Mukt Shabd Journal ISSN NO : 2347-3150

National Education Policy 2020 and Teacher Education in India

Dr. Digar Singh Farswan
Associate Professor& Head of School
School of Education
Uttarakhand Open University, Haldwani
Nainital, Uttarakhand 263139

Abstract
Teacher education has an important place in human life. Teacher education has an
important contribution to the development of real knowledge, factual information,
meaningful learning, positive thinking, quality knowledge, personal cognitive
development, attitude, teaching skills development, and various types of life skills.
The learning achieved througha skillful teaching process is permanent, practical,
and never forgotten. Teacher education is the cornerstone of any level of education,
which provides direction to the child to move forward based on his ability and
interest according to the immediate time and circumstances. In the National
Education Policy 2020, meaningful discussions and initiatives have been taken on
the expectations, challenges, and measures to solve them according to the present
time in teacher education. Teachers will play an important role in implementing
policies related to teacher education and solving various challenges and problems.
Keeping these things in mind, overall changes will have to be made in teacher
education. In this article, various policies of teacher education and various
measures for improvement in teacher education have been discussed in the context
of National Education Policy 2020, so that teachers can be prepared according to
the aspirations and needs of the future in India.
Key Words: -Teacher Education, Knowledge, Teaching Skills, Initiatives, and
Aspirations

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Introduction
National Education Policy 2020, the first education policy of the21st century,
which came after 34 years, is a major and historical document in the field of
education. This is only the third education policy of India after independence. The
first policy for education was promulgated in 1968 and the second was
implemented in 1986. Its main objective is to focus on education and learning and
to make "India a global knowledge superpower". NEP 2020 aims to create an
efficient education system by 2040, in which all learners have equal access to high-
quality education, regardless of their socio-economic background. It aims to create
a new system that aligns with the aspirational goals of 21st-century education,
including SDG-4 while building on India's traditions and value systems. NEP 2020
aims to increase the gross enrolment ratio in higher education including vocational
education from 26 percent to 50 percent by 2035. All Higher Education Institutions
(HEIs) will aim to be multidisciplinary institutions. In the field of teacher
education, by 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching is a four-year
integrated B.Ed. There will be a degree. Teachers will also be trained in online
educational methods relevant to the Indian situation to help bridge the digital
divide. It has been said in the Directive Principles of the Constitution of India that
compulsory and free education should be arranged for children of 6 to 14 years of
age. In 1948, the University Education Commission was formed under the
chairmanship of DR. Radhakrishnan. Since then, the formulation of the National
Education Policy has also started.In August 1985, a document called 'Challenge of
Education' was prepared in which various sections of India (intellectual, social,
political, professional, administrative, etc.) gave their comments related to
education and in 1986, the Government of India drafted 'New Education Policy
1986. The most important feature of this policy was that it accepted a uniform
educational structure for the whole country and most of the states adopted the

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10+2+3 structure.Teacher education policy in India has been formulated over time
and is based on the recommendations contained in various reports of education
committees/commissions, the important ones being: the Kothari Commission
(1966), Chattopadhyay Committee (1985), National Policy on Education (NPE
1986/92), Acharya Ramamurthy Committee (1990), Yashpal Committee (1993)
and National Curriculum Framework (NCF, 2005). The Right of Children to Free
and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which came into force on April 1,
2010, has important implications for teacher education in the country.
The framework of Teacher Education
In the federal structure of the country, though the broad policy and legal framework
on teacher education is provided by the Central Government, the implementation
of various programs and schemes is mainly done by the State Governments. The
broad objective of improving theeducational achievements of school children is a
twofold strategy: (a) preparing teachers for the school system (pre-service
training), and (b) improving the capacity of existing school teachers (in-service
training).
The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), a statutory body of the
Central Government for pre-service training, is responsible for the planned and
coordinated development of teacher education in the country. NCTE lays down the
norms and standards of various teacher education courses, minimum qualifications
for teacher educators, syllabus and components, and duration and minimum
qualifications for admission of student-teachers to various courses. It also
recognizes institutions (Government, government-aided, and self-financed)
desirous of starting such courses and is in place to regulate and monitor their
norms and quality.
For in-service training, there is a large network of state-owned Teacher Training
Institutes (TTIs) in the country, which provide in-service training to school

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teachers. The spread of these TTIs is both linear and horizontal. At the national
level, the National Council of Educational Research and Training along with six
Regional Institutes of Education develop a set of modules for various teacher
training courses and also undertake specific programs of training of teachers and
teacher educators. Institutional support is also provided by the National University
of Educational Planning and Administration. Both NCERT and NIEPA are
national-level autonomous bodies. At the state level, the State Councils of
Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) prepare teacher training modules and
conduct specific courses for teacher educators and school teachers. Colleges of
Teacher Education (CTEs) and Institutes of Advanced Studies in Education
(IASEs) provide in-service training to secondary and senior secondary school
teachers and teacher educators. At the district level, in-service training is provided
by theDistrict Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs). Block Resource
Centers (BRCs) and Cluster Resource Centers (CRCs) are the lowest-rung
institutions in the linear hierarchy for providing in-service training to school
teachers. Apart from these, in-service training is also provided with theactive
involvement of civil society, unaided schools, and other establishments.
National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education
The National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) has prepared the National
Curriculum Framework on Teacher Education, which was made operational in
March 2009. This framework has been prepared in the backdrop of the NCF, 2005,
and the principles laid down in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education Act, 2009 mandated a changed framework on teacher education, which
is in line with the school curriculum recommended in the NCF, 2005. Adapt to the
changed philosophy of Explaining the philosophy of teacher education, this
framework has some important dimensions of the new approach:

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Indian culture and philosophy have had a great influenceon the world, this rich
heritage not only needs to be preserved and preserved for the generations to come
but to keep our education system strong, research work should be promoted and
new research should be done. Users should also be considered. Since ancient times,
the focal point of the education system in India has been the teacher or guru,
without whom it is not possible to understand the meaning of life. Guru is placed
in the category of God.
Aims of Teacher Education
Teacher education holds an important place in human and social life.Teacher
education has broad objectives. Teacher education is the basis of human
development and a strong foundation of society.The main objective of teacher
education is to develop students as professionals. Who can contribute to this
field?The objective of teacher education is to properly develop all the teaching
skills in student teachers.Development of these skills can only be possible through
extensive practice during training. Unless Student teachers receive quality training,
these skills cannot develop. There are various skills of teaching mainly, which are
Introduction Skills, Explanation Skills, Questioning Skills, Blackboard Work
Skills, Reinforcement Skills, and Illustration Skills. To make the teaching-learning
process effective,Proper development of all the above teaching skills in student
teachers is necessary. Through the development of these skills.They are successful
in awakening Children's interest in the curriculum,developing lessons with the help
of children,increasing children's participation in teaching as well as increasing the
learning level of children. Not all children in the class are equal. Understanding the
individual differences of children and teaching them according to their abilities and
capabilities is a challenge. But unless we plan teaching-learning work based on
individual differences of children, success cannot be achieved in increasing the
learning capacity of children and developing their teaching performance. One of

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the objectives of teacher education Is to make teaching interesting through various

types of teaching aids and related educational activities so that Children can learn
more and better Through both listening and watching. Due to this, their senses
remain more active due to which their learning level can be increased and this
learning can also be preserved in the brain for a long time. The following are the
main objectives of teacher education that are necessary to be achieved for a quality
teaching-learning process: -
 To enable the pupil teachers to solve the problems of students.
 To create a proper discipline in the minds of the pupil-teachers.
 To familiarize the pupil-teachers with the latest knowledge to fulfill the
existing needs of society.
 To develop a skill to stimulate experience in the taught, under an
artificially created environment, less with material resources and more by
the creation of an emotional atmosphere.
 To develop a capacity to do, observe, infer, and generalize.
 To impart adequate knowledge about the subject.
 To equip pupil-teachers with the necessary teaching skills.
 To develop a proper attitude towards teaching.
 To develop self-confidence in pupilteachers.
 To promote the proper usage of ICT tools.
National Education Policy-2020 and teacher education
At present, the National Education Policy 2020 also places maximum emphasis on
the importance of teachers for quality education. This can be achieved only
through quality teacher training programs. It is mentioned that to identify and
develop the unique abilities of each student, teachers, and parents will have to be
sensitive to their abilities. So that the academic and other abilities of the students
can be fully developed. Access to experiential areas of higher education can open

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doors to immense possibilities that can lift individuals and communities out of the
vicious circle. That is why providing opportunities for high-quality teacher
education to all should be the topmost priority.
Teachers shape the future of the children and both students and teachers together
build our prosperous nation. Meritorious students and qualified teachers have
always been respected members of society because of their full contribution.
Scholars always make good teachers. According to ancient civilizations, good
teachers work to impart prescribed knowledge, skills, and moral values to the
students. In the National Education Policy 2020, special attention has been given to
the quality of teacher education, recruitment, posting, service conditions, and the
status of teachers' rights. Only by paying attention to the above facts, the quality of
teacher education and the enthusiasm of the teachers will achieve the desired
standard.
The students will also revive the higher status and respect for the teachers
according to the ancient civilization. To make our nation the best nation, there is a
need for inspiration and empowerment in teachers and students. The lack of good
educational institutions in rural areas has been going on for centuries, due to which
the young generation lags in studies and teaching. Special attention has been paid
to this in the National Education Policy and teacher education. A provision has
been made to allow scholarshipsbased on merit to the students studying in the
course. Four-year bachelor education programprovision is also made for providing
assured employment to the students (especially female students) in the local areas
after successful completion of the degree so that these students can serve as role
models in the local areas and as higher teachers.
Excellent teachers will be encouraged to work in rural areas, especially in areas
where there is already a shortage of teachers. A major incentive for teaching
students in rural areas has also been the provision of local accommodations in and

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around the school. It is the responsibility of the teacher to maintain the relationship
among the community so that the student can get role modelsin an educational
environment which is not possible due to frequent transfer of the teacher.
Therefore, it has been said that the transfer of the teacher should be done only
when it is necessary by the government. Teachers should be selected through
special competitive examinations, for this emphasis has been laid on thefurther
development of theTeacher Eligibility Test. Teachers are an integral part of the
recruitment process, for this conducting all the interviews in the local language can
accurately assess the efficiency of any person. By doing this, special emphasis has
also been laid on the fact that the teachers will be able to interact in the prevalent
language of the students.
The complete development of the students does not happen only by studying the
concerned subject. For complete development, students must have knowledge of
arts, physical education, vocational education, and competitive examinations. For
this, emphasis has also been laid on the appointment of potential teachers in all
states and union territories. There is also talk of quality promotion in the
recruitment of teachers as per the requirement. The primary goal is to radically
transform the working environment and culture of the school so that both the
teacher and the student can grow to the maximum.
Changing environments and cultures will enable teachers, students, parents,
principals, and other support staff to become part of an inclusive community. All of
these have the same goal of ensuring that all students get a quality education. To
ensure decent and enjoyable work in schools, there is a special need for resources
such as physical resources, toilets, clean drinking water, clean and attractive places
for learning, electricity, computer equipment, internet, libraries, and sports and
recreational facilities. Special emphasis has been laid on all these essential things
in the National Education Policy 2020. Efforts to impart education by making a

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complex consisting of small schools and colleges will also be very effective. This
will allow the students to learn with the larger community. To advance teachers and
help create effective community environments for learning.
Teacher Education and Language
In the new education policy, it has been said to keep the medium of education in
the mother tongue, local or regional language till the fifth class. This can be
extended to class eight or beyond. Foreign languages will be taught from the
secondary level. However, it has also been said in the new education policy that no
language will be imposed.
Language is a powerful medium for the exchange of ideas. Mother is the first
educational teacher of any child. It is a universal truth that young children learn
and understand meaningful concepts more quickly in their home language or
mother tongue. The child first receives the quality of social welfare and intellectual
leadership in the form of education from the mother. We the people of India are the
conductors of that glorious eternal culture, where the good wishes of goodwill and
welfare of every living being are embedded in the people. Definitely, for the
overall development of the nation, efforts should be made as much as possible for
primary education in the mother tongue.
The National Education Policy 2020 states that at least till grade five but preferably
till grade eight and beyond, the medium of instruction would be home language,
mother tongue, local language, orregional language. Thereafter the home, local
language will continue to be taught as the language wherever possible. Both public
and private schools will follow it. Higher quality textbooks in all subjects including
science will be made available in-home languages, mother tongue. All efforts will
be made expeditiously to ensure that the gap, if any, exists between the language
spoken by the children and the medium of instruction itself, is bridged. Teachers

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will be encouraged to use a bilingual approach with students whose home language
is different from their mother tongue instruction.
Research shows that children acquire language most rapidly between the ages of
two and eight and that multilingualism has the greatest cognitive benefits for
students at that age. Children will be given exposure to multiple languages (with
special emphasis on themother tongue) right from the beginning of the
foundational stage and onwards. It would be a major effort on the part of the
Central and State Governments to invest in anadequate number of language
teachers in all regional languages across the country, especially in all the languages
mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Bilateral agreements
between states, particularly states in different regions of India, to adopt the three-
language formula in their respective states as well as appoint anadequate number
of teachers to encourage the study of Indian languages across the country.
Technology will be used extensively to learn different languages and popularize
language teaching.
Teacher education plays an important role in building a team of teachers who will
shape the next generation in higher educational institutions. Preparing teachers is a
process that requires a very combined approach and knowledge, as well as building
beliefs and values under the guidance of the best facts, as well as their practice. It
is necessary to ensure that teachers are aware of Indian values, languages,
knowledge, ethos, and traditions, including tribal traditions, along with academic
progress relating to education and teaching processes.
Teacher education requires multidisciplinary inputs as well as high-quality content
and pedagogical processes. Therefore, keeping this in mind, all teacher education
programs should be organized in holistic multi-disciplinary institutions only. For
this, all multidisciplinary universities, as well as all public universities and large
multidisciplinary colleges, will aim to establish and develop excellent education

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departments, which promote state-of-the-art research in education, as well as

psychology, to educate future teachers will also be conducted in collaboration with
departments related to philosophy, sociology, neuroscience, Indian languages, arts,
music, etc. and literature as well as other specialized subjects like science and
mathematics. Along with this, by the year 2030, all single-teacher education
institutions will need to be converted into multidisciplinary institutions, as they
will have to conduct four-year integrated teacher training programs.
According to the National Education Policy 2020, diversity in the profile of faculty
members in the education department is an essential goal. Social science areas
directly related to school education, such as psychology, child development,
language, science, sociology, philosophy, economics, and political science, as well
as science education, mathematics, education, social science education, and
language education. There is a provision to attract and appoint trained faculty
members in teacher education institutions in subjects related to the programs, to
strengthen the multi-disciplinary education of teachers and their conceptual
development.
Continuing professional development training for in-service teachers in colleges
and universities to be trained through existing institutional arrangements and
ongoing aspects will continue in the National Education Policy. These will be
strengthened and expanded to meet the needs of rich teaching andlearning
processes essential for quality education. Theuse of technological platforms like
Swayamand Diksha for online training of teachers will be encouraged so that
standardized training programs can be made available to more teachers within less
time.
Conclusion
Thus, it is reflected that the basic objective of the National Education Policy 2020
is to develop good human beings who are capable of rational thought and action

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with compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, scientific thinking and
creative imagination, moral values,and feelings. Its objective is to prepare such
productive people who will contribute in a better way to building an inclusive and
pluralistic society as envisaged by its constitution so that India can again play a
leading role in the development of humanity by regaining the status of Vishwa-
Guru.The NEP 2020 acknowledges the reality of unmotivated and dis-spirited
Indian teachers and proposes to completely overhaul the teaching profession to
create a robust merit-based structure of tenure, salary, and promotion, that
incentivizes and recognizes outstanding teachers.The NEP-2020 is visionary,
practical, progressive, and comprehensive. It has a range from early childhood to
higher education, professional education to vocational education, and teacher
training to professional education.
As policy envisages that teacher education must be the center of the fundamental
reforms in the education system, the new education policy must help reestablish
teachers, at all levels as the most respected and essential members of our society
because they truly shape our next generation of citizens. It must do everything to
empower teachers and help them to do their jobs as effectively as possible.
Regarding the 360-degree assessment of a student, progress cards will include self-
assessment, peer- assessment, and teacher assessment. A multi-dimensional report
card will be generated that will reflect the progress and uniqueness of each learner
in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Skill and Vocational training
and coding will start from ClassSix. Accordingly, all teachers should know
about ICT and it will be necessary to identify the skills in every teacher and parents
to achieve the same. It is recognized that there may be several pedagogical
approaches internationally for teaching particular subjects. NCERT in
collaboration will SCERT, NIOS, etc. will study, research, document, and compile
the varied international pedagogical approaches for teaching different subjects and

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make recommendations on what can be learned and assimilated from these

approaches into the pedagogies being practiced in India.
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National Education Policy (2020) Government of India, New Delhi.

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