Govt approves block institutes of teachers education in 196

To provide quality training to teachers, the government today said it has approved setting up of block institutes of teachers education in 196 districts during the current Five Year Plan.
These institutes will be opened in SC, ST and minority- concentrated districts, the HRD ministry said in a statement.
More than Rs 690 crore have been approved with one-third of this investment being made in eight high-deficit states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, the statement said.
Over Rs 6300 crore are earmarked in the 12th Five Year Plan for training of untrained teachers.

The ministry said that under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan more than six lakh in-service teachers need to be trained and several states have requested the centre to extend time for training of these teachers.
The ministry added that 1,90,000 teachers needed to be trained in Bihar alone followed by Uttar Pradesh where 1,24,000 teachers needed to be trained.

Giving more details, the ministry said that the number of teachers to be trained in Chhattisgarh is over 45,000 and 35,000 in Madhya Pradesh.
The training of teachers will be through National Institute of Open schooling in Jharkhand, State Open Universities in Assam, State Councils of Education Research and Training in Chhattisgarh and through State Board of Primary Education in West Bengal, the ministry said.

To strengthen teacher education capacity, the states have obtained recognition for opening of 81 new government institutes.