Proposal to establish State-owned Institutes of Education

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government has a proposal to establish State-owned Institutes of Education (SIE), which could serve as a nodal agency for the training and capacity building of teacher educators at all levels.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department, seeking anonymity, said that SIEs could develop norms for teachers’ education in all areas of education, including the fine arts, heritage crafts and physical education. “SIEs could also set up continuous processes studying what reforms are needed in curriculum and pedagogy”, he added.

Stating as per the recommendation from the expert committee, which was constituted by the both Higher and School Education Department, a model based on the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR) could be designed by the SIEs for teachers selected for teaching in courses of higher education, including professional and paraprofessional courses.

The SIEs could also get Inputs from nursing college syllabus, the official said all the initiatives will address the current challenges in the field of higher education and fulfill the evolving needs and expectations of the changing world by renewing the principles of the teaching learning process.

“Like NITTTR, the state-owned agency will also have equipped educators with necessary skills, through the various training programs, workshops, and courses, he said adding “the proposed training programmes will have several topics including syllabus improvement, new teaching methods, latest technology in education, and quality assurance, ensuring that educators stay updated with the latest industrial requirements in their respective field like it was done at the national level NITTTR”.

The proposed state-owned training institute, which is expected to be a part of State Education Policy, will also engage in cutting-edge research activities.