Education Related Bodies
National Council for Teacher Education
The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), an advisory body since 1973, got statutory status on the August 17, 1995 in pursuance of the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993.
The main objective of the NCTE is to achieve planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country, and the regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in the teacher education system.
The council consists of a chairperson to be appointed by the central government; a vice-chairperson to be appointed by the central government; a member-secretary to be appointed by the central government; the secretary to the Government of India in the department dealing with education ex-officio; the chairman, University Grants Commission or a member of UGC nominated by him, ex-officio; the director, National Council of Educational Research and Training, ex-officio; the director, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, ex-officio; the adviser (Education), Planning Commission, ex-officio; the Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, ex-officio; the financial adviser to the Government of India in the department dealing with education, ex-officio; the member-secretary, All-India Council for Technical Education, ex-officio; the chairpersons of all regional committees, ex-officio; thirteen persons possessing experience and knowledge in the field of education or teaching to be appointed by the central government; nine members to be appointed by the central government to represent the States and Union Territory administrations; three members of Parliament of whom one shall be nominated by the Chairman of the Council of States and two by the Speaker of the House of the People; and three members to be appointed by the central government from amongst teachers of primary and secondary education and teachers of recognised institutions.
Functions
The functions of the council are to—
(i) undertake surveys and studies relating to various aspects of teacher education and publish the result thereof;
(ii) make recommendations to the central and state governments, universities, University Grants Commission and recognised institutions in the matter of preparation of suitable plans and programmes in the field of teacher education;
(iii) coordinate and monitor teacher education and its development in the country;
(iv) lay down guidelines in respect of minimum qualifications for a person to be employed as a teacher in schools or in recognised institutions;
(v) lay down norms for any specified category of courses or trainings in teacher education, including the minimum eligibility criteria for admission thereof, and the method of selection of candidates, duration of the course, course contents and mode of curriculum;
(vi) lay down guidelines for compliance by recognised institutions, for starting new courses or training, and for providing physical and instructional facilities, staffing pattern and staff qualification;
(vii) lay down standards in respect of examinations leading to teacher education qualifications, criteria for admission to such examinations and schemes of courses or training;
(viii) lay down guidelines regarding tuition fees and other fees chargeable by recognised institutions;
(ix) promote and conduct innovation and research in various areas of teacher education and disseminate the results thereof;
(x) examine and review periodically the implementation of the norms, guidelines and standards laid down by the council, and to suitably advise the recognised institution;
(xi) evolve suitable performance appraisal system, norms and mechanism for enforcing accountability on recognised institutions;
(xii) formulate schemes for various levels of teacher education and identify recognised institutions and set up new institutions for teacher development programmes;
(xiii) take all necessary steps to prevent commercialisation of teacher education; and
(xiv) perform such other functions as may be entrusted to it by the central government.
All India Council of Technical Education
All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) was constituted in 1945 and became a statutory body under the AICTE Act, 1987. The council was formed with a view to ensure the proper planning and coordinated development of the technical education system throughout the country, the promotion of qualitative improvement of such education in relation to planned quantitative growth and the regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in the technical education system for such matters.
The statutory bodies of AICTE as prescribed by the act are: Council, Executive Committee, Regional Committees and All India Board of Studies. The council is a 51- member body and has a chairman, vice- chairman and member secretary who have full time tenure appointments; besides, there are representatives of various departments of the Government of India, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The council’s headquarters is located at New Delhi.
Functions
Major functions of the council are as follows.
(i) Undertake survey in the various fields of technical education, collect data on all related matters and make forecast of the needed growth and development in technical education.
(ii) Coordinate the development of the technical education in the country at all levels.
(iii) Allocate and disburse out of the Fund of the council such grants, on such terms and conditions as it may think fit to technical institutions, and universities imparting technical education in co-ordination with the commission.
(iv) Promote innovations, research and development in established and new technologies, generation, adoption and adaptation of new technologies to meet development requirements and for over all improvement of educational processes.
(v) Formulate schemes for promoting technical education for women, handicapped and weaker sections of the society.
(vi) Promote an effective link between technical education system and other relevant systems including research and development organisations, industry and the community.
(vii) Evolve suitable performance appraisal systems for technical institutions and universities imparting technical education, incorporating norms and mechanisms for enforcing accountability.
(viii) Formulate schemes for the initial and in service training of teachers and identify institutions or centers and set up new centers for offering staff development programmes including continuing education of teachers.
(ix) Lay down norms and standards for courses, curricula, physical and instructional facilities, staff pattern, staff qualifications, quality instructions, assessment and examinations.
(x) Fix norms and guidelines for charging tuition and other fees.
(xi) Grant approval for starting new technical institutions and for introduction of new courses or programmes in consultation with the agencies concerned.
(xii) Advise the central government in respect of grant of charter to any professional body or institution in the field of technical education conferring powers, rights and privileges on it for the promotion of such profession in its field including conduct of examinations and awarding of membership certificates.
(xiii) Lay down norms for granting autonomy to technical institutions.
(xiv) Take all necessary steps to prevent commercialisation of technical education.
(xv) Provide guidelines for admission of students to technical institutions and universities imparting technical education.
(xvi) Inspect or cause to inspect any technical institutions.
(xvii) Withhold or discontinue grants in respect of courses, programmes to such technical institutions which fail to comply with the directions given by the council within the stipulated period of time and take such other steps as may be necessary for ensuring compliance of the directions of council.
(xviii) Take steps to strengthen the existing organisations, and to set up new organisations to ensure effective discharge of the council’s responsibilities and to create positions of professional, technical and supporting staff based on requirements.
(xix) Declare technical institutions at various levels and types offering courses in technical education fit to receive grants.
(xx) Advise the commission for declaring any institutions imparting technical as a deemed university.
(xxi) Set up a National Board of Accreditation to periodically conduct evaluation of technical education institutions or programmes on the basis of guidelines, norms and standards specified by it and to make recommendations to it, or to the council, or to the commission or to other bodies, regarding recognition or de-recognition of the institution or the programme.
(xxii) Perform such other functions as may be prescribed.
University Grants Commission
In 1952, the union government decided that all cases pertaining to the allocation of grants-in-aid from public funds to the central universities and other universities and institutions of higher learning might be referred to the University Grants Commission. Consequently, the University Grants Commission (UGC) was formally inaugurated on December 28, 1953. The UGC, however, was formally established only in November 1956 under the UGC Act, 1956 as a statutory body of the Government of India for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education in India.
The head office of the UGC is located in New Delhi. In order to ensure effective region-wise coverage throughout the country, the UGC has decentralised its operations by setting up six regional centres at Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Guwahati and Bangalore.
Composition
The UGC consists of a chairman, a vice-chairman, and ten other members, to be appointed by the central government. The chairman is chosen from among persons who are not officers of the central government or of any state government. Of the other ten members (a) two are chosen from among the officers of the central government, to represent that government; (b) not less than four have to be chosen from among persons who are, at the time when they are so chosen, teachers of universities; and (c) the remainder have to be chosen from among persons (i) Who have knowledge of, or experience in, agriculture, commerce, forestry or industry; (ii) who are members of the engineering, legal, medical or any other learned profession; or (iii) who are vice-chancellors of universities or who, not being teachers of universities, are in the opinion of the central government, educationists of repute or have obtained high academic distinctions; however, not less than one-half of the number chosen under this clause shall be from among persons who are not officers of the central government or of any state government.
Functions
The UGC has the unique distinction of being the only grant-giving agency in the country which has been vested with two responsibilities: that of providing funds and that of coordination, determination and maintenance of standards in institutions of higher education.
The functions of the commission are as follows.
(i) promoting and coordinating university education;
(ii) determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination and research in universities;
(iii) framing regulations on minimum standards of education;
(iv) monitoring developments in the field of collegiate and university education; disbursing grants to the universities and colleges;
(v) serving as a vital link between the union and state governments and institutions of higher learning; and
(vi) advising the central and state governments on the measures necessary for improvement of university education.
Performance Evaluation of the UGC
A panel headed by the ex-chairman of the UGC, Hari Gautam, presented its report regarding the performance of the UGC to the ministry of human resource development (HRD) of the union in April 2015. The highlights of the reports are—
The UGC should be scrapped and replaced with a national higher education authority. Any reshaping or restructuring of the UGC will be a futile exercise.
The UGC has failed to fulfil its mandate; it has also not been able to deal with emerging diverse complexities.
There have been allegations of favouritism. The UGC has side-stepped its function of being a sentinel of excellence in education and embraced the relatively easier function of funding education.
The chairman of the UGC should be held accountable and his performance should be assessed once after three years and then at the end of his tenure of five years by a committee constituted by the HRD ministry.
The UGC has seen a steady erosion of its powers and standing among university alumni.
Yoga and transcendental meditation should be included in syllabus in universities, among other things.
The 10-year professor norm for a vice-chancellor should be done away with.
In response to the recommendations made by the Hari Gautam Committee, the HRD ministry has said that the UGC cannot be unilaterally scrapped since it has been created by an act of Parliament. R. Sethuraman, Vice-chancellor, SASTRA University, Thanjavur said a statutory body like UGC is a necessary policy vehicle for university education and cannot be just a grant disbursal authority.
However, a former member of UGC felt that the commission had not failed in its mandate but over a period, due to bureaucratisation, it had been unable to deliver its services. Creating an alternative structure will not solve the problem. C. Pichandy, vice-president of Association of University Teachers said that if the UGC has failed its mandate, its scope and powers can be widened.
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