3 Scenario of Teacher Education in Modern and Contemporary India

Meghavi H. Bhatia, Chhaya Goel, and Devraj Goel

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

1.  Introduction

 

2.  Teacher Education System in pre- independent India

 

3.  Teacher Education in India in post- independent period

 

4.  Conclusions

 

1. Introduction

 

The expansion of teacher education in modern and contemporary India took place in terms of quantitative and qualitative aspects. Various commissions and reports during this period emphasized on the quality of teachers in general and teacher educator in specific. It was always a challenging task to make it effective and more practical to achieve perfect quality and make it relevant to the context of that time. In this module, we will be discussing the teacher education in modern and contemporary India. Teacher education in modern India can be further divided into two periods i.e. pre- independence (British) and post- independence. Let us examine these periods one by one.

 

2. Teacher Education System in Pre-independent India

 

In pre- independent India, the first institution for teachers training was started by Danish Missionaries under the inspiring leadership of Ziegenbalg and his colleagues at Tranquebar in 1716. This was followed by the establishment of a normal training school for the primary or elementary grades by William Carey at Serampur (West Bengal) in 1802. In 1834 Thomas Babington Macaulay came to India as a Legal Member of the Council of India. He formulated his policy proposal in his Minute on Indian Education, delivered in Kolkata on 2nd February 1835. As per Lord Macaulay’s “Minutes on Indian Education” ‘Literature’ meant English literature and not Sanskrit or Arabic or Persian literature. He emphasized that medium of instruction should be English. His thinking was to change Indian culture. The Governor-General of India, William Bentinck, approved the proposal of Lord Macaulay on 7th March 1835, so that it became the cornerstone of the British-Indian educational policy until Independence (and remained largely in force after that as well). Earlier to this, a survey was conducted by a British Government of India to know the real position of education in India. This survey was conducted in Madras, Bombay and Bengal only. And the conclusion was that each village had a primary school, corporal punishment was observed, students followed time table, the co ndition of teachers was bad and teachers were ill-educated and ill-paid (Balwaria, Gupta 2014). Lord William Bentinck, the Governor General of India, appointed Adam in 1835 to survey the state of education in Bihar and Bengal. On the basis of the survey, Adam suggested some measures for reforming Education System. One of the measures proposed by Adam was that the teachers of indigenous schools should be trained. He proposed converting vernacular department of English schools into normal schools for the training of teachers of indigenous schools. He suggested that these teachers should be required to study in these schools for three months in a year for four successive years.

 

The Charter of the East India Company had to be renewed after every twenty years. Accordingly while renewing the Charter in 1833 the British Parliament increased the sum of money from the one lakh to one million to be spent on education in India. When the time for renewal came in 1853, education in India had headed for numerous problems. The directors of the company decided to lay down a definite policy for education in India. Therefore, it became necessary to make a comprehensive survey of the entire field of education. As such, a Selection Committee of the British Parliament was set up in order to set up an inquiry into the process for their reforms. The Committee studied the issue thoroughly and reported that the question of the Indian education should not be ignored and its development will not be in any case harmful to the British Empire. The suggestions of the Committee were favorably considered by the Board of Directors. Sir Charles Wood was the president of the Board of Control. As a result of the declaration issued on July 19, 1854, was known as “Wood’s Despatch”, although it is believed that the Despatch was written by the eminent scholar John Stuart Mill, who was a clerk of the company at that time. On the basis of the recommendations of the Wood’s Despatch, new educational policies were formed. Woods Despatch (1854) was the first Milestone of Indian education because it had suggested the various ideas and ways for the development of Indian education. The Wood’s Despatch recommended the establishment of teacher training schools in each of the provinces. As per the Wood’s Despatch, there should be training schools for teachers of engineering, medicine, and law. The qualified teachers should be given better pay scales. The Despatch further emphasized on the provision of scholarships to the teachers during their training period. These ways ensured a better impetus to the training of the teacher educators. The Despatch included a number of valuable and fundamental recommendations for future educational developments in India. It gave new direction and great dimension to education and laid the foundation of the present Indian educational system.

 

Indian Education Commission (1882) also known as the First Indian Education Commission or Hunter Commission was considered as the second milestone of Indian education. Lord Ripon the then Governor-General of India appointed the first Indian Education Commission on February 3, 1882, under the Chairmanship of Sir William Hunter, a member of the Executive Council of Viceroy. On his name, this Commission is popularly known as Hunter Commission. For training of secondary class teachers, there were only two training colleges viz. Government Normal School, Madras (1856) and Lahore Training School, Lahore (1881). These schools admitted both graduates and non- graduates. Hunter Commission (1882) gave its valuable suggestions in the field of education in various ways. The Hunter Commission recommended, “An examination of the principles and practices of teaching be instituted, success in which should, thereafter, be a condition of permanent employment as a teacher in any secondary school, government or aided. ”It also suggested that separate training courses for graduate and under- graduate teachers should be introduced. As a result of these recommendations of the Hunter Commission, six training colleges, and fifty training schools came into existence by the end of the nineteenth century.

 

In 1889, Lord Curzon was appointed Governor General of India. At this time the wave of nationalism was flowing fast. The aim of the Indian University Commission, 1892, was to reorganize and strengthen the existing system. Almost all the dimensions of education were covered by it. The Commission laid highlight on the establishment of a number of normal schools under a Divisional Inspector for the training of secondary teachers throughout the country. It also recommended that an examination in the principle and practice of teaching be instituted and only successful candidates should be employed as teachers in any secondary school.In 1904 some of the social reformers were demanding Natio nal Education. They thought that only national Education could safeguard the culture, civilization, literature, and language. A further step in teachers’ training took place in 1904 with the passage of Government of India Resolution. The Government of India Resolution, 1904, on Education Policy declared that if the teaching in secondary schools is to be raised to higher level; if the pupils are to be cured of the tendency to rely on the learning notes and textbooks by heart; if in a word European knowledge is to diffuse by the methods proper to it then it is most necessary that teachers should themselves be trained in the art of teaching. For qualitative improvement of primary education specific importance was given on training of teachers. Steps were taken to establish training centers for primary teachers and it was directed that the duration of training should not be less than two years. It was further suggested that the village school teachers should be given training in agricultural education. The following principles were laid down to improve the teacher training in the country (B. Gupta, 2014).

 

  •  Men of ability and experience should be enlisted to provide an adequate staff of well-trained members of the education service.
  • Importance to be given to the equipment of training colleges for secondary teachers.
  • Need was felt of practicing school to be attached to each college to correlate theory with the practice of teaching.
  • There should be one-year course leading to a university degree or diploma for graduates. These courses should include both theoretical backgrounds along with practical bias. For undergraduates, there should be a two-year course.
  • Training colleges should be linked with the schools, so that a teacher may not neglect the methods learned in the college when he or she accepts teaching as a profession.

 

These recommendations had a far-reaching effect. The number of training institutions increased and separate courses were provided for graduates and undergraduates. In 1912, it was declared, eventually under the modern system of education, no teacher should be allowed to teach without a certificate that he has qualified to do so. In 1917, the Government of India appointed a Commission to study and report on the problems of the Calcutta University following the Universities Act of 1904. The Commission was appointed under the Presidency of M.E. Sadler who was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Leeds. The Sadler Commission inquired into the conditions and prospects of the University of Calcutta. It set up an inquiry that was nationwide in scope. In 1919, the Sadler Commission presented its report and emphasized the role of the university in the professional training of secondary school teachers and educational researches. It suggested that the training programs should not only make the trainee a good teacher for the educational system but also a good administrator. It suggested four significant measures for improving the training of secondary school teachers namely:

  • There should be post graduate degree in Education
  • The introduction of Education as a subject for study, both at the B.A. and intermediate level.
  • Improvement in the facilities of training institutions
  • To open the Department of Education in Universities to develop systematically and practical study of science and art of education
  • To equip each Department with a Professor, a reader and a number of assistants. The Department should consult and collaborate with the Department of Experimental Psychology, History, and Economics.
  • There should be demonstration schools under the directions of the University for Practical Information on new methods of teaching, the new combination of school subjects and new plans of school organizations. Such a school would serve as a lab for educational experiments.
  • The Department should bring out publications and promote research. It should also work as a link between Boards of Education and Intermediate Colleges and Committees of High schools.
  • The Department should facilitate the professional growth of in-service teachers and also encourage the progress of new educational movements wherever possible.

 

The recommendations of the Sadler commission had a salutary effect on teacher training program in India and as a result of this; the University of Mysore started Faculty of Education in 1925. As a result of these recommendations, many training colleges for secondary school teachers were started. Education faculty was set up in thirteen universities out of eighteen. The Lady Irwin College was set-up in New Delhi. Andhra University started a new degree “The B.Ed.” in 1932. Bombay launched a post Graduate degree in M.Ed. in 1936.

 

Hartog Committee (1929) extended the work initiated by Sadler Commission and gave valuable recommendations and suggested conferences and refresher courses for those teachers who were already in-service in order to raise the standard of school teachers. As a result, refresher courses for teachers began to be organized, education departments were established in some universities and the research degree in Education was started. Teachers’ training institutions also started equipping and improving their laboratories and libraries. By all these measures teachers’ trainingwas benefitted by many improvements. In 1937, Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi convened Wardha Educational Conference and propounded a new system of education popularly known as ‘Basic Education’. Gandhi felt the need of making teacher-training more practical and functional. He offered craft- centered and productive education for a child, correlated with life situations for holistic development. With this, he emphasized that teacher training should be practical based and also relevant to the needs of the pupils and the community. Basic Education started by Mahatma Gandhi led to the need for training of teachers for basic schools. In 1938, a Basic Training College was set- up at Allahabad and the Vidyamandir Training school was started at Wardha in 1938.The Abbott Wood Report in 1937 came with a very valuable suggestion, like “The normal school should concern itself with the social way of education as well as with the technical know-how to teach.” It also suggested a refresher course for the teachers so that they could get a wider experience. Keeping in view the reforms suggested by all these reports, the British Government had begun to understand the seriousness of the situation in the area of education. Ultimately in the mid of 1940s, the Government of India realized that it could no longer be indifferent to the problem of education of the Indian people and there was the need of bringing about radical reforms in all aspects of Indian education. As the British became confident of its triumph in the Second World War, they focused their attention on something for the Indian people in the field of education. So Sir John Sargent, the Educational Advisor to the Government of India was advised to prepare a comprehensive scheme of education for educational reform in India. For this purpose, the government formed a Committee of Enquiry with 22 members. The report of the committee was submitted to the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) in 1944. The Board accepted it and recommended its enforcement. The scheme was known as ‘Sargent Scheme of Education’ as it was prepared by John Sargent. It is also known as ‘Report by the Central Advisory Board of Education’ and also as the plan for post-war educational reconstruction in India. This scheme has a historical importance as it was the first attempt to develop a National System for Education in India. The Sarge nt Report had also emphasized on teacher training programs and also the need of refresher course for trained and untrained teachers to be organized at different intervals. It further recommended that the scale of the salary of teachers should be increased in order to have able and efficient teachers.As a result of these interventions, there was an improvement in the status. In 1937 out of about one lakh secondary school teachers 43,000 were untrained. By 1947, teacher training program was quite comprehensive in India. At the secondary level, out of total 88,000 teachers, hardly 51% were trained. There were about 649 training colleges. A number of secondary levels training colleges were 42 only with an intake capacity of 3000 teachers. These figures show that some growth had already taken place till 1947 but over all conditions still needed improvement as the needs of the country were expanding at a rapid pace. To summarize we can say that as rightly remarked by P.L. Rawat (1970) on the whole we can conclude that during this period, the increase in training facilities was not adequate. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, an attempt was made to infuse education with a national spirit. Major highlights were education under Indian control, banishing the feeling of inferiority, education in western knowledge and science, English language to be regarded as general subject and meeting inadequacies of vocational education.

 

3. Teacher Education in India in Post – Independent Period

 

During the post- independence period too, various commissions were appointed to look at the educational problems from time to time. The first such commission was Radhakrishnan Commission.

 

Radhakrishnan Commission

 

In 1948 the Government of India appointed the University Education Commission under the chairmanship of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan a distinguished scholar and former vice-chancellor of Banaras Hindu University. He, later on, became the second President of India. The Commission submitted its report in 1949. The Commission was mainly concerned with the university education, but it made recommendations for teachers’ training also which were as follows:

  • Teacher training colleges should be remodeled, more time and weight should be given to practice teaching and practical examination than theory.
  • In the training colleges, teachers should be recruited from those who possess sufficient teaching experience.
  • The theory courses should be flexible and adaptable to the local need and circumstances.

 

With a view to improving teacher education in India, the Commission put forward many valuable suggestions. It recommended “The teacher educators must look at the whole course from a different angle; they must realize that the study of Education at the university level is something more than mere Education; theory and practice must go hand in hand and each must support and throw light upon the other; the unintelligent following of rule-of-thumb methods should be discarded; not less than 50 percent of the staff should have had schoo l teaching experience; the courses in the theory of education must be flexible and adaptable to local circumstances; students should take the Master’s degree in Education after some years of school experience; the original work by professors and lecturers in education should not suffer from isolation and lack of inter-university planning.”

 

Mudaliar Commission

 

In 1952, the Government of India appointed Secondary Education Commission under the chairmanship of Shri A.A. Mudaliar. The commission submitted its report in 1953. It recommended the improvement of working conditions in the training colleges. Valuable suggestions made by the commission were:

 

In the Secondary Education Commission’s Report, it was reported that there were three types of teacher training institutions in the country – primary or basic, secondary and graduate teacher training institution. The Commission recommended that:

  • There should be only two types of institutions for teacher training (a) for those who have taken the school- leaving certificate or higher secondary leaving certificate for whom the period of training should be two years; and (b) for graduates for whom the training may, for the present, be one academic year, but extended as a long-term programme of two years. In other words, there should be two years course for non-graduates and one- year training course for graduates.
  • Graduate teacher training institutions should be recognized by and affiliated to the Universities which should grant the degree, while secondary grade training institutions should be under the control of a separate board appointed for the purpose.
  • The pupil teachers should be trained in one or two extra-curricular activities also.
  • The commission also stressed the importance of refresher courses, short-term intensive courses and specialized courses, workshops and conferences for in-service teachers. The training colleges should arrange these activities as a normal part of their work.
  • No fees should be charged in training colleges during that period of training. All student teachers should be given suitable stipend by the state. The teachers who are already in-service should get the same salary which they were getting.
  • For Master degree in education, trained graduates who have normally done a minimum of three years of teaching should be admitted.
  • In order to meet the shortage of women teachers,’ special part-time training courses should be provided.

 

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

 

For the implementation of the multi-purpose schools, the need of trained, qualified, competent teachers was felt. As a result of this, there was a need for a planned program of teacher education. The establishment of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in 1961 was a major step taken for the development of school education which involves teacher education also. With this aim in view, under the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), four regional colleges of education, in four regions- Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, and Mysore were established in 1963. Later on the North East Regional Institute of Education (NERIE) was set up in 1995 as a constituent unit of National Council of Educational Research and Training at Shillong. In 1995 to cater to the educational needs of the North Eastern states, viz., Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura. The characteristics of these teachers’ education institutions and program were:

  • Design and development of integrated courses of four-year duration in different areas.
  • Establishment of demonstration multi-purpose schools to work in co-operation with the Regional Institute of Educations to function as educational laboratories in teachers preparations.

 

A fully professionalized academic schedule involving interaction with the community during three summer vacations available in the duration of four years of the teacher education program. The focus of this is on the role of teachers as an agent of social change.

 

The other constituent units of NCERT are National Institute of Education (New Delhi);

 

Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), New Delhi; Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), Bhopal. Amongst the significant contributions of NCERT are:

  • Revamping of Elementary and Secondary Teacher Education Curriculum;
  • Reorganizing of student teaching and evaluation;
  • Institutions of all-India surveys on teacher education;
  • Focus on continuing education of teachers through establishment of centers of continuing education;
  • Recognition of contributions to education by outstanding school teachers and teacher educators through a scheme of national awards.

 

Education Commission

 

The Education Commission (1964-66) under the chairmanship of Prof D.S. Kothari pointed out clearly the major weaknesses in the existing system of professional education visualizing weaknesses in teacher training program. The commission made many recommendations which may be classified into following groups:Removing isolation of teacher training from the main academic life. Improving the quality of teachers training program.

 

Expansion of Teacher Training Facilities

 

Making adequate provision for continuing the professional education of all teachers. Creating appropriate agencies for the maintenance of standards both at the Centre and States. National Policy of Education (1986) looked at the role of the teacher and the expectations from teacher education in a holistic perspective. It mentioned that the Government and the community should endeavor to create conditions which will help, motivate and inspire teachers on constructive and creative lines. Teachers should have the freedom to innovate, to devise appropriate methods of communication and activities relevant to the needs and capabilities of students and the concerns of the community. It stressed that teacher Education is a continuous process, and its pre-service and in-service components are inseparable. New programs of teacher-education will emphasize continuing education and the need for teachers to meet the thrusts envisaged in this Policy. As per the national policy of education, District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) were established with the capability to organize pre-service and in-service courses for elementary school teachers and for the personnel working in non-formal and adult education. As per the policy, as the DIETs get established, sub-standard institutions will be phased out, Selected Secondary Teacher Training Colleges will be upgraded to complement the work of State Councils of Educational Research and Training. National Council for Teacher Education, in its previous status since 1973, was an advisory body for the Central and State Governments on all matters pertaining to teacher education, with its Secretariat in the Department of Teacher Education of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Despite its commendable work in the academic fields, it could not perform essential regulatory functions, to ensure maintenance of standards in teacher education and preventing the proliferation of substandard teacher education institutions. The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 and the Programme of Action there under, envisaged a National Council for Teacher Education with statutory status and necessary resources as a first step for overhauling the system of teacher education. In order to bring desirable changes in the field of education, National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) was set up in 1995 as a statutory body. The objectives of the council are to:

  • Achieve planned and coordinated development of teacher education system throughout the country.
  • Regulate and maintain norms and standards in the teacher education system.

 

The first step for achieving quality standards was the publication in 1998 of the document “Curriculum Framework for Quality Teacher Education” which highlighted the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Value Education in teacher education program.

 

As per the provision of the NCTE Act 1993, four regional committees for northern, southern, eastern and western regions were set up at Jaipur, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, and Bhopal respectively. NCTE has played a very significant role as a regulatory authority in the development of secondary teacher education in the country as it has undertaken many surveys and studies relating to various aspects of teacher education and has also laid down standards and norms for the establishment and organization of secondary teacher education institutions including the guidelines in respect of minimum qualifications of teacher educators and principals, admission procedure and examinations, fees to be charged, performance appraisal system and norms and mechanisms for enforcing accountability on recognized institutions.

 

The latest NCTE Regulations (F.51-1/2014-NCTE (N&S), NCTE, New Delhi, the 28th November 2014 and The Gazette of India, No. 346, New Delhi, Monday, Dec. 1, 2014) presented a sea change. Each Unit of D.El.Ed., B.Ed. and M.Ed. has an intake of 50 pupil teachers. There is the corresponding increase in the teacher education institutions and also staff size. There is the countrywide formulation of compatible curricula with the enhanced time duration of the Teacher Education Programmes.

 

4. Conclusions

 

During the British period, the reports of the various committees and commissions suggested significant educational reforms. All the above-described commissions and reports emphasized on the quality of teachers in general and teacher educator in specific. It was always a challenging task to make it effective and more practical to achieve perfect quality and relevance in the present context. The post- independence period was characterized by major efforts to nurture and transform teacher education. The system of teacher preparation has come under considerable pressure as a result of the expansion and growth of schoo l education, through efforts to universalize elementary education. At present major efforts have been made to adapt and update the teacher education curriculum to local needs, to make it more contexts specific, responsive and dynamic with regard to meeting the particular needs of India.

 

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