development had invited recommendations
to the Draft National Education Policy 2016
(NEP). This presented an opportune moment
for the government to examine the issues
relating to teachers and redesign Teacher
education programmes.
In the academic year 2014-15 (Source: District Information System for Education,
Union Ministry of Human Resource Development)
Schools in India
Total number
of schools
Two teacher
(%)
One teacher
(%)
No teacher
All (primary, senior
(%) (numbers)
secondary and
12.6 lakh 41.55 11.62
higher secondary
0.84 11249
sections)
Primary Schools 7.6 lakh 28.68 8.84 0.91 6404
Recent reports suggest that there are
approximately 6.6 lakh teachers currently
in the system who lack the requisite
qualifications; in the Union education budget
in 2016-17, a mere 1.17 per cent of the total
is allocated to teacher education and training.
At a recent conference, the Secretary of
Education rightly stated that availability
and quality of teachers is the key factor
for ensuring learning. Given that teachers
are critical, there is an urgent need for
pre-service teacher education, recruitment,
No education system in the world has
excelled without making a significant
investment in building a cadre of quality
teachers. Yet teacher education is one of
the weakest links in the education sector
in India. Against this backdrop, Tata Trusts
have relentlessly focused on addressing some
of the critical needs in education in India,
especially with regard to teachers. With years
of experience in working to improve access to
quality education in some of the most remote
geographies of India, while simultaneously
addressing concerns of equity, through
enhanced learning levels and opportunities,
Tata Trusts has been ensuring appropriate
learning levels, strengthening systems,
training teachers, integrating appropriate
technologies and mobilising communities.
It has set up a core committee comprising
well-known educationists to put forward a
strategy on how teacher education should be
addressed.
Listed below are some of the
recommendations made by the
Tata Trusts:
• Focus on teacher education programme
– restructuring of teacher education
programmes, linking them to universities
and schools. Create centres of excellence
for Teacher Education.
• Establish clear criteria for recruitment of
students into teacher education.
• Equip teachers with essential knowledge
base and multiplicity of skills ranging
from subject competence, understanding
of the student, continuous assessment and
instilling values and behaviours.
• Increase motivation of teachers and equip
them with skills by mobility within the
system.
• Use technology to tackle the problem of
teacher absenteeism, and reward good
performance.
• Rein in substandard and unregulated
teacher training institutes, 90 % of which
are in the private sector.
• Strengthen state-run institutes that suffer
from multiple deficiencies, by a new
institutional framework to formalize the
accreditation process, develop institutional
mechanisms for periodic monitoring of
teacher training institutes and to ensure
strict adherence to quality parameters
• Help teachers identify their own
professional development at least once
every five years.
• Encourage teaching as a professional
career option for the brightest; higher
education should diversify specializations
into areas of curriculum and pedagogical
studies.
• Fill in the teacher vacancies and create
state-specific norms for fair and equitable
deployment of teachers.
(Tata Trusts are amongst India’s oldest,
non-sectarian philanthropic organizations
that work in several areas of community
development. Tata Trusts seek to be catalysts
in development through partnerships and
direct implementation in the areas of Natural
Resources Management, Rural Livelihoods,
Urban Livelihoods & Poverty, Education,
Enhancing Civil Society and Governance,
Health and Arts, Crafts and Culture.)
58 The Progressive Teacher Nov/Dec 2016