"The destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms”
Kothari Commission, 1964-66
Over the years teacher preparation has been severely criticized from all quarters of nation. It is in-spite of the fact that NPE (1986) stated: “The status of the teacher reflects the socio-cultural ethos of the society; it is said that no people can rise above the level of its teachers”. Yet, our education system undermines the role of the teachers in making the nation. From ancient India to contemporary India, from local to global, from individuals to collective, from community to society all acknowledges the importance of teacher as transmitters, inspirers and promoters of man’s eternal quest for knowledge.
NCFTE (2009) in the opening pages mentions that “The expectation from teacher should not be taken as rhetoric but as a goal to be constantly striven for, the urgency is to address ourselves seriously to examining the issues related to the preparation of teachers as well as to prune the theory and practice of teacher education. Indeed teachers are professionals but they are also human beings and that’s why they believe in transformation of raw material into a knowledge worker.”
In this context, numerous changes have been envisaged by NCTE in the preparation of teachers.
- The first is increase in the duration from one year to two year with longer stint of teaching practice called internship in schools. During the internship pupil teachers would get to know more about the schools, its functions, working and how school and community are interlinked.
- The second is the change in the curriculum wherein more emphasis on learning the theoretical foundations of various knowledge and to put into transactional practice into the field.
College of Teacher Education is adopted the revised curriculum of B.Ed. approved by the University. The syllabus of the B.Ed. Programme is consist of three core parts namely; Perspectives in Education, Curriculum and Pedagogic Studies, and Engagement with Field. Besides the core parts, internship is another important aspect of this programme which spreads over four semesters with peer teaching in first semester and institutional engagement in rest of the three semesters of varied duration. The present B.Ed. curriculum is highly enriched with built in opportunities for pupil teachers to explore, innovate, create and practice the new ideas. The faculties of this college have been striving to achieve the goal of preparing quality teachers. The annual intake of students is 100 comprising of two units of fifty students each. It is a four semester programme. The academic calendar of B.Ed. programme normally starts from 1st August every year. The programme schedule is notified in the University prospectus with the commencement of the admission process. University prospectus usually mentions the commencement of classes, University Semester End Examination, Continuous Internal Evaluation, and Semester breaks etc.