The AICTE has come up with a detailed policy for training teachers in technical institutions like engineering, management and pharmacy colleges.
New Delhi: The central government has a new plan to deliver better quality graduates in engineering and other technical fields — by improving the standard of teachers.
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which falls under the ministry of human resource development, has come up with a detailed policy for training teachers in engineering, management and pharmacy colleges.
Industry surveys have in recent times pointed to the low employability rate of Indian engineers and management graduates. But so far, there was no training programme for technical teachers. Most of the faculty members who taught at technical institutions were postgraduates or PhDs in their respective domains, but were not trained to teach.
Details of the policy
For new inductees, there will be a one-year training programme before they join an institute as faculty members. Inductees will work under a mentor-teacher at the institution, take some classroom lectures and lab classes. The mentor-teachers will help them implement ‘the right practices’ that they have picked during their own training. Apart from this, inductees will also be expected to spend 2-3 weeks training in an industry/research lab, as decided by the mentor-teacher.
At the end of this training, inductees will have to go through an examination, and once they clear it, they will get a certificate stating that they are allowed to teach in a technical institution. These inductees will work closely with mentors once they’re inside the system.
Teachers who are already in the system, up to the rank of associate professors and professors will be asked to undergo refresher courses.
As per the policy draft accessed by ThePrint, a lot of emphasis has been placed on instruction planning and delivery. Before taking a lecture, teachers will be expected to prepare their lectures in a way that is understood by the students. This practice, which has been adopted by teachers at IITs and IIMs, will have to be replicated across all technical institutions.
“Preparation and effective implementation of lesson plan for systematic classroom representation will be taught to new faculty members before they start teaching. They should know effective board work, right pace of delivery, and use of interactive mode to send out a message,” said an official aware of the developments.
Correlating lecture inputs with tutorial exercises, home assignments and lab work will also be a part of the training.
Apart from this, emphasis will be laid on helping these teachers develop an effective communication strategy. “The teacher should be able to transfer ideas, views and attitude via spoken and written medium,” the policy draft states.
Another important point that the policy lays emphasis on is professional ethics and values. “Technical education system should be able to equip student with not only technical competency but also professional, values, ethics and moral values. Inductee teacher should also be a role model and peer for the students (sic),” it adds.
Where will they be trained?
Training centres will be developed at institutes of national repute, and the overall training programme will be managed by a committee, which will have members from the HRD ministry, the University Grants Commission, the AICTE, representatives from state technological universities, and the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTRs).