University teachers of the State will get a better chance of acquiring teaching methods for their respective subjects in University Grants Commission (UGC) sponsored Academic Staff Colleges from 2015 onwards.
letters regarding the notification have been sent to Academic Staff College (ASC) Directors for strengthening Teacher Education Programmes in their curriculum.
According to Ranchi University (RU) and Utkal University (UU) officials who received the UGC letter last week, a fresher or experienced teacher is eligible to pursue this course so that they in turn can informally train their subject-centric department colleagues.
“As of now, UGC is drafting the guidelines for the course module of this programme. We will inculcate the guidelines from 2015-16 session onwards,” RU Academic Staff College Director AK Choudhary said.
Sources maintained UGC has conducted a committee meeting with around 15 to 16 ASC Directors in April end for finalizing decision over the Teacher Education Programme.
“The Programme is important as there is extra burden on senior teachers in most of the subject departments of colleges and universities. Once an Assistant Professor undergoes this programme, he or she can take the classes of Senior Professor in case the latter is absent,” Utkal University’s Academic College Professor Niranjan Pani said.
Presently, the Programme is in a preparatory stage at UGC, claim sources. UGC Chairman Ved Prakash has asked all the University Vice Chancellors to prepare the training module for both Refresher and Orientation Training Programmes for Teacher Educators with the help of senior teacher educators.
UGC’s latest initiative coincides with previous month’s reports stating Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani’s decision to imitate Gujarat Model of Teacher Training by imparting them with continuous training throughout the year.
In the particular letter uploaded at UGC’s website dated June 30, 2014 Prakash has requested the respective Directors and Vice Chancellors to send a feedback on the action taken by them.
Notably, courses at ASC provide promotion, knowledge and skill advantages to university teachers.
There are about 66 Academic Staff Colleges in India headed by UGC.Speaking on the matter, an UGC officer informed that the six regional centres of UGC are managing affairs of their universities for this programme.