(a) Whether the Government has formulated any plan to improve the quality of school teachers;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the steps taken by the Government for early implementation of recommendations of Justice Verma Commission
on teacher education; and
(d) the further steps taken by the Government to have a fairly rigorous system of admission to teacher
education courses in order to bring improvement in quality of school teachers?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. SHASHI THAROOR)
(a) & (b): To improve the quality of school teachers, the Government has adopted a three-pronged strategy,
which includes (i) The strengthening of Teacher Education Institutions, (ii) The revision of curriculum for
teacher education in accordance with National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education 2009 and (iii) The
laying down of minimum qualifications for Teacher Educators and their continuous professional development.
The Government has approved a Rs 6308 Crore Project for Strengthening of Teacher Education during the 12th Plan.
The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has been revamped with the appointment of the foremost Teacher
Education experts in the country as members. It has been declared as the Academic Authority under section 23(1)
of the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009. The NCTE has accordingly laid down the minimum qualifications for a
person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in classes I to VIII in a school. In addition, all aspiring
teachers have to qualify the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) to be eligible for appointment as teachers. The RTE
Act also provides that persons who do not possess the prescribed qualifications would require to acquire the
same within a period of 5 years. The State Governments have accordingly taken up the training of 6.6 lakh
untrained in-service teachers through the distance mode.
The Central Government has constituted Joint Review Missions (JRMs), consisting of more than 50 top experts
in the field of education/teacher education, to visit the States and guide them in strengthening Teacher
Education. The Joint Review Missions have been undertaken for 14 states so far.
(c) & (d): The Justice Verma Committee (JVC) had made 30 recommendations in its report submitted to Hon’ble
Supreme Court. The NCTE has set up a number of sub-committees to work out the modalities for the implementation
of the JVC recommendations including exploration of the possibility of instituting a rigorous and transparent
procedure of pre-entry testing of candidates for teacher education courses in order to bring improvement in
the quality of school teachers. This work is being reviewed by a sub-committee of the former members of JVC
set up by the Supreme Court.