Wither teacher education

01 September, 2012

National Teacher's Day is around the corner to provide an occasion to reflect on the performance of teachers and teacher-educators as a collective. A very recent report by the Varma Committee reveals that out of 291 teacher-education institutions evaluated by them only 34 of them were found up to the mark.

WITH SO few educational institutes being - up to the mar in terms of performance and ability of teachers, this situation speaks volumes about the state of the education system of the country. No educational reform can ever succeed unless teacher-educators are of a good quality. One can now hear the remark 'the teacher-educators are the worst teachers' in many educational seminars. Educational reform is urgently needed to revamp the teacher-education system and strengthen it.

According to the Supreme Court appointed Varma Committee, the teacher-education institutions seem to be in tatters both qualitatively and financially. The committee has recommended that the institutional capacity of teacher-education institutions be enhanced on priority basis.

My interaction with some teacher preparation institutions and association with refresher courses for teacher-educators informs that they are not professionally managed. There is a need to organize special courses and summer institutes for teacher-educators. Also, there is a need to organize school-attachment programmes for the teacher-educators.

Another malady of educational research is that hardly any research is done on the issues related to teacher-education. It has also been seen that the teacher educators hardly read any new books and hardly remain in touch with latest research in education and pedagogy.

Thus, there is a need to revamp the teacher-education system - both in terms of methodology of teacher preparation and institutional management!