As part of the ongoing education reforms being implemented in the country, the human resource development ministry has finalised a proposal for recognition of National Council of Education Research and Training as an institution of national importance. The institution may also be granted the status of a university.
Sources stated that the effort is to equip the NCERT to help bridge the shortfall of over nine lakh teachers in the country’s school education system. The proposal aims to help the NCERT gain the status of a University or an institution of national importance so as to grant it powers for granting degrees to teachers and advanced training programme. “The proposal is in final stages and is expected to be put before Parliament by Win-ter Session after further consultations with stakeholders,” sources added.
This newspaper had earlier reported that the government was working out a proposal on granting the status of an institution of national importance to the NCERT. The proposal had been awaiting clearance for over two years for various reasons.
The move was proposed in an effort to improve educational conditions in the country and an urgent need to enhance the number of trained teachers in the educational system was felt. “And this move is expected to help the country help tide over the shortfall of teachers,” sources added.
Official sources pointed out that the NCERT does not have a degree granting status, and its five Regional Institutes of Education (RIE) have to affiliate with local universities in their respective cities for the recognition of their teacher education courses.
The RIEs are located in Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar and Mysore, apart from the NCERT headquarters in Delhi, and offer degree-level teacher training programmes as well as post-graduate programmes for teachers for the past several decades.
A committee was also set up to explore the feasibility of the idea to seek recognition of NCERT as a University or an institution of national importance and its implications. Making a case for granting this status the proposal states “that the NCERT’s degree-level and post-graduate programmes have been widely appreciated for their pace-setting character”.