Union Minister of Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, launched various initiatives in School and Teacher Education, developed by the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education, on Saturday at Kaushal Bhawan, New Delhi.

The Ministry of Education also informed that during the same program, Pradhan launched the National Mission for Mentoring (NMM) and National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST), 52 Primers in Indian languages, printed books on NMM and NPST, various schemes/guidelines with Video of SCERTs/DIETs; Video of Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) and 200 TV Channels.

Speaking at the event, the Union Minister declared the day to be a landmark day in taking a step ahead towards becoming Viksit Bharat by 2047. He stated that these new initiatives will lead to the effective implementation of NEP 2020 at the grassroots, empower teachers and learners and will make quality education more inclusive, innovative and equitable.

National Mission for Mentoring (NMM)

NMM aims to provide valuable support and guidance to dedicated teachers, ensuring their professional growth and empowering them to create a strong educational foundation for students. The mission will run through a dedicated digital platform. Teachers will have access to quality mentoring sessions from experienced professionals as Mentors, catering to the diverse needs of learners with varying abilities.

The Bluebook on NMM was finalized after incorporating the feedback/suggestions received as a result of in-house consultations, 15 Open House Discussions, inputs received from the pilot, other stakeholders’ discussions and outreach programmes. The Bluebook on NMM will be translated into the 22 scheduled languages, Braille and Audiobooks for wider circulation across the country.

National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST)

As envisioned in NEP 2020, NPST focuses on improving the teachers’ personal and professional development by providing them with an understanding of what is expected in terms of their performance and what needs to be done to enhance the same. NPST Guiding Document ensures that all students at different levels/stages of school education are taught by passionate, motivated, highly qualified, professionally trained, and well-equipped teachers. It is a statement of quality and defines the competencies of teachers at different stages/levels. Its implementation needs collective efforts of the Centre, States, UTs, HEIs, Regulating Agencies / Regulatory Bodies and all other relevant stakeholders. The NPST Guiding Document will be translated into the 22 scheduled languages, Braille and Audiobooks for wider circulation across the country.

52 Primers in Indian languages

The 52 Primers in Indian languages is going to be a transformational step for young learners, especially for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), providing them access to education in their mother tongue/local language. It will initiate an inspirational journey for young minds, paving the way for deeper understanding, lifelong learning, more familiarity and rootedness in indigenous culture and greater success in academics and beyond.

PMeVidya

Launch of 200 DTH TV Channels under PMeVidya DTH TV Channels for School Education is an integral component of the PMeVidya Initiative which is aimed at unifying all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. To enable multi-mode resilient as well as coherent access to education, the PMeVidya DTH TV Channels are also made available on various platforms in addition to TV and radio facilitating design, development and dissemination of quality eContents for free.

National Vidya Samiksha Kendra

NCERT has made National Vidya Samiksha Kendra functional for facilitating research and development and capacity building program. Now, the National Vidya Samiksha Kendra has been integrated with their state counterparts. It has currently enabled visibility, insights, and actionability across 11 programs. National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA), DIKSHA, Energized Textbooks (ETBs), NIPUN Bharat initiative for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, NCERT Quiz, National Achievement Survey, Performance Grading Index (PGI), Unified District Information System for Education Plus, PM Poshan, National Curriculum Framework (NCF), Micro-Improvements program (recognition of best pedagogy practices) & PRASHAST (A Disability Screening Checklist for Schools) and PM SHRI.

DIETs of Excellence

Financial assistance, totalling to Rs 9000 crores, will be provided to States/UTs for the physical upgradation of all 613 District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) to develop them as DIET of Excellence in the country in a phased manner in the next five years.  Upto Rs 15 Crore per DIET will be provided under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha for improving various infrastructural facilities. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan made an announcement that, in future, all SCERTs would also be upgraded in a similar manner.