INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING IN UTTAR PRADESH

Amita Bajpai

INTRODUCTION

Uttar Pradesh has a rich history to its credit. During Vedic age, it was the land of many great sages like Valmiki, Yagyavalkya, Vashishtha etc. The sacred books of Hindus- Ramayana and Mahabharata were also composed over here. Sarnath, Ayodhya, Prayag, Varanasi and Mathura were the centres of learning. U.P. under Muslim rule led the way to a new synthesis of Hindu and Islam cultures. Kabir, Tulsidas, Soordas and others contributed to the growth of Hindi and other languages. The land preserved its intellectual leadership even under the British administration and produced many scholars and intellectuals.

INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING FOR PRE-SCHOOL STAGE

Pre school teacher education also called nursery teacher education took roots in U.P. in 1951 after the upgradation of HTC (Hindustani Teacher Certificate Course) training schools to prepare trained teachers for nursery schools of the state. There are at present only two government nursery training institutions in the state. These institutions conduct two year nursery teacher training courses and have only 68 intake capacity. This meager number is woefully inadequate to cater for the ever-growing number of children seeking pre-school education.

The nursery-training course is known as C.T. (Nursery) course. Minimum qualification for admission in this course is intermediate or its equivalent. Registrar, Departmental Examination, U.P. administers the admission test and a merit list is prepared which is sent to the institutions for carrying out admission. The admission process is completed by the principal of the institution as per the instructions of the Department. The Registrar Departmental Examinations, U.P. conduct the final examination also and provides certificates to the successful candidates. The courses provided are: NTT (19); NTEP (1); CT (Nursery) (1)

INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STAGE

When teacher education for elementary level made its appearance in the state, courses conducted those days were Vernacular Teacher Certificate (V.T.C.) and Hindustani Teacher Certificate Course (H.T.C.). Later HTC was converted into Basic Teacher’s Training Certificate (BTC). Course. At present, 84 DIETs conduct the BTC course. The courses offered are: B. El. Ed. (5); BTC (84); D.P.Ed. (1); DGP (1); DTE (1); ETE (12); and ETEP Course (1). The DIETs are under the direct control of SCERT and are recognized by the Education Department of the state government. The Registrar, Departmental Examination conducts all the examination from admission test to the final examinations and issue Basic Teacher Certificate to the trainees on successful completion of their training.

INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STAGE

The courses offered for secondary school teaching are: B.Ed. (699); B. Ed. (Special Education)(1), B. P. Ed. (83), B. Ed. (Distance Education Course (1). The situation in U.P., especially in respect of government and aided schools appears to be much better as far as the academic and professional qualifications of teachers are concerned. During the part six decades or so several attempts have been made to modify and Indianise the inherited system of teacher education. But the system persists with its usual chores to function more or less on the same old footings, the same old principles, similar content and approaches characterised by inertia and unwillingness to change. With the establishment of NCTE by the Giovernment of India as a statutory body, the magnitude of the task in respect of reforming or reengineering teacher education programmes and policies in the country as a whole and that of U.P. in particular assumes a menacing proportion. The State has been operating with different kinds of training institutions to produce a large number of trained teachers every year for secondary level. The state has approximately 699 colleges of Education in all. In addition to departments of B.Ed./Education as part of general colleges and colleges of education there are 16 University Departments of Education and 3 IASEs. The minimum qualification for admission in the B.Ed. course of any university is graduate or its equivalent in arts, commerce and science from any recognized university. Only those who possess B.Ed. degree are qualified to teach at secondary level of education. Only a post graduate in the school subject with B.Ed. degree is qualified to teach at 10+2 level. For admission in B.Ed. courses, all the universities of the State conduct admission tests according to rules and procedure approved by the concerned University. The University prepares the merit list for the seats sanctioned for each B.Ed. College affiliated to that University. The format of admission test and maximum amrks assigned to various aspects may vary from one University to the other. The admission tests were started during 1989-90 and these seem to be quite effective.

OTHER COURSES

These are many other institutions which offer following courses: Diploma in Physical Education; Diploma in Guidance psychology; Diploma in English Language Teaching.