Relaxation in norms for appointment as teacher under SSA: Govt.

New Delhi, Mar. 28 (ANI): The government has given consent to thirteen states who had sought permission to relax minimum qualification for appointment of teachers under Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

The states are: Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The relaxation was sought, due to the non-availability of teachers possessing minimum qualifications as laid down by the National Council for Teacher Education, under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

To address this issue, the government has sanctioned over Rs. 6300 crore project to strengthen Teacher Education in the country during the 12th Plan. The main components of the revised scheme are the setting up of new District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) and Institutes of Advance Study in Education (IASEs), as well as strengthening of existing DIETs, CTEs and IASEs.

The scheme also envisages establishment of Block Institutes of Teacher Education (BITEs) in 196 identified SC/ST/Minority concentration districts as elementary pre-service teacher education institutes.

In addition, NCTE has given permission to respective state governments for training of the over five lakh in service untrained teachers through distance mode.

Meanwhile, the Central Government has requested the state governments and the union territories to expedite recruitment of teachers as well as to carry out the redeployment of existing teachers to ensure that all schools have pupil-teacher ratios as laid down under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009.

Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), 19.82 lakh teachers have been sanctioned to states/union territories against which 12.86 lakh teachers have been recruited till December 2012.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has recruited 38,319 teachers till date against the 39,189 teacher posts sanctioned to them under the SSA. (ANI)