BHUBANESWAR: Even as the whole world has responded overwhelmingly to the International Day for Yoga, the Odisha Government has followed suit by including yoga in the curriculum for trained teachers.
In the fresh curriculum ratified by School and Mass Education Department, yoga has been included in both BEd and CT programmes for which the Directorate of Teachers Education (DTE) and State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) are the academic and administrative authority.
The fresh curriculum for BEd and CT courses was approved by the Department on Tuesday and would come to effect from the current academic session (2015-16). The curriculum has been revised and updated as per the latest guidelines of National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE).
Apart from upgrading curriculum, the Department has also made a major move to meet the shortage of trained teachers in the State by seeking to offer BEd and CT programmes in more institutions. It has applied to NCTE to permit teachers education programmes in both universities as well as autonomous colleges.
Currently, as many as 14 Government institutions offer BEd programmes but the Department has sought permission from the national body for expanding the field.
Director, SCERT AB Ota said, “We have applied to NCTE for permission for 32 more institutions to offer the courses from 2016-17 session. The institutions include 21 autonomous colleges and universities. The rest 11 are District Institute of Education and Training (DIETs).”
While Odisha faces a scarcity of trained teachers, many head to other States in search of a degree. This apart, the huge number of untrained teachers is also a problem. According to statistics available with the Department, 11,283 teachers continue to be untrained in the State while over 19,000 have already been provided training through distance mode.
Apart from programmes in regular subjects, the Government is planning to offer niche subjects for teachers’ training. In the first phase, 11 teachers’ training institutions have applied for new courses which include MEd and Diploma in Art Education. The affiliation and examination for the Diploma in Art Education would be provided by Culture University.
The State Government has also approved a restructuring of DTE and SCERT given the increasing workload. As per the new plan, DTE will remain in exclusive charge of management of teachers education institutions while SCERT will have the mandate to improve the quality of school and teachers education in the State.