The Delhi government has approved the proposal to restructure and upgrade the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) and District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs).
SCERT and DIETs are two key institutions that monitor the education of teachers in Delhi.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by the deputy chief minister and education minister Manish Sisodia.
"Recognising the primacy of building strong academic and institutional foundation for the series of reform initiatives in education being introduced by the AAP government, we have decided to restructure and strengthen the SCERT and DIETs," Sisodia said after the meeting.
Formed in late 1980s, SCERT and DIETs have been supporting school education in Delhi through various programmes including pre-service and in-service education of teachers, development of appropriate curriculum and material for teachers and students, and undertaking research studies on the problems related to school education in Delhi.
As part of the restructuring initiative, the Delhi government decided substantially increase the number of academic faculty positions at SCERT and DIETs from around 240 currently to over 600 to enable these institutions to better serve their objectives.
The government has also decided to upgrade the pay-scales and qualifications for faculty to UGC levels, as is followed by NCERT, to attract best education talent nationally to work in Delhi.
"In addition, we have also decided to open two new DIETs in Delhi. We will also offer diploma in Pre-School Education courses at all DIETs, and BEd degree courses at three DIETs," Sisodia said.
At present there are nine DIETs in the city.
This entire restructuring exercise will be carried out under the advice of an expert committee setup by SCERT, and under the guidelines of Ministry of Human Resource Development's centrally sponsored scheme on teacher education.
IANS inputs
