The HRD Ministry has approved setting up of Block Institutes of Teachers Education in 196 districts during the current Five Year Plan. These institutes will be opened in SC/ST/Minority concentrated districts.
More than Rs 690 crore has been approved with one-third of this investment being made in eight high deficit States including Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Over Rs6,300 crore are earmarked in the 12th Five Year Plan for training of untrained teachers. Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), more than 6 lakh in-service teachers need to be trained.
Several States had requested Centre to extend time for training of these teachers. The maximum of 190,000 teachers needs to be trained in Bihar followed by Uttar Pradesh where a 124,000 teachers need to be trained.
While the number of teachers to be trained in Chhattisgarh is over 45,000, in Madhya Pradesh the number is 35,000.
The training of teachers will be through National Institute of Open schooling as in Jharkhand, State Open Universities as in Assam, State Councils of Education Research and Training as in Chhattisgarh and through State Board of Primary Education as in West Bengal.
To strengthen teacher education capacity, the States have obtained recognition for opening of 81 new Government institutes. It will help in the training of more than 4,000 teachers in the eight high deficit States.
The curriculum has been revised in light of the National Curriculum framework for teachers’ education.