The National Council of Educational Research and Training has been granted deemed-to-be-university status, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Friday.
The minister made the announcement during his address on the 63rd foundation day of the NCERT.
“NCERT has been given the status of a deemed-to-be-university. It has established a formidable presence in research, and actively shaped school education, teacher training and adult literacy. NCERT, on becoming a research university, will offer opportunities for global collaborations and contributions to the global educational landscape,” he said.
As the apex organisation for school education, the NCERT undertakes various activities and programmes, including educational research and innovation, curriculum development and development of textual and teaching-learning materials.
The NCERT has been granted the deemed-to-be-university status in the ‘De Novo’ category. A De-Novo deemed university is an institution that can apply to the UGC for setting up a new institution as deemed-to-be-university, which will undertake study and research in unique and emerging areas of knowledge that are not offered by any existing institution.
According to officials, with the deemed-to-be-university status, the NCERT will be able to award its own degrees to teachers and decide the courses they want to offer the teachers.
Currently, the graduate and post-graduate programmes offered by the NCERT’s Regional Institute of Education (REI) are affiliated with local universities like Barkatullah University, Bhopal, M D S University, Ajmer, University of Mysuru, Utkal University, Bhubaneshwar and the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.
The education minister emphasised developing content in the mother tongue. He suggested setting up augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence labs in all the seven regional centres of the NCERT.
“To make India the global hub of research and innovation, these centres should be equipped with the latest technologies from around the world with future-ready infrastructure,” Pradhan said.
He also urged the NCERT to standardise the teachers’ training curriculum for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).
Pradhan also mentioned that the children of the country should be ready for Industrial Revolution 4.0. He suggested developing small booklets on varied subjects that will provide facts on subjects like India’s COVID-19 management and Chandrayaan 3 among others.
“The new generations must be taught about the latest developments as well as Indian values and ethos,” he added.
