Teacher quality rests on competence, empathy: Joshi

Union education minister Pralhad Joshi on Monday said the quality of education depends on the competence and empathy of teachers. Addressing the National Council for Teacher Education's 32nd Foundation Day via video message, he said teachers are central to implementing the National Education Policy 2020 and building a 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047.

Joshi said the four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) will become the only recognised qualification for school teacher recruitment from 2030. NCTE has expanded ITEP from a pilot in 42 institutions with 3,950 seats in 2023-24 to over 409 institutions offering over 24,000 seats this year. On AI, Joshi said it should enrich pedagogy without replacing essential human values.

The event at Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, saw NCTE launch the MITRA and PUSHTI mobile apps for teacher mentoring and professional development. NCTE also released handbooks, publications on AI in teacher education and pedagogy, and operationalised the Vidya Samiksha Kendra at its headquarters.