UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION
GUIDELINES FOR MALAVIYA MISSION TEACHER TRAINING CENTRES
I. Introduction
The National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 in its programme of action makes a pointed reference to the crucial link between teacher motivation and the quality of education.
The NPE recognized the need for improving quality of teaching and proposed to provide opportunities for professional and career development so that teachers may fulfill their role and responsibility within the system of higher education. It was proposed to enhance their motivation skills and knowledge through systematic orientation in specific subjects, techniques and methodologies, and thereby inculcate in them the right kind of values that would in turn encourage them to take initiatives for innovative and creative work.
Keeping the above objectives in view, the following steps were proposed:
a) To organize specially designed orientation programmes (OPs) in pedagogy, educational psychology and philosophy, and socio-economic and political concerns for all new entrants at the level of Lecturers.
b) To organize such orientation programmes and refresher courses (RCs) for serving teachers, covering every teacher at least once in three to five years.
c) To organize specially designed orientation programmes/refresher courses in IT for new entrants as well as for in-service teachers.
d) To encourage teachers to participate in seminars, symposia, workshops etc.
In order to achieve the above, a Scheme of setting up Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centres (MMTTCs) in suitable universities in the country was initiated by the University Grants Commission (UGC/ Commission).
II. Core Issues
2.1 Objectives of the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre
The objectives of the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre (MMTTC) are to enable newly appointed Lecturers to:
a. understand the significance of education in general, and higher education in particular, in the global and Indian contexts.
b. understand the linkages between education and economic and socio-economic and cultural development, with particular reference to the Indian polity where democracy, secularism and social equity are the basic tenets of society.
c. acquire and improve art of teaching at the college/university level to achieve goals of higher education.
d. keep abreast of the latest developments in their specific subjects.
e. understand the organization and management of a college/university and to perceive the role of teachers in the total system.
f. utilize opportunities for development of personality, initiative and creativity.
g. promote computer literacy as well use of ICT in teaching and learning process.
2.2 Philosophy
The MMTTC's main philosophy is to keep in mind that the teacher is central to the system. While it is universally accepted that the teacher is the pivot of the educational system, our system does not provide adequate opportunities for their professional development. It is, therefore, necessary to develop inbuilt mechanisms to provide opportunities for teachers within the framework of knowledge society. It is also accepted that a teacher must not be confined only to transmitting information; she/he must also orient students to meet the challenges of life, to become not merely a trained professional, but also a better citizen.
It was believed in the past that a college/university teacher learnt the 'art' of teaching on the job by emulating outstanding models such as his/her own teachers or senior colleagues. The stock-in-trade of the college/university teacher has always motivated the students. Today, it is no longer adequate to expect a newly appointed teacher to acquire the 'art' of teaching by emulating his/her peers.
2.3 Expansion of the Education System
From the very beginning our country had moved away from an elitist approach to higher education. We can truly claim that our system of higher education is mass based. This is a great achievement, more so, if we call that this has been achieved in a developing country.
While the expansion of the system of higher education is creditable, it has been achieved at a cost to itself. As the system moved away from the idea of higher education of the select few to higher education for all, there has been a decline in overall standards. Initially this was inevitable, but is nonetheless disturbing, especially when one considers the rapid advances being made in knowledge and the explosion of information worldwide. This trend must be reversed. This places greater responsibilities on teachers, and we owe it to them and to ourselves to make it possible for them to perform better in these changing times.
2.4 Educational Technology and Orientation in IT
New methods of teaching and educational technology along with developments in Information Technology have made the job of a teacher both exact and demanding. Now, it has been decided to give a bigger thrust to e-content development. In order to create Internet savvy as well as computer literate teachers, to create e-content assemblers and creators, the University Grants Commission is launching specially designed orientation programmes/refresher courses in these subjects.
The special orientation programme in IT is to create Internet literate people from amongst new entrants as well as in-service teachers and to make them familiar with use of software tools irrespective of the subject/discipline they are teaching. Acquisition of knowledge is a two-way process between the teachers and the taught and, therefore, collectively they must advance the frontiers of knowledge.
2.5 Knowledge Explosion
Furthermore, there has been knowledge explosion in every discipline. A college/university teacher has to continuously update his/her knowledge in his/her chosen field of expertise, or run the risk of becoming totally outdated in a very short period of time.
While the really motivated and industrious teachers use their own resources to keep themselves abreast of new knowledge and to train themselves in the latest processes, methodologies and techniques of teaching, it is necessary to provide systematic and organized orientation programmes for the large number of teachers at the college and university level.
2.6 Orientation of Newly Appointed Lecturers
The concept of an orientation programme emphasizes teachers as agents of socioeconomic change and national development and underlines the need to make them skill –oriented teachers.
The philosophy and objectives of the orientation courses are significantly different from the traditional B.Ed. and M.Ed. Programmes.
2.7 Flexible Orientation Programme
The orientation programme envisaged under this Scheme must not be rigid. Under the programme, it is intended to inculcate in young Lecturers the quality of self-reliance through their awareness of the social, intellectual and moral environment. The programme should enable the teachers to discover themselves and their potential through a positive appreciation of their role in the total social, intellectual and moral universe within which they function and of which they are important members. Only in a country where teachers are able to fulfill their responsibility with awareness and confidence, the educational system becomes relevant and dynamic.
2.8 Orientation Relevant To Indian Conditions
The orientation programme must engender in the teacher awareness of the problems that Indian society faces, and that education is the solution to these problems.
It must also focus on the achievement of the goals set out in the Indian Constitution. Matters relating to subject knowledge and pedagogy, although important in them, would only be meaningful when understood in the total context of national development.
2.9 Active Involvement Of Decision-makers and Leaders In Higher Education
It is equally important to recognize that no scheme for orientation of teachers can succeed if the decision-makers and administrators of higher education do not understand the importance of such scheme.
Therefore, along with the courses for newly appointed teachers, orientation programmes for heads of departments, principals, deans, officers, etc. must be organized with a view to acquainting the top-level administrators with what teachers are learning in the orientation programmes. This exposure will enable the decisionmakers to actively participate in the scheme; at the same time, these administrators would be able to modify their own roles as supervisors of higher education by demanding newer role behavior from the teachers.