A CONCEPT
Upholding the values cherished in the constitution of India which guarantees the Right To Education as a fundamental right, the vision of India’s education system has been created to ensure that it touches the life of each and every citizen, consistent with their ability to contribute to many growing developmental imperatives of this country on the one hand, and towards creating a just and equitable society on the other. This requires clear goals, the skills to translate these goals into sound curriculum and pedagogy, the leadership of teachers and educational administrators to focus on supporting the creation of meaningful learning opportunities. In a nutshell, providing educational opportunities implies an effective system to support learning, including supportive organizations, resources, and sound policies.
Government of India has made continuous efforts in this regard and one such effort is the proposed draft National Education Policy 2019. The draft policy has proposed transforming the existing 2 years’ D.El.Ed course for teacher training to 4 years D.El.Ed course. Teacher Education is truly vital in creating a team of teachers that will shape the next generation. The fundamental transformation to the four-year integrated teacher preparation programme on one hand and the shutting down of dysfunctional institutions, on the other hand, will require the creation of substantial new teacher preparation capacity. Unfortunately, prejudice and bias based on gender, social and economic status, and special needs, among other factors, often affect people’s capacity to benefit from the education system, compounding social cleavages that hold the nation back from growth, innovation, and progress. The Policy needs to aim to shape an education system that benefits all of India’s children so that no child loses any opportunity to learn and excel because of the circumstances of birth or background. Hence there is need to overview if new education 2019 draft policy to examine if it will be able to achieve an inclusive and equitable education system so that all children have equal opportunity to learn and thrive, and participation and learning outcomes are equalized across all genders and social categories.
DIETs of D.K and Udupi Districts, DSERT, Karnataka and SSA, Karnataka have provided immense cooperation to PADI in all its endeavours in the past ten years in bringing changes and improvement in primary teacher education and training. Similarly, PADI has received immense support from Prasanna school of Public Health-Manipal and UNICEF India is working towards training and guiding educational institutions in drafting child protection policy. With the draft New Education Policy 2019 now, Teacher Education stands at the crossroads. Focused deliberations on the policy from the perspectives of Teacher Education would greatly contribute to fine-tuning the system that is envisioned in the policy. This two days’ state-level workshop on Challenges and Prospects of Teacher Education is organised to generate insights into the planning of future Teacher Education programmes. This workshop looks forward to submitting recommendations to the Government on Teacher Education. PADI has organised 2 days State Level Workshop on February 24th and 25th, 2020 at MAHE, Manipal in collaboration with MAHE Manipal, DSERT, Karnataka, DIETs of D.K and Udupi districts and UNICEF.
