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NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY (NEP 2020) Almost the same practices are going on till date in most of the teacher training institutes. However, there are a

EMPOWERING THE TEACHERS AND few private teacher training institutes that are doing well and producing quality teachers, their functioning
STRENGTHENING TEACHING PROFESSION system could be role models for the government to extend it by means of their policy. The NEP 2020 offers some
suggestions to deal with these circumstances.

Introduction Teacher Employment in New Policy
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”- Henry Brooks Adams. The NEP 2020 provides guidelines for recruitment of the teachers in private or government schools which are as
follows:
Teachers are an important part of every society for grooming students for the future of their nation. However,
§ The teachers for their recruitment in a private or government school must qualify C-TET/S-TET.
during the last few decades, the image of a teacher and teaching profession has seen a downfall thus requiring
radical reforms to be introduced. § Take a demonstration class, conduct an interview and assess the applicants for their good knowledge of
English, Hindi and local language.
The National Education Policy (NEP 2020) takes into account the reality of un-updated and disheartened Indian
§ Teacher Eligibility Tests (TETs) will now be extended to cover teachers across all the different stages
teachers who are comfortable with the traditional ways of teaching, and disinclined to innovate and adopt the (Foundational, Preparatory, Middle and Secondary) of school education.
mode of modern teaching. It proposes a roadmap to completely overhaul the teaching profession by creating a
§ For subject teachers, TET as well as Govt. NTA test scores in the corresponding subjects will also be
healthy merit-based new structure of training, tenure, salary, and promotion that incentivizes and recognizes the
considered for recruitment.
outstanding teachers of our country. Among all the different factors which influence the quality of education and
§ The teachers recruited by a school complex should be shared across the group of schools to deal with
its contribution to national development, the quality, competence and character of teachers are undoubtedly the
shortage of teachers particularly for music, dance, art, craft, counselors, coaches, vocational education
most significant.
trainers, classical language teachers, social workers, technical and maintenance staff.
Ground Realities of Teachers § School complexes should encourage the practice of hiring local eminent persons or experts as 'master
A quick comparison of the National Education Policy 2020 and the iconic Kothari Commission (1966) report instructors' in various subjects, such as in traditional local arts, vocational crafts, entrepreneurship,
that was majorly adopted as the first National Policy on Education (1968) reveals a lot of similarities in the agriculture, etc. to meet the need of teachers to teach the newly introduced classical languages and
challenges, concerns and even the proposed solutions, except for the current focus on 21st century skills. Does it vocational and skill subjects.
imply that Indian education has not progressed since then or that our socio-economic challenges are totally
insurmontable or even may be that we are poor implementers of plans and policies? The current 'concern of the Conclusion
nation' is effective implementation of NEP 2020 across the wide spectrum of educational institutions in India - All the previous National Education Policies claim that teachers truly shape the future of the children and
private/public, urban/rural, academic/vocational, schools/ colleges, etc. therefore, the future of the nation. We are often blaming present teachers for their low performance and poor
learning outcomes of students. The NEP 2020 describes the key facts and miserable conditions of teachers
Our demographic size and variables may defeat us; however, there is one common factor that can turn the tide related to their recruitment, deployment, management and service conditions which are responsible for the lack
and lead the Indian education system out of its current morass of aimlessness and inflexibility to become a of quality teaching and their motivation. Recognizing the 'power of a teacher', the new policy has put systemic
progressive, flexible, multidisciplinary, technology and skill focused education system, which will have the
reforms that would help at all levels of teaching. In the present era, when teaching seems to have lost its appeal as
capability to produce competent, creative, skilled, employable and ethical learners. The Kothari Commission,
a profession of choice for talented young prospects, the New Education Policy proposes several reforms to
1966 said, 'Of all the different factors which influence the quality of education and its contribution to national
empower the present teachers and restore the high respect and status to this profession so that it would eventually
development, the quality, competence and character of teachers are undoubtedly the most significant.'
attract the young minds to choose teaching as their preferred profession.
Dr. Mohsin Ali Khan
The NEP 2020 exhorts, 'Teachers truly shape the future of our children and, therefore, the future of our nation';
Assistant Professor
thereby implying that teachers play the most important role in nation-building by creating high quality of human
Source: https://www.education.gov.in/files/NEP_Final_English
resource in their classrooms. While this idea of an empowered teacher has the potential to move mountains, the
ground realities are quite different. Justice J.S. Verma Committee Report(2012) said, 'a broken teacher driven
education sector is putting over 370 million children at risk'. Recent surveys tell that most of the private teacher
training institutions in our country do not provide quality teacher training and infrastructure but submit fake
inspection reports to the concerned authority. They charge full fees and claim of delivering 99% passing rate but
on an average 85% of their trained teachers failed to qualify the post-qualification competency test – Central and
State Teacher Eligibility Tests (C-TET and S-TET). The challenges and issues concerning teachers post their
employment range from exploitative employment conditions, characterized by ad-hoc appointments and poor
salaries on one hand to absenteeism, outdated teacher knowledge & skills, lack of teacher professionalism and
commitment on the other hand.

218 RAM-EESH MANJARI 2022-23 Institute of Education Institute of Education RAM-EESH MANJARI 2022-23 219