The National Council
of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been assigned
a new responsibility of capacity building of states to help them
universalise education. NCERT would help in implementation of
the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which seeks to achieve the goal of
education for all children in the age group 6-14 years by the
year 2010, in various ways. The thrust of the support will be
on the north-eastern states, the girl child, disadvantaged sections
of the society and children living in difficult circumstances.
This was stated by the Human Resource Development Minister, Dr
Murli Manohar Joshi while inaugurating the 39th Annual
General Meeting of NCERT here today.
The Minister said
that the renewed thrust on elementary education, along with advances
in science and technology and the market economy, has created
demand for universalisation of secondary education. This would
necessitate quality inputs in instructional materials, transactional
strategies and teacher training. In turn, it would require that
the methods of learning and teaching are suitably altered, and
the role of teacher and student re-defined. Dr. Joshi said that
there was urgent need to re-orient education towards all-round
development of children. The Minister mentioned that NCERT has
taken a new initiative in this regard by proposing multi-centric
national research projects. The project would focus on all-round
development of the student and also keep regional variations and
resultant requirements in view. The Minister informed that the
Council has invited specialised organisations and Universities
to participate in researches under this project.
Dr. Joshi informed
the gathering that NCERT would develop a plan of action to build
the capacity of state-level training institutions and other agencies.
Strategies suiting to different states would be adopted in a decentralized
manner in relation to local needs. This would promote research,
development of resources and training in states, he said.
The AGM was also
apprised that NCERT had recently undertaken many international
projects and programmes sponsored by the UNESCO, APEID and UNDP.
The Council has organised two training programmes for senior teacher
educators of Sri Lanka and two diploma programmes for teachers
from Maldives. The Council has also started an international diploma
course in guidance and counseling.
The AGM was also
addressed by the Director, NCERT, Prof. JS Rajput. The meeting
was attended by State Education Ministers, Vice Chancellors of
some universities and prominent educationists besides Prof. (Smt.)
Rita Verma, Minister of State for HRD, Secretary (Higher Education),
Shri SK Tripathi and other members of the General Body.
