Teaching the Teachers
Human Resource Development Centres to be revamped and known as Madan Mohan Malaviya Teachers Training
With the fast pace of expansion of the education system in the country, both at school and higher education stages, improving quality has come to occupy the centre stage in educational development.
Needless to say that teachers hold the key for success of any effort in this direction. Attention, therefore, has to be focussed on the preparation of teachers and their working conditions in classrooms, schools and colleges, as also their continuous professional development, ensuring that best talent in the country are made available to shape the future generations.
Against this background, the Government of India has launched the Scheme; Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers & Teaching with an outlay of Rs. 900 crores during XII Plan.
It may be noted that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 presents a watershed moment in the Indian Education Policy ecosystem. Redesigning the higher education ecosystem as envisaged by NEP 2020 requires strengthening the role of the faculty. NEP 2020 also envisions that pedagogy becomes learner-centered with a mechanism for continuous comprehensive evaluation and assessment of learners.
Capacity building of faculty across all levels of higher education is one of the foremost thrust areas, with diverse schemes/programmes geared towards it. University Grants Commission’s Human Resource Development Centres (HRDCs) cater to the country’s non-technical Higher Education Institutions (HEI) working in various HEIs. These HRDCs conduct continuous Professional Development Programmes (CPDP) mainly in faculty induction, pedagogy, domain knowledge, and leadership. The thrust areas for these CPDPs are dynamic and identified by UGC in tune with NEP 2020.
The Central Sector Scheme “Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT) was launched in 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi . The scheme aimed to comprehensively address all issues related to Teacher Training/ Capacity Building and the Professional Development of Faculty. Under the Scheme, existing HEIs in CUs, IITs, State Universities, NITTTR, IISERs, NITs, Deemed Universities, and Centrally Funded HEI have been provided funds for carrying out Capacity Building training of faculty members of HEIs, by utilizing and leveraging existing resources.
The vision here is to build competencies in the faculty for better teaching, learning and research by exposing them to Indian values, updating knowledge and skills, and aligning with the needs of society and NEP 2020.
Pt Madan Mohan Malavya National Mission has following components:
– Schools of Education (in Central Universities) – 30
– Centres of Excellence for Curriculum and Pedagogy – 50
– Inter-University Centres for Teachers’ Education – 2
– National Resource Centre for Education – 1
– Centres for Academic Leadership and Education Management – 5
– Innovations, Awards, Teaching Resource Grant, including Workshop & Seminar
– Subject Networks for Curricular Renewal and Reforms
Recently, Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan launched the Malaviya Mission – Teachers Training Programme by the University Grants Commission at Kaushal Bhawan, New Delhi. He also inaugurated the Portal of the Programme and released its information brochure.
Organised by the University Grants Commission, in association with the Ministry of Education, the Malaviya Mission – Teacher Training Programme aims to provide tailored training programmes for teachers. This programme will work for the capacity building of faculty members in higher educational institutions.
While launching the training programme for teachers, he emphasised improving the quality of education at all levels by infusing quality and excellence in teachers and teaching methods. He also announced the renaming of Human Resource Development Centres (HRDCs) as Madan Mohan Malaviya Teachers’ Training Centre. He mentioned that this programme will ensure continuous professional development and help in building capacities of 15 lakh teachers of HEIs through 111 Malaviya Mission centres across India in a time-bound manner.
He stated that the Programme is an endeavour to make our educators future-ready with a deeper understanding of Indian values. It aims to improve the quality of teachers’ training, build leadership skills in teachers and help realise the goals of NEP, he added.
Pradhan also informed that capacity building under the Malaviya Mission will be mapped to the credit framework to ensure career progression pathways for educators. He said that societal transformation can only be led through the development of education and teachers are the catalysts of the change. Dwelling on the various themes of the training programmes, Shri Pradhan said that the theme-wise training sessions will help enthuse “Samagrata” in the participants. He also mentioned that the Indian Knowledge System has been included in the modules of the Programme.
Emphasising the importance of lifelong learning, Pradhan reiterated the need for teachers to be lifelong learners which will directly contribute to the holistic development of their students.
The two-week online programme shall focus on various themes identified for course curriculum/content for capacity building of faculty members at higher educational institutions. The 8 themes include Holistic and Multidisciplinary Education, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), Academic Leadership, Governance and Management, Higher Education and Society, Research and Development, Skill Development, Student Diversity and Inclusive Education and Information and Communication Technology. To facilitate this transformative journey, the UGC has also established a dedicated portal for faculty members to register for the capacity-building programmes.
The link to the portal is https://mmc.ugc.ac.in/
