Centre for varsity teachers opens

The University Grants Commission’s Inter University Centre for Teacher Education (UGC IUC) was inaugurated at Kakinada on Sunday , the Union Minister for HRD MM Pallam Raju’s constituency. The centre was located in JNTU-Kakinada as a temporary basis till such a time the permanent building is constructed.

UGC conceived this idea of setting up of this centre to address the shortage of quality teachers as well as harnessing the skills of faculty on their subjects. This would also promote interest in research in several disciplines.

Kakinada centre is being established at a cost of Rs 300 crore would cater the needs of teacher training of south Indian states.

Pallam Raju himself inaugurated the IUC Centre in presence of Professor Ved Prakash, Chairman, UGC, Professor L Venu Gopal Reddy, Chairman of APSCHE, Professor Santosh Panda, Chairman, NCTE, Professor Sisodia, Joint Secretary, IUC Higher Education, Professor G Tulasi Ram Das, Vice-Chancellor, JNTU-K and several political leaders of the area.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ved Prakash, UGC Chairman, revealed that funds to the tune of Rs 25,000 crores were allotted for Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) and another Rs 60,000 crores of funds were earmarked for formal and informal sector.

“Nearly 120 crores were allotted for 15 Universities to focus on research areas. The HRD opened up the windows for private service providers to improve quality education, collaborated with foreign Universities to award joint dual degrees, assessment and accreditation made mandatory to increase productivity,” Ved Prakash said. He briefed that IUC would look into cumulative aspects of learning. UGC chairman suggested that the training shall focus on teacher’s professional development, qualifications and competences. At the same time, he advised all not to look at towards the West and focus on indigenous development from our side.

Stating that the goal of achieving 30 per cent Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) by 2020 shall be the focus, Union Minister of HRD Pallam Raju however cautioned that standards shall not be diluted in the process. “We can produce skilled professionals only through imparting quality education” he felt.

Pallam Raju opined that better results can be achieved by expanding distance education, open universities and emerging technologies. He asked to strengthen the DIET institutions and expected greater reforms in the field of education. Recalling the words of Vivekananda that youth is the back bone of the country, Raju insisted the significance of moral values which has to be inculcated with knowledge and education. ‘The HRD ministry is taking collective efforts to bring transformations, regulatory references, potentialities to reach the norms,’ he said.

Dr Sisodia, Joint Secretary, Higher Education said that a good teacher plays the key role in the development of the country. He announced that under RUSA scheme 23 thousand crore of funds are allotted for the development of the higher education and also plans are afoot to initiate 7 model degree colleges with 12 crores of fund for each college.

Prof. Santosh Panda, Chairman, NCTE underlined the need that IUC centre provides national and international platform to provide practice-based teaching, blended mechanisms, quality assurance, etc., He supported Varma Commission recommendations that teacher education should a part of Higher Education. He also suggested that training duration in DIET to be changed to four years integrated course and BEd, MEd courses would be to two years.