India to set up chair for cross-border teacher education

India will set up a Malaviya Commonwealth Chair for Cross Border Teacher Education, and has also proposed a research consortium for the grouping, an official said on Sunday.

The announcement in this regard was made by Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani at the 19th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers held at Nassau (Bahamas) from June 22 to 26, an official statement here said.

The chair will focus on issues pertaining to curriculum development, pedagogy, student assessment, pre-service and in-service teacher training and capacity development.

Irani also proposed the setting up of a Commonwealth Consortium for Research which can function in collaboration with the Commonwealth Education hub and provide cross-funding for research projects which member nations deem appropriate.

India would provide its e-Learning platform SWAYAM to host e-courseware developed by Commonwealth of Learning, she said, and also proposed that India post digitized materials of Commonwealth countries on its soon-to-be established national e-Library.

The conference which deliberated upon 'Quality Education for Equitable Development' was attended by the education ministers of 38 Commonwealth countries.

"There could be no more opportune time than now that the Commonwealth countries work towards a more coordinated and holistic approach towards rationalizing methods and processes for inclusive and qualitative expansion of education in the respective countries," said Irani at the conference.

"The concern of quality in education would remain the centre stage of deliberations of each country of the Commonwealth as a key parameter for sustainable development and, therefore, there is a need to create a platform to share both the resources and the best practices," she added.