TEACHER EDUCATION
I. BACKGROUND
Basic Statistics 1.1 According to the Fifth All India Educational Survey, as on 30.9.86, there were 36.92 lakh school teachers in the country. Their stage-wise details were as follows:
School Stage No. of teachers Percentage of Pupil-
Total Untrained Trained lady Teacher
(in lakhs) Teachers Teachers Ratio
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
a) Primary 18.65 2.48 86.7% 30.6% 44
b) Upper Primary 9.21 1.17 87.3% 32.2% 29
Total Elementary
(a+b) 27.86 3.65 86.9%
(c) Secondary 6.82 0.67 90.2% 28.1% 21
(d) Hr. Secondary 2.23 0.25 88.6% 29.3% 15
Total-Sec.+Hr.Sec 9.05 0.92 89.8%
(c+d)
Total for all
stages (a+b+c+d) 36.92 4.57 87.6%
1.2 On the basis of the trend in growth of teacher population over the period 1983-87, one could assume, for the sake of rough estimation, an annual growth rate of 4% and 5% for elementary and secondary/higher secondary teachers respectively. Based on these assumed growth rates, the estimated number of teachers by stages, on 30.9.92 (i.e. the mid-point of the VIII Plan) works out as follows-:--
Teachers at school stages Estimated number as on 30.9.92
(in Lakh)
a) Primary 23.6
b) Upper Primary 11.6
Total-Elementary(a+b) 35.2
c) Secondary and Hr. Secondary 12.0
Grand total for all stages(a+b+c) 47.2
Roughly speaking the average number of total and elementary school teachers over the VIII Plan period could thus be taken as 47 lakhs and 35 lakhs respectively.
All planning in teacher education for the VIII Plan period would have to be done keeping in view the above broad figures.
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2. NPE and POA on Teachers and Teacher Education The National Policy on Education, 1986 took full cognisance of the crucial importance of teachers in its implementation and envisaged the following two sets of measures to ensure that teachers perform their due role: -
(i) Overhauling of the system of teacher education,
comprising: - (a) new programmes to "emphasize continuing education and the need for teachers to meet the thrusts envisaged in this Policy".
(b) establishment of District Institutes of Education and Training for organising preservice and inservice courses for elementary school teachers and for personnel of non-formal and adult education systems.
(c) upgradation of selected Secondary Teacher Education Institutions "to complement the work of SCERTs",
(d) creation of networking arrangements between Institutions of Teacher Education and University Departments of Education;
(e) National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) to be provided "necessary resources and capability to accredit Institutions of Teacher Education and provide guidance regarding Curricular and methods, and
(f) promotion of school complexes "on a flexible pattern so as to serve as networks of institutions and synergic alliances to encourage professionalism among teachers, to ensure observance of norms of conduct to enable the sharing of experiences and facilities.
(ii) Other measures to ensure quality and motivation
among teachers, e.g. (a) Streamlining of the system of recruitment, transfers/postings, and evaluation of teachers, (b) Pay and service conditions commensurate with their responsibilities, and as uniform as possible throughout the country, (c) Adequate promotion opportunities, incentives for good performance and disincentives for non performance, and (d) Professional freedom and full involvement in formulation and implementation of educational programmes.
In addition to the above, the POA also envisages special measures for providing housing facilities for teachers in urban as well as rural areas and says that, for this purpose, budgetary resources will be Supplemented by institutional finance.
3. Teacher Education: The Present Position
3.1 Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Teacher Education 3.1.1 Pursuant to the adoption of the NPE, 1986, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Teacher Education was approved in 1987-88 having the following five components:
(i) Orientation of about five lakh teachers every year, in 10 day camps, to increase their motivation and competence for implementation of the new Policy (This Component was started in 1986 itself, immediately after the adoption of new Policy, and Much before the approval of the larger Centrally Sponsored Scheme);
(ii) Setting up of about 400 District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs);
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(iii) Strengthening of about 250 Secondary Teacher Education Institutions (STEIs) and development of about 50 of them as Institutions of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs);
(iv) Strengthening of SCERTs; and
(v) Establishment and strengthening of University Departments of Education (by the UGC).
3.1.2 Coverage under the programme of Mass Orientation of School Teachers (MOST) during its first three years has been as follows:-
Year No. of teachers covered (in lakhs)
Primary Upper Primary Total
and
Secondary
1986 3.26 1.40 4.66
1987 3.07 1.35 4.42
1988 2.98 1.41 4.39
Total 9.31 4.16 13.47
(Note-Figures for 1988 are provisional) The 1989 round of the programme was yet to be completed in July'89.
3.1.3 In the first year of the programme, accent was on explaining to the teachers the new Policy and its implications. With each successive year, emphasis has been gradually shifting from Policy to upgradation of professional competence. During 1989, efforts have been made to deliver to primary school teachers working in blocks covered under Operation Blackboard (OB), a special package designed to impart skills in the use of OB materials and generally, to adoption of a child centred approach.
It is expected that, by the end of the Seventh Plan period, about 18 lakh teachers would have been covered under this programme.
3.1.4 During the first two years of implementation of the centrally Sponsored Scheme of Teacher Education, Central assistance has been sanctioned for setting up DIETs and strengthening STEIs to the extent shown below:
Category of Institution No. sanctioned
1987-88 1988-89 Total
1. DIETs 101 114 215
(+1 under (+1 under
BADEP) BADEP)
2.Strengthening of STEls
i) Colleges of Teacher
Education (CTEs) 8 14 22
ii) IASEs 7 3 10
Total (2) 15 17 32
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As envisaged in the NPE, phasing out of substandard, surplus and malpractising teacher education institutions has been made a pre- condition for sanction of any Central assistance under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Since setting up of DIETs and strengthening of STEIs involves construction of additional buildings, procurement of a variety of equipment, and recruitment of specialised staff in considerable numbers, it is expected that nearly all the above institutions would become fully operational during the VIII Plan only.
3.1.5 Allocation.for the Teacher Education Scheme for 1989-90 is again Rs.50 crores.The extent to which more DIET/CTE/IASE projects would get approved this year would depend on the extent to which claims are received from States for release of second instalment for projects sanctioned in the earlier to years. At present, however, it looks as though it may become possible to sanction another 50 to 60 new DIET/CTE/IASE projects this year. Thus, we might perhaps end the Seventh Plan period with about 250 DIETs and 50 CTEs/IASEs having been sanctioned.
3.1.6 No assistance could be sanctioned for strengthening of SCERTs during the first two years of the Scheme. Implementation of this component is expected to begin during 1989-90.
3.1.7 UGC is working out details of the fifth component of the Scheme, viz. strengthening of University Departments of Education,and it appears that it would get taken up for implementation during the VIII Plan Only.
3.2 Teacher Training component in other Centrally Sponsored
Schemes. While institutions of teacher education are being strengthened during the Seventh Plan Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Teacher Education, funds for actually organising Programmes of in service training of teachers are being provided under a variety of other Centrally Sponsored Schemes also. Sonic, of these Schemes are as follows:-
(1) Vocationalisation
(2) improvement of Science Education in Upper Primary and Secondary Schools
(3) Environmental Orientation to School Education
(4) CLASS
(5) integrated Education for Disabled Children
(6) Non-Formal Education
(7) Adult Education
Some of these Schemes were started more or less simultaneously with the Teacher Education scheme, while others are older.
3.3 The twin problems of (i) Under qualified Teachers, and (ii)
Mismatch between demand and supply of trained teachers
3.3.1 Under qualified teachers:- The present notionally recommended norm for appointment as teachers in elementary, schools is Higher Secondary (12th) and two-year course in elementary teacher training. As against this, the provisional figures
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obtained from the Fifth All India Educational Survey of teachers at the elementary stage with High School (10th) or less qualification are as follows:
Qualification-wise no. of teachers(in Lakhs)
Category of teachers Below Middle Middle High School
by school stage Trd Untrd Total Trd Untrd Total Trd Untrd Total
1. Primary 0.06 0.034 0.09 2.13 0.29 2.41 8.28 0.95 9.23
2. Middle 0.01 0.002 0.01 0.45 0.03 0.49 3.51 0.25 3.76
TOTAL 0.07 0.036 0.10 2.58 0.32 2.90 11.79 1.20 12.99
State-wise break-up of the above figures is given in Annex 6. flee above figures show up the following important features:--
(i) There were roughly 21/2 lakh teachers at the primary stage who had Middle or less qualification. Of these, roughly 13% were untrained and the rest were reportedly trained.
(ii) At the middle stage, there were about 50,000 teachers who themselves had Middle or less qualification--of these about 8% were untrained and the rest were reported as trained. On the other hand, the number of teachers at this stage with High School or less qualification was 4.26 lakh, of whom 7% were untrained and the rest reported as trained.
(iii) There were about 36,000 elementary school teachers in me country who had Middle or less qualification and who were untrained as well. There were another 24,800 untrained teachers at the Middle level, with a High School qualification. This group of about 6 1,000 elementary school teachers, prima facie, needed `content upgradation' as well as professional training. Nearly all of these teachers were concentrated in the following four groups of 18 States:-
Untrained Teachers
At Ele. level At Middle level Total
with Middle with High School(2+3)
or less qualification qualification
(a) North Eastern States 13,617 8,605 22,222
(except Arunachal Pradesh)
(b) EB States of the Eastern
region (West Bengal,
Bihar and Orissa) 8,736 5,788 14,524
(c) Other EB States (UP,
MP, Rajasthan,and K and AP) 5,659 3,809
9,468
(d) Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Kerala and Karnataka 7,292 6,304 13,596
Total 35,304 24,506 59,810
State-wise break-up of the above is given in Annex 6 A.
(iv) As for the teachers who did not possess requisite academic qualification but were trained, the crucial aspect to investigate would be the nature of training imparted to them. If it comprised professional training as well as `content upgradation' to the requisite level, the teachers concerned need not be treated as `underqualified'. If on the other hand, it did not specially take care of `content upgradation' but was the same course of training as was meant for persons having requisite academic qualification, it cannot be treated as adequate, and the teachers would have to be categorised as underqualified.
(v) The backlog of underqualified teachers would depend on (iii) and (iv) above. While the number involved in (iii) is determinate (61,000), that involved in (iv) can only be ascertained after necessary scrutiny of the State-wise position of nature of training imparted It nevertheless seems reasonably clear that the number of `underqualified teachers' in the country needing remedial `content upgradation' courses of a very basic kind, is sizeable, and could well be a lakh, if not more.
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3.3.2 The problem of mismatch between demand and supply of trained
teachers Annex 7 gives State-wise figures of: -
(i) Number of untrained teachers working in various categories of schools as on 30.9.87, and
(ii) Number of persons of the following categories on the live register of employment exchanges:-
a) Persons registered for the post of elementary teachers as on 31.12.85, though not necessarily trained (more recent data was not available with DG,E and T), and
b) Persons with B.Ed. or equivalent qualification as on 30.6.88
The above table shows up the following important features:-
(i) There are three categories of problem States as far as untrained teachers are concerned
a) States where untrained teachers' backlog is high both in absolute and percentage terms viz. West Bengal, M.P., Assam and Orissa;
b) States where the backlog is high in absolute but not in percentage terms, viz. U.P., Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka ; and
c) Smaller States where backlog is high not in absolute but in percentage terms, viz. J and K, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura.
State-wise details in regard to the above three categories of States are brought out in tabular form in Annex 7A. Generally speaking, the problem of untrained teachers would be more difficult to tackle in (a) and (c) category States than in (b) category ones. The,former (i.e. a and c category) could therefore be termed as problem States' as far as untrained teachers are concerned.
(ii) The problem of unemployed teachers is serious in the following States/UTs:States/UTs with a high backlog of unemployed Elementary as well as Secondary Teachers:-
Maharashtra, A.P., Karnataka, Kerala, U.P., Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, H.P., Chandigarh, West Bengal, Orissa States/UTs with a high backlog of unemployed Secondary Teachers only: M.P., Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu