The National Mission on Teachers and Training to improve higher education teaching quality in India will be launched shortly said Human Resource Development Minister Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju during presentation of National Awards to 336 teachers of outstanding merit by the President of India.

As per the CABE committee (Central Advisory Board of Education) constituted on the issue of quality teaching, there are concerns on availability of teachers, quality deficit in teaching, issues of contract teachers, teacher absenteeism, teacher accountability, poor quality teacher training institutions and representation of socially disadvantaged categories in teaching profession.

UGC on its part has placed two proposals for teachers training. In the first proposal, UGC has proposed setting up of Regional Centres of Educational Management in the Indian Institutes of Management at Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Bangalore and in the National University of Educational Planning and Administration. The second proposal recommends establishment of Centres of Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education in leading national level institutions including Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research etc. for development of specialized cadre of academy of teaching and teacher educators.

National Mission on Education through ICT is also an important component of the proposal. ICT is proposed to enable teachers to deliver quality content and teaching.

National Mission on Teachers & Teaching (NMTT) was set up on 12th March, 2012. Quality of teaches have been traditionally lacking and India has witnessed a rapid growth of educational institutions in recent past. Currently there are around 15 lakh schools, and around 50,000 Higher Education Institutions. As per 2012 data, elementary stage alone required around 41.9 lakh teachers in position, and there is a requirement of another 12 lakh teachers. In secondary education quality teaching is lacking particularly in regard to teachers of Science, Mathematics, and English. States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Odisha are facing shortages. As per the estimates, around 36% faculty positions in Central Institutions, including IIT’s, and IIM’s, are vacant, and around 40% to 50% teaching positions in State Universities are vacant. There is a large number of untrained teachers and an inadequate number of Teacher Education Institutes.